WOW!

It's really hard to believe it's been a month since I left for France.. To borrow a very cliched phrase It only seems like yesterday since I left for this very special part of the world. The sites the sounds the music, the air, the sea... The friends... WOW... How can I even begin to forget the friendships that I have forged there... It all seems like a very distant blurr yet it's still very close to my heart..
I woke up this morning to the sound of silence... For the past 4 Saturday mornings had woke up to the sounds of pipes clanging and people setting up for the Saturday market in Arles.. Right outside the bedroom window I could see the vendors selling everything from Mou Mous who danced when the wind blew... To me it almost seemed that these crazy print polyester dresses just came to life as the wind blew through them... To luggage to toaster ovens, all outside of the window. I missed the sounds of people meeting friends as they walked through the market... I miss the Arab men sitting at L'Ecluse, a Gypsy bar for 6 and three quarter days of the week but during the market it would fill to the brim with Arab men having coffee and talking about whatever suited them. I miss walking through the market and getting my tomatoes from one special place... I miss trying to muttle through french just to get a bag of olives or 4 different kinds of dried sausage... Always getting a smile just for trying... I miss seeing the colors of the tables of spices.... I miss I miss I miss...
It's very hard to leave a place that you have fallen madly in love with.. It's hard to come back to a place where you are just another face... Even there you realize that if someone has seen you only once they know who you are.. That's what I miss...
I miss hearing songs sung by tiny Gypsy children's voices... Not really knowing where they are coming from but when you hear the song you realize that it's been sung for generations and it will be sung for generations to come. I miss big Gypsy Boys telling stories of when they were young. How things in their neighborhood used to be when they grew up. I miss hearing their song as well. Most of all I miss their smile.. I miss sitting around a table with friends and just talking about our comon passions. Our life's ambitions.
What we want for ourselves.. Most of all I miss their laughter..
I miss not hearing a Television. I miss the way everything smelled after a day in the sea air. I miss seeing the rain make bubbles in puddles of water.. I miss the hot sun that always seemed to be kissed by a cool wind..
I suppose I could look back on it all and remember when I walked into Les Vagues and seeing that smile from one of the Gypsy Boys.. Or when I sat and watched as a second and third generation of Gypsy musicians played and sang their hearts out. I can't even count the number of times I witnessed such greatness... The special week that I had with my dear friend from the UK... Getting to see Arles from an tottaly new point of view.. Seeing Lucien Clergue leading a group of school kids through his exhibit.. The shear awe and spectical of a bullfight.. Getting to Arles from Marseille via Tarascon.... My first adventure driving in france... The bus ride to SMDLM and seeing the old Spanish Bull everytime we passed through "Le Paty" Watching the wind blow the waves against the rocks. Hearing that sound of waves crashing felt very comforting for some reason.. Seeing NY NY sung by some guy in a white polyester suit while 4 or 5 dancing girls with really bad boas and crazy magic dot panties and bras danced with him.. And no I only had one pastis.. So that was not a crazy halucination.. I miss dinner with friends. I miss hearing my name yelled out all over the Roquette... It's almost like the Gitan cell phone company!! I miss looking out of the window on a clear and calm night and seeing the fire flies dancing in the trees. I miss falling asleep on the terrace looking straight up at the big dipper.. I I am sure there are more things to remember and as I go back and look things will come up.. And I'll write them down.... For now these are just some of the things that I have been thinking about. I'll write more soon. ~mel~