FIRST SEABATH OF THE YEAR

As usual the cold winter months have suddenly turned summery. There has been a flower explotion in the nature. To a Finn temperatures of 25 degrees celsius and more are summer and it would seem we will be getting even more in a day or two.

The beautiful afternoon had us wondering on to the beach. We found a new beach between Sambuc and Salin de Giraud, in Camargue, at the end of a veeery bumpy road. My dog loved the little creatures in the water. My feet loved the invigorating salt water.

Première bain d'eau de mer de la saison. On a trouvé un nouveau plage entre Sambuc et Salin de Giraud, en Camargue, après une route trèeees défoncée. Mon chien a adoré les créatures marines. Mes pieds ont trouvé delicieux le massage par les vagues.

RED WINE

After more than twenty years passed in France I’m still a pretty bad “Frenchwoman”: I don’t much care for wine. At least I don’t know a lot about it and I have a pretty “bad” taste in wine, I mainly drink rosé wine – and champagne, of course.

Last Saturday I found a red wine that suited my taste buds. It is light, fruity and “womanly”, a good wine for summer evenings, to be drunk chilled as a rosé. It might not suite a proper wine lover but I liked it a lot. I found this treasure at the Domaine de La Brillane, near Aix-en-Provence. This vineyard was bought by a British gentleman who made his first career in the City before becoming a French vigneron in 2000.

They produce four different wines of which the lightest and my favorite is Le B - Cuvée de Printemps. Those who like richer red wines find them as well. And the best of it is that they are produced organically. They don’t produce a lot, so you can find the wines at their cave in Coutheron, near Aix or in some restaurants and wine merchants in some English speaking countries.

I had the chance to tour the Domaine last Saturday as a kick off of a lovely day spent among some lovely ladies, all Finnish bloggers living in the Southern France. After a copious picnic at the Domaine we headed to town and strolled in the streets of Aix. I get allways nostalgic when in Aix since it is a town I love and know well since I have lived in it or near it for twenty years.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera in my “weekend cottage”, so the photos hear come from the web pages of the Domaine de La Brillane. And they do a bed and breakfast, too. To wake up in this scenery!

On the other hand I didn’t forget the camera two weeks ago. For once we spent the weekend in my current home town and we had a marvelous weather. Since I’m feeling lazy I won’t put the photos here but you can see them here and here. I realize you might not understand the Finnish texts but there isn’t much to be said about these pretty, little towns. Vaison-la-Romaine has both Roman and Medieval heritage and a very famous Roman bridge over the Ouvèze. Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux doesn’t have three castles, not even one, but it has a pretty little Medieval and Renaissance old town. Suze-la-Rousse has a medieval castle with a spectacular Renaissance court yard. The castle houses a Wine university, after all we are totally surrounded by vineyards.

UNE VRAI IMMORTELLE

Tomorrow, Thursday, the sixth woman ever becomes a member of the Académie française or as they are called an immortal. Simone Veil is a French politician, minister, chairman of the European Parliament and one of the favorite persons of the French. She drove courageously an abortion law while health minister but above all she is known to be a witness of the Shoah since she was deported to Auschwitch when she was only 16 and was the only one of her family to survive. She told her story in 2007 in her book Une vie.

MORNING PROMENADE

Saturday morning was the sort of beautiful winter day, windy and cold but sunny and with a wonderfull blue sky that one would wish all the winter days in Provence to be like. To celebrate the good weather I took a walk to Arles.

Le matin de samedi le temps était magnifique, un temps froid et venteux mais ensoleillé et avec un ciel d'un bleu éclatant. J'en ai profité pour faire une promenade dans Arles. Pour une fois j'ai pris mon appareil photo avec moi et je peux donc vous convier avec moi pour cette promenade.

Arles is a town I like a lot. It has a sort of faded, provincial charm, especially in winter when the tourists are rare. I love to walk in it's allies, looking at the pretty little details one finds everywhere. And for once I thought about taking my camera with me, so I can share the experience with you.

J'aime beaucoup Arles. La ville a un charme un peu vieillot et passé, surtout en hiver, quand la plupart des touristes l'a abandonné.

In summer, Arles has a lot of visitors but in winter it is nicely calm. It still has a lot to offer, especially for those who can see. The Japanese tourists are drawn to Arles for the fame of the painter Van Gogh.

Pendant l'été les touristes remplissent ses rues mais tout le long de l'année elle attire surtout des touristes Japonais, intéressés par le mémoire du peintre Van Gogh.

On Sunday we had a surprise coming:

Mais dimanche une surprise nous attendais:

A new snowfall, more than 20 centimeters of snow in Arles. It is very rare this late in the year, it must be some twenty years we haven't seen it.

Une nouvelle chute de neige, très rare si tard dans l'année.

TEASER PHOTOS

I'm finally loading photos I've been meaning to show for some time allready, on an exhibition that you can still see in Arles until next September. And it is an exhibition worth visiting if ever you have the occasion to go to Arles: Ceasar, Rhône for memoryat the Arles Antique Museum.

Je mets finalement en ligne quelques photos sur une exposition qu'on pourra voir à Arles jusqu'en Septembre prochain. C'est une exposition qui vaut le coup d'oeil si vous avez la possibilité de visiter Arles: César, le Rhône pour mémoire au Musée d'Arles Antique.

It shows pieces found in the bottom of the Rhône River, at the height of the town of Arles. You can see everyday objects brought by barges to the citizens of Arles, then Arelate and magnificent pieces of art, of which the one bust of Ceasar supposed to be contemporary and the most like of all his busts.

On peut y voir des pièces trouvées au fond de la rivière Rhône à la hauteur de la ville d'Arles. Il s'agit des objects de tous les jours ammenées par bateaux pour les citoyens d'Arelate romaine et aussi des grandes pièces d'art dont le plus fameux, une buste de César, apparemment contemporaine du grand homme et la plus resemblante.

