Domestic Adventures

Birthday party for Kira! On the far left there is Umbeline, French and fellow volunteer on whom I have a friend-crush.


Jan’s cake was A Seriously Awesome Cake.


Roommate Chris, in the morning. He’s smiling because he hasn’t yet arrosé (hosed, watered) all of les tunnels (the greenhouse tunnels), or been called “le canadien” by Christian, or been shouted at by M. Vahé. Or been made fun of by his roommates.


Roommate Anu, after the morning work. “Why are there so many campanoules to deadhead?!” she asks herself, despairingly.













Grocery shopping with the girls in Vernon!

















Kira’s dishwasher (in a different apartment) fizzed over.


We made quiche and salad! Specifically, Kira made quiche, and Anu and I stood around being impressed.












Aaaaand then it’s morning again, and we go back to work.

And Other New Fun in the Garden

Lots of the new flowers coming up are sort of cartoony-looking, to me.





































I like this purple fellow alot, despite its elaborateness. Latin name coming soon, via Chris.























The nasturtiums now have flowers!









I like how they mostly hide under the leaves.









And the allée centrale is now very purple!

Red Red Red

The back alley (“en bas”, côté Yves) suddenly has the most startling red flower, called crocosmia. (Chris guesses the variety is ‘Lucifer’, which would be totally kick-ass, but he’s not sure.)





















First reaction: “RED!” Then, “Alexander Calder!”




















































The morning I first saw it I was clipping dead daylillies--I stopped, mesmerised, and Jean-Luc had to laugh and raise his voice to get my attention.

À Paris, j’ai vu—

In Paris, I saw—


Lots of Métro stations.






















A trashcan, in Saint-Germain. (“Does art have to be beautiful?”)
























Rue de l’Arbre Sec. (“Dry Tree Street”.) And some panels about St. Genevieve.






















The outside of the Musée d’Orsay. Due to some sleepy evenings and a rather unreasonable aunt, Sara and I were unable to actually go in to our Number One Place to Visit. La prochaine fois! (Next time!) We had an awesome breakfast instead.

My Walk to Work

Filmed in the evening, after the garden is closed and the town is empty. The hanging flower I attempted to show is honeysuckle; the entire alley smells like it.

The House in Giverny

Bedroom, pre-mess.










Kitchen and roommate ("le canadien").










































By the front door, the evidence of our workday.






















View from the front door and to the right.









The light over the bathtub is the best in the house.

















Just another afternoon in Giverny.

How I Spent Friday Evening

(from the exhibition Les premiers retables)























Sara indulges in some German information sheets.

In Which Carol Visits and We Have Buckets of Fun, Part Two

(Pictures from late May, in Strasbourg.)

Me and Gutenberg and a carousel.





















Carol by the Ill River.























Taking a break in the park aux ponts couverts.
























































AT L’EPICERIE FOR LUNCH! Carol considers what delicacy to enjoy.

The Garden Update

One of my first greenhouse (les serres) jobs was cutting off the tops of tabac flowers before we replanted them into separate containers. This made me very happy, obviously, padding through these soft petals in yellow and pink. Christian (the serre boss who likes acting grumpy but is in fact a sweetheart) let me take them away in my hat.































The capucines have grown so much in one month!








Les geraniums rouges are one of my most favorite flowers. I've thought of them as "very French" since my friend Stephanie H. told me (many years ago) they were everywhere in Paris. Two weeks ago I found myself snapping off their dead stems right in front of Monet's house; we also pulled delicatement the little dead petals out, and then turned and raked over the ground around them.





I never knew what hollyhocks looked like. They unfurl like folded paper, or curled silk, from perfect geometric buds. These are right in front of the original gate.































And this past week, I have been taking off the dead campanoules, to make a second flowering (une deuxieme fleuraison, like roses).





















On the right here is a stalk with many finished blossoms. They need to be snapped off by hand, because if you use un secateur (a hand-cutter-thing) it takes off too much of the stem and "the flower gets confused", as Jean-Luc said.