Thursday morning I spent a good bit of time writing the post for the first 2 days in Verquilleux, then some time in the studio. After yet another lovely lunch by the pool in the sunshine, Margaret, Ken and I drove to La Clayette to buy provisions for our contribution to the evening meal: cheese, wine, and dessert. Manne & Pierre were coming to “our” place for dinner. Pictured here is our visit to a top-rated chocolate maker in La Clayette – most of you know of my particular fondness for chocolate. Dinner was, yes, you guessed it, by the pool. But before dinner, Pierre spent some time looking at the works that I will hang in the show at the CulturCafe and interviewing me about the work. He is going to write about my work and post it up in the gallery. Pierre speaks some English and understands it quite a bit, but we still counted on Margaret as an interpreter, since the subject matter was more than simply small talk. The interview went surprisingly well. I’m very curious about what he will write. For dinner, Manne, who is an amazingly good cook, made a chicken and mushrooms dish that was so heavenly. I think the mushrooms are called mareilles and this was my first introduction to them. I’ve never tasted such a divine mushroom. I must really give very special thanks to Manne for her generosity in gifting me with this fabulous taste experience.

It was midnight when we went off to sleep, and I awoke at 9 a.m. this morning (Friday) – very late for me. I slept well; I think I’m finally adjusting to the time change. Margaret and I worked in the studio for several hours in the morning. Then we had yet another – yup – another – lunch by the pool, and then drove to Paray le Monial. We returned to the fabric store we had visited on Wednesday…or was it Tuesday?…no matter, we were returning for more fabric scraps that the owner had promised us. He gave us a huge bag – well, not gave, but sold to us for a minimal cost. We are thinking of bringing some of these scraps to Nice to share with everyone. Perhaps I’ll even develop an assignment using them.

You may recall from a previous post that we saw a mosaic & ceramic exhibit in Paray le Monial. This village is known for its mosaics. On our visit today, Margaret and I went to the Maison de la Mosaique Contemporaine, which is a gallery and workshop/school devoted to the art of mosaics. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take any photos there. But I did buy several postcards and a small book containing the work of a couple of artists that I was especially interested in. The mosaic work that I’m seeing is inspiring new ideas for collage work. I’m curious to learn and see more. I didn’t expect this at all. I had had little interest in mosaics before this. I’ll have the postcards and the books with me in Nice and I will bring them to the next Independent Study Workshops in November.

And last, I am hoping to give you a little smile with some “footage” at the end of this post. I am still getting used to this iPad Mini camera and find myself frequently hitting the video button and recording my feet and my own voice cursing. Once I simply accidentally took a still photo of my own foot and, when I saw it, I decided I liked it and would keep it. Then Margaret accidentally photographed her own feet. So we decided to purposely photograph the feet of all three of us. Then today Margaret and I took another of ours. We are seeing a series develop…or perhaps it is a running joke? Groan!

Next post will be about my exhibit. Till then, au revoir.

– quite