Viva la Vida!

WOW

2008-11-05T12:40:00.003+01:00

Waoh it's been a while since I last posted to the ole blog.

A whole lot has happened since my last post...
I have an ongoing exhibit of my photographs of the Gitan of Arles up in "chez Paul"

It is the Reyes Family Bar.. and I have had the wonderful chance to be able to displat my work in such a fantastic space. The expo it self was in conjunction with the dedication of the "Place de Jose Reyes" Which was on September 27th... oof bad me hasn't posted anything about it... here is a link to my photographs that I took from that day.... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6705&l=7ca8f&id=1384823477

I'll add a few pics of the day... Just to give ya a peek... I have a full gallery on my face book.

Also since, my last post I went back to America for three weeks..... Got the chance to see my amigos in NY and spent 10 days in Colorado.... And my mom and i spent a couple of days in Santa Fe New Mexico... As soon as I get the pics off of my new camera i'll post those as well.

At this point I can't remember what i did with the connection chord to my camera.....

Eh i'll figure it out one of these days....

The Reyes Family

Andre Reyes At Chez Bob

Well, gang that's it for now I promise that I will post more frequently..... It's well into fall here in Arles and It is that time of the year where staying inside is better.

~Mel~

La Corrida Goyesque 13-09-08

2008-09-14T15:41:00.004+02:00

Here are a few pictures from the Corrida Goyesque here in Arles. For the first time I saw a Rejonador by the name of Pablo Hermoso De Mendoza fight. Rejonadors are Toreros who fight bulls on horseback... It was something that I had always wanted to see but never had the chance to see it first hand... Here are a few pictures of him. I will post more from the entire Corrida in the days to come. For now I hope you enjoy these..

Some pics from yesterday.

2008-08-23T18:09:00.004+02:00

Hey hey gang just thought I would add some pics from some stuff I shot yesterday, most of them are of the Novillada but I did manage to catch a Gitan guitarist in the plaza, playing.

He was actually quite good...

Enjoy!

~Mel~

Ladies and Gentlemen, My new husband!

OUCH!!

Well, that's all for now, I will add more as the rest of the month unfolds.... this coming week is Roman week... hmm Arles turns into the old Roman city that it once was!! hmm people running around in togas and gladiator fights.... should be fun..

July Events in Arles

2008-07-18T18:14:00.014+02:00

Well, kids here are some photographs from several events that have happened so far, this month, here in Arles.... This First set is from the Fete De Costume.. Where the New Queen of Arles was offically instated as the new Queen of Arles.... Gotta love these gals, dressed in the traditional costume of Arles....

Next are a couple of shots of the fire works from Quatorze de juliett. Bastille day for ya Yankees!! tee hee

Finally here are some shots of the Courses de Camarguaise/French Bullfights. Check these dudes out... The basic rule of the game is try to grab a little tiny piece of red ribbon from between the bull's horns... hmm easier said than done no? Meanwhile these guys are trying not to get run over by the bull or gored in the butt... Now no wonder they fly!!!!
See that little red dot between the bull's horns... Now try grabbing that while he's chasing you??

MOMMY!!!!

Well, kids these are some of the events that were and are going on here in Arles for the month of July...... Oh by the way they don't kill the bulls in a French Bullfight...

Abientot !

~Mel~

Budding young photographers

2008-06-29T15:12:00.007+02:00

Hey hey y'all

I know it's been a while since my last post... In this post featuring a couple of little friends of mine..... Last week I was at a fiesta at Chez Paul... It was a huge family gathering where there was paella, music and good friends. Again I want to thank Paul and his family for inviting me to such a wonderful event.. So here goes the story behind a few of these pics... I handed my camera to Pepa and her little brother Illiam,(Tobacco) and I let them take pictures of people and things that they thought interesting... Don't let that picture of Tobacco fool you.... He's actually a pretty happy kid!! Notice how beautiful Gypsy kids are.... Their eyes... Even the young ones have a story to tell...Here are a few of Pepa's shots... I have reason to believe that Pepa is a more abstract artist... I love the way she sees things....

here are a couple of Tobacco's shots... Pepa and her mom... Awesome!! Notice the love that Tobacco's big sister shows!! tee hee Hey I am 36 years old and I still stick my tongue out at my brother! I thnk that little Tobaco is going to be the portrait photographer and perhaps still lives.
Pepa and Tobacco's Mom and Dad Paul and Nadia. YUMMY PAELLA!!!This is just another part of my life here. It was another wonderful evening shared with my Gitan family here in Arles..... MUCHAS BESOS Y AMOR MI AMIGOS!!

Who are the peeps in my hood 2

2008-06-08T17:59:00.010+02:00

Well, Gang, it's time for another installment of "WHO ARE THE PEOPLE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD" Please feel free to whistle the song from Sesamee Street.. As those of you who read my blog on a semi-regular basis, know I started this little thing so that y'all get to know a little bit about Arles. Not only Arles but my Arles... These people and places are part of the Arles I have come to call home for the past 8 months... They not only run some of the most fantastic shops and cafes here but they are also my friends.... Here are Gerard and Martine. They own and run what I happen to think is the best Cafe and ice cream place here in Arles.. Les Masion Des Gourmands... Located just across from the Roman Arena. It also is a wonderful Gallery space. They display paintings and photographs by artists from all over... I had the great fortune of displaying a few of my photographs there.... Like most places, here in Arles it is a family run place, which allows any visitor to feel like they are at home when they walk in... Once in a while it doubles as the unofficial Tourisim office here in Arles... It is a fantastic place to sit and watch people go by.. So kids, when in Arles stop in and get something to eat!! I recomend it all!!!

These next set of photographs are of my favorite Floristas!! Fabienne and Alain. This dynamic duo, husband and wife team run Marinette, by far the best Flower shop here in Arles... Below are a few shots of their creations. Stuning no?!!! So Gang these are a couple of the local places that I frequent quite a bit.. They are family run businesses, and they make sure you are treated as one of their own... They are part of what makes my Arles so special.. And I thank them not only for what they do and what they create but I thank them for being friends..

C'EST CANUT.

2008-05-30T17:23:00.007+02:00

I am not sure if there are to many of you out there who do not know who this is. As most of you know this is Canut Reyes. I took these photographs about two weeks ago at a soiree we all had attended.. Needless to say It was an amazing evening. Filled with good food wonderful friends,
some new ones were made that night. And an incredible night of music.
As you all know Canut is part of a remarkable musical family. But for me, Canut is not just a gifted musician, he is a poet, a dreamer, an artist..... Some of those things are often said about Canut. He has the power, through his song to touch the soul... Not to many artists do that. If you sit and really listen to him, he tells his entire life story, with just a song. I have been truly blessed to know he and Catherine as friends. My life here in Arles has been a truly blessed one. It has been filled with remarkable moments. Sharing time with such a gifted soul is truly one of those moments.
I wanted to take this time to thank both Catherine and Canut for being such dear friends to me. It is an honor to have you both in my life. Canut you have inspired me to do great things with my art. You have also inspired me to create with my heart and my soul. Thank you also for giving me the inspiration to follow my heart's song.
And Catherine JUST THANK YOU!!!
10000 besos!!

La Corrida De Nimes 2008

2008-05-10T15:26:00.004+02:00

Here are some recent photographs I took of the Corrida in Nimes. Actually these were taken yesterday..... I have to admit I had a totally different perspective on this Corrida then others I have been too .... My seat was in the middle of the Umpappa Band.... OH LA LA!! I still have that trumpet sound ringing in my ears..... I was litteraly with the band... Here is a shot of the Band!

This is Alejandro Talavante

Juan Bautista
Juan Bautista and Alejandro Talavante Even Bullfighters need a little nappy pooh!

Official Picador meeting...
And the other guy.... I have his name somewhere... Ya ever watch that episode of Sienfeld where they talk about the three tenors and they can never remember the other guy's name? "Domingo, Pavarotti and ???? Well, I can't for the life of me remember this guy's name.... Even though I did take some of the best photographs I have ever taken, of this dude.... Eh I'll add his name to it later.... I am posting a larger photograph of him at the bottom... Once in a while I do get it right!!
Enjoy!!!

2008-05-02T17:56:00.004+02:00

All I have to say is it's a wonderful time to be in Arles.

Yesterday I had the wonderful chance to see just how special Arles is.

Seeing all of the women dressed in the traditional costume of Arles and well,the Gardians...

Dressed in their traditional clothes and the stunning white horses..

AMAZING!!

Yesterday was the Fete des Gardians...

FRENCH COWBOYS!!!

According to my ticket to the events in the arena this was something like the 496th fete!!

Damn!!

Something to be said for tradition.

Below is a short little video that I put together of some of the 400 photographs that I took

tee hee.....

I have really come to realize just how special this part of the world really is....

I hope you enjoy the video...

It seemed to be the only way I could get the best of the pictures I took on here.

~Mel~

The Sun has arrived in Arles!!

2008-04-23T18:16:00.002+02:00

OH LA LA!!
The sun has finally arrived in Arles..
Well, actually it never really goes away... But, it's now finally warm enough to paint the toe nails hot pink and dust off the sandals.... Arles is amazing.... people pour out of their houses into cafes and soak up the sun... I sat out in front of the church today the sun was hot yet, as always, the breeze kissed my face... I could have sat there four hours... hmm would have been burnt to a crisp but... eh what the heck.. After being bundled up all winter and basicly loosing most of the color to my skin.... It finally came back.... It's fun to sit and watch all of the ultra tragique hip 30 somethings pour out of their indoor cafes onto the street.... And now I fear my quiet little bit of heaven is now being over run with sun worshiping, i should say craving, tourist from northern Europe and those people who spent the winter in their stuffy little houses..... Eh it's not really a bad thing... makes for great writing... The one thing i love about being here is you are out in the sun for 10 minutes and your beautiful golden color is back... NO MORE NEW YORK PASTY WHITE!!
VIVA EL SOL!!!

On a lighter note.

2008-04-08T16:02:00.002+02:00

Well, I just thought I would coment on the past week. As I sit here in a cafe on a somewhat gloomy day... Eh it's been drizzling all day long and it's cold but somehow here in Arles that's really okay... I had planned on writing about this before but with the events of last week kinda put this on hold... I was walking home, one night after a quick trip to the mini market to pick up a few things.. I was passing through the "Place Du Forum" when I ran into a friend of mine who I actually hadn't seen for a couple of years... We used to hang out, at "la salsa" when it was open and during my various trips here. He asked if I wanted to pop into a bar, close by and have a drink...eh sure why not? So we walked in... Okay, now after "La Salsa" closed... The regulars scatterd across the 4 directions... Yeah okay they found other bars... Sounds more dramatic though huh huh? We sat there and yaked about what was going on in our lives since we last saw each other... Then it happened... The bar, was playing some rather good Chico and the Gypsies music... All of the sudden it happened.... One dude pulled out his Air guitar. Now the first dude, I am sure if he had an actual guitar he would have been good. Real good. But the other two... Hmm not sure if it was the countless numbers of beers they had before they picked up their instruments but........ Well, needless to say they were damn serious about their music.... AWESOME!! I was in the middle of a Gitano Air guitar band... I actually had to step out of the bar because I was hysterical laughing and I didn't want to offend the talent! Oh as for my friend.. Haven't seen him since.... eh one thing about being here is they NEVER forget a face... Well, kids I am off to see if they make a version of the game guitar heros in a Gitan version... ALLEZ CIAO! from Roman Gual

In Loving Memory of Mamma Kitty

2008-04-03T16:31:00.003+02:00

My dear friend Alexa, and roomate, in NY. Lost her beautiful cat, friend and companion. Yesterday. I am especially heartbroken because I had the wonderful chance to share 14 years with this fabulous cat... Somehow I like to think that she's boppin mice on their heads in heaven. :-))))))))))))

In Loving Memory of Our Dear Friend and Companion.
1992 (+/-) - April 2, 2008

Jellica aka. Mama Kitty
You will forever be in our hearts.

