This, that, and the other

Julien arrived late Tuesday night, so I had time to do some more boxes. When he got home, he followed my silly sappy post-it notes up the stairs and to the living room. He saw my paints and easel and said, "You've been painting!" And I responded, "Noooooo." Finally, he looks around and sees the ( new addition )

on the wall. He was happy with it! That's a relief.

Yesty morning, too late in the morning (quelle chaleur!), he took me running. Ugh. Because I can not keep up with my super athletic man, I do a run-walk thing. Well, he got ahead of me by a ways and then I kinda...um...took a bad turn and shucked my shoes, socks, and shorts fell in the river. Afterward, I stood in the midst of some grasses that were taller than I and watched the bees pollinating the seed heads and the dragonflies sunning their stained-glass-window wings. I startled a beautiful green frog with big golden eyes, and he plunged into the mud in the bottom of a stagnant pool.

The jog back to the car wasn't too bad, since my *fall* cooled me off. After eating a lovely lunch of grilled duck breast and salad, we went back to the Loire for a...*cough* real swimming session. The water was fabulous. In the evening, we visited two wine cellars and tasted six different wines. That's just a few too many for me, but we had some good ones.

Today I had to go back to work. :( It was okay, though. I really can't complain. I had to time to read and play with the pastels that I bought just after Christmas and still haven't taken the time to experiment with.

Still no new words. And I have a short that is ready to send out and I'm just sitting on it. Silly me.

les hauts et les bas et l'in between

What I'm reading:

Grendel, by John Gardner. (Has anyone else read this? I'm not finished, so no spoilers wanted, but I'm curious to know what other people think.)

Techniques of the Selling Writer: frigg he does have some interesting things to say. I look forward to discussing some of his points with you.

A weird thing I saw today:

Purple, and I do mean purple!, pigeon droppings. The violet part looked like a flower on the surrounding splatter of white.

Nicest smell today:

The honeysuckle in my garden.

Yummiest thing I ate today:

The oven-baked chicken that J made (marinated in basil and lemon juice then breaded). After that I would have to say, St. Agur, my favorite cheese ever.

The ickiest thing I ate today:

Pâté. Pork liver pâté. Don't even ask me why I tried it. Well, I tried it because I think that some things need several essays before they will grow on you and J kept insisting how great it was, but I've officially given up on pâté. I'll never be that French.

Most uncomfortable moment:

Trying to convince the first gypsy lady (there were two that came by the gallery today) that no, I did not want to buy a handwoven basket from her. I already have two. I tried explaining, very nicely, that I'm moving overseas and don't need any more things to pack up and take with me, but she kept on and on about how they aren't expensive--not even listening to me. As she left the gallery, I heard her spitting a curse at me under her breath. *sigh*

Most difficult thing I did:

Tried to make the gallery look nice with objets d'arts that I detest do not particularly care for. Alas, I only work there. I don't get to choose what we showcase.

Saddest thing I saw/heard:

The funeral bells and the mourners gathered before the cathedral. I hope the deceased had a rich life and that his/her survivors have many happy memories of their time together to get them through the loss.

The day's "Self-revelation":

I need to stop telling people "no" when they ask me if I'm an artist. I'm not just speaking about painting or drawing, but I feel even less like I have the right to call my self an "artist" than I do a "writer." But just because I'm not published or starving trying to make a living off my creativity, it does not make me less than.