Je suis une GRAND MUZZEHR

Also on todays menu: A Louis 15 (i think) armoire in oak from Bresse (i think) with the original metal hardware and a beautiful patina for 1900 euro:


which seems like a reasonable price. One pane from the front had been repaired, as had the cornice. This thing was MASSIVE.

We also went back to the store that has the coveted (but 2590 euro) armoire with the two crazy ladies. It felt a little like "Ground Hogs Day" walking in to the store, since neither of them remembered having shown us the armoire before. As a result, we were compelled to go through the whole simultalking thing again. Its not really as bad as it sounds, because they're both charming and hilarious. The mother was sitting in the same chair as last time, and insisted that we move the tables out in order to make room to view the armoire, thereby blocking herself in the midst of the antiques:



Heres some shots of the awesome armoire of expensiveness: louis15/16, all in walnut, yadda yadda yadda






And of their homme debout in merisier like our new table, which is also very beautiful , and a little less money (2300 euro):



(look at the hinges on it! all original)

The ladies were in high spirits today, and went into more detail about the origins of the name "homme debout", and how it comes from the fact that royalists used to hide in them when the republicans came to kill them. I think I missed something, because it doesnt seem like it would fool anyone, but maybe the republicans were in a hurry.

I was on the verge of laughter throughout our conversation, and at one point the older lady exclaimed "Oui! Je suis une GRAND MUZZERE!!", but I dont remember the context. Honestly, I was a little lost for most of it. Also, I find the whole simultalking thing a little stressful, since I dont want to seem like I'm being rude to one of them by not listening to them. When I took the picture of her, she started talking about how another american had taken her picture: when Grenoble was liberated! Apparently it was a funny picture, because she was next to another GI, who was very tall. She, by contrast was "TRES PETITE!" as she practically jumped up from her chair in the sea of antiques to show us. They questioned us about whether Americans support the war in Iraq, and why, and we had to explain that its because americans are very, very, stupid. On the way out, the mother told us how much she loved being in her daughters shop, and how she (her daughter) had such beautiful things, and how much it pleased her; it was very touching.

BUSTED

yeah thats right: busted. Today we went to that consignment place again, and who did we see when we walked in? Crazy antique lady #2, who supposedly was going into retirement (apparently a ploy to think that you can get her to let go of stuff for cheaper). After we passed her, I turned my head to chloe and mouthed "Did you see who that was?", but halfway through, I could see in her expression that she had seen the same thing. Crazy antique lady doesnt look very retired here:

here:

or here:



more like shes looking for more stuff to mark up 200%! At least we know we are in the right place. Todays gem:



I dont know if footstool is a pun in french too... I have to check that out

voted!

We sent off our absentee ballots today. We're not registered in a swing state, but its the principle of it.

Also I made a firm commitment to never buy Decathlon (quechua) branded gear ever again. Sure, I was willing to put up with our decathlon bikes that don't shift anymore. I was a little less happy that Chloes fancy Quechua carbon fibre trekking poles exploded after one use. This morning, however, my "waterproof" biking pants ended up being "not waterproof at all" and my ass has been wet all morning.

provence monday

yes, we even took monday off! So we headed off early to get some climbing in at St Leger again, and did some nice climbs in sector Al Andaluze, and then I got another thrashing on Kiwasi. SERENITY NOW! On the way back to the Mas Solige, we stopped at another winery called Le Domaine Morand near le Mont Ventoux. This one was in the middle of the vineyards and olive groves, and the woman running it was very nice. We bought a few bottles here too. the funny thing is that you could buy AOC wine in bulk out of huge steel containers with wine-guns:



1.40 euro a litre!

We also stopped by a small town called Baumes-de-Venise, and bought some great olive oil with one of those cool curved dispenser tops (little things keep me happy).

After cramming the table back into the clio, we drove north through Orange to visit the woman who sold us the table in Mornas. She had some cool armoires:





The second one had a secret drawer that you access after removing a drawer, sliding a secret panel to the right, and sliding the bottom of the drawer towards you. Its kind of obvious that theres something there:



but cool nevertheless. The insignia at the bottom is a chestnut, and is apparently common in armoires from the Ardeche region.

