Bastille Day at Le Fief

With Catharine and the boys in Canada, I took the opportunity of a four-day weekend to spend some time at Le Fief. Deep in the countryside of the Limousin, Le Fief is a lovely old house, owned by my Uncle Michael and Aunt Irena. They kindly have made an open invitation for us to use it when they are absent, which is more often then they'd wish. We have come to love our time there, and this weekend was no exception for me.

The countryside is quite rough compared to the manicured plains that surround Paris. The Limousin is the poorest and northernmost of the rich Langedoc country that extends from the Loire to the Pyrenees. It is the beginning of the geographical feature known as the Massif Centrale. The land is used mostly for livestock, principally sheep, and there are many hills, woods and streams. It is the sort of country where one could almost expect to find hobbits living in sandy banks. Small lizards, a muskrat and large moles called taupes are the principal creatures one encounters, aside from sheep, cows, horses and mules.

The weather was uniformally hot and sunny and I spent most of my days in the shade by the pond reading. I finished a collection of short stories by Edith Templeton which were remarkable. I then set about on a biography of Eleanor of Acquitaine, once Queen of France, and later, when she married Henry II, the Queen of England. Le Fief is some 80 km south of Poitiers, her favourite residence. She ruled all of the Langedoc, including the Limousin.

I waited for the golden light of evening to set out with my camera and lenses to capture the shady nooks and hollows, streams and fields of the area. Click here to see a slideshow or here to see the photos individually.

In the Jardin d"Acclimatation

BlogShot, originally uploaded by Reechard.

While my brother David and his family were visiting us last week, Catharine took the three youngest cousins to a small amusement park situated on the west side of the Bois de Bologne. I love this photo. Their faces say it all. Catharine phoned me on her mobile while they were all whirling about on some ride. She just wanted to share the joy.

View the photos as a slideshow.

The Fountains of Saint Cloud

IMG_3208, originally uploaded by Reechard.

The weather in Paris is hot again, after a few days of cooler weather. My brother David and his family arrived on Wednesday and have been seeing lots of museums and churches, so we felt it was time for an afternoon in nature. Nature according to Le Notre, the famous designer of the Versailles gardens. Saint Cloud was one of the last gardens he designed and it is much wilder and less contained than Versailles. It is built into the hillside and he has made extensive uses of fountains that harness the fall of water to create some magnificent plumes that shoot over 50 feet into the air.

On Sundays, the fountains are turned on for 15-20 minutes at 3, 4, and 5 o'clock. We ate, drank, read books, played cards and played boule under the trees. A thoroughly French afternoon enjoying our plebian pleasures in the old aristrocratic haunts of the eighteenth century.

View slideshow of our afternoon.

Three Friends in a Tree

Three Friends in a Tree, originally uploaded by Reechard.

I took this photo earlier today at a birthday party for one of Charles' classmates. As the scavenger hunt wound down, the boys began exploring a tree that hung out over the lake. I caught them amidst the foliage. Charles is on the left next to Pun and Louis, his two best friends this year.

Click here to see a slideshow of photos from the party

Two Cousins in Paris

A-Day-at-the-Races---01
Originally uploaded by Reechard.

I took this photo of Catharine and Diana while we were at the races on Mother's Day this year. Since moving to Paris, one of our most pleasant surprises has been to connect to Diana, her husband Mitch and daughter Lila.

Diana and Catharine are distant cousins and, before meeting in Paris, had only met a few times in New Hampshire when we visited there. Now they are a special part of our extended family -- the only one we have here in France.

A Day at the Races

A little late perhaps, but just wanted to catch up with some activities we've engaged in recently. On Mother's Day, we gathered at the race track in Porte d'Auteuil (in the southwest corner of the 16e arrondissement in Paris). Spreading our picnic blankets on the center field, we unloaded and consumed delicacies, sipped champagne, threw frisbees, played badminton, chatted and, of course, watched the horses run and jump.
















If you are interested in getting copies of any of these photographs, send me an email and I will send you a higher resolution version. Updated 19 June 2005, Paris.