Bonjour mes amis! I’m working on my website right now. So if the galleries aren’t working properly, or if not much shows up, that’s the reason. Please look through my blog (using category tabs if you’d like) to view my work until it’s all fixed up. Cheers!
Six and a half years ago I came to France and fell in love with food. I specifically remember cutting up zucchini in the quintessential French-style kitchen with sunlight pouring through the tall windows behind me. I was 21, on my first big adventure, and very, very lonely. Had it not been for an incredibly hospitable couple that welcomed me into their family, I don’t think I’d be able to reflect on my first experience in France with such fondness. Despite riding the highs and lows- the excitement of following my dreams accompanied by such homesickness, there I was- cooking in France.
And without any forethought of the parallels, here I am, 27 years old, chopping up zucchini for dinner in France, yet again. This time, I’m completely alone and at this precise moment, that’s okay. I’m learning to carry “home” with me. I can see my day as a series of moments- witnessing an old couple walk steadily down the narrow road; practicing my French with the kind and patient woman at the etal du fromage; catching myself dance to a favorite song as I stroll through an ancient cemetery; not minding staying up late to have Skype dates with my boyfriend; and of course, indulging in pain au chocolat much too often.
It’s far from perfect or ideal. In fact, yesterday I was ready to leave. But it’s about pushing through and getting to the moments when I remember to see all of the beauty, no matter now I feel.
“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.” Bell Hooks
So here’s to growing up, solo adventures, and being present in the full life that surrounds us each and every day.
I stayed at an incredible flat in London last weekend. Called the “Tube Room in Arty Loft” on Airbnb, I figured I was in for an adventure. I met people from Germany, Sweden, France and the US, celebrated a German guy’s 25 birthday with champagne and spontaneous dancing to a goofy birthday song, talked about art and life with architects, designers, and dancers… Seriously? Amazing! Plus, check out this place! It’s an old fabric warehouse space that Caspar and his crew have converted into a livable space. They built box/pods for sleeping spaces and then the rest is shared. I think Indy could use something like this…
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
-Wendell Berry
A weekend in Glasgow, Scotland, a lovely time. I stayed with a friend of a friend, now a new friend! And an old friend visited. So the three of us tromped around on what was probably the most beautiful day of winter. The city is hard to put into words… industrial and a bit sad feeling, but lots of color and youthful energy. Maybe a bit like Indy but without the Midwest feeling.