Love always, Alexa, Melissa
Willie, Molly/Puss
& Ginger

Thank you President Bush

2008-04-03T15:46:00.004+02:00

I normally stay away from being to political. Or taking a stand on much of anything... It's my personality. Most of my opinions, politically, I keep to myself.. But I felt the need to post this month's post from Paulo Coehlo's Warrior of the light. Kinda hits home when it's been a little over 6 years since we "invaded Iraq"

The following text was written by Paulo Coehlo:

Thank you, President Bush
I wrote the letter below on March 9, 2003, ten days before the invasion of Iraq. It is the most widely read text I have written, having been published in the leading newspapers across the world and all over the Internet: close to 500 million people have read it.
The war is now entering its 6th year, and over 4,000 American soldiers have lost their lives, together with an indefinite number of Iraqis. According to the CNN (March 24, 2008), “estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to the hundreds of thousands, with another 2 million forced to leave the country and 2.5 million displaced within Iraq, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees”.
Many of the people I mention have already left the scene, yet the war goes on. At the moment, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Below are some extracts from the letter:
Thank you, great leader George W. Bush.
Thank you for showing everyone what a danger Saddam Hussein represents. Many of us might have forgotten that he used chemical weapons against his own people, against the Kurds and against the Iranians. Hussein is a bloodthirsty dictator, today seen as one of the world’s clearest expressions of evil.
But that is not the only reason I have for thanking you. During the first two months of 2003, you showed the world a great many important things. So, recalling a poem I learned as a child, I would like to express my gratitude.
Thank you for revealing to the world the enormous gulf that exists between the decisions made by those in power and the wishes of the people. Thank you for making it clear that neither José Maria Aznar nor Tony Blair really care or show the slightest respect for the votes they received. Aznar is capable of ignoring the fact that 90% of Spaniards are against the war and Blair is unmoved by the largest public demonstration to take place in England in the last thirty years.
Thank you for insisting that Tony Blair should appear before Parliament with a fabricated dossier written by a student ten years ago, and present this as 'damning evidence collected by the British Secret Service'.
Thank you too, because, after all your efforts to promote war, the normally divided Arab nations were for the first time unanimous in condemning any invasion, at a meeting held in Cairo.
Thank you also for your rhetoric stating that 'the UN now has a chance to demonstrate its relevance', which made even the most reluctant countries take a stance against any attacks.
Thank you for trying to divide a Europe that is struggling for unification; this was a warning that will not go unheeded.
Thank you for having achieved something that very few have so far managed to do in this century: bringing millions of people together on all continents to fight for the same idea, even though that idea is opposed to yours.
Thank you, because without you we would not have realized our own ability to mobilize. It may serve no purpose this time, but it will be useful later on. Now that there seems no way of silencing the drums of war, I would like to borrow the words of an ancient European king to an invader: 'May your morning be a beautiful one, with the sun shining on your soldiers' armor, for in the afternoon I will defeat you.'
So, enjoy your morning and whatever glory it may yet bring you.
Thank you for not listening to us and not taking us seriously, but understand that we hear you and will not forget your words.
Thank you, great leader George W. Bush. Thank you very much.

http://www.warriorofthelight.com/
mailto:autor@paulocoelho.com.br

More Stuff from the Feria.

2008-03-24T16:22:00.012+01:00

Hey Hey Gang here are some pics from the Corridas from the past couple of days..... All I can say is this Arles is out of it's F*#$&*@ MIND!! There are ump pa pa bands everywhere... People are running around half blitzed out of their minds from all of the pastis!! Not to mention that I think 4 days of smelling Paella cooking is enough... And I don't care if I smell another glass of Ricard again.... Naw it's all in good fun... Arles isn't the quiet little place, that I moved to back in October... Somehow I think as the weather gets warmer it's going to get worse.... Hmm minus the ump pa pa bands I hope...... tee hee Okay enough of my bitching about the craziness in Arles here is what I and, I am sure y'all have been waiting for... My Corrida pics..... These first set of pics I took on Saturday March 22nd. These first three pics are of Juan Bautista. He's a local boy from here in Arles...

These next two are of El Juli

These next two are of Jose Mari Manzenares These next three were taken on March 23rd and they are of Uceda Leal.

These next three are of Antonio Ferrera.

These Last three shots are of Mehdi Savall.Well, that's it for the Corrida Photographs... Tonight is battle of the Ump pa pa bands.. I may go and check that out.. Hmm who knows if people get to out of hand I may go out and find a little person to stuff into one of those Tubas. All in all being in Arles during the Feria was fun.... I do, however, enjoy it when it is a little more more quiet..... I am off to see if any of Mi Amigos who run the verious eating and drinking establishments here have pulled out any of their hair... As of last night many of them looked as though they were about to... YIKES!!! I think it's the pallea.... Hey Superfrog ya got any Paella??? tee hee!!!!!

~Mel~

Novillada and Arles has Paella feaver...

2008-03-21T17:33:00.012+01:00

Okay I woke up this morning to the sounds of Um pa pa bands.. Oh la la Feria has arirved.. This morning was the first Novillada of the Feria. 6 younger Novilleros against 6 younger bulls. Well, one of the Novilleros is one of the kids that I took photographs of back in November... JUANITO. Here are a few pictures From today's events..

OH LA LA UMM PA PA BANDS!! GREAT!!!!! ARLES IS BEING INVADED BY UMP PA PA BANDS!! hmm wonder if they do private parties... Okay can you imagine this band in my tiny little flat!! ALE!!!

This is Fran Gonzales.....This is Sofianito:

This is Damien Castano:

This is Cayetano Ortiz he actually took the ears and won his fight.

This is Luis Manuel Casares

This is Juanito: He's the one I photographed in Fontvielle back in November... My how we grow up in just a few short months...

Well, gang that's it from the Novillada... I am off to find the best Paella in Arles.... Hmm it's not like I have only a few choices... Some how I think what the Gitanos are cookin at Chez Paul will be the best....

A bientot....

I am back in Arles... And it's got the Feria feavah!!

2008-03-20T18:38:00.003+01:00

Okay gang I made it back to Arles safe and sound. The flight back was quick and uneventful... Picked up my car and made my way to Arles. Took a little detour.. eh give me a break... I barely slept on the plane.... hmm couldn't remember if i should go toward Aix en Provence or Salon??

Finally agreed on Salon... Good choice.. Finally got back to mi casa... All was well with the exception of three of my plants... But this being the Easter season maybe something will help my other plants.... Well, I set off, yesterday in search of bulls... This Weekend is the Easter Feria here in Arles and the whole village has a fresh coat of paint and there are little white tents everywhere. They have set up a space in Gimeaux where they have put the bulls for the Corridas... Aye!! Here are few shots of the Bulls.. Okay folks please no hate posts to my blog... It's all good.... These Animals are treated like gold even when they make it to the Arena ring. I just wanted to show the majesty of these beasts....

Here are a few shots of the Corse de Camargues that took place also at the Arena in Gimeaux. These first shots are of the Guardians and I tried to get the torreros but these guys fly when being chased by the Camargue bulls. Here are a few shots of the events.

Okay here is a quick lesson on Bulls Camargue bulls: Their horns point to heaven... Spanish Bulls point forward... tee hee there endeth the lessonHere are a couple of shots of the Corse De Camargues... The Torreros have to try and grab a piece of string tied between the bulls horns..Okay gang that's it from Roman Gual for now.. Keep your eyes on the blog.. Men in tight pants are coming soon!!!!

Whaao!!

2008-03-10T23:51:00.004+01:00

Well, Look what ya find when you're walkin around in Denver.. Tee hee.. It's always nice, when I am missing the Gitanos to run into them . Hey what can I say? Even in Denver I am never to far away from mi "Amigo" and his little brother... tee hee... Hey I just have one question.... What's the deal with the scarves?????? LOVE THESE GUYS!!!!
Oh la la here's a pic of my mom and the Poulette.... Oh la la look at those smiles. We had such a good time!!! tee hee.... He was so sweet to me and my mom. Molt Gracies L'Estimo Meu Amore!!!

The Gitanos Come to Denver

2008-03-09T10:28:00.010+01:00

Oh la la

I mean really what more can be said about this little band of Gitanos??

I am sitting in a hotel room, it's two in the morning.. Well, Daylight savings time has begun in the States so it's actually three... eh who cares I am still riding that Gitano wave... The Boys played the Denver Paramount, well, what would be lastnight now.. As always they did not dissapoint. Two 50 minute sets of their music, running the full spectrum of their entire 20 year career..

Okay to start the whole thing off, my mom and I drove up from Pueblo, (two hours south of Denver and my actual home town) We decided to have a girls weekend... A little overnighter in the big D and seeing the Boys play was the bonus!!!

I do have to send out my apologies.... I was unable to get any decent shots of Canut and Paco. Canut has the voice and soul of a poet and he is one of my dearest friends... I am always moved to tears when he sings. It's just the joy of his voice and knowing where his song comes from that moves me this way.. He also has been known to move me to tears of laughter.. LOVE YA CANUT!!!

Okay here are some pics from the show and i'll yak more about it later...

ALE POULETTE!!! Okay I am way to partial to the oldest Reyes brother but hey he's one of my best friends and he's the love of my life... ;-)))))))

Nicolas, not only does he have the voice but he ain't bad on the guitar as well...

Poulette, and Andre.. Hangin out during "Sabroso"

Nicolas, The Gipsy with the Golden Voice and Tonino El Maestro...

Tonino... El Maestro!!! Need I say more?? This Gitano makes a guitar sing!!!

Pacheco God of all Percussion.... This honorary Gitano can Rock!!!!

Nicolas, Pacheco and Tonino.... Did I mention that these guys are brilliant???

Who Are the People in your Neighborhood?

2008-02-27T13:50:00.004+01:00

Well, Kids

I probably should have started this a while back but oh well, it's better late than never... I'll be doing an installment of "Who are the people in my neighborhood?" every once in a while just so you get to know some of the people in my life in Arles.... In the short four months that I have been in Arles I have met some wonderful people.. Most of them I have known for a while as I had met them on previous visits to Arles... Being there for an extended period of time has allowed me to get to know them better.... As for my neigborhood..... Well, all of Arles is my "hood" tee hee.... So along down the road I will be introducing mi amigos to you... These are the people who make me feel like I am truly at home in a country that is far away from my own..

And I am blessed to have each and every one of them in my life..

First up, and does this really suprise any one? tee hee... The boys at " Chez Paul"

As most of you know... Well, I am sure all of you know... The Gitanos in Arles are a huge part of my life... They are my extended family here in Arles... At any given night at the bar you can hear anything from the Gipsy Kings to Camaron de la Isla, and Jose Reyes being played... This place is run by Paul. Paul is, as you can see from the photograph of the Reyes Clan... He is the son of one of the Reyes' sisters, Faionne.... Just a bit of triva for those of you who are familiar with the music of the Gipsies... His sister is Bernadette, of Canut's "Bolero" fame... Just thought I'd throw that in...

Here's Paul doin what all of these guys do best and that's sing.... This happened to be on one of the "Homage nights" This night was the Homage to Cameron de la Isla.. On any given night who's who in Gitano music just shows up... If you are there it's an amazing treat to sit and just listen to these guys sing... This night Juanito, and his little boy just happened to be there...

It was amazing to sit and listen to not only Juanito sing along with the Camaron songs but his little boy sang too.. 8 years old and he knew all the words to the song and he sang it with just the same passion as his father did...

Sometimes I have to sit back and look at where I am. I sort of take an inventory of how I ended up at this time and place... I suppose we all do that.. What leads us to where we are... The Gitanos are a part of my experience here.. They have allowed me to share a small part of their world..

Well, this is it for installment 1. Right now I am in America.. Hangin out with friends and family. I will add more to my blog about the people who I call friends in Arles...

~Mel~

The Gipsies invade New York!!

2008-02-26T16:36:00.005+01:00

Oh la la. WOW !!

All I have to say is my boys sold out one of the biggest houses in NYC!! Radio City Music Hall...

For me it's very strange.... When I first met these guys it was through a mutual friend.. They were the Gipsy Kings... Cool!! First band I had ever seen live! Now I just know this little band of Gipsies from the South of France as Poulette, Canut, Nicolas, Patchai and Andre... So it's amazing to see them headline at Radio City... Not only headlining there but selling the damn thing out!!

As always this little group of Gitanos were spot on.... I missed the first couple of songs due to some managment issues.. But.... After a brief discussion with the powers that be about exactly who I am... hmm somehow that was all cleared up.... tee hee At any rate... We were able to enjoy the show from a backstage vantage point. I will say this about seeing them from this point of view.. you do hear the music in it's purest form.... Radio City is huge and things tend to get muffled... Andre's sweet voice tends to loose it's self in all of the space.... And some how all of the guitars over power him.. It was an Amazing show.. As always... Canut sang with that passion and soul that he always sings with. Singing his signature song. "Montana". Listening to him sing that song and knowing where the song comes from and what it is about brings tears to my eyes.... When his brothers add their harmonies to his song.. Those Reyes Boys know how to touch your soul... Of course Tonino being the guitar god that he is.. Never disapoints.. I don't really keep track of set lists or anything like that... Most of what they played were songs from all of their previous recordings.... Which is never a let down... I have always said that they would be just fine singing "Row your boat" and I would be happy... I do have to say this... And yes I am partial to the oldest of the Reyes brothers... My boy sang!!! Poulette belted out some wonderful riffs during "Pena Penita" that just blew me away!! Hmm always knew that the sweet one had it in him..... Simply adding to the magic of the whole evening.... Of course the back up band well, what is a group without it's support?? "Sabroso" showcased this very talented group of musicians.... It's amazing when a group gets it right.... These guys are what they are. Gitano Puro... But for two months out of the year they are genuine rock stars!!

So my next stop with the Gipsies will be in Denver.... For me seeing these guys play is a treat. I am honored to know them as the brilliant musicians that they are and most of all I am blessed to share my life with them and they in turn do the same... I never thought that this chica from Pueblo Colorado would be friends with Royalty... eh their just the Reyes boys... tee hee

So after all of the weather problems and all of the complaints of lost voices and the countless lines of "chicas" who pass through. These guys still have it... If you sit and talk to them they will tell you about all of their problems and what happened to them on their way to where they are. But when they step onto that stage they truly are Kings!!