A statue of a slave.

Une statue d'esclave.

A young woman's head.

La tête d'une jeune femme.

The great Ceasar.

Le grand César.

FEBRUARY AND IT’S VEGETATION

The winter goes on and on, we are starting to be tired of it. The first bouquets of mimosa are sold in the shops and the markets but the cloudy skies and rain doesn’t give the impression of spring beeing close at hand.

The other weekend we made a little tour and found this lovely little shop in Mouriès. They sell amongst coffee, tea and other gift articles, dried plants for infusions, la tisane. They have a very large selection and they are very knowledgeable whence the name of the place, l’Herbier des Alpilles.

For this February’s vegetable I have chosen the Jerusalem artichoke, helianthus tuberosus in latin or topinambour in French. It is a near relation to the sunflower and has pretty yellow flowers too. But it is the root part that is eaten. It is one of those veggies used before and during the wars but forgotten afterwards but fashionable again today.

And this month’s herb is thyme because it is antiseptic and good against flus and colds. Yes, I’ve catched a throat virus. So, I am trying thyme’s properties to clear the throat and calm the coughs. I think it is working. The thyme is good also for digestive pains. It can be used in infusions, steaming, compresses etc. And it is a good spice, too. Of course, the best is the provençal thyme !

ON A RAINY DAY

I washed my windows.... J'ai lavé mes fenêtres un jour de pluie...

to hang my new curtains found at Emmaus.

pour mettre mes nouveaux rideaux trouvés chez Emmaüs.

NEIGE !

So, I just came back from my native Finland to find this:

Je suis revenue de ma Finlande natale pour trouver ceci:

Snow had covered large portions of Provence in a wintry cloak.

La neige a couvert une bonne partie de la Provence sous un duvet blanc.

We don't really think about snow when we talk of Provence but it happens almost every year that we have a day or two of snow. But of course it never lasts long since most of the time the temperatures are above zero in the day time, at least in the southern parts of Provence. Snow is more frequent and stays longer in the mountains. In Aix, Arles or Avignon, however, it is rare and causes a lot of perturbations since there is no equipment to deal with it. The children love it, since it gives them a whole new playground to play in and an excuse for not going to school.

On ne pense pas à la neige quand on pense à la Provence. Et pourtant cela arrive presque chaque année qu'il y ait une chute de neige, même dans nos latitudes. Et chaque fois quand cela arrive, c'est la bagaille puisqu'il n'y a pas assez d'equipement pour s'en débarasser. Au moins les enfants l'adorent, cela leur donne une nouvelle attraction pour jouer et une excuse pour ne pas aller à l'école!

For comparison, here you have a photo of Finland (if you want to see more, go and have a look behind the window at the right side of this blog).

Pour comparer, voici une image de la Finlande (si vous voulez en voir plus, voyez derrière la fenêtre à la droite de ce blog).

RUNNING LATE

December has allready given way to January and to a new year, we are in 2010. I have taken a little leave from this blog and from France, visiting my family and my winter-clad home country. I have some photos waiting of a few exhibitions I visited before my winter vacation and I will be posting them soon. In the mean while I wish all a happy new year. If you want to see where I am at the moment do visit my other blog at http://fleurdelavande.blogspot.com/

Le décembre a déjà cédé la place au janvier et nous sommes en 2010. J'ai pris un petit conges de ce blog et de la France, en visitant mon pays d'origine et ma famille. Il me reste des photos à poster des expos que j'ai visité avant mon départ et je le ferai bientôt. En attendant, je souhaite à tous une bonne nouvelle année. Si vous souhaitez suivre mes pérégrinations veuillez visiter mon autre blog à http://fleurdelavande.blogspot.com/

HALLOWEEN VS TOUSSAINT

In France too, Halloween is gaining in popularity. Specially in families with little children it has become the custom to buy some Halloween –stuff that the supermarkets gorge in late October and the night of the 31st the children do the rounds in the village to collect some bonbons, just like in the US.

But the traditional French jour férié, holiday, is of course Toussaint, the All Saints Day. It is a day to remember the passed loved ones. All families take chrysanthemums to graveyards. In France this magnificent flower is totally identified with the dead. It is extremely rare to see it used as a decorative plant.

Fortunately I am not French and I can shock passers-by with my beautiful chrysanthemum on my windowsill. Chrysanthemum originates from China and was considered there the emperor’s flower. The people couln’t have them in their homes. It’s golden hews reminded the people the emperor’s status. How nice to be able to admire my favorite golden pompoms not fearing the emperor’s anger!

En France aussi la Halloween devient chaque fois plus populaire, surtout dans les familles avec enfants. Fin octobre les magasins dégoulinent des marchandises Halloween et le soir du 31 les enfants font les rondes dans le village pour réclamer des bonbons.

Mais le vrai jour férié traditionnel français est la Toussaint, le premier novembre. Cette une journée pour se rappeler les morts. On amène des chrysanthèmes aux cimetières pour fleurir les tombes des êtres aimés. Ici le chrysanthème est considéré une plante des morts qu’il est très rare de voir utilisée en décoration. Je vais quand même choquer mes voisins en plaçant mon chrysanthème favorit, aux grand pompons dorés, sur ma fenêtre.

Le chrysanthème est originaire de la Chine. Là-bas il était considéré comme une fleur dédiée aux empereurs. Il était interdit au peuple d’en avoir chez soi. Ces couleurs dorées rappellait bien sûr la grandeur de l’empereur. Qu’il est bon de pouvoir l’admirer sur ma fenêtre sans avoir peur de la colère de l’empereur!