Monday morning, the first day I’ve felt really well since being felled by something Gastro last Tuesday night in Portland. You know, just after I posted about finally achieving traction on my 2020 schedule such that I was accommodating creative pursuits as well as language-learning, fitness and health maintenance, and abundant reading and writing. . . .That’ll teach me!
But we got home Friday night, and we grappled with Italian irregular verbs and partitive articles and personal pronouns on Saturday morning, and I went to a baby shower Saturday afternoon, and I did nothing but drink broth and read my book (Clay, by Melissa Harrison, excellent). Oh, and I changed out of my pjs for a walk in the morning and another in the afternoon, just to check out how the system’s functioning. And she’s baaaack!!
This morning I made Muesli (I’ve found such a good recipe that Pater’s ignoring the Expensive Artisan Muesli in the Deliberately Hipster-Plain Packaging and serving himself big bowls of mine, which is plainer and healthier so Score One for Me. . . Except then I have to make more.
And my levain is almost risen enough that I can start with the sourdough-making in a few minutes.
And then this evening, my first French class of the term. I’m nervous about it, because after spending the last three terms in the Intermediate class, my instructor’s suggested I try the Advanced. I sense a big dose of Humility in my immediate future. . . .
Once again, I must make an effort to clear space for drawing and sketching and the more playful pursuits which the more firmly structured, formulaic activities can push out of the way. The mixing and measuring and baking this morning is part of that. Puttering. Yes, a clear path and a tangible end, but my mind is freed while my hands are busy. Next, I’ll do some literal space-clearing by organizing my physical desktop. . . . When I’ve done that, I’ll put paper, pencil, and paints out and sit myself there until I’ve made some marks on the page. Might not happen today (see above: bread-making and French class; not seen above: tea-drinking and book-reading), but I’ll have set the stage for some action . . .
First, I promised you some images of tranquility as found in Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden last week. . . .
Viburnum Bodnatense, Dawn. . . .of all the shrubs growing in my previous garden, this is the one I miss the most. Because pink fragrance in January and February. . . . Even better in the Lan Su Garden with water and red lanterns as a backdrop. . . .
A variety of honeysuckle. . . I used to have a (much) smaller version of this growing by my back door where its fragrance cheered me as I came and went in the grey months. . .
I couldn’t see a horticultural label for this winter-blooming yellow climber. . . so romantic, isn’t it?
And camellias. . . . which might be blooming somewhere in Vancouver as well, but I haven’t noticed them here yet (whereas I have stopped to sniff several Viburnum Bodnatense, the best-smelling pink popcorn around!)
The names of the different rooms or halls or arcades along the way were magically poetic. This was my favourite,
but there is also a Hall of Brocade Clouds and a Tower of Cosmic Reflections and a Courtyard of Tranquility among others. . .
Such an oasis, this Chinese garden, and the contrasting respite it provides from the surrounding gritty urban space can be intuited in this photo. . . all those hard-edged, geometric buildings looming and jostling in the background, the organic curves, the greenery, the water absorbing and muting the sounds of the city
and then if one wishes to retreat even further, the teahouse, all quiet voices and calming brews and thoughtful, continual refilling of small teapots so that one feels cared for even as one’s solitude is respected.
Now, speaking of tea. . .
I hope your Monday has begun well. If it gives you a minute, perhaps you’ll leave a comment below — they’re always welcome.
Good to hear that you are feeling better and are back walking and baking bread.
Those are lovely garden images from Portland…so cheerful. I need to get out for a walk in one of our local gardens this week.
Good luck at your advanced French class tonight.
Glad you’ve recovered from that nasty bug. I’m still battling mine. Hopefully I’ll be back in skiing form by Friday when we head to the Laurentians. I haven’t strapped on the skis once yet this year. May be a bit slow at first! Ha. Understatement of the year. 😀
Glad you are better. I experienced exactly the same appalling ague before Christmas and it felled me. Who knows where it came from? These photos are balm. I love gardens like these, even though they are a million miles from my own culture. When I come into my billions, I will spend time travelling (slowly) to visit gardens in Japan, China and Korea. Imagine. Calmly walking through them then drinking tea and simply…looking.
Get well soon! Personally, I prefer a little gastro to a cold with stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing, eventually a sore throat….at least gastro provides a weight reset. But any bout with germs is tiresome.
I adore that first photo! It is so eye-catching, yet subtle, just the effect of carefully laid pebbles. It requires time and planning, but not much money.
