Hello, it’s Friday again. In fact, I’m only posting this on Sunday, 7.30 a.m. European time ! I’m participating in the A to Z challenge, 10th anniversary, this month. As well as the NaNoWriMo April.
So I’m lacking time this month !
Write five minutes flat every Friday with Kate and her ‘gang’, on a word prompt given Thursday evening. If you would like to know more or participate in the future. Go here
LACK
We think we lack time to do all what we need to or would like to accomplish. In fact, I think we just don’t take the time to complete the essentials. Take time to wake up in the morning: stretch, be lenient on your back, bring your knees up before lifting your head and roll out of bed.
Take time to eat and drink, just looking out the window, or listening to your loved ones around the table. Take time to wake up your body : light massages, warm up exercises, easy stretches.
Take time to finish tasks before going on to the next one : planning ahead is a very important one, that saves you time later. Accept to be interrupted but be firm. Switch off your phone or lock the door!
Most people in the world lack food and clean water, basic freedoms and rights. Modern slavery is very much alive in most countries rich and poor. In France, 12 year-olds and younger girls from North-African villages are sold by their fathers with the promise of a home and education in France, only to find themselves as slave-maids to wealthy city families. They often live in sculleries or even closets without enough food, clothes or warmth, let alone an education ! When they are older, they are the victims of sexual abuse and end up on the street. Even the children of these Bourgeois households are passive accomplices. One word to a teacher would send social services and the police in to free the slave. Russian and Eastern European young girls often suffer the same fate in Western Europe, paying dear money to come over to receive an education and work, only to find themselves the slaves and whores to unscrupulous Business men and women !
We must endeavour to change all these breaches of freedom : but let us not lose our food and clean water in the process ! Let us not forget our rights, but also our duty which comes with these hard-fought rights. To save the environment in which we live, to save true democracy which is becoming scarce in our societies.
We must not give up from lack of determination and hope.
If you would like to know more about modern slavery in France in 2019 Go here
Copyrightsusanbauryrouchard
Have a pleasant weekend.
Please feel free to comment and I will be sure to reply.
Life in Poetry reading, writing, reflecting
April showers bring May flowers
Sunday, 14 April 2019
Saturday, 13 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 13th 2019, letter L
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
Thanks to Arlee Bird for hosting this challenge. We are nearly half-way there.
If you would like to know more go here
L is for LONDON.
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice ' L ' day. Brilliant sunshine here in Toulouse. Birthday Lunch on the terrace/garden at the VIRGIL restaurant in Fenouillet (Toulouse), Michelin and Gault et Millau guides.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWriMo ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
Thanks to Arlee Bird for hosting this challenge. We are nearly half-way there.
If you would like to know more go here
L is for LONDON.
My eldest daughter lives and works in London at Be at One Cocktail Bar, Spitafields Market. On the weekend of the 26th-29th April, we are flying to visit her. The whole family is coming, even her Nana who is taking the Eurostar from Paris.
We have a very busy schedule. Algae Wrap Friday morning, in the afternoon visiting the London Times, curtesy of my good friend Russel Herneman, once flash-fiction writer, now award-winning Cartoonist. Friday evening, we girls are going out to a show : the Phantom of the Opera. We are musicals' fans and especially Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice aficionados . I saw Jesus Christ Superstar, the film, in 1974. My sister bought the record soon after and I have been listening to them ever since. My girls caught the bug. We saw EVITA, on stage in London in 2006, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Coat in 2010 in Bournemouth ( I had already seen it back in 1976 or '77, in Poole). My children are hooked, they have seen the films too and enjoy listening to the music and singing along.
Saturday, the adventure continues, more packed than ever ! The Tate (old) in the morning. We have never been, although I have seen several Turners at exhibitions in Paris : my wooden desktop is covered with a Turner painting in the form of a puzzle under glass, that my husband and I completed when we lived in Barcelona. Then we have to rush to the Globe Theatre : I thought we'd take the boat to Banks. At 2.30 Henry IV, Part I starts. The girls didn't want to sit, on wooden benches, through a Shakespeare play for three hours, so only my husband, my son and I have tickets.