I think I would like to be a dog

2008-02-18T16:41:00.002+01:00

Okay y'all here's one for the okay Mel please esplain file.. Actually I think I would like to be this dog.

This was our tour guide at this little chaple off to the side of the road.. We were on our way back from lunch in Tarascon and we saw this small chaple off to the side of the road and thought hey what a neat spot to photograph... Well, we got out of the car and this dog stood at the top of the steps and greated us.. She actually took us to the chapel then she walked with us up the path as if to say hey there is more up this way... It was cool.. I mean really.. She probably lives in the Mas near the site but she wanders around showing tourists the sites... cool huh? Ah to be a dog. No real worries, well, if you have a person who loves you.... You get all the food you could possibly want... Yet sometimes you still want more... You have pretty much free roam over the entire domain of your people. You ask no real questions like where when why and how? but you do, however, make many many many demands... And being the sucker that your person is.. They always give in... Cause they know that you love them. I think I would like to be a dog.. But not one of those sissy celeb. dogs that get dressed up in stupid little outfits.. Those poor things are nervous all the time.. Hell, I would be too if i walked around with a half baked ditzy master who liked to put little shoes on my feet cause they thought it was cute... yeah i wanna be this dog.. tee hee.... ~mel~

Off to find dragons

2008-02-02T17:27:00.000+01:00

Hey hey gangaroonies.... Iknow it has been a while since my last post....... Well, almost a month... whew!! Alot has happened since the last post.. Mi Amiga Prima was here for two weeks.. We did quite a bit... Having a car allows you a bit more freedom to find little places that you didn't know really existed.... We found a whole bunch of little churches... Well, actually they were chapels.. word of note: small abandoned chaples are great places for when you have no where else to go to the bathroom. Yeah yeah... i know you shouldn't pee on a church... eh... okay... tee hee... We had a blast tooling around provence... acting like we owned the place. it was fun... of course whe spent time with el primo amigo too so... Now i must speak about what happens to be one of the strangest days i have ever had here....... My saturdays start like any other saturday... Clean up after the friday night before.... Not that I make a huge mess but i usually leave it until the morning... so i did the dishes and picked up my stuff... then i headed out for the market... After the market i headed to one of my favorite to places to eat... where a friend of mine was telling me that there were some chinese or lunar new year events going on here... cool, i could go take pictures.... so i headed back home after lunch... stopping at my favorite cafe for yet another cup of cafe.... oh la la no sleep for me tonight... i headed back home to drop off my goodies from the market. i headed out in search of dragons... yeah kinda like martha in tarascon.. yet my dragons weren't a threat... these are good luck dragons.... after searching and searching i found no dragons.... Rat balls..... but i did find a funky band of dudes playing beatle's tunes... rather badly... the weird thing is that they had old couches and toilets sitting near their little stage. trying to listen to them play... oof if you could call it that?? i was pretty bummed out.. no dragons.... i headed to the cafe where i tap into the internet.... and i heard chinese drums and fire crackers... AHHH DRAGONS!! i found them but they were running away from me... quick mel catch the dragons... so i ran after them... tee hee camera in tow they passed by and made their way to the place du repbulique where there just happened to be a wedding and the band playing beatles tunes.. AWESOME..... chinese drums a really bad band and a wedding... WHO SEES THIS STUFF?? Well, i had found my dragons and i got my good luck for the year... It's the year of the Rat.. my year.... woo hoo so unlike martha in tarascon i did not conquer these dragons i tickled one on the chin and took his picture... Well, kids that's it from Roman Gaul again... I am off to see what i can see..

Just a post from Arles

2008-01-06T15:33:00.000+01:00

Well, I am sitting in a cafe where I have probably sat a half a dozen times before.... Actually it's where my first short story took place and where I wrote it.. Difference being all of Europe is now under a smoking ban..... Awesome for me, i don't have to choke on the smoke of half a dozen ultra tragique young people who have aged way beyond their years... Well, now they sit outside... hmm they are just outside the door.... oh well, i guess it's a start!
kinda like the dog poo rule here.... It's actually a nice day here... the sun finally came out after a 3 or so day absence.... I need my sun.... i get grumpy if it's gone to long... It is after all, why i came here... Well, one of the reasons...
I am sitting here watching kids playing football in the square.. and people pouring out of the cafes about every 10 minutes or so to get their nicotine fixes... oh well... Not much else going on here.. it's sunday in Arles.... Quiet but nice...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2007-12-31T15:06:00.000+01:00

Well, It is that time of the year again.... Whew where does the time go???
"No se" As is often quoted from many of my Amigos... I suppose New Year's
Eve is the day where we look back at the previous year and see what we have accomplished or what we haven't.. Did we keep that resolution we made, this day last year??? Well, the way I see it is keep it simple... For instance I usually make a resolution not to fall down... Then that way it's a pretty easy one to keep... Though this year I couldn't even keep that one... Tee hee..
Damn knee... So to all of you who are making the grand resolutions here's what I have to say to that... You won't fit in the skinny jeans by this time next year so eat.... You won't just have one glass of wine so drink.. Your kids won't stop being a pain in the neck so let them be.. Your hair won't stop turning grey so quit dying it. You won't get any younger so stop trying and just love yourself for who you are. What I do hope for you is this... If you play the lottery... I hope you win big. If you do plan to take a trip as part of your resolution, it better not be a car ride to your parent's house in the sticks... Ya better go somewhere big!
Okay here is my wish for all of you for the New Year!
Dream big!! Think of the most outrageous thing you can possibly think of and do it!!
and please for God's sake don't use the word CAN'T!!
Okay that's my New Year's wish for y'all hope you have a healthy and happy one...
No matter where you are. If you are watching the ball drop in Time square or playing the Rhumba in Dubai, having a quiet night with your pets, or you are falling asleep on your couch and waking up at 12:30 to kiss your sweetie.. Have fun... And don't fall down!!

Happy Day After Christmas!!

2007-12-26T19:30:00.000+01:00

Hey Hey!

Well, with all good intentions I had planned on posting yesterday but I decided that I needed a break from technology.... It was an extremely wonderful day... I had a wonderful Christmas dinner with my a friend of mine from London and her family.. Well, we met about 4 or so weeks ago here in Arles. Her son in law cooked and I was happy to celebrate the day with her and her family!!

THANKS FAITH!!

Here are a few pictures of more of the holiday lights that lit up Arles on Christmas Eve Night.

These were lights they used to light up the facade of St Trophime church... It looked like the front of the building had been painted...

It was beautiful!!

I wondered around on Christmas eve night and took some pics of the lights.... Arles is so beautiful this time of the year..... And it's so quiet... Well, As soon as I say that I see a boat load of English speaking tourists take over the Neighborhood.... I can't tell you how many people strolled by my door and laughed...... Okay gang enjoy the pics I'll post more soon

Here's hoping at least one of your Christmas wishes came true!!

~Mel~

Here is a shot of the lights in the "Roquette"

Happy 21st of December

2007-12-21T21:53:00.000+01:00

It's a fine line we walk when our heart's are allowed to sing... Today I saw a friend of mine who I had not seen for almost three weeks... I know that seems like a short amount of time... And realitively speaking it is... Seemed like an eternity to me.. Three weeks gives you just enough time to run through a whole range of emotions, feelings whatever... It gives you just enough time to be angry... To fill your heart with rage.. To let your head attack what your heart is feeling. You sit and try to justify what you are feeling... You talk to friends your family. They offer your their opinions.. And what your heart feels gets burried. All of the things of the past run through your head and you start to doubt yourself and why you ever did what you did. You start to curse the day your heart ever started to feel the way it did. You wished it would just go away. You simply wish that someone or something would take the hurt you are feeling away.. Further burying the feelig you have in your heart. Well, at least I did. I ran through all of the emotions of why when where, who what..... Made me sad to think about it. Makes me sad now even to think about it.. How could I have possibly pushed something so wonderful away? Then one day it just stops.. The anger goes away. The name calling subsides. And the big wish of "please take this away from me" goes away. You start to feel again, you start to find that little bit of hope deep in your heart that never really left. You know that it's still there.. And again the feeling gets stronger. Again, It comes back.. As if it ever left in the first place. Today I talked to a friend who I hadn't talked to for a while. I asked him how are you? He said to me I am playing again. Honestly, that was one of the best Christmas presents I could have ever had. Made me happy to know that he IS making music again. I had started to get that feeling back a few days ago. I knew that I had to clear through all of the crap to get to what really mattered. Hearing that he was making music again solidified the feeling. It was back. Bloody hard to hold onto but it was back. Tonight I saw him. Tonight I saw something in him that I had not seen in a very long time. I saw him, again. The beautiful soul that connected with mine well, exactly 4 years ago. I saw it again. Somehow through all of the chatter of different voices his song, faint though it may be right now, is being heard. I heard it. Somehow I think, that I am the only one who hears it.. Maybe I am the only one who listens? It made me smile to see him today. Honestly he wasn't feeling all that well.. But I saw it in his eyes. I saw what I saw 4 years ago. He has changed in those 4 years and so have I. Today, today I connected again with the love of my life. As much as we push each other away as much as we try to literaly remove each other from our lives.. We see each other and we smile and it's there. Amigos? Si! It's all we can be. I am not sure I believe in soul mates. I know we connect with certian people and you know when it's right. And right now it's simply RIGHT. Thank you so much for being who you are. Thank you so much for your song my friend. Most of all thank you for your smile.. For it is the one thing that keeps my heart strong and my head at bay. My Christmas has come early. So when I walk home tonight from the hotel where I "borrow the internet" and where I sat for the very first time in Arles, filled with hope and a dream that one day we would be close. I'll look up at the moon and next to her will be a small bright light, the planet Jupiter. And It will all be RIGHT again. I'll smile and whisper a Thank you on the wind and I know he'll get it.. That makes my heart smile. So HAPPY 21st OF DECEMBER MI AMIGO! & THANK YOU!

Christmas time in Arles

2007-12-20T19:00:00.000+01:00

Hey Hey

Yeah I know it's been a while since my last post.

I thought I would post some photographs of the holiday lights here in Arles and some of my own holiday decorations. OOOh and it did snow here... Once every 4 years... hmm the very first time I came here was 4 years ago and it snowed then too.... So here are some pics of the sites around here.. And my stuff too.. I have offically added a touch of "white trash" to Rue Renan!!

tee hee... No lights... haven't quite figured out how to exterior illuminate my door... Oh well, don't want to piss off the neighbors just yet.. ha ha!!!!!

okay kids enjoy...

Snow in Arles????? Yeah the official "blizzard"... The Saturday market was a bust but this was something to see....

Here are a couple of shots of some of the Holiday lights in Arles. I took these about two weeks ago...

And finally here are some pics of my own holiday decorations.... Tee hee... Okay that's it for now from Roman Gual... I'll post more as the Holidays get closer...

~Mel~

Link to my book

2007-11-21T18:26:00.000+01:00

Okay gang here it is.. Here is the link to the site that I am publishing my book through.. www.lulu.com/content/1462059. It's my baby.... There is a section where you can preview what's inside and I think you can buy the book now... if ya want that is.. Right now that's all from Roman Gual.. I have my eyes are buggin out my damn head because i have been staring at the computer for way to many days..

Some Pictures from today.

2007-11-17T20:09:00.000+01:00

Hey Hey

Just thought I would check in with the ole blogeroony..

Today was a busy Saturday... Of course I hit the Saturday market... How can you not? Ran into just about everyone I knew... Big event come to find that it's the place to be seen.. Eh me loca Americana shows up to the market looking like a schelp... Eh who cares I am walking through a crowded market with smells from everything from live chickens to chickens roasting to fish to to to to to.. And besides I get all sweaty carrying home all of my goodies... Needless to say Arles is damn cold.... Bugger of the thing is Mel being all wise and thinking that it can't be colder here than in the Northeast... B.S!!!!!! Had to buy a fleece sweater... Anywho I digress.. After the market I made my way to Fontville of course i am spelling it wrong... When I even get wind of a Bullfight I am there.... This was a Novilliada... It's kind of a showcase for the little guys... I would say these three kids had to be no more than 14 years old... And the bulls well, they were little too.. Do not worry the little bulls were not killed... It's just a way for these kids, who are up and comming Toreros, to hone their skills so to speak... And don't worry the sword you see these guys holding isn't used to kill the bull, they use it to tap the bull between the shoulders..

Honestly watching these kids do what they do... It's amazing... They don't have a picador or Bandelilleros to wear down the bull, granted they are only dealing with little bulls but these things charge at them with full force... It will be interesting to see these kids come up in the ranks...

It was fun to watch.. Damn cold but fun to watch...... I could only stay for two of the three fights.... I was freezing and I wanted to go home... I made my way to a cafe for a "petit cafe" oof esspresso at it's finest... Two of those later and I was jumping up and down waiting for the bus...

Caught the bus back to Arles... It was a short trip... 10 minutes by bus and 2,80 Euro one way.. Came back to Arles did a little food shoping... hmm something must have been in my coffee cause i got to the store and had a complete brain fart and forgot why i was there.... OH LA LA well, I figured out what i did indeed need.... Whew... Made my way back home.... on the way there i took few night pics of Les Arenes... So here are a couple of those... It's a beautiful night here right now a little cold and windy but still beautiful... It's one of those nights where I realize why I am here...The kinda creepy looking pic at the end isn't really creepy it's the view from my front door at night.. The way the street lamp lit up the street makes it look like my street was being invaded by the green fog!!!

Well, that's all from Roman Gaul, for now... I'll post more in the coming weeks.. I think I have finally settled into my groove here so I'll be able to post more soon... Oooh before I forget.. I am in the process of publishing a book of my photographs from the Corridas... I'll let y'all know when it's finished....

~Mel~

My house and the "hood" in France

2007-10-30T15:50:00.000+01:00

Well, kids I finally got settled in my flat in Arles.. I have been in it for a week... Only took me a couple of days to get situated.. I am so happy to finally have a place here in Arles... Okay here are the much anticipated pictures of MI CASA. This is the street I call home.... Rue Renan.. My house is on the right with the light blue shudder..

My living room and kitchen.... Hmm just finished laundry.... So the entire flat becomes my dryer.. Eh viva la france... I am lucky to have a washing machine soooooooo.

Okay here is the shower for some reason people like to see your bathroom I draw the line at showing people my toilet, however, it's just a toilet.. The last two pics are of my bedroom in the cave.. oh wait it's a grotto.... At any rate here it is..........

The last two pictures are pictures of my neigborhood... Not bad digs no??? At any time of the day I have the best view in the world......

Well I made it.. And I think it's gonna be all right!!

2007-10-20T01:03:00.000+02:00

Well, kids I made it to France...
The flight was pretty much flawless. Though the short flight from Amesterdam to Marseille was the longest hour and a half of my life.... But when I landed in Marseille I grinned from ear to ear!!!
The first night here was nice... Phoned "mi amor Gitano" we met for dinner... He and his "mujer" makes me laugh... I will say this it was good to see that face.. He has the sweetest smile Well, the first time I ever saw it I knew I was in trouble.... Needless to say because of that smile I am here... Now it's not just the smile... It's what that smile has lead me to... Oh la la can I go on about that??? But I digress..
Not bad for a first night out...
Day two was okay.. I didn't sleep very well.... And I decided that i needed to start apartment hunting ASAP...
The day was pretty crappy to begin with and i was not in the best of moods... Jet lag caught up with me....
And it was pretty much a bust on the appartment hunting here in Arles... Looked at a funky little house near the Arena.... It wasn't bad... eh who am i kidding it had this funky smell to it.. hmmm not a good selling point... At that point after looking at a couple of places I got a little bummed out... Things were not moving as fast as i had hoped... but as it has been said everything happens in it's own time... Well, I came back to the hotel and took a nap and a shower and rested for a while then i pretty much decided that i needed to take a drive to clear my head... so i did... Driving through the Camargue at night hmm it worked... I came back and decided that at this point it is out of my hands... Well, that was last night... I woke up this morning with a pretty good feeling that today was going to be okay... Had lunch with a friend of mine at a nice place in the Roquette.. I'll keep it in mind for when visitors arrive.... After lunchI went to a few agencies and looked at a cute little place by the train station, of all places... However, note to all, when trying to rent as an american here in france it's almost impossible... eh i love the challenge!! Yet at this point the challenge has been a sore spot.. I just want to get into a place of my own... Hotels bug me after one or two days... Tooo small.... and I can't cook my own food.... and i hate living out of a suit case.... LA VAGABUNDA PURA at this point.... After looking at the house I came back to the hotel set up another soiree/ dinner with "mi amigo" in Les Saintes... Got there called and called and called... The orginal place we were set to meet was Cerado! For a half an hour I set in my car waiting for the "mujer" to get off of his phone... Finally he answers... QUE PASA??? OH LA LA!! Finally, we met up.... Mira, Los Gitanos y sus mujeres.... Aye dios mio!! Gitanos tiene mucho mujeres. Y solo una amor de sus vidas... El siempre dice a mio, "yo tengo mucho mujeres en mi vida pero yo tengo solo una Melissa" So if you are wondering why i put up with what i put up with that's why.. And yes i know what Gitanos are.. I know how they work... And I know what their game is all about.. As long as I am straight forward with them and tell them where I stand I have no problems... I have had nothing but positive experiences with the Gitan of this part of the world and I like to keep it that way... Digression # 2..... Bare with me.. That's why I am writing a book kids... At dinner "mi amigo" introduces me to yet another, what I like to call, Star of the Camargue music scene.. Juanito... Wow what a talent.. and what a wonderful personality.... I met him and his family... He has a wonderful wife, Maria... We sat and listend to some music that i had with me on my i-pod.. another hint.. want to hit it off big with the gitanos... Bring the ipod with speakers and play some music that they like... Oooh before i forget.... Part of the next generation of Gypsy catadors made an appearance.. Jose, Pablo's son, Miguel, Janito's son and a few of what I like to call the young Gitano bucks were there... I love it they sit there with their cell phones playing tunes that they downloaded to their phones. They pound out rythms on their chests or the table and they all sing... Cool thing is even the older guys got into it.... it's amazing what happens to their faces, when music is heard... How their eyes light up and their hearts song just comes out.... Those really are the moments where you sit there and go wow...... It's what they were born to do.. Funny I seem to think that we were all born to sing our own heart's song, yet by the time we realize that we have it, it gets lost.... These guys never loose it... Needless to say after the conversations I have been having, the past few weeks, with "mi amigo" it was good to hear him sing his heart's song again... Digression #33 We sat and talked for a while then it was brought up that I was looking for a place to live and well, Juanito had studio. Okay unfrigginbelievable..... So tomorrow i look at a flat in Les Saintes... and I spend yet another day with one of the Camargue's finest musicians... I was totally blown away... And yes I do understand why the welcome mat was basically thrown at my feet so quickly.... It's the same old story.... They size you up to see what you have... You play the game.... and if they drop you like a rock then it's their loss.. Ladies, CUIDADO CON LOS GITANOS!! After another wonderful evening with "mi amigo" , his family juanito, and his family.. I made my way back to Arles.... I realized something on my drive back to Arles... That this journey that I am taking allowed me to find something that I lost... My heart's song... And I realized that I am here for me... It seems to be the place where I can truly hear Mi cancion de mi corazon.... Okay gang.. I hope this makes sense... It's 2 in the morning here and i had to write what's happened so far... If you have lost your heart's song GO FIND IT!!!

"I'm leavin on a jet plane.........."

2007-10-16T17:52:00.000+02:00

Wow the day has finally arrived..
I leave tonight for France...
I leave to persue a dream...
At this point it seems that there is a certian amount of fear.. What am I talking about there is a whole lot of fear... What might happen what if what will i do???
oof doesn't seem fair to me that it should be a lot easier to persue something that makes you happy... But I guess, as the saying goes... Anything worth having is worth fighting for...
Dreams are hard to keep hold of... They are hard to stay focused on. And sometimes the fight doesn't seem worth it... Sometimes keeping our eyes on the goal seems more important than the journey toward that said goal..
Ya miss out on a whole lot when your eyes are focused so far ahead.. Jeesh I wish I could believe what i write...
Right now I sit here with a pit in my stomach wondering what if??
and scared half out of my mind.. But then i remember that i felt the exact same way when i moved here 12 years ago.. STRANGE!!
Far to many things to think about when you are persuing a dream... Some say if there were no dreamers we wouldn't have certian things....
Well, I often wonder what if I were just supposed to be a normal person... Workin at Wal-mart. Raising a family.... stuff like that... see plenty of happy people walking with their kids. Taking them to school. Going to work. Living their life and they are satisfied with that... And that's a good thing..... Then I ask my self why can't I be satisfied with that? Then i say to myself well, what is normal... For me running around the world chasing dreams seems to be the normal thing to do.... I often will tell my friends who often times sit back and watch their lives pass by, you have to live your dreams. because then your life becomes a "WHAT IF" I often preach it as if it were gospel. Sure it is easy for me to say you should follow your heart but when it comes to me... It's not as easy as I preach... I just sometimes wish that I would listen to myself...
Maybe i wouldn't throw myslef into fits of panic and i would just let things happen...
Naw that wouldn't be me...
I have been asked to give it up to a higher power... And that God won't give us anything we cannot handle... Well, I believe that most of the time. Most of the time. I suppose the universe only gives us what we can handle. Some of us must be made of iron because the universe hands out some pretty tough shit.. Yet we are still here...... Yet the dreamers keep dreaming and the practial comon sense folks keep the world sane... It's just us crazy Mutha F&*@ *$# That keep the world on it's toes.
It's real hard to be a dreamer and live in a world where comon sense rules... Following your heart in a world full of head followers. WHEW!!
So now I am off to follow a dream.. To have the courage to fail and to get back up and dream even bigger if I do. But some how deep down inside I know I can't fail. I know that I can't just work at Wal-Mart I can't just have a 9 to 5 job I have to follow my dream. I have to make the things that I dream about a reality. And that's why I got a one way ticket to France and a heart full of hope and love... HOW CAN I GO WRONG?
So gang wish me luck and stay close to the blog... It's gonna be a hell of a ride..
~Mel~

Excerpt from Paulo Coelho.

2007-10-11T18:40:00.000+02:00

This is an excerpt from a monthly news letter that I get from Paulo Coelho's "Warriors of the Light" I wanted to share this with all of you.. His writting has been a tremendous inspiration in me starting my persuit of my own "Personal Legend"
I hope you enjoy it.
~Mel~

Issue nº 157

Fragments of a non-existing diary

A Peruvian priest’s sermon
In my book “The Alchemist”, the young shepherd Santiago meets an old man in the town square. He is searching for a treasure, but does not know how to reach it. The old man starts up a conversation with him:
“How many sheep have you got?”
“Enough,” answers Santiago.
“Then we have a problem. I can’t help if you think you have enough sheep.”
Based on this extract, the Peruvian priest Clemente Sobrado wrote an interesting piece, which I transcribe below:
One of the biggest problems that we drag around with us all our life is to want to believe we have “enough sheep”. We are surrounded by certainties, and nobody wants someone showing up to propose something new. If we could only suspect that we don’t have everything, and that we aren’t all that we could be!
Maybe we are all faced with a very serious problem, namely that although we have the opportunity to help one another, the truth is that few people let themselves be helped.
Why is that? Because they think they have “enough sheep”. They already know everything, they are always right, they feel comfortable in their lives.
Almost all of us are like that: we have many things but few aspirations. We have many ideas already sorted out, and we don’t want to give them up. Our life scheme is already organized and we don’t need someone trying to make changes.
We’ve done enough praying, practiced charity, read the lives of the saints, gone to Mass, taken communion. A friend of mine once said: “I don’t know why I come to visit you, father. I am already a good Christian.”
On that day I could not help answering:
“Then don’t come to visit me, because there are a lot of people waiting to see me and they are all full of doubts. But one thing you ought to know: You aren’t bad enough to be bad, nor good enough to be good, nor holy enough to work miracles.
“You are just a Christian satisfied with what you have achieved. And all those who are satisfied have in fact renounced the ideal of always improving. Let’s talk about this some other time, all right?”
Ever since then, whenever we speak on the telephone he starts by saying: “this person who is calling hasn’t yet grown up as much as he could”.
Lord, give us always a dissatisfied heart.
Give us a heart where the questions that we never want to ask can be voiced.
Deliver us from our conformism.
Make us able to enjoy what we have, but let us understand that this is not everything.
Let us appreciate that we are good people.
But above all, make us always ask ourselves how we can become better people.
Because if we ask, then it is quite possible that You will come and show us horizons that we couldn’t see before.

Hakone, Japan

I finally manage to get my editor, Masao Masuda, to invite me to a traditional tea ceremony. We go to a mountain near Hakone, enter a small room, and his sister, dressed in the ritual kimono, serves us tea.
That is all. However, everything is done with such seriousness and protocol that a daily practice is changed into a moment of communion with the Universe.
The tea master, Okakusa Kasuko, explains what happens: “The ceremony is the adoration of the beautiful. All efforts are concentrated on the endeavor to attain Perfection through the imperfect gestures of daily life. All its beauty consists of respecting the simple things we do, because they can lead us to God.”

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro

Strolling along the promenade, I hear a young woman saying to another in a very convincing voice: “I’ve programmed my life in the following way ...”
That made me wonder: does she take into account things that happen just when we are not expecting them? Has she considered that maybe God has a different plan, a far more interesting one? Has she thought seriously about the hypothesis that, by including other people in her program, she might be interfering in different ideas and projects?
I am not sure whether the sentence I overheard was born of inexperience or total delirium.

