what do you see

any of you remember that agave leaf, unopened and straight, that i posted six weeks ago? well, this is what it looked like right before we left. what do you see a hooded monk? a vagina? an alien life form? i see a cobra about to strike. my husband, well . . . boys.

giant blue agave leaf unfurling

autignac, france

en route to minneapolis via paris

we are both sadly and excitedly making our way home now. stopping for a few days in paris, and then on to minneapolis. i’ve cued up my few remaining languedoc photos for you while i travel. then home to snow-covered ground that will last until april. i hope you all like my austere winter twig photos–you’ve got two months of that ahead of you. prepare.

eucalyptus branch and leaves

title

this isn’t the most compelling of my compositions, but i decided i couldn’t leave the languedoc without posting a STILL photo of vine wood. it is so central to why we keep coming back here. this is a winemaking village. almost everyone here is involved in one way or another with the growing of vines, the fermenting of grapes, or the sale of wine. and as a delicious bonus, the vine trimmings from the winter pruning season get piled up to dry, and are later used as the most beautiful grilling wood in the world.

vine woods

autignac, france

a rose is a rose is a geranium

the geraniums on our terrace in autignac, france continued to bloom all winter long. to a northern gal, this was nothing short of inspiring. i saw this one blooming just this morning, and decided it looked so much like a rose, that i had to allow it to pose as one.

geranium bud in january

final sweep

i took time out from my final sweep of bits and pieces around the house and terrace to put this assemblage together. each trip here is different. when the kids were little, we spent more time in the surrounding scrubland hiking and looking for bugs for our (then young) son’s terrarium. now he is grown, and he prefers rivers and oceans where he fishes with his dad. so, we spent less time in the prickly garrigue this time, and many more hours on beaches and river banks. it’s interesting how these simple assemblages reflect our changing family interests.

assemblage of found nature from mediterranean languedoc 

autignac, france