King Lear, 2007 with Sir Ian McKellen and The Merchant of Venice, 2006 with F. Murray Abraham
King John, 2013 with Pippa Nixon, as the Bastard (Rosalind in As You Like It, 2014)
King Lear, 2007 with Sir Ian McKellen and The Merchant of Venice, 2006 with F. Murray Abraham
King John, 2013 with Pippa Nixon, as the Bastard (Rosalind in As You Like It, 2014)
I have been enjoying live performances of The Bard all my life it seems. One of the first was Henry V in Stratford in 1978. I also remember seeing As You Like It at the Royal Albert Hall. In 1987, I took my future husband and a Business school friend to A Midsummer's Night Dream in Regent's Park, magical. Since 2006 I have been enjoying yearly sprees to Stratford-upon-Avon. I attend a seminar with talks, voice classes, Q&A with actors and Directors, but most importantly 3 to 4 live performances. Some plays from the Canon still elude me, others I have seen several times: Royal Shakespeare Company and at times international theatre companies. It has been my breath of fresh air, my week away from home, a time to muse and write, an opportunity to visit my Auntie Ann and her husband Ron, my English golf partner/mentor.
In the evening, we will be at the Old Vic for Arthur Miller's All My Sons. My mother, son and husband will accompany me. The girls will go out on the town ! I remember seeing Murder at the Vicarage in the late ' 70s but it wasn't at the Old Vic, my mother tells me.
Sunday morning, the National Portrait Gallery awaits. The magnificent 'political' paintings of Queen Elizabeth I, the first ' propaganda ' art, and to show my children the historical portraits. Full house for this outing. Lunch ' sur le pouce ', as we say in French. In the afternoon we'll laze around and visit my daughter's apartment for tea, and meet her Australian boyfriend. Birthday dinner at a laid-back Italian of her choosing, then onto drinks at Be at One Cocktail Bar. The night : the sky's the limit !
All good things must come to an end eventually. My mother has her train at one on Monday; our flight is only at 6 p.m.
My A to Z will lag a bit behind but who's counting !
©susanbauryrouchard
My friend the Cartoonist, go here
The Phantom of the Opera, trailer, go here
The Phantom of the Opera, trailer, go here
Westminster Abbey, July 2016
National Gallery and Big Ben, July 2016
My favourite Turner
Thank you for reading. If you would like to share your thoughts, please comment below
Friday, 12 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 12th, letter K
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
©susanbauryrouchard
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice ' K ' day. Brilliant sunshine here in Toulouse. Not a cloud in the sky. Warmer too, laundry drying outside on the terrace.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more, and maybe join in the future go here
K is for Kathleen ARTER
Kathleen is the name of my big sister, who died in 2011.
But she was named after my mother's mother Kathleen ARTER, from Yorkshire, born 12th December 1901. She grew up just outside of Malton, East of York, on the road to Scarborough, on the North Sea. My great-grandfather, Charles Arter was a coachman and gate-keeper.
Kathleen Arter's mother was Ada Arter, born Clarke. My grandmother had many
brothers and sisters. I remember two mostly: Nelly and Edward. When we were little, my sister and I used to spend a month in the summer in Bournemouth, where my mother was born and raised. A few times we visited Aunt Nelly, as she was called, in Yorkshire. I remember her Yorkshire teas fondly : cucumber sandwiches and all sorts of cakes and buns. A real High tea !
brothers and sisters. I remember two mostly: Nelly and Edward. When we were little, my sister and I used to spend a month in the summer in Bournemouth, where my mother was born and raised. A few times we visited Aunt Nelly, as she was called, in Yorkshire. I remember her Yorkshire teas fondly : cucumber sandwiches and all sorts of cakes and buns. A real High tea !
In 1993, just after I married, I took a trip to Yorkshire and met up with both Aunt Nelly and Uncle Edward who were still alive, but very old. They both lived in their own homes though and were fairly fit. Kathleen Arter, my grandmother had died young, in 1969, at age 68. We were living in New York (Staten Island) at the time and she had visited us with my grandfather the year before. I do have a few memories, kept up thanks to photographs. I remember playing in her garden on the swing and she used to cuddle me a lot. My sister had many recollections and she was sorely affected by her death.
Kathleen Arter lived with her family in the lodge of a Manor House. Uncle Edward's son Peter took us there in 1993, but unfortunately I haven't got a picture on paper, only in my mind.