Re French, allez! (cried in the way of French teens encouraging one of their own, ah-laaaaaaaaaaaeeeee!). It's good to push yourself, and I bet you are more than capable. Just plunge in. A teacher back in NY told us, "It's not like you have friends or family in France. Everybody is a stranger to you, so you have to use the polite 'vous' form. So all the 'er verbs–the biggest group–are conjugated -ez when you speak to someone, and -er and -ez sound the same." Just think–the biggest group of verbs with no effort! Also, don't worry too much about things like verb tenses, which require a lot of brain bandwidth. Think of the non-native speakers of English and the mistakes they make. You still understand them. So get the idioms and the vocabulary, memorize some useful turns of phrase so they just come out, and don't sweat the rest too much. Reading is useful. Magazines and newspaper are great because they aren't trying to be pretentious about language, as some novels tend to. But I just read "Chanson Douce," by Leïla Slimani (A Perfect Nanny in English), and the writing was very clear. Seeing words makes it click at a different level.
I made a mental note of Viburnum Bodnatense for my next garden.
I am sure you will be fine in your French class. I felt a bit shy when I ventured into an Italian class on level B1. But it is so much fun to talk of more than just tourist attractions and food. And even though I struggle through my sentences, I walk out of the classroom every wednesday feeling that I have learned something new.
The viburnum is one of my top favorite smells-delicate and highly distinctive. As my grandmother always had one especially planted outside her bedroom window where she kept her window partially open all nights, all seasons, I followed suit when I moved into my Maine cottage years ago. Scents are so evocative; every time I am aware of this scent, she is immediately brought to mind in a powerful way.
On gardens-realize that my taste and style for gardens has evolved drastically overtime and had I been beginning over with my garden in Maine, I would definitely have a Chinese or Japanese styled garden. It lowers the heart-rate just looking at the gorgeous photos you took.
On an Instagram note, never mind that lucky baby, I would be delighted to look everyday at that gorgeous mobile of floating critters. Her work is incredible, thank you fo sharing.
A.in London
Thanks, L. The French class went really well and feels like a good fit — a relief! 😉
Sue: I'm crossing all my fingers for your recovery by Friday!
Annie: A bad cold at Christmas and then something like Norwalk last week, and I'm hoping I've paid my dues for the year. Oh dear, I shouldn't have written that, should I? Fate, tempted. . .
Taste of France: Can't agree with you, but perhaps you haven't yet experienced a full-on Winter Vomiting Disease (seriously, that's an official name! 😉 . . . the French class went well, a good fit, and thanks for all the suggestions. I generally read 5+ French novels annually, so my vocab and grammar are pretty decent (I read Chanson Douce a couple of years ago and found it did so much more than I'd expected, very good book!) but I need to work on letting go of my English-prof consciousness of mistake-making and just let myself talk! 😉 (Last year's favourites: Alice Zeniter's L'Art de Perdre and Jean Christophe Rufin's Les Sept Mariages d"Edgar et Ludmila)
Eleonore: Just as you say, the class was fine, and it's such a better fit than the Intermediate I spent at least a term too many in. Real conversations, and not such a formulaic approach — perhaps thanks to the overall confidence in the room. Meanwhile, in Italian classes, grappling with the partitive article this week 😉
A in London: So much variety in the viburnum family as well, and the Bodnatense is so perfect for a grey but not too harsh winter. Under a bedroom window would be a perfect spot although sadly can't do that here without "enjoying" too much street noise. . . . Glad you enjoyed those Instagram posts. . . Isn't that mobile fabulous? (She does ship, I believe 😉
Hurray to feeling better – love that garden in Portland and please share the muesli recipe?
Glad that you're feeling much better!
Beautiful gardens
Dottoressa
I think your nameless beauty may be Wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox. See Royal Horticultural Society page at rhs.org.uk/Plants/29215/Chimonanthus-praecox/Details
What amazingly tranquil scenes in the middle of the city. Quite a difference from standard European 'city green space' notions of trees and swathes of grass. I love it! Japan in midwinter is my dream trip, including a retreat at a traditional onsen in the snowy north. On European green spaces, have you seen anything of the transformation of Place Gambetta in Bordeaux? I haven't, and I'm keen to see it.
Glad you're climbing back up from the bug. A gastric bug can leave you absolutely floored for quite a while.
Hopefully in the Advanced class you'll benefit from other Advanced students' proficiency. With the cafe sessions I used to go to in Edinburgh I found my French was way better in the Advanced group, and that it took a dip if I had to go to an Intermediate group where accents were variable (read Scottish!) and grammar and vocabulary were …creative. Speaking of which, really looking forward to a couple of sessions shortly when I go back down for a visit. Starved of speaking French up here!
Yuck! With the cooking skills in your family, I hope hot soup or broth is at hand soon. The gardens are beautiful even under the typical northwest skies. (My brother, who lived all his adult life in OR, said, "If people can hang through the first two two winters they don't leave, but it comes as a shock that we can go for weeks and weeks with no sun."
Thanks, Linda! That looks right, the Chimonanthus praecox.
And the Advanced class seems fine, I think for exactly the reasons you say. There's something about the individual and collective confidence of speakers, as well.
Duchesse: Oh, your brother had it exactly right. It does come as a shock for newcomers to this region. . . .