By the time we made it home, we were completeley exhausted. After climbing for 4 or five hours and touring around, we were ready to fall asleep as soon as we walked in the door. Unfortunately, we had to keep circling the block because no parking was to be found. We finally found a space, and to our dismay discovered that the elevator was broken! Several refreshing trips later (up 7 flights of stairs), we collapsed. Although I didnt think it was possible, I discovered that an antique table and fifteen bottles of wine lose some of their charm after the fourth landing. Here are some pictures of our booty:

provence sunday

Sunday is market day in Isle Sur La Sorgue, and despite the extreme soreness that impregnated our backs and arms, we got up early-ish to try to get a parking spot. I found the market a little disappointing; it had few of the quirks of the Grenoble flea market, and a lot of things that you could get at your local supermarket. However, there were a few gems:



like this little guy. Theres a basket of baby dolls behind the box of rocks. The whole display, when interpreted as a carefully placed diorama yields some compelling questions: What kind of animal is under him? Perhaps a fallen comrade, who he is loyally defending even while the fur is peeling off his own hind feet? Maybe he is showing what happens to other small animals when they get too close to his box of rocks? Maybe the mounting board is actually a primitive fox snowoard? And what the hell kind of animal is that, anyway? A weasel? a fox? Its doesnt really look like either.

ANYWAY, there were some interesting things:

(taken by chloe)

including a Louis Phillipe rustic table that we bought on the condition that we could fit it into our Clio (it fit, but with about 2 cm). We escaped Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue in one piece at around 10:00 am, just when the masses were rolling in. After dropping the table off at the Mas Solige, we drove to Venasque:



and then on to Rousillon (picture at the top of this post). The last time I had come here with my mom and her long time friend Shelley, we had found a beautiful little cafe, hidden in one of the dead ends


that overlooks the red valleys that surround the town. So of course, this was our first stop, since Chloe was starting to get that far off look that says "feed me NOW". It was a little windy, and periodically peoples napkins would float lightly into the air and get plastered against chair legs and bread baskets. Sometimes small mostly-eaten pieces of bread would start scooting towards the end of the table. Everything, and especially the rasberry crumble was excellent. Heres chloe eating mine:




After taking some pictures, we drove back towards Carpentras, and through the beautiful hill town of Gordes



Of course, one thing that can get a little overwhelming is the fact that ALL the towns in this area are beautiful, so after a while you dont even care. Strangely, the part of Gordes that I find the most charming is its masonary. Beautiful white stone walls are used for both the houses and the walls lining the narrow roads that lead into the city. The color and uniformity remind me of Jerusalem a little.


Since we were near Vacqueyras, we finished the day with a little wine tasting. It was Sunday, so generally only the cooperatives were open, which arent as fun as the individual caves. We ended up in Vacqueyras, where I had been this spring with my mom and Shelley. We had stopped at a colorful little cave, where the wine guy had compared wines to beautiful young maidens: "to be enjoyed, but not when they are too young". I wasnt sure how Chloe would react to that kind of talk, so I steered us to the other side of town, where we found the Domain l'Oustau Des Lecques, a very small family run winery.

We pulled up to their winery, where a sign instructed us to press the bell if we wanted to taste wine. We did so, and after a brief exchange (chloe did the the talking while I hid behind her), a man in jeans and flip flops walked up and took us into the winery. Here we are in their caves:




They had quite a few wines, but the 2002, aged in oak casks (in the picture!) and the 2003 were amazing. I dont know any of the fancy wine language, but heres my best effort: "Extremely wine like, with notes of grapes, and a faint aroma of wine. The bouquet was bold and wine-esque. Legs were very long and wineish, with an unlikeley but undeniable winely finish.". We bought 10 bottles. I mean, at 4-7 euros depending on the vintage, how can you not? We also noticed that people in this region pronounce "vin" with a strange accent: more like "ving".


Finally, we went and checked out the eglise de Notre Dame, near Aubenas (?):

provence

We drove down to the Mas Solige

for two nights. We were feeling a little trapped in Grenoble, and decided that it was due time for an escape. after all, how many times in our lives will we have such ready access to the South of France? Before checking into the gite, we went climbing at St. Leger du Ventoux

(topos here here and here). There was a big article in Grimper magazine this winter about how many easy routes have been put up there, but they fail to mention that "easy" seems to mean 6b+, which is a bit much for a warm up, and that most of the "easy" routes are on pretty questionable rock. Anyway, it was still fun, and I started working on a climb called "Kiwasi La maison qui Chante": Kiwasi, the house who sings (no idea what this means) ... but I got shut down.

