I promised Yahaira and Lolly pictures of my village, and I’m looking for them still. In the meantime, enjoy this:

Balade nocturne, 2008
Watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches / 30.5 x 22.9 cm

This is the main street through the vieux village, which, during the evening is empty but for the cats! There is a particular black and white one with a short tail that loves to follow me around, and sits in my shadow during the longer days of summer. On evening walks the first buildings I pass are the roadside auberge on the left, and the grumpy old man’s property on the right. Then it’s the town hall, and then the rest of the village. The road forks at the end, just before the bridge, and you can head back to the main road to the left, or cross the river to the right.

It sits in the curve between two hills, and with a chapel perched dramatically on a cliff, it compels you to stare at it as you drive around the hill. At night, the chapel is lit from below, and there have been many times I’ve returned home, in the evening after a full day of climbing, and been comforted by this beacon.

As far as I know, there are only two other houses here owned by foreigners. Our landlords are Brits, there’s another British couple who live in the vieux village, and I think the people with the noisy dogs are Italians. Everyone else is a local. I like that it’s not given over to tourism, that it’s small and quaint, that there is only one piece of property for sale here. The town nearest to us, Vaison-la-Romaine, has all that. I like that I can see Mont Ventoux. Two kilometers high and so commanding of the valley. I like that there are vineyards everywhere, and les glycines, wisteria, are blooming like crazy, and the irises have begun to flower, big fluffy heads of purple bobbing in the wind. I like that I can walk to the farmer down the street and buy his vegetables, because I know where he grows them! I’ve seen him working in the fields across the river. I like it here.

One of my all-time favorite actresses, Audrey Tautou, is in a movie about Coco Chanel! Here’s a preview below.