la vitesse
How can thirty-five days have passed since my last post?
We all seem to be experiencing an inverse relationship between the lengthening spring days and our perceptions of the passage of time. We have started to talk about the end, and after, and we are at once already departed and more here than we have ever been.
Things have happened. A full recap is obviously out of the question, so I’m just going to pick some photos that I like and use them as an outline:
Sunday, February 15th, Café de la Poste, Manosque, France
That’s the post office there in the reflection. Right after I took this, two old men called me over to their table (and I went, as I am wont to do when old men call me over, as they are wont to do) and I somehow managed to incite an argument between them about Sarkozy, the watching of which was an entertaining way to spend an hour.
Thursday, February 19th, my dorm room, Manosque, France
Here’s Matt, taking a well-deserved rest after 20 hours of airplane and bus travel.
Friday, February 20th, Manosque, France
I live here.
Saturday, February 21st, Rocher de Bellevue, Saignon, France
About sixty seconds after I took this picture we decided to get married here.
Saturday, February 21st, St. Remy de Provence, France
Later that same day in St. Remy. I just like this picture.
Sunday, February 22nd, Manosque, France
We took advantage of having access to a real kitchen and threw a dinner party. Unfortunately, I forgot that everything is closed on Sunday, and ended up having to improvise dinner for 9 people with whatever I could scrounge from our dorm cupboard. We ended up having gluten-free taglietelli with baby artichokes, jambon, and chevre, an herbed pork loin (fortuitously purchased Saturday) cooked in (slightly aged) apples, roasted potatoes, salad, and a beautiful apple tart made my Linda. It was decidedly not my most successful culinary effort ever, but we didn’t starve (for food or good company).
Monday, February 23rd, somewhere in Provence, France
Goats!
Tuesday, February 24th, Amsterdam, NetherlandsI loved Amsterdam and took a gazillion pictures. Here are three:
These swans have a strong sense of irony.
Saturday, February 28th, Clessé, France
We spent two lovely days at the home of our friends Xavier and Regan in the wine country in Eastern France.
And then we all piled in
le camping car and made our way, via Annecy…
to Switzerland.
Sunday, March 1st, somewhere in the Valais region of Switzerland
The Swiss wine makers have squeezed grape vines into every available square inch of their steep steep fields. It’s kind of amazing.
It was fun hanging out with Regan and Xavier and camping out by the side of Lake Geneva, but Switzerland was cold and expensive, and we were happy to get back to sunny Provence.
Saturday, March 7th, Roussillon, France
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And eat one last time at our favorite place in Eygalières, where we managed to become regulars in the space of two weeks.
Monday, March 9th, Manosque, France
On Matt’s last day in Manosque, we all went up to the top of Mont d’Or…
…and had a chilly picnic.
Sunday, March 15th, Reillanne, FranceThe following Sunday, I was invited over by one of the professors who I work with for the most gorgeous Sunday lunch with her most gorgeous family.
March 15th was (supposedly) the last day for burning in our department (I have noticed that not everyone got the memo). Here’s Cris’ husband Alfie taking advantage.
Wednesday, March 18th, Saignon, France
Last Wednesday me and my posse rolled into Saignon to do some wedding business. We sat and had drinks at the Auberge next to this fountain, and, when the girls ordered sirops, the incredibly kind woman who was serving us brought out a pitcher, held it under the running stream of the fountain, and plunked it down on our table. It tasted extra good.
Friday, March 20th, the dorm hallway, Manosque, FranceWhich brings us to this past Friday, when we invited some friends over for another whatever-was-left-in-the-fridge dinner. We had potatoes baked in crème fraiche with gruyere, a zucchini fritatta, salad, pasta Bolognese (by Carmen, of course), and Mars ice-cream bars and champagne for dessert. Afterward, we did the only thing you can do when you find yourself forced to confront the inexorable march of time and (as Carmen beautifully put it as we were walking home late from the cinema a few days later) “le futur inconnu”: we danced.