quest for armoires part III

Well theres apparently something about selling armoires that drives you a little crazy, because we had another experience with an eccentric old lady and furniture today. This shop was in the same area as the consignment place, but was HUGE! Not huge as in a warehouse, but like a rabbit warren; there were rooms upon rooms filled with junk: half finished model boats with pillowcase sails, giant industrial sanding machines, stacks of chairs, knick knacks crammed into every corner, a second level with a room full of clocks, bedframes, copper pots, and on and on. There was one room with planks in one corner with so much dust on them that it looked like snow (but not quite the right color!). The old lady who ran the store was "a bit" less distinguished than the last place, and spoke very quickly, in a stream of consciousness style: yesthisone isbeautifulthreepanelsonthesidebutyoumuststepbacktotrulyappreciateit (breath as she steps back) itsRUSTICnotrefinedbut verybeautifulyoucanseeinsideohwaititslockedletmegogetthekey (walking away) sometimespeoplestealthekeysanditsveryannoying. I should back up and say that the nicer stuff was in the front of the store, so as we walked in, we were suitably impressed by the tall armoires with beautiful patinas. We were therefore a little confused when she said "Oh, but I dont have any more armoires!". The confusion came from the fact that we were standing in the middle of a room FULL of tall cupboards that looked suspiciously like armoires. I looked at Chlo to see if I should start laughing, but no, she was apparently serious. It turned out that the tall cupboards are called Bonnetieres, and are still way too expensive for us. But we learned something new today: what a Bonnatiere is (narrower than an armoire, and with only one door)! as well as the word for Beech: Hetre. Tomorrow we leave for St. Leger du Ventoux for some steep climbing, sightseeing and armoire hunting near Isle-sur-la-sorgue.

The search for furniture, part II

Part I was the flea market, of course. After checking out store that sells furniture on consignment and having a beautiful chest of drawers bought from under our noses, we went into town to look at more Armoires (I promise this will be more interesting than it sounds). We wandered into a small store, which was crammed to capacity with furniture and paintings. And when I say "capacity", I mean a room about 15 feet x 20 feet with a small path (~2 feet wide) in between the tables, chairs, armoires etc. Off to the left of the entrance, sitting on one of the chairs was an old woman; a guru of furniture. She looked about 90 years old, with a shrub of white hair and thick glasses out of which peered eyes which seemed to focus 2 feet behind you. She was also a little hard of hearing, so her greeting caught both of us by surprise. HELLO! ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR? (I've taken the liberty of translating all of the dialogue) When we expressed some interest in an armoire, we were firmly corrected that ITS NOT AN ARMOIRE! ITS AN HOMME DEBOUT! and then she went on in some detail about why it was called an "homme debout", and then told us that it had already been sold. But it turned out that she wasn't saying "vendu" at all, but something that sounded like "Vendu" which was the region in which it was made (somewhere South of Bretagne I think?). Chloe and I looked at it with covetousness as the lady shouted "ITS MADE OF CHERRY!" from about 2 feet behind us. We moved on to a truly stunning armoire (this time a real armoire), at which point the real owner (the older lady's daughter), an elegant lady of about 60, reappeared. Things got a little confusing with both of them talking to us; the older lady in rock concert volume, and her daughter at normal volume (at the same time of course). The younger one explained how this armoire (late 1700s) was from the transition period "ON THE HORSE BETWEEN TWO STYLES!" Louis XV and Louis XVI "NEITHER LOUIS XV nor XVI!". We could see this in the straight flutings "LOOK AT THE CANNELURES!" on the sides as well "LOUIS QUINZE STYLE CURVES AT THE BASE" as the curves at the base. One of the really distinguishing things about this armoire compared to others we have seen were the beautiful emblems on the top face, in the middle and sides. "ITS MADE ENTIRELY OF WALNUT!", they both went on, in unison. It was a gorgeous armoire, but sadly, at $2500 euro (almost $3000) it was pretty far out of our budget. On the other hand, something like that is beautiful to look at every day, will last forever , and only increase in value. Even so, its a lot of money!

Climbing

Today I had a conversation with one of my office mates, and he was suprised by my description of what the attraction and motivation is for climbing. It was a little strange, because it reminded me of how wrong my understanding of climbing was before I actually started doing it; so here are some misconceptions and clarifications about the sport (is it a sport?):

1)"Rock climbing" is not "Mountaineering"
Mountaineering sometimes involves rock climbing, but they are not the same thing.

2)The goal in rock climbing is very rarely to get to the top; it is the way in which you get to the top which is interesting. For many people, the beauty and difficulty of the movements are the focus. Which is to say, given a choice, we do not always (rarely, actually) take the easiest route to the top.

3)Climbing can be very competitive. When I used to see climbers with their "go climb a rock" t-shirts in Berkeley, they always looked like dirtbags. This, in combination with the fact that the ones that didnt look like dirtbags looked like hippies made me think that it was more about getting out into nature than anything else. However, the fact that the difficulty of the routes are rated numerically naturally leads to competitiveness with yourself and others.

