Mme. L. had encouraged me to visit her husband in the evening, around 6pm when his men friends come and visit his Brocante ( antique shop) in town. There would be no English spoken . So tonight I quickly went to the supermarket, where I saw a man rewinding up his young daughter's pig tail with a pink hair band. I had to get wood cleaner and polish for my new dressing table. I'm good and flying in and out of there now.
I drove back to La Colle under an incredibly dark sky with red clouds...a storm is coming tomorrow.
I parked in Le Jeu De Palme parking lot. Monsieur L. was there with one of his friends that I have met before. They warmly invited me in , found me a very pretty tall purple glass and poured the absinthe and then the very cold water into it. It was not that strong and it's not like it used to be back in the time of Degas and Toulouse Lautrec. Back then, it was a hallucinogen.
I loved listening to them go back and forth, some I could understand, some, I could not. It's only been a month, so I won't be too hard on myself. We talked about red skies at night .
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning” true, or is it just an old wives’ tale?
or, at least, I think we talked about that.
The 2 men kept feeling each other's heads as when the absinthe makes you hot, it's time to go home. They told me to be careful driving back to the house. I said that I worried about the narrow spot where only one car can pass...they told me the absinthe makes the narrow spot seem really wide...to which I added...and seem really hot! We all laughed.
Al Capone and Prohibition was mentioned.
Al Capone and Prohibition was mentioned.
I left when the other man did. I kissed Monsieur L on both cheeks ( for the first time) and they joked, that I should kiss the other man, but no way.
No pictures but imagine it as in a narrow glass room surrounded by antiques. There are antique lamps on....so the light is soft and orangeish. I am sitting on a chair across from Monsieur L. There is a table in between us with a green bottle of absinthe and a green bottle with iced water in it, like it had been in the freezer. On the table is also 3 different tall glasses with the cloudy white liquid in it. The other man stands so that I can have the chair. He stands very close with his back to the door. We are in a very tight circle.
But, picture this, I am in France in a small village, drinking absinthe, speaking French, living life.
No pictures but imagine it as in a narrow glass room surrounded by antiques. There are antique lamps on....so the light is soft and orangeish. I am sitting on a chair across from Monsieur L. There is a table in between us with a green bottle of absinthe and a green bottle with iced water in it, like it had been in the freezer. On the table is also 3 different tall glasses with the cloudy white liquid in it. The other man stands so that I can have the chair. He stands very close with his back to the door. We are in a very tight circle.
But, picture this, I am in France in a small village, drinking absinthe, speaking French, living life.
What a great experience. I will visit with them again!
Oh Caroyl - that is so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteRobin