Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Bonne Fête

If you are celebrating
 New Years Eve
 I hope you will have a night full of …..


……thrills


….sweet treats to accompany glasses of pink bubbly…


….& the romance of a warm embrace…


However
 if you are like me & plan on going to bed early
 I wish you sweet & peaceful dreams!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Seasons Greetings

 from Charleston….










Wishing each & every one of you a very Happy Holiday!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Ten Years Old

 Happy Birthday to my youngest granddaughter 
Grace 
who turns 10 years old today!

Ten years ago you were our little bundle of Christmas 
JOY


How you have grown! 


You are a bright light in our lives


shining like a


 star


Happy Happy Happy


 Birthday 
 Gracie

Friday, December 13, 2013

Friday, December 6, 2013

Beautiful December Morning

“The greatest glory in living
lies not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall.” 
― Nelson Mandela


The sky was so beautiful this morning, the light so delicate, the colors so pure. 


It was hard to believe that it was a December morning.


The bare branches say it's winter but the plants on the porch, once indoor plants in Boston, now live happily outside.


A collection of sand dollars dry in the sun.


And other sea treasures found at the beach yesterday wait to be turned into something, perhaps some sort of holiday decoration.


This is a very different December than I am accustomed to but it is certainly one I can live with. Hoping you are enjoying your December in all of its glories where ever you are.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Reflections


Walking down King Street, the light created the loveliest reflections.









I hope your week will be filled with beautiful reflections.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

One More Report on The Hundred Foot Journey

If you were following my blog at all this summer you will remember that I was pretty much obsessed with a feature film that was being filmed in the French market town of
 St. Antonin.
The film, The Hundred Foot Journey, is produced by 
Steven Spielberg & Oprah Winfrey & stars
 Helen Mirren.

 Although the filming was winding down in St. Antonin by early October it had moved on to other pretty towns in the area. Before I left France I was able to visit a few of these spots & see just a little more of the production process.
The first location was a beautiful little village with a lovely old mill (above), which would be the site of a picnic scene. The actress Charlotte Le Bon waits with her bicycle for the scene to begin. Oddly enough most French people seemed rather disinterested in the fact that Helen Mirren was there but they were very excited to see this well known French Canadian TV star.
For the entire time of filming in St. Antonin, I was wondering where the actual restaurants, which are the main focus of the film, would be. But it was not until I took a trip to the tiny town of Carlus, just outside of Albi that I had my answer.

The premiss of the film is the conflict between two restaurants, an elegant French three star restaurant  & a loud & garish Indian new comer only a hundred feet away.  The old farmhouse will be the site of the Indian restaurant while the grand sedate French restaurant will be a complete false front. There is one tiny window at the top out of which Helen Mirren, who plays the haughty French chief, will no doubt be looking disdainfully at her unwelcome neighbors.
Because so many of the scenes will be set at night, a large crane is used to hoist heavy lighting. As you can see above this part of the film is being shot in a quiet, remote part of the countryside.

I did not get to see Oprah. It seems she arrived just after I left. I did get to see Helen Mirren several times. One Sunday morning she sat in the café at a table right next to mine. However, my attempts at taking a discreet photo unobserved were a complete failure. So I have borrowed one from Oprah's own Instagram page taken as you can see in front of the farmhouse pictured above.
The Hundred Foot Journey will open in August 2014. I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. It was an exciting experience to be able to follow so closely the production of a film like this. I am hoping that I will be back in France when it opens & that I will be able to see it with all of those that experienced it in a similar way. Because what better place to see this film but in my favorite cinema in the whole world right in St. Antonin Nobel Val.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013