We went up into the attic of the Chateau today and, once Hermine had managed to change the light bulb, we were treated to a treasure trove of delights: old political posters, huge ornate frames, endless vases and jars, and a LOT of cobwebs. Hermine found the wild boar’s head and kindly thrust it into our hands. Initially we thought he was a bit revolting. Now you have to bear in mind that we are both rather squeamish, so removing his half hanging out tongue with some tweezers and turning him upside down and shaking god knows what out of his gob was rather traumatic. But after that, we began to warm to him. We excitedly traipsed around the chateau looking for a place to hang him for some photos. But then thought, lets have a cuppa first, and managed to fuse the electrics for the whole chateau making a coffee. Whoops-a-daisy. We were not top of the pops. So after a quick trip to the hypermarket to buy a camping stove to replace the defunct cooker, we got back to photographing the wild boar, who we had now christened Sebastian. This turned into a full on photo shoot with studio lighting and portrait lenses for the close ups. Good fun.
Sebastian seemed to look best hung on the wall of the bedroom designated for the new woofer. In fact he looked magnificent there. Unfortunately we forgot to take him down, so there was a bit of panicked rushing around to get him off the wall and under covers when we heard her arriving (from Casablanca no less!). We are considering if we can make Sebastian’s ears wiggle at all using some electronics, bring some life back into the old fella. He has a happy face.
We also got shown the space where the exhibition will be held, a large loft room in one of the outbuildings. It’s a truly amazing space. There is a white screen nicely set up if we want to show a film. It’s all beginning to feel real. Better make some work soon!!!!!
This evening we went for a stroll around the village in the drizzle, looking for the ruins of the old chateau, which Hermine had said, with a vague wave of the arm, was ‘Just over there.’ Equipped with a hand-drawn map from the 1700s (which it turns out is not so useful nowadays), we searched in vain for an hour before giving up. Hopefully, we will find the elusive ruins tomorrow.