Melbourne, Australia

I step out on to the stage with the usual apprehension. A local writer, introduces me and starts asking me questions. Before I can conclude my reasoning, he interrupts me and asks another question. When I answer, he says something like “that answer wasn’t very clear.” Five minutes later, I feel a certain restlessness in the audience. I remember Confucius, and do the only thing possible:
“Do you like what I write?” I ask.
“That doesn’t matter,” he answers. “I’m doing the interviewing, not you.”
“But it does matter. You don’t let me finish a sentence. Confucius said: ‘whenever possible, be clear.’ Let’s follow that advice and make things quite clear: do you like what I write?”
“No, I don’t. I have read only two books, and I hated them.”
“OK, so now we can continue.”
The camps were now defined. The audience relaxes, the environment fills with electricity, the interview turns into a true debate, and everyone – including the writer – is satisfied with the result.

In the plane between Melbourne and Los Angeles

This extract from the on-board magazine is attributed to Loren Eisley:
“The journey is difficult, long, sometimes impossible. Even so, I know few people who have let these difficulties stop them. We enter the world without knowing for sure what happened in the past, what consequences this has brought us, and what the future may have in store for us.
“We shall try to travel as far as we can. But looking at the landscape around us, we realize that it won’t be possible to know and learn everything.
”So what remains is for us to remember all about our journey so that we can tell stories. To our children and grandchildren, we can tell the marvels that we have seen and the dangers that we have faced. They too will be born and will die, they too will tell their stories to their descendants, and still the caravan won’t have reached its destination.”

"Warrior of the Light, a www.paulocoelho.com.br publication."

Amigos

2007-10-04T17:40:00.000+02:00

Well,
I just thought I'd talk a little bit about Amigos..
Hmmm where to begin????
Most of the time your friends are there for you every step of the way through your journey through life... They become a sort of extended family when your family isn't near... Sometimes you share things with your Amigos that you wouldn't dare share with your family...
They come in all shapes and sizes and each one has their own unique personality... Some even have more than one personality... Well, see now that makes it even more fun.... MORE FRIENDS!!! It's kinda like a two for one deal... This morning a friend of mine anounced, rather loudly, that he was going back to India.... I felt like telling him that your people left India at least a 1000 years ago... And second I don't think there are any living realitives that you can stay with...... Oh la la!!! But it's one of those things... You sit and you listen to your their crazy ranttings and offer them support no matter how crazy you might think they are.... I have been on the other end of those conversations... where I am the not so sane one... so it's a give and take I suppose.....
Amigos where would we be without them???
LOST!!!

I'm gonna take pictures and write a book..

2007-09-30T03:08:00.000+02:00

Yeah I know it's been a while..
Last time I wrote anything I was still in Colorado hangin with the world's coolest 2 year old!!
that was almost 4 weeks ago... I miss that little guy... And his dad and mom... My mom and my dad too for that matter... Heck, but that's okay... It's good to miss where you come from, I think, It makes you never forget that you are loved... Now that makes me smile..
I am sittting here thinking about what comes next. Trying to think through the noise of the unoffical block party that takes place every saturday night on the corner across the street from me tends to be a little difficult... But sometimes they play some decent music... No Gypsy Music, but hey we are not all perfect...
Today was my official last day at the Met.
It's been the place where I have worked for the past 12 years.. The frienships I have made there are priceless. And I will say that for the most part it's been a good ride.. But it's time to move on.. I made the decision, this summer, to leave the Met and persue a dream.. Hmm somehow I thought that stepping out of my comfrot zone would be easy... NOT! It's quite unnerving!!
Leaving a place that you have become very comfortable with. A place where you always knew you had it there to fall back on.. It was a safety net..
Left it all behind..
I left it behind to... To quote a line from the Paulo Coelho book "The Alchemist" To persue my own personal legend. In other words I am following my heart and persuing my dream. I'm gonna take pictures and write a book..
I leave for France in two weeks....
At this point there seems to be so many what ifs that it's not even funny... Self doubt creeps in and oh la la is that a killer...
But everyone who knows me seems to think I can do it... I wish I were that confident in myself.
Deep down I suppose I know I can do it. And I know I can do very well at it... But as I said that's way deep down right now. Oh well. For now I will sit and contimplate what the hell I am doing. While listening to the endless round of okay music blaring from the car of some guy who was in charge of music from the fiesta across the street...
Ah New York.
One thing it will be nice to just sit and listen to the silence...
~Mel~

Rocky Mountian High!!

2007-08-27T04:14:00.000+02:00

Hey Hey Gang!!

It's been a while since my last post.... Glad to hear that Stevie is on the mend and doing well!!

Whew what a relief!!

I have been in Colorado the past two weeks spending time with my family.... Namely my nephew Ryan!! Tee hee... We've been hangin out doing kid stuff riding the kiddie rides at the park goin to the zoo ya know normal stuff a two year old does...

This past weekend we headed for the hills to our cabin in the woods.. Generations of Lanes have been going to South Fork Colorado. I'll add those pictures of the mountains later... It was nice to hang out with my dad and my brother and his family... As for me it's been so nice just to wind down.... not really having to be anywhere... and just all around hangin out with this little guy..

I'll add more to this post in the next couple of days... I got up way to early this morning and i didn't get a nappy!!

okay gang more later....
~Mel~

Mi Amigo Steve

2007-08-21T00:31:00.000+02:00

Okay just a little thought on friendship..

One of my dearest friends, Steve, is currently in the hospital recovering from surgery..

I wanted to pass my love and prayers along to him and my sistah Karen and Pablo's Amigo, Benji as well as his entire family...

I just wanted to wish him a speedy recovery!! We have a whole lot of hell to raise in France and there is a whole bunch more music the we need to unearth!!

My love and prayers to you sweetie!!

~MEL~

Look what we picked up!!

2007-08-20T23:44:00.000+02:00

Allright I was asked to put these on my blog.... Hmm it's amazing who will pop in front of your camera when you flash a smile!!!! Mi primos & Mi hermanas!!!! Little fond memories of our Gitano weekend!! Thanks chicas!!!

Back from the Gipsy Fiesta and then some...

2007-08-13T00:10:00.000+02:00

Whew what a weekend!!!
Well, it started Thursday night...... Long weekends are pretty cool when you share them with your Amigos and Amigas... Thursday we headed down to Virginia for a concert with the Gipsy Kings... The concert wasn't until the next day but we decided to get the fiesta started a little early... Besides Mi Amiga de NOLA was heading in and I had to get down there muy pronto!!!! Okay I was 45 minutes late picking her up but.. We stopped for lunch and there was trafic.. If you don't know me by now when I give a time add at least a half an hour to the specified time...
At any rate... We picked her up and headed to the hotel.... Got settled and decided that we would take a drive into DC to grab a bite to eat... Well, we get there and there was a Byonce concert tying up all of down town DC and there was no parking to be found anywhere.... Scratch that idear... ooh a little aside.. At first it looked like maybe we had driven by the Hooker's ball or something...
All of the Hoochies with their silver shoes and minnnnnny skirts.. Oh la la... After we got out of the mess of down town we did a little drive by monument seeing... Honestly if you wanna see all of the monuments in DC... Just do a drive by..... Beats the hell out of doing all of that walking...... Anywho... We drove back to the hotel and found a place to eat there... After that we made it back to the hotel and decided that rest was in order...
The next day we spent the morning yakin and doing our nails... oooh how girlie...
Then we headed off to the Mall... oh la la... At the mall we met up with some chicas that i had been yakin with online.. It was good to finally put faces with names I am just bummed that we didn't get to spend more time together... We wondered around for a while then headed back to my room for a little R&R... And we met up with La Amiga De Gypsy Soul... Woo hoo... It was awesome to see each other out of France....
We left for the concert fairly early.. Met up with another bunch of chicas that I had spoken to online... It was pretty cool meeting up with them as well..
Finally the Concert rolled around... I was a litte anxious yet a litttle disapointed.. I knew Pablo wasn't going to be there so... But I went to see the rest of the band.. The show was fun... But the band seemed to be lacking energy? I guess that's how you can put it.... It was hot and muggy first of all thus making it look like a really bad Gitano wet t-shirt contest up there... tee hee. The music was amazing as always.. And Nicolas was in top voice... Besides all of the sound problems... oof one of these days they'll get a friggin sound guy who can actually make them sound good... The show was good... but flat... and i would have to say that 99% of the people there didn't really care but there were those of us who knew better...
After the show we went back to my hotel had a bite to eat, talked with Canut for a little while and hung out with Pacheco and a bunch of other folks in the lobby looking at some of his photographs.. He's a doll...
Finally at about 1:30 in the morning we headed back to my room where the yak fest continued... It's amazing to sit and share things with your friends who have the same passion for this stuff as you do... Finally at about 3 in the morning the fiesta was over... and i fell asleep..
the next morning i packed up my stuff and headed downstairs for a cup of tea..
I met up with three amigas from the night before it was cool.. At least we had a little bit of time to at least get to know each other before we all had to take off again.. Thanks girlies!!
My ride arrived and as I am walking out the door of the hotel the two amigas are chatting it up with Mi Primos de Gipsy Kings... Ale!!! These two broads yakin with Canut and Nicolas.... Hmmm i see how it is... tee hee...
I am glad I caught them, they were on their way to the airport and i didn't want to miss saying hello to Nicolas..
Caught him!! Whew!!
I can't say enough about these guys... when i stepped out of the door the welcome look and the sheer joy i saw in both he and Canut's eyes.. is priceless... oof..... Seeing these guys in a concert situation is iffy at best I never really get to sit and have one on one time with them... But I am used to it...
We catch up on family and make plans for dinner while we are in france and that's really all we have time for but hey it works for me...
After the Gitanos boarded their bus and we all blew kisses and peed our pants laughing at each other.. We took La Amiga De NOLA to the air port... BOOOOOO
Ya know!! Honestly we need to spend more time together other than just these little weekend thingies.. FRANCE ANYONE!!
After we said our hasta prontos and see ya laters... We headed back to DC for the NMAI Nation al Pow Wow
It's a little known fact... I have been so wrapped up with the Gypsies that I have almost neglected this part of my life... I have a great interest in Native People's Art, Music, and Culture... So perfect the National Pow Wow was also this weekend so we decided to check it out.... It was one of the most amazing events I have ever witnessed.. 1000 dancers from all over the Americas and 12 drum groups from through out the country... WOW!! I will post some photographs from the event as soon as I can... It was overwhelming at times to see these people living their culture and expressing it through song and dance...
For me it was the recharge that my soul had needed...
okay that's it for now i'll post pics as soon as I can
~Mel~

Nothing to do with Anything..

2007-08-04T23:37:00.001+02:00

Okay here's one for the Wow there's thirty minutes of my life I am never going to get back file.
I was sitting in Union Square park yesterday, trying to recharge tan I got while in the South of France... I was sitting next to a small fountian watching people go by all around me was a market filled with vendors selling everything from "Bush buster" t-shirts to art and I think there were a few American Indian crafts artists there too... Actually the funny thing was this Gitana fortune teller/ Tarot card reader (Aren't they all?) She and her daughter were direct decendents of Roma Royalty... I swear to whatever, that was her shtick.... She sat at a small card table covered in a worn red velvet cloth, while her daughter worked the crowd...
Once in a while she would catch a passer by off guard.. Usually some dude with his I-pod turned up way to loud off in his own little world.... Made me laugh to hear some of the questions people would ask her.. Anywho I digress..
The cool thing about living in NYC is you see everything.. And usually it's right in front of your face.. This day, I felt it necessary to count the crack heads. Hey just when I think there is nothing to do I go out sit in the sun and count the crack heads...
The park is full of loons, crackheads, protesters who protest the air, there was one guy who wore a rather large hat made out of plastic bags... He must have been the poster child for recycling. At any rate the dude made me hot just looking at him... That's not hot in a good way!!!
Ooh where was I? Ah yes Crackheads!! I have gotten to the point were I can almost name them..
There is crazy kung foo crack head who felt the need to chase after something only he saw then he put the Jackie Chan moves on it.... Funny thing is, yeah as if this weren't funny enough, he would run right up to people, stare them in the face then take off.. oof me without my camera!!! I think I am gonna try that the next time I am in Arles and a pack of German tourists walks into the plaza... Mental note to self....
There was the tatoo lady
She had the names of either they were her kids, somehow i doubt that, or her boyfriends tatooed on her back.. I thought maybe she forgot her name.. But upon looking closer at the names they were all guys names. She found it hard to stand up without the aid of Tom, Jerry, or Ed... But whoever he was she loved him dearly... At least that's what she kept saying to him.
And finally there was the cigarette lady. It took her twenty minutes to light a cigarette. She kept missing it. It would either jump from her mouth. This I saw. It sprouted little legs and ran from her mouth. At least that's what she told the guy next to her. He asked her if she needed help and she said "it keeps trying to get away from me." Finally she caught the little bugger and in one of those "evil villan" laughs she anounced to the entire park that she caught the little F*%*#$$*
At that point I felt it necessary to leave.
I had enough fun for one day.. Funny thing is if you come to the same spot at the same time they are all there... It makes for some great blog entries. TEE HEE!!
Well, that was my day. It was hotter than hell out. And I decided to share my day with the crackheads. Ya know someone has to do it.
Now I know you are saying to yourself gee ~Mel~ after reading this there's fifteen minutes of my life I'll never get back...
But I know it made ya laugh..
I'm off..
Next NYC story may be my bus ride from 72nd street in manhattan all the way home..
~Mel~

Concert Season

2007-08-02T22:20:00.000+02:00

Well, it's that time of the year again....

