Happy Bastille day!!

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

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!!

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

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

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!

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!!

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