Busy week

Despite complete lack of photographic evidence,
its been a busy week.
Fed Philippe and Theirry, Ullabendick and Aileen
-who were massively entertaining-; said a sad farewell
to Iain; a glad hello to Pete, and a bit of a late birthday
dinner; bought a house and got on the committee of the
MJC. Have not finished several paintings and have not
opened the door to trick or treaters because they
frighten me.
Its the day of the dead tomorrow and the town will trip off
to the graveyard to put large pots of chrysanthemums on
the family plot. I was thinking of adopting one and doing
the same but probably wont bother...


Anyway, its dangerous out there.
Here is Christy running from a Dinosaur.
Its OK, she escaped; she and Mark are back in San Francisco.

lost and found

Thanks to Leigh, our boys have been found -
here is Steve in Edinburgh with Leigh, and

outside his restaurant -

and Jezza, comme d'hab!

sunday fest

Steve in Montazel gave the Captian, Kat and me a truly fabulous
lunch - the most upmarket chicken and chips ever - and chocolate
cake (gluten free) to die for, plus chocolates from Claudio
that are a kind of Socratic notion of the absolute chocolate,
at least to my mind.
We stumbled off, waddling, in time for dinner with Vic and Mary.
The plan was a light supper at the Café de la Gare. We ordered
one course and hey! Our friend the chef decided to give us a french
tureen full of soupe noix St Jaques. Delicious, remarkable, followed
by maigre de canard perfecto.
Alas, I should not have had seconds of everything and all
those chocolates at Steves.

Trade Mark and Princess leave

Trade Mark and his bride, Princess frilly pants,
came to Tilling for their honeymoon, fresh from
working at Burning Man. See the lovely new site,
http://evolution-control.com
They left today for Munich.

Heres hoping they come back very soon.


Here is Mark admiring the church at Rennes les Chateau.
Christy got chased by a dinosaur but the photo is missing -
has anyone got a copy?

le vrais success

The jumble sale was rather like garden party
except that the art group is now out of debt and
perhaps can afford sessions with two models....

le vrai jumble sale anglais

le vrai jumble sale anglais is tomorrow - Saturday -
at 2.00, at Kats place in the impasse Victor Hugo,
behind Héléne Martys which is up from Chez Charlie.
Everything is 50 cents! Bring stuff, buy stuff, have a
cup of tea! All welcome!
All proceeds to the drawing group who forgot to pay
last years dues to the MJC.

At Iains without Steve

It was brill to be back chez Iain and Steve and a gourmands
delight - but Steve! Where are you? Apart from elsewhere,
having a good time - do come back soon and visit. You are
missed, sorely.

Iain, notwithstanding, was a perfect host and we had an
hysterical evening. Merci, Jeune Homme!

Big Ben in London

Ben Vautier, a favorite artist, is in London.
I'm on his mailing list and get his newsletter;
he is exhibiting in the Serpentine Gallery with
Yoko Ono, Gilbert and George and others including
Gustave Metzger, whom I knew 20 years ago and
he was ancient then - I told Kitaj I'd met him and he
snorted, Is that old madman still alive??

Clearly Ben is unaware of the Serpentine's reputation -
it was known in the studios as 'The Kiss of Death' because
once you showed there you were never heard of again.

Here are some extracts that Ben has written in English...

LONDON (EN ANGLAIS)
Serpentine Gallery
Lots of staff
The weather cold
I did well to take a coat
Not free enough
Why refer the speaker corner
And make people to pay 20 pounds to come in
I did not stay to listen to all
To much talking
Of course everything was filmed
And we had to sign paper-authorizing reproduction

LONDON
Serpentine Gallery Richter show 1/20
I never liked Richter
Neither his clouds
and less his Boetti period
I never understood his success

LONDON
Onces I am in London
I just as well study
Anglo Saxon imperialism
On TV in my hotel room I heurd
twice mention USA "leader of the free world"
Anglo Saxon imperialism is cosmopolite
The world belongs to us

LONDON
English people are very nice
Their shoes are polished
They are polite and say
"how do you do ?"
"I am pleased to meet you"
They look like Miss Marple and Inspector Barnaby.
But in reality they are all Darwinist
that is to say survivers

LONDON EASYJET
Never again
To much queing up
I hate queues
I wonder why I am in London
to show off
To event payed 150 pounds that Jean Jacques Lebel payed
I am tired I want to go back to sleep

heads down...

