En Place

an early start
editing photos
forming a clear layout
for the catalogue
8 pages
combining text and image
takes most of the morning
the printer goes on holiday
tomorrow
then back to supermarket
to get local paper
H is sure I’ll be in there
it took a while to find
the papers and magazines
are neither in the supermarket
…the woman on the till
looks shocked when I ask
where the papers are
nor in the bookshop
but in the ‘library’
a magazine shop
of course!
anyway there I am
under Sacy Le Petit
unsmiling
for some reason
and quoted
en français

at the supermaket
buy gâteau breton
with framboise
mmm
back at the chateau
a late lunch
some gateau
and then down
in the workshop
…sharing with a mouse today
hoping to stiffen
the fabric with glue
so it takes on a rigid form
but its flimsy still
want to pad out the
big frame
made in the first week
test out different
fabric folds and things
but it’s not quite happening
maybe needs stitching
and padding
to make long tubes…

D returns
cheerful and bluff
the bell rings
and we sit around
H’s kitchen table
woofers from
sweeden and paris
H and me
with bordeux
salami, hazelnuts
D is entertaining
in an old fashioned way
like he’s amusing his grandchildren
showing us his muscles
getting us to guess how old he is
(62)
not that I understand much
but it’s good to laugh
about lost hamsters
and the girls
from Colorado
who wanted
to use his shower

not quite all downhill after that
manage to stitch
some tubes
into a length of muslin
stuffing them with
bubble wrap
it’s got potential..

guests leave
R, a previous
artist in residence
packs his tent
his suasages and bacon
and drives off
taking all to the station
in Saint Pont Maxence
and suddenly it’s
as quiet as a convent

need some more materials
to test and try a few things
before I go
cycle to the Brico
my favorite shop
the cycling is good
for thinking
for plannng
and for just being
the roads are mostly quiet
and the cycle lanes are great

the cycling is quite tiring
even though it’s mostly flat
shuffle through
the afternoon and evening
in the workshop
in my room
and later
catching up with
family
their lives and
immediate needs

a slowish start
finished editing the
photographs
with yellow overlays
to print up later
and maybe arrange on
a stand of sticks
…pick-up sticks

the afternoon is quiet
begin to take and
select photos
for the catalogue
but time has passed
and have spent
too long on the laptop
need to get outside
walk around the gardens
feel the warm scented breeze
listen to the silence
decide to use the
little diana camera
with a proper film
to photograph plants
in the garden
but realise later
I didn’t take the
cap off …

plans to go to Paris
fall apart
there isn’t time
and getting to and from
the station seems
rather tricky
so make a list
and plan things
to do for the last
few days
still plenty to do
just have to keep
going
maintain the
momentum
and make the last
few days count

cycle to the shop
in the soft rain
cycle really slowly
looking hard
at the fields
woods and sky
it’s very quiet
still and steady

too dingy and dark
to take photographs
too wet to do much
outside
spend the day
in photoshop
editing photos
making a booklet
testing text against image
making an inside, an outside
overlays of transparent yellow
it sucks up time
like nothing else
conclude that
doing things in the physical world
seems to take a lot less time
than doing things in
the virtual!

another barbecue
and R has made
a regular and neat fire
with stands for the grill
the air is smokey
with burning hedge trimmings
dry bay tree branches
the atmosphere is febrile
with undercurrents
jokes and laughter
wine and rum
prod and poke the sausages
hide wrapped potatoes
under the ashes
talk to H’s husband
also H
about art, poetry
being suspended in making things
making sense of the world
travelling and
his aim
to write about david bowie
then the evening ends
with H’s japanese chocolate cake
pretty with borage flowers
sticky with figs

a slow morning
with lots of tea
but eventually
get out and about
cycle round the villages
stopping to photograph
the sucrerie
where they do processing stuff
to the sugar beet
that grows in all the fields
pale fat cylinders
sit on the dry grass
ladders snake up the sides
rusty hoppers
purple vats
chimneys and stairs
and a conveyor belt
that stretches
from one side of the road
to the other

the afternoon
drifts by
..have been here before
happy to be quiet
and daydreamy
in my room
more bread and cheese
and tea
watching films
reading
making lists
drawing
planning for next week
…even do the washing up