Catherine Stock's Blog, page 25

Find the cat

Qualité and I looked after the fabulous shop Jour de Fête in Rocamadour this afternoon. Can you find her among the exotic goodies? Several people wanted to buy her but she was not to be had.[image error]

A plug for my buddies...

War Horse has moved from the National Theatre to the West End in London. It's a fabulous show- see for yourself:



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Exhibition poster

This is what I have finally come up with for our exhibition poster. If you are in the 'hood, please stop by.

Better yet, come to the opening on Friday the 29th at 7pm for a glass of wine and some pasta and salad.[image error]

Watching paint dry?

Every morning before I even splash water on my face or gulp down eye-opening coffee, I run outside in my nightie to check on my vegetable patch. This is what I have so far:

1. a row of freesias
2. leeks
3. cauliflower
4. radishes
5. feuilles de chene (a tender lettuce)
6. courgettes (zucchini)
7. mache (lamb's lettuce)
8. aubergine
9. lettuce (Boston)
10. green peppers
11. basil, oregano, and chives and parsley
12. beef tomatoes
13. spinach
14. spinach
15. peas
16. cherry tomatoes
17. onions
18. potatoe

Esprit de Corps

The Soiree de Dessin group that meets in my studio to draw from a model on Monday evenings is going to have an exhibition in my gallery on May 29th. Remy has offered to print up invitations and posters. I have thought of an appropriate title for the show: Esprit de Corps. (The French love double entendres.)

Elisabeth de la Perouse Coleman is going to open the show for us. She can always be relied on for a witty and pithy introduction.

Now the problem is going to be to choose a drawing for the

Les Saints de Glace

The days called the Saints de Glace: St Mamert, St Pancrace, and St Servais, are on respectively May 10th, 11th, and 12th. On these days the weather’s supposed to be cold, and only after then is summer on its way.

There are scientific explanations for this late frost. Astrologists note that the earth’s orbit takes it through a cosmic dust cloud which is supposed to reduce the sun’s warming rays and cool the planet. Meteorologists claim that this explanation is flawed because the cold spell is lo

My own row of menhirs

What a lovely surprise awaited me after I cleared away the eight feet high briars, nettles, ivy and wire mesh: my own wall of sandstone menhirs, complete with fossils of shells. Eugene has offered me the use of a small piece of land next to my barn for my potagé, or vegetable patch this year. We burned the offending vegetation in a massive bonfire.

By growing my own vegetables, I have gone one further than Mark Bittman, a food critic who wrote a great piece for National Public Radio called Back

Rignac garden exchange

Everyone in the village was in front of the cantonnier shed on Sunday afternoon for a plant swap- no money please. It's early in the season and I didn't have much to offer, so I rolled up some signed posters of a coq I printed up last year and managed to come away with flower, melon, vegetable and herb seeds, dahlia bulbs, a young lilac tree, a raspberry shrub and a tray of orange lillies- not a bad haul.[image error]

Blessings in disguise

For the last two weeks, a German family has been spending their spring break in the gite next door. The two little girls, Sandra and Julia, soon discovered Thabo, Sushi and Peaches and they were in love. Every morning right after their breakfast, they were here, ringing the bell, rapping on the door, calling through the keyhole "Katerina! Katerina! Wo sind Sie?" Groan.

Then all day long, "Kan ich lhnen helfin?" Groan.

Julia is eight and Sandra must be elevenish. From dawn to dusk I tried to f

Séraphine

Last night I went to see the film about the visionary artist, Séraphine Louis who lived in Senlis, north of Paris. I made a pilgrimage to Senlis this spring after making a note of the lovely village, the setting for another of my favourite films, King of Hearts with Alan Bates that I saw many years ago as a student.

The film is beautiful- very slow, very poetic, few words. It's a tribute to a woman who struggled through a difficult life, but nevertheless found peace and inspiration in nature w