The Gipsy Kings are rolling into the States in about a week or so...

WOO HOO!!!!

I personally can't wait.... Yeah yeah it's not like I haven't seen these guys lately... But ya know seeing my friends in France and the Gipsy Kings are two totally different things...

Strange as it may seem... When I am in France they aren't the world famous band that has won over the hearts of millions of people the world over... They are just who they are... It's almost surreal for me, when I see them play... I often times throw myself into fits of hysterical laughter. Simply because they are so serious on stage... Eh I guess it's their job and as that, they have a certian persona that they have to keep... FRIGGIN ROCK STARS!! :-)) Still... Makes me laugh to see them... Actually, hearing their music, is one of the true joys in my life... And it is a treat to see them live.... The only thing that really bugs me about this time of the year are the e-mails and the occasional phone call that I get asking if I can get tickets, backstage passes, or the "do you know where they are staying" question.. Now that one makes me laugh... Those usually come from the "lobby stalkers". Or the ooh well I "know the band" I can get a backstage pass if you can't. All I have to say to that is GOOD LUCK!! BUENA SUERTE!! BON CHANCE!!! I know the band and I don't get backstage passes... Maybe because I actually watch the show and I don't spend my time hunting down management, or plotting my next scheme to see them for a few hours after the show... Oof! But enough about what bugs me... I would much rather talk about how special these guys are. How their music has been a source of inspiration to me. How through their music a whole new world of music has been opened up to me.. I have seen things and been to places that I would have never dreamed of seeing or even going to.. And the friendships I have made through their music are priceless... As I said before I can hardly wait to see them again... Somewhere.. From a little bird, I heard that Pablo is singing in concert.... Now how do I feel about that?? Well, how do you think I feel about that... Poulette is singin!!! I get to hear him sing at my kitchen table when he pops in for a visit... Now the whole world gets to hear him sing... Hmm if I were the posessive type I would have to sit him down and say woah wait a minute "AMIGO" but honestly it's a rare treat to hear Pablo sing and I am glad he has the chance to do it!!! Makes the ole ticker smile!! Well, as I have said the concert season is upon us. I'll catch them at a couple of places this go around... I am looking forward to catching up with friends that I see at these places. Most of all I am looking forward to just hearing them play... Doesn't matter where I sit.. I get the same feeling no matter where I sit, when I listen to their music... Absolute Joy!!!! There ain't no high in the world that can compare to a Gitano High!!

So 8 days until I see them play eh but who's counting??

tee hee

Jose Reyes A small homage to one of the fathers of Gypsy Music..

2007-07-24T20:49:00.000+02:00

The video in my blog is of Jose Reyes, in the middle, Manuel Arenas,to the left and Bambo Baliardo to the right. Jose Reyes along with Manitas De Plata, along with these guys and handful of other artists are single handedly known as the "Fathers of Gypsy music" I believe that the video was taken some time in the mid 70's... I know there are a whole bunch of you out there who have seen this one before and have it actually linked to your sites... I wanted to put this on my blog to introduce those people who don't know about Gypsy music to it's foundation.. Where it all began, so to speak...

Jose Reyes, is also the father of the Reyes brothers of Gipsy Kings fame... His soul stiring voice and unique brand of "Cante Jundo" (Deep song) has captured my heart.. It has been almost thirty years since he last stepped foot on this earth but his voice is timeless.... One note from that golden voice and you hear countless generations of Gypsies that came before him... He is now the standard from which all Cantaors in the Camargue go by..... But that's just my opinion........Needless to say I owe a great debt to him, for without this man, we would not have the music of his son's in our world.

I feel honored and blessed to know his sons.. Through them I have had the honor of knowing a little bit about their father and his music...

Enjoy this clip...

~Mel~

Back from the land of Wagner..

2007-07-23T22:59:00.000+02:00

Oh la la!!

Well, that was an interesting two weeks...

Sorry I haven't been around for while... Actually I made the best of it... I got to know some interesting people and now I have a place to stay should I ever find myself in St Petersburg. I had the chance to work with a great bunch of people, our local crew was a group that I had worked with at the Met before so it was very easy for all of us to work together and we are all friends so it was nice... I met some wonderful ladies from Russian company.. Lena was the one that I worked closest with.. It was fun, she spoke Spanish so there was hardly any comunication gap... It was fun but I am glad it's over.... I am in the process of a transition. Deciding if I really want to head back to the Opera this season. 12 years there is enough, at least for right now... At this point I think I need to spread my wings a little and see what is out there..

Well, I did it 12 years ago when I moved here from Colorado... Now I think it's time to do it again.... One would thing that at 35 I would start to think about setteling down??? NAW!! I'll let someone else live that life... I need something just a little more challenging then 9 to 5....

Happy Bastille day!!

2007-07-14T19:01:00.000+02:00

HAPPY BASTILLE DAY!!! So everyone get out there eat your stinky cheese drink that bottle of wine that you smuggled back from your last trip to France... Smack the one you love with a large baguette and don't for get to polish your Patanque balls.... Today is your day, French citizens and Francophiles alike, to celebrate like the french do...... OH LA LA!!!!! Well, I figured to day was a good day to get back to the ole blog.. I am sorry I haven't been around for a while.. For the past week and a half I have been working at the Met doing the Kirov Opera's production of the Ring cycle... Oh la la Russian Opera at its finest.... tee hee... Actually it's been a hoot.... It's Wagner's epic masterpiece of the gods VS. man.. Well, some of you may be familiar with the Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd "Kill the Wabbit...."

(image courtesy of Chuck Jones and Warner Bros. Company) I love the fact that this music is so universal that most everyone knows it from a Bugs Bunny Cartoon... So that's what has been keeping me busy and somewhat out of trouble for the past week and a half.. I am not sure how much more of this normalcy (is that a word?) I can stand, however..... I am in desperate need of a Gitano fix.... HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL AUGUST 10???? Oh well, that's all for now gang.

LXXX

2007-07-04T21:48:00.000+02:00

De viajes y dolores yo regerese, amor mio,

a tu voz, a tu mano volando en la guitarra,

al fuego que interrumpe con besos el otono,

a la circulacion de la noche en el cielo.

Para todos los hombres podo pan y reinado,

pido tierra para el labrador sin ventura,

que nadie espere tregua de mi sangre o mi canto.

Pero a tu amor no puedo renunciar sin morirme.

Por eso toca el vals de la serena luna,

la barcarola en el aguade la guitarra

hasta que se doblegue me cabeza sonado:

que todos los sesvelos de mi vida tejieron

esta enramada en donde tu mano vive y vuela

custodiando la noche de viajero dormido.

Pablo Neruda

My Love, I returned from travel and sorrow

to your voice, to your hand flying on the guitar,

to the fire interrupting the autumn with kisses,

to the night that circles through the sky.

I asked for bread and dominion for all;

for the worker with no future I ask for land.

May no one expect my blood or my song to rest!

But I can not give up your love , not without dying.

So: play the waltz of the tranquil moon,

the baracole,on the fluid guitar,

till my head lolls, dreaming:

for all my life's sleeplessness has woven

this shelter in the grove where your hand lives and flies

watching over the night of the sleeping traveler.

Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephen Tapscott

DON'T MESS WITH ME!!

2007-07-03T14:50:00.000+02:00

Just thought I would share this with everyone!! Tee hee!!! This is my nephew Ryan... And my new body guard!! I think I am pretty safe.... I would highly suggest that anyone who is in need of any type of personal protection hire a 2 year old.... Hey if anything they'll give the bad guys bloody shins....

XLVI

2007-07-01T19:50:00.000+02:00

De las estrellas que admire, mojadas

por rios y rocios diferentes,

yo no escogi sino la que yo amaba

ydesde entonces duermo con la noche.

De la ola, una ola y otra ola,

verde mar verde frio, rama verde,

yo no escogi sino una sola ola:

la ola indivisible de tu cuerpo.

Todas las gotas, todas las raices,

todos los hilos de la luz vinieron,

me vinieron a ver tarde o temprano.

Yo quise para mi tu cabellera.

Y de todos los dones de mi patria

solo escogi tu corazon salvaje.

Pablo Neruda

Of all the stars I admired, drenched

in various rivers and mists,

I chse only the one I love.

Since then I sleep with the night.

Of all the waves, one wave and another wave,

green sea, green chill, branchings of green,

I chose only the one wave,

the invisible wave of your body.

All the waterdrops, all the roots,

all the threads of light gathered to me here;

they came to me sooner or later.

I wanted your hair, all for myself.

From all the graces my homeland offered

I chose only your savage heart.

Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephen Tapscott

Blah Blah Blah

2007-06-28T19:08:00.000+02:00

Hey Hey Y'all..
Just posting cause I can.... Not much going on.. Not much to Yak about... Just posting to post blah blah blah..... I am working on getting the "Cheese song" posted to my blog... When that happens I'll write more about that.... It's hotter then you know what here in NY... Well, Okay, this girl from the American Southwest is not used to all of the humidity that comes around this time of the year...... This desert rose wilts in all that moisture.. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! I know there are some of you out there who deal with far worse then I do... And please feel free to comment on that.. Hey why not it's one of the few things that we all have in comon? OOh I know... There are a few of you out there who will be seeing "The Boys" in London.... WOO HOO!!! Lucky buggers!! ;-))))))))) I gotta wait until August.... Oh well, I always have my pics from FEBUARY!! oh la la... tee hee..
Oh well, That's all fer now....
~Mel~

WOW!

2007-06-24T04:55:00.000+02:00

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~

My Final day in Arles & Day 5 of my birthday!!

2007-06-22T05:18:00.000+02:00

Hey hey gang

Well, as of this post I made it back to NY... Just thought I would post about my last day in Arles.

The day it''s self was busy.. I usually wait until the very last possible minute to pack... hmmm no comments on that please!! tee hee..... The last night was well, evening # 5 of my birthday... It started with the usuall gathering of "La Familia" at the house... Let us not forget the obligitory Yelling of my name through out the Roquette. We decided on a little Vietnamese place, that I just adore and the food ain't bad either, that wasn't more than a short walk away from the house... One of the coolest moments of the evening had to have been when we were walking through the Roquette and Pablo and Canut were talking about the neighborhood and what they used to do as kids... That was one of those moments that makes ya smile... Well, there were a few of those moments.... Like when they all decided to start singing to the neighborhood... AWESOME!!!!!!! Or when they decided to sing Happy Birthday to me over a plate of flaming bannanas in Gitane.... It's little things like that that just make ya go wow... And I really count my blessings when I am around "La Familia"

Okay I am going to share this pic with all of you...

I mean honestly doesn't this look like every other goon head family photo you have ever taken??? That back row of people looks fantastic but those three stooges in that front row!! Oh la la!!

Well, Gang that's it for now. I will post more in the coming days.... I need a day or two to regroup...

VIVA LA FAMILIA!!!

MEL

Happy Birthday to Moi!!!

2007-06-20T13:06:00.000+02:00

Whew!!!

First of all where did the time go... Today is my last full day here in Arles... I'll probably post more about my whole experience here when I get back to the States..

As for today.... Well, today is Day 5 of my birthday... My actual birthday was on the 16th of June. I celebrated with Mi Amigas... It was a perfect evening 3 Gypsy bands in one night... We started the night back at El Campo with Soy.. Being serenaded by three Gitano hotties ain't to bad for your birthday.. WOO HOO!!!Neneto, Manero, and some dude who we liked to call cousin hottie... So that's his name.... LOL!! Again if there is anyone out there who can identify who cousin hottie is feel free to post to the blog.......
El Primo Caliente!!!
Manero

Y Papa, Neno....

After a fantastic evening with Soy we headed for La Pampa for a quickie pastis and To see Luna Yena avec, Pablo!!!

Esteban y Pablo

Luna Yena avec Pablo..

After our stop at La Pampa we headed off to Beaucaire to see a version of Gip'Soy play..
eh by this time it was almost midnight and we piled int to Cathy's car and raced off.. We got to Beaucaire just in time to hear their last three songs... One, I might add beautifully sung by two rather intoxicated dudes that decided they needed to be superstars and pick up a mic and start singing.... LOUDLY!! AWESOME!!!!!

Thank God David decided that we needed to hear the song sung correctly and he and the rest of the group sang it again...

Kinda blurry but here's a pic of the band that night, Otro Pablo, David Patrac and yet another Pablo... Hmm I was being inindated by Pablos that night...
That was my birthday Gypsy Soul style!!! A huge MERCI BEAUCOUP to Cathy and Alexa for making my 18th er um never mind how old I really am, very special.