There have been complaints that I am having too much
fun. Apart from thanking all those responsible for the
lovely weekend, I am now keeping my head down -

Hélas, the weather continues to be beautiful BUT
this morning it was really foggy, really really foggy. And
quite chilly. Honest.

Tilling was full of those fat beige doves with chocolate
coloured collars, sweetly pretty, sitting glumly about in
the mist. I saw one of them chased by a long-tailed
wagtail, very ominous: what it presages is a mystery.
Later, I saw a jay chase a magpie. Lucky I don't believe in
omens.

So all is not riotous fun in Tilling!!
Can't resist adding this cryptic souvenir of the weekend,
with many thanks to Tormey and Saskian and apologies
for inevitably spelling their names wrongly.

the placing of Kats cauldron

A bunch of rowdies and Joans pretty nose...

Kats housewarming was a very lively affair,
lit by Pablo and Theo's fire antics.


Many Tillingites are feeling frail today. Nice one Kat!

dinner at Robins

There is a lack of criticism on these pages lately -
and here is another. Smashing evening; food, company
and surroundings perfect.
BUT I should have avoided that last mouthful of exquisite
whiskey. Gut-rot won't taste the same now.

Not much of a critical analysis - life persists in being
delightful.

Well done and thank you to that Scottish Dave for getting
us home intact and driving slowly enough to see the wild boars
under the moonlight...

jonathons blog

http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185

Do look!!
Jonathons blog is blog of the week in Artists Newletter...

dejuner sur l'herbe

Lunch at Katherine's with Leo and Toby and Angus
Just perfect

invisible artist(s)

Walking in the mountains today, I was aware of
an artist hand...
Coupled with the stone circles that appear sometimes
in the Aude, I strongly suspect an earth artist is in the
region.






Any candidates??

Totally failed to get to Petes to clear up
after last night but have remembered
the bat that joined the party - how
it circled two rooms calmly, having a good
squeak about, until flying out of the front
of the house - and how very nice everyone
was. What lovely friends. It seems the party carried
on till late but I was abed - woken only by the sound
of internal walls in the MJC being torn out and
thrown 2 floors down to a metal skip.

Incidentally, these small photos can be rendered huge
by clicking on them.

Petes apero

I try - I do, honest - not to report on parties
while I'm still blanquetted-up.
Mais... alors
!
Merci, Pete, I'll come over and help clear up
tomorrow, honest.

fun at market

This mornings market was fun, as ever; loads of friends
out and about.
Sitting at the café du pont with a group of mates
when a nearby geezer asked me if I was English.
I confessed. He said, in French of course, ha! The English
are Villains!!
Peturbed, I asked why. Because, he said, you burnt Joan
of Ark. Naturally I didn't attempt to deny this, though
of course it wasn't strictly accurate; I was just relieved
that some crisis wasn't my fault. However, when he went
on to say that we also blocked the chimney so that the
Virgin couldn't ascend to heaven, it was clear that
he was hoping for a theological slagging session so I
concurred and got back to the English who were debating
global economy.
No-one tells me anything. Whats this about the
collapse of Capitalism?

jolly soirée

Thanks to all who made last night such a jolly evening...










I went to the river to photograph the Llama but it had gone
with the circus, so here is another beast.
It flew away on four large wings. I think its a cicada,
Kat says its a grasshopper. Adjudication, anyone?

Tilling hell

Life in Tilling has been rendered hideous and headachey
by the repairing of the mountain behind the Butte St Helene,
which is trying to fall onto the town.
Have they so sense of fun, that they must drill and cut and
control it all?


Dust in clouds. Noise echos around the valley.

Had to go to the river to calm down at lunchtime.
Blessed peace while everyone bonne heures...

...Broken only by the man with the circus van,
announcing on his loudspeaker that they are in town.
Hurrah!

weekend report

So, a busy time... Captain Harris's brother John
has had a holiday here and exhausted us.


We went to lots of places and ate hugely and enjoyed
ourselves.

Now both the Captain and his bro have pushed off and left
me to diet alone.

compliment of the day

"You look beautiful darling - but I am gay and I'm not wearing my glasses"
*sigh

nude thrills

Saturday morning in Tilling, as everyone knows,
is devoted to the nude. Persons are either getting
out of their kit or sharpening their pencils. This
ritual occurs in the Centre Culturel so I reacted
with alarm when Ali pointed out that Msr Pozo and
his band of pompiers were swarming over the balcony.



Investigation revealed a training session.





Some poor girl was strapped up and lowered
over the edge, squeaking.



All went very well and when the artists
arrived the pompiers scampered, pinkishly
blushing against the threat of having to
pose.