i am the child of the wasteland....a land of haunted houses and monsters i call father. dark talents run in the family, but i shatter the glass to let the moonlight in, not to destroy something fragile for the feeling of breaking beneath my fists. all i can do is scream, crawl out, and keep screaming. but i can hold the sparrow, mend its wing... i am the spring rain and the hurricane... the monsters cower now, not me, not you. *xn* |
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 - 3:26 pm
a casual friend wrote me today- she sends out a newsletter on her adventures... Snow in SenlisBy Annie A rare thing happened today. It snowed!Even though France is on the same latitude as Calgary Canada the weatheris mild because of the ocean breezes. It used to snow here quite often,but to actually have snow covering the ground is very rare.We had the good fortune to be invited to Natalie and Jean Paul�s housefor lunch. As we walked to their ancient stone house in the center ofthe village we were covered with tiny balls of ice. The balls lookedmore like teeny tiny miniature hail.Cat, and Natalie�s two little girls were almost hysterical over thesight of the snow. As soon as we entered the house they all startedhugging and jumping up and down chattering away in French about theneige (snow).During lunch we sat looking through the French doors out into thegarden. The backdrop of their garden is a huge stonewall that is threestories tall. On the wall is an ivy vine and a wooden box with thebottom nailed to the wall. Jean Paul uses this box for a bird feeder.The whole time we were eating we had a wonderful show of chickadees,sparrows and even robins flying from a small tree to the bird feeder andthen onto a tall pine tree.The tiny ice balls started to become snowflakes about midway throughlunch. The snowflakes became bigger and bigger until they looked likesmall pieces of lace floating down from the sky.The girls grew more and more excited as the snow covered the ground.They could hardly get through lunch. Periodically they would jump upand start to put their shoes on. Jean Paul would tell them that theyhad to wait until all of us were finished eating, and were finished withour coffee.After lunch we bundled up to go for a walk. The gate was frozen shut sowe had to fuss with it by breathing on the lock.We walked through Senlis and admired the snow-covered roofs of theancient stone buildings. We all took the liberty of scooping snow offthe parked cars to make snowballs. I kept yelling to aim at �butts�because I didn�t want anyone to get hurt.We ended up at the WWI park memorial. Our goal was to make a �real�snowman but by the time we got to the park the snow was too dry to packinto snowballs. After lots of snow throwing and a few snow angels wetook the path along the top of the ancient wall of the city. It wasfeeling colder and colder.In the bend of the path we discovered a snowman about the size of Catthat actually looked more like a snow pig. Earlier in the day someonehad sculpted ears and a snout. We all stood behind the snow pig andJean Paul took a picture of us. Further down the path we saw a muchmore sophisticated taller snowman with ivy sprigs for arms and clustersof black ivy berries for the two eyes.When we got back to Natalie�s house we sat around talking about Maurice(Ma rish us), Natalie�s birthplace. We even got around to talking abouta variety of other topics including prisons in the US, French dogs whopee on the corners of couches at the Paris Marriott, and the cost ofreal estate in Senlis.It was a marvelous afternoon of good food, snow and interestingconversation. I was sorry to leave the coziness of the stone house andgarden view.When we entered our garden gate the view was breathtaking. Everythingwas covered in white. There was no green grass, or rose bush or fennelor Bibb lettuce anymore�only a bed of snow.The fire in the fireplace is calling to me as I write this. The smellof the chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) comforts me. The birds in thegarden are still flying up to the feeder for a late snack before thelast bit of daylight fades. All is right with the world today.****************************************don't you hate people like this, and yeah that nasty little town up there is her cute lil' paradise- i would have rather seen the snowpig (oh i'm kidding but you know what i mean.. the world is far from right ANYwhere- but i am glad for moment, anyone's moments of beauty and peace. would be nice to be there.. ihateherihateherihateher :)- we met in a convent in florida, yes a convent- i'll explain sometime later..no i'm not a nun..)
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