DAY 2 June 17th
Well, day 2 was spent back in SMDLM avec, la famille. Pablo, Canut and their families.... Woo hoo... We spent the early evening shopping and we wondered around SMDLM looking for a place to eat. We first stopped at Yes you guessed it El Campo... Oh la la!! We had to leave that place after drinks because there were far to many dogs sharing your space... LOL!!! Well, we wondered around again, for a while looking for a place that had Coquilage..... If you are not familiar with it... it's this huge pile of sea food.. served cold... oh la la,... Being right next to the Med. sea... This stuff still was crawling on the ocean bottom that morning.. We finally found a place to eat Le Vagues!!! Needless to say it was a total adventure in dining... More like full combat eating... Needless to say the seafood was fresh and the company was amazing.... After we ate we wondered around a carnival that was going on that night... The kids needed to blow off some steam.... And so did the big kids... After wondering around the Carnival for a while we finally made our way back to Arles... Yet another fantastic evening with "La familia"

DAY 3 June 18th

Day three was dinner A mi casa!!! The day started out rather gloomy.. It rained pretty much all day.. Oh well, it didn't really stop us we had shopping to do!!! Okay it's Monday in Arles and it's pretty much like a Sunday in the US... People open their shops only if they want to... Awesome.. We got everything shopped for except for the chickens... oops.. Well, we thought that our little butcher would be open Voi la no problem.... eeeeek not!! so we wondered all over arles looking for chickens.... finally settling on three from a supermarket on the other friggin side of Arles!!!!!! waoh!!

We got everything prepared and told everyone to be at the house around 8 okay.. well, 7 ish rolls around and i hear from outside my window MELISSA!!! being screamed through out the roquette Again... MELISSA!!! It's Canut!!! He was looking for the house... Gotta love it! Now the entire Roquette knows who I am!! Oh la la!

Not more than 20 minutes after Canut shows up Pablo busts in and Sings, in his own very special Pablo kind of way HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

WOO HOO VIVA POULETTE!!!

Mis Flores de Familia!!!!

Once the entire family arrived Pablo's son Jose pulled out his guitar and started to pluck away at the strings.... Well, he handed the guitar to his Pa Pa... El Maestro and Jose, and his sister, acompaied by Pablo, They sang... A little pre dinner music GITANO STYLE!!

Finally the food was ready... Oof I will say this never keep a Gitano waiting for his food.. LOL!! Canut did the honors of carving the chicken.... Okay if that's what you wanna call it...

Actually it was another lesson in full combat eating!!! Woo hoo... It was yet another amazing night with La Familia y mis Amigas!!

DAY 4

June 19th

BBQ a la casa de Poulette....

What more can I say.... Spent the day with La famila sitting around Pablo's pool, eating and drinking and laughing.. Pablo grilled sausages and chicken. We ate way to much and I had a wonderful time spending time with him and his family playing around in the pool and getting to know them better.... It was just a lazy day sitting in the sun with dear friends....

Well, gang today is day 5 of my birthday... I am not sure quite yet what the day will hold.. It's also my last day here in Arles.... I am feeling a little blue about that...

Take care gang...

Mel

Priere A Sara. Prayer to Sara

2007-06-13T19:24:00.000+02:00

PRIERE A SARA

Sara, Sara, Sainte et amie,
Ecoute-moi, je t’en supplie,
Sara, Sara, Sainte et amie,
Entends ma voix, ma voix qui prie.

1. Tu es de tous, de tous nos voyages
Car nous te portons dans le coueur
Tu nous redonnnes le courage
Quand tombe sour nous le malheur.

2. Nous t’offrons de jolis manteaux
En Camargue, aux Saintes-Maries,
Pour nous ici tout est plus beau,
Car nous y repuisons la vie.

3. Pour notre grand pelerinage
Tu es sacree comme une reine,
Nous venons ici de are en age,
Te prouber notre foi chretienne.

4. Nous te confions nos secrets,
Nous te presentons nos enfants,
Noust t’apportons de gros bouquets,
Nous t’embrassons le coeur battant.

5. Ce soir nous chaterons pour toi
Nous danserons aurtour de fueu,
Nous ne serons pulus qu’une voix
Qui Monte a travers toi vers Dieu.

A Day in Tarascon

2007-06-09T16:29:00.001+02:00

Hey Hey Gang! Yesterday we spent a fantastic day in Tarascon... Tarascon is about 17km from Arles a 20 minute bus ride through some beautiful Provencale country... Farm houses and fields of stuff... I can't really name all that is growing out there but needless to say the vino will never go dry!! We spent the day at the castle.. It's one of the first castles that had not only one but two indoor toilets.... Okay... If you can call a hole with a 30 foot vertical drop a toilet then that's exactly what they were.. We took le Grande tour.... They had a beautiful garden filled with ponds with water lillies... Again the sun was blazing hot so needless to say the cool damp castle felt good to wonder around in... The evening brought yet another adventure... We had the honor of seeing Georges play... This time fo the year the Gitane comunity gets together in Tarascon and has a small carnival and they set up a stage and some of the regions finest Gypsy musicians come out and just play for the comunity... It was a kind of Pick up band if you will, but as always The music was out of this world.. The band consisted of Georges Reyes, son of Nicolas Reyes of the Gipsy King, Pablo Patrac, two guys who I have seen before and I know there is someone out there who can name them... TEE HEE... And Canut Amador son of Pablo Reyes.. It's amazing to see that this music is alive and well... And honestly it's a shame that most of it never gets out of the South of France... So click on the links that I have off to the side these are all fantastic places to learn more about Gypsy music!!! Here are just a few more of Georges," Otro Pablo" Canut Amador & Kema warming up... Well gang that's all for now.. I will certianly post more soon. ~Mel~

PS. Okay figured out who the guy in the middle is.. Muchas gracias a mi amiga!!!

He is Kema.... Grandson of Manitas De Plata... Hmm no wonder he plays the guitar like he was kissed by an Angel....

Just another day in La Camargue..

2007-06-07T15:19:00.000+02:00

Well, I know it hasn't been to long since the last post but I thought I would grab the chance while I took it...

I think, after almost three weeks into the journey I have finally learned how to just chilllllll!!!

Hmm it's been nice getting up when i want to. Getting my hour of sun each day.. Hanging out in cafes.... OOOH before i forget.....Yesterday was Mi Amiga Alexa's birthday... Some of you may know her as "Alex" She's been wondering around the Camargue under the alias Madame Ricao and taking pictures like Lucien Clergue..... tee hee (she's gonna kill me for that one) We had a great day... We paid a visit to St Maries De La Mer, where it proceeded to be a bit cloudy and rainy. For a while at least.. Wouldn't ya know it just as we were heading back to Arles on the bus the blazing sun makes it's return.. Alas no beach time, this time around... I still have two more weeks here.... plenty of time to get a great tan and soak in some sea air... Well, that's all for now.. Tonight dinner with Pablo and what ever Reyes he decides to bring with him.... Here are some pics from the Camargue and SMDLM......

Well, Gang I'll write more later..

~Mel~

More news from Arles

2007-06-05T20:05:00.001+02:00

Hey Hey Gang I know it's been a couple of days since my last post.. Things here have been nice and quiet... Mis Amigos From The UK left on Saturday... BOOOO!! Sunday was a very quiet day I spent the day in the sun watching the wind blow.... Listen, it's just one of those things that happen.... How many of us actually have the time to do that???? I grabbed that chance as soon as I could take it. Monday started out pretty much the same way.... With my daily walk through Arles and my afternoon "hour in the sun" All right Gang I will say this... I actually wore a S-K-I-R-T yesterday... Here is the pic to prove it for those who dare to doubt me!! LOL!!!!

Oh la la... oof... Honestly I look like I am on my way to a Gitano wedding!!! OLE!! After my hour in the sun and my walk around Arles.. I made my way back to the Roquette. I thought okay yet another quiet day at the house.... Well, on my way home I got an SMS from mis amigas de "Gypsy Soul" They were in Arles and It was Benn's last night in the Mother land and she wanted to stop by to say "A tout a l'huere" okay cool... Finally made my way back to the house. I changed out of that S-K-I-R-T!! After a while las Amigas showed up... And about a half an hour later came the "Gitano Pop in" I love this place you never really know who is going to show up at your front door or hollar "Que Pasa Melissa" through your window.... Hmm go figure.. I never get this stuff in NY... Pablo and his wife stopped in on their way to somewhere... Just to say hey!! WHOA!!!!!!!! 5 minutes turned into almost an hour.. It's amazing what a bottle of Ricard and good company can do.... It was a fantastic evening yakin about the things we love the most Gypsies and their music!! OOh before I totally forget.. I would like to give my congratulations to the happy couple hmm really can't call them that now can I? What do you call a Manouche with three wives???? At any rate I think they are all registered at Le Geante!!! Well, that's about all for now from here... As for today it's been very quiet... I got my hour of sun and my daily walk around Arle in.. Ciao from the mother land ~Mel~
Here are a couple of pics that "Alexa Clergue" (AKA Madame Ricao) took of Arles.... And here's a little something for the boys out there...... This thing can't be all about Toreros in tight pants and girls playing grab ass with statues now can it???

VIVA LA CAMARGUE!!!!

Support for L' Association "Le Monde De Jose Reyes"

2007-06-02T12:58:00.001+02:00

Hey Hey Gang!
I thought I would post this on behalf of a friend of mine.
Here is the link to Canut's blog where you can get more information on what this is all about. www.francoiscanutryes.blogspot.com
Basically what this is. Canut is looking for support his association to honor his father and what he has given to the world. Jose Reyes is the father of not only the Reyes brothers of Gipsy Kings fame but He is also one of the founding fathers of Gypsy music. Canut is seeking recognition for what his father has given not only to Arles but the world. So please check out his blog and offer your support!!
Thank you!!
~Mel~

Hey Hey I'm Back!!

2007-06-02T12:29:00.001+02:00

Hey hey!!

Well, I know its been a while since my last post from Arles... I have had the most wonderful past few days with Mi Amigos from the UK....... Steve Karen and Mi amore BENJI!!

We met a while back on the internet. We all share a mutual passion for Gypsy music and the people who make it.. Karen and I have been Yakin on MSN messenger for quite some time. Needless to say after some leg pulling and a few rather large type, e-mails I convinced her, Steve and Benji that coming to Arles was a good thing.... So they did!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! We had the best week running around Arles and the Camargue... We were able to catch the group Soy who was playing in St. Maries de la Mer. We took a day trip to Nime to do a little sight seeing.. Hmm a few of us got fresh with the statue of the Torero but I am not saying who....

A couple of brilliant moments from our week were dinner with Pablo and we were able to see a fantastic exhibition of the photographer Lucien Clergue's work. The day that we all went he just happened to be leading a group of school kids through the exhibition... There was so much to do it's really hard to fit it all into one week... But ya know... I think I convinced them to come back!!

Woo hoo!!

Karen, Benji & Steve!!!! MY FAVORITE BRITS!!!!!!

I just want to give a shout out to Steve for the photographs in this post!!!

10000000 bestitos STEVE!!

Okay gang as soon as I get the time to put a slide show on my blog i'll post many more pics from my time here........

~Mel~

La Corrida De Nimes 25 May 2007

2007-05-28T15:21:00.000+02:00

Okay all here are a few shots from the Corrida in Nimes...

I was able to process these photographs and get a few on here...

I appologize if there are some animal rights people out there who may be offended.

But think about this.. Your steak goes through a lot more to get on to your plate then what these amazing animals do..

Besides one of these images, EL TORRO gets his in..

And girls, I mean really look at these guys!! How can you resist a dude in tight pants...

OLE TORERO!!

~Mel~

Whew!! Finally I am able to post!!

2007-05-28T14:57:00.000+02:00

Hey Hey Gang!

Soooooooooooooo Sorry it's been a while.. I haven't had internet access for the past few days.. Well, honestly I have hardly had the time to get to a place to gain access..

Well, needless to say the past few days have been absolutely wonderful..

Thursday, the 24, started off with The Procession of St Sara to the sea.. And the Gypsy Pligrimage to St. Maries de la Mer... The sun as always was blazing hot... And people everywhere.. All here in this tiny village to see St Sara... The day started with what was about a mile walk from the outside of the village. Parking was a nightmare!! Woo hoo!! Just a word of advice... Get yourself a hotel in St. Maries for the Fete... Or plan on walking in if you don't get there early..

It was a wonderful site... Music everywhere... We started the day at one of the local watering holes Les Vague... Who's who in Gypsy music, from the Camrague was there.. And everywhere you turned around small groups centered around one or two guitars would be singing and playing... (i'll add pics later la loca forgot her lead to her camera in the states so I can't add right now) The whole day was amazing! After wondering around the village I decided to make my way to my spot to watch the procession of St Sara to the sea.. I waited at my usual spot waiting for the procession to make it's way to the sea... I waited and i waited... and I waited.. Finally it got to where I was.. It was a bet overwhelming to me to see thousands of people following the statue of St Sara... ( I know I am forgetting something) I will probably edit this later..

For now the procession it's self was a phenomenal site... People were in a frenzy to see and get close to their patron saint..

okay here's one shot from the procession, Mi amiga, managed to pop this shot off of Ricao..