4)Climbing is generally quite safe. Most accidents in rock climbing are caused by user error rather than by equipment failure. Mountaineering is much less safe because of the "objective dangers", which are things like storms rolling in, rocks falling, avalanches, lightening etc:
things that are out of your control.

thats all i can think of for now

some recent ecrins pics

The Parc National des Ecrins is a stunning and wild national park which is an hour or so away from Grenoble. To get there, you drive southeast, breathing the heady and strangely sweet fumes of the chemical plants in Vizille, and up to Bourg d'Oisans. Heres a random picture from St. Christophe en Oisans.



The end of the road that goes through St. Christophe is La Berarde: a starting point for many hikers and climbers in the summer. I love la berarde. It's everything Chamonix isn't: corrugated steel roofs, small roads, no telecabines, and no patagonia outlets next to six other gear stores for fat tourists. Its unpretentious and unspoiled (for the moment).

I'll leave you with another photo of la dibona...

pinhole cameras

I was showing a friend at work some of my old pinhole camera shots, like this one:



of the Salk Institute,

and he was amazed with the quality that you can get from such a simple camera. Actually, its been such a long time since I played with that stuff that I had also forgotten. My uncle was the one who originally recommended the technique to me, and I quickly became obsessed with it, to the point where I made a special seven shot pinhole camera (plans to this are somewhere on the web) so that I could travel with it. It really is kind of amazing that you can get such beautiful shots from a box with a hole in it. You can even buy precisely drilled laser drilled pinholes now! Theres a lot of geometric distortion (can this be solved by a curved film plane? I don't know) and vignetting, but I think that's part of the charm. Heres another of my favorites:



my dad (an artist) has a maddening but unfortunately true platitude that he likes to roll out whenever I buy a new camera; its something about good artists not needing fancy brushes. Somehow I dont remember the exact wording, but I think the pinhole camera lends credence to this idea. That wont stop me from buying a new lens for my Hassy, or him from buying a new sable brush, though.

Les Lames

Also, we went to "Les Lames" today. The last time I was there, 5 meters above tha last bolt, and scared shitless, I vowed never to go back. Oh well. Chloe kicked ass on a climb called "Cadavres Exquis", which she can probably do on lead, but she doesnt seem interested in working it.

Brocante

After my mom gave me a hard time about chairs (yes, chairs), and our lack of them, Chloe and I went to a flea market in Sassenage, with a single mission: chairs. Unfortunately, most of the chairs that were being sold were on the verge of collapse. Some had no cushions much less cushion supports, and others would creak dangerously when you touched them. These were definitely on their last legs (couldn't resist). Since we were there, we looked around, and quickly realised that this brocante did not have any specific focus (i.e. chairs), but rather was a true flea market. What I mean by this is that people were getting rid of EVERYTHING! I guess the premise is the same as for Ebay; no matter how dirty, broken down, useless or ugly something is, there is always someone who wants it. This is a valid premise, of course, but not when your buying audience is limited to a few hundred people on a sunday morning, rather than the millions who browse Ebay. And even so, some of the items for sale would test even the Ebay pool. Poking fun at items for sale at garage sales is like shooting fish in a barrel, but here are some gems that not even I can resist recounting:

6 cans of pringle potato chips

A Mattel Intellivision, circa 1980 ( if it wasnt PAL, I would consider buying this)

An airbrushed Johhny Halliday Album (tried to find this on google images but no dice)

Those clocks that banks give away

Boxes full of porno paperbacks

Military telephones

If only I had remembered my camera. Also, we almost ended up buying a 19th century walnut blanket chest, but chickened out since we are totally ignorant of the going prices for these things. We did managed to bargain him down to 500 euros though.

MORE Goulandiere!

yes, climbing again @goulandiere, this time with Laurent and Chloé. The PGHM were there "in training"; I wonder how I can get a job like that.

C-money back!

after several days at a conference in heidelberg.. and she bought me this great map!:





by Gerard Mercator (yes, THE mercator) in 1651. Its a beautiful hand colored map of the Savoie.

more goulandiere

some pics from goulandiere today with martin:






martin, on belay












view across the valley









impressive face with only hard stuff








crazy road back down to the valley







I felt pretty solid, except for the fact that I would get pumped halfway up every climb. I think i'll be ready for ceuse again soon.


On the N?? road back to grenoble, we saw cardboard cutouts at all the places where aggressive french drivers had managed to kill themselves and others in car accidents: something like 5/year.