Kathleen Arter lived with her family in the lodge of a Manor House. Uncle Edward's son Peter took us there in 1993, but unfortunately I haven't got a picture on paper, only in my mind.
One day, when Kathleen was small, her father Charles went out early, as was his custom, to hunt in the nearby woods, part of the domaine. There were probably hare, small deer and also pheasants. He never came back. The alarm was raised. They searched high and low but never found a body. There were marshes in the area and they supposed he was probably swallowed whole. When I tell this story to my children, my husband jokes and says that Charles Arter abducted and moved to Australia where he had a whole new family ! That's just darn cruel, I say, to smear his memory like that ! I don't think my mother appreciates either...
Anyway, here Ada was, with a flock of small children, no husband, no place to live and no means. She had to work to make ends meet but I don't know what she did, maybe she took in laundry.
Kathleen Arter moved to the South as soon as she could and started working at Woolworths in Bournemouth as a shop clerk. She met my grandfather Albert Dunckley in Bournemouth. Albert was from Hackney, East London and an electrician. His father had a shop in Hackney, repairing wheels, bicycles and then the first cars.
Albert was four years younger than Kathleen, so she lied about her age, saying that she was born on 12th December 1905. Nobody ever found out in our family until her death in 1969, when going through her things, Albert found her passport and looked at the dates. It was a shock for her husband, Patricia (my mother) and her little sister Ann (may she rest in peace).
Patricia Baury, my mother, will be 87 this year and still going strong but she lost her mother when she was only 37, her husband Jean-Louis Baury, when she was 73 and her eldest daughter, the second Kathleen, at age 79. She has me...and I'm not going anywhere ! And her three grandchildren, mine.
©susanbauryrouchard
On the Yorkshire coast, Whitby, 2016.
Thank you for reading. If you would like to share your thoughts, please comment below
Thursday, 11 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 11th 2019, letter J
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more go here
J is for JAM
It's my Birthday on Saturday and I'm going to make a cake.
A raspberry jam sponge with whipped cream.
Put the kettle on to boil.
As soon as the bird whistles,
pour into a large glass bowl.
Place the cake basin on top.
So the base heats with the steam.
My mother stopped doing this.
Now she wonders
why her sponge doesn't rise
light and fluffy ! She has forgotten
her own lessons, Nana's recipe.
Measure out the sugar : 3 oz.
Dump it in the bottom, swoosh.
The same amount for the flour.
Break an egg and beat it up
with the sugar, snug in the warmth.
Another, then another. Three,
three, three, easy as pie.
Beat till bubbles bob
on the surface. It makes a racket.
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Sieve the flour, sprinkle, falling
snow. Fold in. Gentle, soft.
do not offend the bubbles.
Butter the round half tins.
Ripple the mixture back and forth.
An equal amount in both.
Stick in a scorching oven.
Quarter of an hour, risen,
light brown. " Lick the bowl ? "
You holler, up the stairs.
Patter of feet, smacking of lips.
Proceed with the rest of your life,
while the sponge halves cool.
Have a nap in the spring sun.
Slice the two pieces out,
thanks to the built-in device.
Whip the cream, whole fat.
Spread the raspberry jam.
Dollop the whipped. Sandwich.
Sprinkle with icing sugar.
Decorate with fresh strawberries.
If you're not born in July !
Decorate with the fitting
number of candles, or not !
A sugared message, Happy Birthday.
Easter chicks and eggs.
©susanbauryrouchard
A Children's story : It's my Birthday and I'm going to make a cake, by Helen Oxenbury , Walker Books Ltd, Abbey Broadcast Communications plc
go here
and another one of my favourites : Surprise, Surprise by Michael Foreman. The video is unavailable online, but for the references to the book,
go here
It's about a little panda who wants to make a surprise for his mother's birthday. And what a surprise !
Thank you for reading. If you would like to share your thoughts, please comment below
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice ' J ' day. Raining today, here in Toulouse. Thunder storm yesterday evening with a magnificient rainbow against a prune sky as the setting sun peeped under the clouds.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more go here
J is for JAM
It's my Birthday on Saturday and I'm going to make a cake.
A raspberry jam sponge with whipped cream.
Put the kettle on to boil.
As soon as the bird whistles,
pour into a large glass bowl.