He is one of the legends of Gypsy music from the Camargue..
I promise I will add more from the Fete later...
~Mel~

Saintes Maries De La Mer

2007-05-24T01:57:00.000+02:00

Well, its Day 3 in France and my first full day in SMDLM. One day before the Fete. Thinking the procession of St Sara to the sea was today Ah alas twas not... Okay wait before I go any further.... What is the deal with the ROUND ABOUTS IN FRANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRRGGGG! Okay where was I? First stop was "le eglise " to see ST Sara.. She's a must stop every time I come here to thank her for bringing me safely here. Next stop food!! All right I was hungry.... tee hee.. After a great lunch I wondered around to see what I could see. I ran into some friends that I had not seen since January.. This is an amazing place. The friends you make here are friends for life and you can be away for what seems like forever and yet when you see them again it's like you just saw each other. After wondering around for a while I decided that my NY pastey white skin was not going to cut it here in the land of dark honey so took my big ole white butt to the beach... Shocking that this white girl did not burn... Stuck my feet in the Mediteranean sea.. Felt wonderful just to be able to cool off..... The sun here is so amazingly hot but it feels like a huge set of warm arms are wrapped around you. After a while in the sun I decided that I needed to go back to Arles and refresh myself and recharge my batteries. I was at the house for little more than an hour when Las Amigas de Gypsy Soul called and stopped by... I hadn't seen thes chicas since the last Fete... It was great to see them again!!! After being refreshed I headed back to SMDLM to, again, see what I could see.... Started out eating AGAIN!! After a wonderful dinner I walked back to the church where there were several small groups of Gypsy musicians getting ready to play... From the sound of it they were ready to play well into the night..
The plaza around the church was packed with people. There were so many groups of musicians that it was so hard to sit and listen to just one.. So wondering became the thing for me to do.. I didn't want to miss anything. After a while I left the crowd and walked away from the church and I litterally ran into Mis Amigos.. Stopped and had desert and drinks with them... It was truly an amazing day. Got to see some dear friends and hear Gypsy music in it's purest form.
|My first couple of days were slow here.... Which for me was a good thing..
But I have a feeling things will pick up just a little...
MEL

Day One 20-may-2007

2007-05-20T22:09:00.000+02:00

All right I made it.. Actually the trip from NY was very uneventful. 6.5 hour filght to Madrid... NO SLEEP on the over night flight. grrrrr Hmm I only spent three hours in Spain but I am begining to think that this is a place I could get used to...At any rate the short fligt from Madrid to Marseille was even less eventful.. Everything went so smooth... We picked up our luggage and our rental car and headed straight for Arles... WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLl... okay Me in my infinite wisdom said oh it's easy to get from Marseille to Arles...All right so we took a little side trip.... It took us a little longer to get to Arles.. but if any one asks you how to get to Arles tell them you want to go the Avingnon Tarascon route... TEE HEE..Eh we got here in one piece..Settled in and decided that we were starving... Air plane food does not cut it... so we got back in the car.... ( i have never had a car here so it was my first time driving in France!! WOO HOO!!)We headed straight for St Maries De la Mer... Needless to say It is a good three days before the Fete and the place is packed..Gypsies everywhere... We found this little out of the way place to eat in.. Actually it was serving food so we grabbed the place. We had the priviledge of sharing the place with a wonderful Gypsy family.. I did find it very unnerving, however, that most of the "Payo" Touristas found them to be annoying.. These people are so full of life and love for their children... The whole evening made me smile.. After dinner we walked around the beach for a while. As I was walking not really paying attention to much of anything, I heard the faint strumming of a guitar... ALE!! There were about 4 or 5 Young Gypsie boys sitting on a concrete bench singing and doing the palmas as a 15 year old "Maestro" played on.. It was amazing to see that this music is still aive and it flows through even the younger generation.. We then decided to head back to Arles.. On the way back we were able to catch a flock of flamingos feeding.. AMAZING!!At any rate we made it back to Arles totally exhausted.. But somehow I feel recharged in this place... That's all from day one Mel

"I'm leavin' on a jet plane......"

2007-05-19T18:51:00.000+02:00

Well, the day has finally arrived...

After 5 months of waiting and waiting and well, waiting..

The anticiapation is what kills me!!

I am headed off to France...

I take with me a somewhat clear head... A back pack full of books and a dream..

I leave for this journey, like the others before it, with no set plans just a wish for luck. And an open heart. I am looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting some new ones..

I'll write more when I arrive.

~Mel~

A Question

2007-05-18T19:48:00.000+02:00

What Do You Dream of My Gypsy Boy?

Do you dream of running white stallions who dance their dance in the hot summer Camargue wind?
Do you dream of jet black bulls who lazily graze on sweet grasses under the blazing sun?
Do you dream of long forgotten times? Times when your life, Gypsy Boy seemed oh much more simple?
Do you dream of far off lands where adventure awaits at every turn or do you simply dream of home?
Do your dreams, Gypsy Boy, create the song that makes your heart sing and your soul dance?
Do you dream, Gipsy Boy, of your true love? Does your heart fill your head with beautiful thoughts of you and your love?
So, when you do finally close your eyes,and your weary head has set to rest on a soft pillow. What do you dream of,

my Gypsy Boy

Que rêvez-vous de mon Garçon de Gitan ?

Rêvez-vous d'étalons blancs courants qui dansent leur danse dans le vent de Camargue d'été chaud ?

Rêvez-vous de jet taureaux noirs qui broutent paresseusement sur les herbes douces sous le soleil flamboyant ? Rêvez-vous de temps oubliés longs ?

Les temps quand votre vie, votre Garçon de Gitan a semblé oh beaucoup plus simple ?

Où aventure rêvez-vous de loin des terres attend à chaque virage ou à vous rêve simplement d'à la maison ?

Faire vos rêves, votre Garçon de Gitan, créent la chanson qui fait votre coeur chante et votre danse d'âme ? Rêvez-vous, le Garçon de Gitan, de votre vrai amour ? Votre coeur remplit-il votre tête avec les belles pensées de vous et votre amour ?

Si, quand vous fermez finalement vos yeux, et votre tête fatiguée a réglé pour se reposer sur un oreiller doux. Que vous fait le rêve de,

mon Garçon de Gitan

¿Qué sueña usted de mi Chico gitano?

¿Sueña usted de sementales blancos corrientes que bailan su baile en el viento caliente del verano Camargue?

¿Sueña usted de toros de negro azabache que apaceietan perezosamente en céspedes dulces bajo el sol que quema?

¿Sueña usted de tiempos olvidados largos? ¿Los tiempos cuando su vida, Chico Gitano pareció ah mucho más sencillo?

¿Donde aventura sueña usted de lejos lejos las tierras aguardan en cada vuelta o sueña simplemente usted de en casa?

¿Hace sus sueños, Chico Gitano, crea la canción que hace el corazón canta y su baile de la alma? ¿Sueña usted, Chico de Gitano, de su amor verdadero? ¿Llena el corazón la cabeza con pensamientos hermosos de usted y de su amor?

Así, cuando usted finalmente cierra sus ojos, y la cabeza fatigada ha puesto a descansar en una almohada suave. Qué le hace sueño de,

mi Chico Gitano

~~Mel~~

Four Days / Quatre Jour /Quatro Dias

2007-05-15T01:08:00.000+02:00

All right it's just a little over 4 days and counting until I head back to Arles and the Camargue.

Or as I like to affectionately call it "THE MOTHER LAND". This little corner of the world, in the South of France has managed to capture my heart. This will be my 9th journey to the area.

I found this place a few years back when I started listening to a little band called the Gipsy Kings.. You may have heard of them??? If you haven't keep reading this blog you'll catch up pretty quick :-). As I listened to more of their music I became interested in learning more about their music, their culture and where they came from. More on the Gypsies in further posts. They and their music are huge part of why I return to this place. A little aside: When I first heard "Bamboleo" I never dreamed that this song would take me on a journey of a life time. From the time I first pulled into the train station in Arles, in the middle of the night I knew I would be returning to this place time and time again. It is a place where I have met some extraordinary people, seen some truly heart stopping sites, and heard the most beautiful music that truly does make your heart dance.

I come back time and time again because it's the one place that I can hear my heart's song.

Here are a few photographs of the Arles and the Camargue that I took on previous trips.

~Mel~

Bien c'est juste un petit par-dessus 4 jours et comptant jusqu'à ce que je dirige de retour à Arles et le Camargue.
Ou comme j'aime affectueusement l'appeler « LA TERRE DE MERE ». Ce petit coin du monde, dans le Sud de France a géré pour capturer mon coeur. Ceci sera mon neuvième voyage au secteur.
J'ai trouvé ces quelques années d'endroit soutiennent quand j'ai commencé écouter une petite bande a appelé leGipsy Kings. Vous pourriez avoir entendu parler d'eux ? ? ? Si vous avez ne garde pas lisant ce blog que vous attraperez en haut assez rapide : -). Comme j'ai écouté plus de leur musique je suis devenu intéressé dans l'érudition plus de leur musique, leur culture et où ils sont venus de. Plus sur les Gitans dans les plus amples postes. Ils et leur musique est la partie énorme de pourquoi je retourne à cet endroit. Un petit de côté : Quand j'ai entendu premièrement « Bamboleo » je n'ai jamais rêvé que cette chanson me prendrait sur un voyage d'un temps de vie. Du temps que j'ai tiré premièrement dans la gare dans Arles, au milieu de la nuit j'ai su que je retournerais à cet endroit maintes fois. C'est un endroit où j'ai rencontré quelques gens extraordinaires, vus quelque véritablement coeur arrête des sites, et a entendu la musique la plus belle qui fait véritablement votre danse de coeur.
Je reviens maintes fois parce que c'est l'un endroit que je peux entendre la chanson de mon coeur.
Sont ici quelques photographies du Arles et le Camargue que j'ai pris des voyages précédents.

~Mel~

Bien es apenas un pequeño sobre 4 días y contando hasta que dirija atrás a Arlés y el Camargue.
O cuando quiero llamarlo cariñosamente "LA TIERRA de MADRE". Esto rincón pequeño del mundo, en el Sur de Francia ha logrado capturar el corazón. Esto será mi viaje noveno al área.
Encontré que este lugar unos pocos años apoyan cuando empecé a escuchar una banda pequeña llamó Gipsy Kings.. ¿Usted puede haber oído de ellos??? Si usted tiene no mantiene leyendo este blog usted alcanzará bonito rápido: -). Cuando escuché más de su música yo llegué a ser interesado en aprender más acerca de su música, acerca de su cultura y acerca de donde ellos vinieron de. Más en los gitanos en postes adicionales. Ellos y su música son la partes inmensos de por qué yo vuelvo a este lugar. Un poco aparte: Cuándo yo oí primero "Bamboleo" yo nunca soñé que esta canción me tomaría en un viaje de un tiempo de la vida. Del tiempo que tiré primero en la estación en Arlés, en medio de la noche que supo que estaría volviendo a este lugar repetidas veces. Es un lugar donde he encontrado a algunas personas extraordinarias, visto algún sinceramente corazón que para los sitios, y oyó la música más hermosa que hace sinceramente su baile de corazón.
Regreso repetidas veces porque soy el un lugar que puede oír mi canción de corazón.
Aquí están unas pocas fotografías del Arlés y el Camargue que tomé los viajes previos.

~Mel~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!

2007-05-11T12:43:00.000+02:00

Here he is!!

This is my nephew Ryan....

He turned 2 yesterday!! AHHHHH!! It's hard to believe that this little guy is two years old..

It really does seem like yesterday that he just came into this world..

WHEW!! Where does the time go??? Next thing I know I will be shopping for his high school graduation present...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RY RY!!

LUV YOU!!

Auntie ~Mel~

SEIS CUERDAS / SIX STRINGS

2007-05-10T06:42:00.000+02:00

La Guitarra

hace llorar a los suenos.

El sollozo de las almas

perdidas

es secapa por su boca

redonda.

Y como la tarantula,

teje una gran estrella

para cazar suspiros,

que flotan en su negro

aljibe de madera.

The guitar

makes dreams cry.

The sobbing of lost

souls

escapes through its round

mouth.

And like the trantula,

it spins a huge star

and tracks down the sighs

that float in its black

wooden cistern.

~~~~ Federico Garcia Lorca~~~~~

WOAH!!

2007-05-09T20:19:00.000+02:00

Tee hee
I am way soooooo new to this.... I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to add pics to my post.. okay here it goes.. Just an aside.... These are photographs I took last summer during the Feria in Nimes. Photography is one of the ways I express myself. I am not quite sure if I was trying to capture any kind of emotions but the pictures ended up telling a story.
Enjoy!!

~Mel~

Hey Hey!

2007-05-09T19:17:00.000+02:00

Hey Hey!
Okay here goes my first post...
I suppose I should start out with what this is all about??
This is just a little something that I set up to share my journey with my friends, family, and whoever, wants jump in. My hope is that friends will stop by to say Hey! and also hopefully I'll pick up some new friends along the way.
thanks for the look
~Mel~
Viva la vida!!