bamboo is actually the largest member of the grass family. this little guy has lived in a pot in our courtyard for several years, subject to the very french habit of pruning plants ruthlessly and relentlessly. but it has some family members that can grow three feet in a single 24 hour period. that’s about an inch and a half an hour, or 1 mm every 90 seconds. almost fast enough to see with the human eye. i wonder if our potted courtyard bamboo dreams of such wild abandon, as it sits still, submitting to yet another haircut.

bamboo

autignac, france

i’m as excited as a schoolgirl going to see beyoncé. on saturday we will drive the three hours up to rodez, in the aveyron, where painter pierre soulages was born, and where he recently constructed a museum for his work. françois hollande, the french president, has called soulages the greatest living artist. he is known for his black on black painting, and his theory of “outrenoir” which means “beyond black,” and which focuses not on the blackness of black, but on the light that reflects off of black surfaces and makes them luminous. sigh. he’s ninety years old and has been married to the same woman for 70 years. sigh. he’s independently wealthy and gets up every morning still wanting to paint. sigh. i think i’m in love. if i see him, can i scream?

pigeon feathers

autiganc, france

several days of rain in a row here, including a windy and rainy thanksgiving day. but it was, after all, a rainy day. not a snowy day. we are still waiting for our first below freezing temperatures here. steve and joe walked up to get shellfish tonight in t-shirts. and, as i remind myself every time i walk past the glass patio door, i am still looking at blooming geraniums on my outdoor terrace with december nearly in sight. i picked this head of white beauties today, just because i could.

white geranium (pelargonium)

autignac, france

first, let me say happy thankgiving to all my fellow americans! i can honestly say i will not miss being at home for the christmas and year-end holidays this year, with their endless and deadening marketing and commercialization. But I have a soft spot for thanksgiving, where we all spend a day thinking about being grateful, and eating with family. i don’t know how they’ve managed not to ruin it, but they have failed gloriously. i’ll be thinking of all of you and your efforts to achieve that impossible thing–the perfectly roasted turkey. bon courage à vous tous. as for today’s post, i normally shun simplistic and prescriptive words, exhorting us on toward our better selves. but i just like the way this one looks, and i think there is enough messiness in the design to leave room for mistakes, perhaps many of them, on the way to following the word’s advice.

broom twigs

autignac, france

in minnesota (where i usually reside for any new visitors to this blog), is not someplace where flowers of any variety begin to bloom in november.  there is a roundabout on the outskirts of Béziers (where i currently and temporarily live, for those same new visitors to the blog), that is our gateway to anywhere we want to go along the meditnerranean coast of languedoc. in other words, we use this roundabout a lot. so when i spied these poppies this week, i knew they had not been there previously, and had just bloomed within a day or two. that is to say: in mid-november! it is only coincidence that this same week brought the first significant snow to minnesota. only coincidence. it means nothing.

california poppy (pavot de californie)

béziers, languedoc, france