Place the cake basin on top.
So the base heats with the steam.
My mother stopped doing this.
Now she wonders
why her sponge doesn't rise
light and fluffy ! She has forgotten
her own lessons, Nana's recipe.
Measure out the sugar : 3 oz.
Dump it in the bottom, swoosh.
The same amount for the flour.
Break an egg and beat it up
with the sugar, snug in the warmth.
Another, then another. Three,
three, three, easy as pie.
Beat till bubbles bob
on the surface. It makes a racket.
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Sieve the flour, sprinkle, falling
snow. Fold in. Gentle, soft.
do not offend the bubbles.
Butter the round half tins.
Ripple the mixture back and forth.
An equal amount in both.
Stick in a scorching oven.
Quarter of an hour, risen,
light brown. " Lick the bowl ? "
You holler, up the stairs.
Patter of feet, smacking of lips.
Proceed with the rest of your life,
while the sponge halves cool.
Have a nap in the spring sun.
Slice the two pieces out,
thanks to the built-in device.
Whip the cream, whole fat.
Spread the raspberry jam.
Dollop the whipped. Sandwich.
Sprinkle with icing sugar.
Decorate with fresh strawberries.
If you're not born in July !
Decorate with the fitting
number of candles, or not !
A sugared message, Happy Birthday.
Easter chicks and eggs.
©susanbauryrouchard
A Children's story : It's my Birthday and I'm going to make a cake, by Helen Oxenbury , Walker Books Ltd, Abbey Broadcast Communications plc
go here
and another one of my favourites : Surprise, Surprise by Michael Foreman. The video is unavailable online, but for the references to the book,
go here
It's about a little panda who wants to make a surprise for his mother's birthday. And what a surprise !
Alice's third Birthday, 18/4
Wednesday, 10 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 10th, letter I
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more about this challenge and maybe participate in the future
go here
I is for
INDIGO
a Poem inspired by Joan Baez's song Forever Young, originally sung by Bob Dylan.
May your skies always be blue.
May your heart always be strong.
And may the wild violets always bloom
underneath your window.
May the bamboo always grow.
May the panda always thrive.
And may the spring always flow
into your open hands.
May the wind always rise.
May the sail always swell.
And may the waves always push
your boat to a haven.
May the lion always roar.
May the robin always sing.
And may the rain always patter
onto your Indigo tree.
©susanbauryrouchard
for the song Forever Young, go here
Indigo plant picture.
To know more about the Indigo plant go here
Thank you for reading. If you would like to share your thoughts, please comment below
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is
twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more about this challenge and maybe participate in the future
go here
I is for
INDIGO
a Poem inspired by Joan Baez's song Forever Young, originally sung by Bob Dylan.
May your skies always be blue.
May your heart always be strong.
And may the wild violets always bloom
underneath your window.
May the bamboo always grow.
May the panda always thrive.
And may the spring always flow
into your open hands.
May the wind always rise.
May the sail always swell.
And may the waves always push
your boat to a haven.
May the lion always roar.
May the robin always sing.
And may the rain always patter
onto your Indigo tree.
©susanbauryrouchard
for the song Forever Young, go here
Indigo plant picture.
To know more about the Indigo plant go here
Carnaval Limoux, March 2019.
In my garden, March 2019.
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice ' I ' day. Sunny again today, here in Toulouse, some rain in the night, a slight drizzle this morning, bath mats drying in the breeze. April showers bring May flowers ! Still the Iris and Roses to flower.
Tuesday, 9 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 9th, letter H
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is twofold !!
Thank you for reading. If you would like to share your thoughts, please comment below
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice 'H' day. Sunny again today, here in Toulouse, some buoyante clouds, rain last night, but warmer than yesterday .
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
If you would like to know more go here
H is for HEAVEN
Heaven was in Corsica, August 1985 on the GR 20. (chemin de grande randonnée)
Hiking all day, 20kg on my back, all my earthly possessions; bathing in waterfall pools; sampling freshly-made cheese from a stone hut while teasing the goats; sleeping under the stars in a warm sleeping bag and survival foil; waking up to first light, or in the dark, to the snuffling of a wild pig searching for food that they couldn't find because we had stored it all up in a tree.
Paglia Orba
Heaven is feeling the wind on my face, listening to the rush of water on the hull, the tingling of the halyard against the mast, the flutter of the spinnaker as it rose towards the sky; navigating with the sweep of the lighthouses, gazing up at the Big Dipper and a zillion constellations; steadying the wheel, taut in my grip. Mistress of the seas.
(the Mediterranean between Menton and Cavalaire-sur-Mer, July 1982)
Heaven is building sandcastles, digging holes on Alum Chine beach; sitting on the sand, legs outstretched, expectant, as the ripple of the dying waves lap at our toes or suddenly smack us in the face: stinging throat and eyes, spitting spume; playing in Robert Louis Stevenson's playground while reading his poems; devouring watercress and egg on wholewheat. cream jam donuts or the occasional hot-dog with sauerkraut; strolling on the Purbeck cliffs in the sunny breeze, up and down, up and down; pausing to behold Old Harry Rocks or Durdle Door and taking a nip in the icy water while the gulls bob on the swell.
(Bournemouth, Poole and the Purbecks with my children: 1997, '99, 2002, 06, 2010, 16. Just as I enjoyed them from 1965 to 1986, every summer.)
Dorset thatched cottage, 1997
Alice & me, 1999
Paul, 2002
Compton Acres, 2010
Heaven is lounging on the sofa with my son watching the delicious but sometimes hard lives of the cats of Istanbul, on Sunday evening: 'Kedi'. Sipping Wei ßbier with lemon and taking delight in an almond and raspberry tart.
textandphotos©susanbauryrouchard
Kedi go here
I'm in Heaven, Fred Astaire
And just for fun
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice 'H' day. Sunny again today, here in Toulouse, some buoyante clouds, rain last night, but warmer than yesterday .
Monday, 8 April 2019
⌗AtoZ challenge, April 8th 2019, letter G
Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
G for GLEE
I have been following an American TV series for about 6 months, now, called GLEE. (recommended by my two daughters Alice and Emma). It's about a High School Glee Club, a Choir club. They participate in a Show Choir Competition every year and are not allowed to perform outside Mc Kinley High for money otherwise they are disqualified. There must be at least 12 members from the school and there are three steps : sectionals, regionals and nationals. Their repertoire includes old-time musicals, modern artists, classical crooners, Blues' artists and modern musicals. Their performances are always song and dance. The series also covers the lives of the members in and out of High School : their loves, fears, frustrations, ambitions...the pain of growing up !
The first season sees the re-introduction of a Glee Club at McKinley High (Lima, Ohio) after an undefined period of having ceased to exist from lack of funding and interest. William Schuester, the school's Spanish Teacher, wishes to revive it having dabbled in show choir when at High School himself but having failed to succeed as a professional Broadway artist. The students who sign up are all considered misfits by their peers and need to be coerced into joining the Glee Club because of its unpopularity. members of Glee are regularly "slushied". A bright red slushy is thrown in their face usually accompanied by the catch name "loo.....ooooser !"
Anyway, I'm completely hooked. I love all the characters, the singers, the dancers, the performances, the music...But I particularly have fun with Sue Sylvester, the 'villain', played by Jane Lynch whom you might know as the schizophrenic mother of genius agent Dr. Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds.
©susanbauryrouchard
here are extracts.
from GLEE, go here
and here, Season 5, episode 3 on
and here
two from Criminal Minds, showing Jane Lynch's acting skills in a very different registrar.
To know more about GLEE and its actors/actresses
ENJOY.
Personnally, I find the whole thing very GLEEFUL ! And look forward to watching my next episode in bed, on my iPad, after work, e-mails, social networking, just before reading a good book and falling asleep. Sweet Dreams Glee brings, as Yoda would say !
Thank you for reading. If you would like to share your thoughts, please comment below
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice 'G' day. Sunny again today, here in Toulouse, some cloud cover, rain forecast for later in the afternoon-night, but still cooler than we had in March. While writing I'm listening to Gershwin and now Louis Armstrong, Mack the Knife.
and I will be sure to reply. Have a nice 'G' day. Sunny again today, here in Toulouse, some cloud cover, rain forecast for later in the afternoon-night, but still cooler than we had in March. While writing I'm listening to Gershwin and now Louis Armstrong, Mack the Knife.
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