Le Musee de la Toile de Jouy, Jouy-en-Josas

A quelques pas de Paris..........(just steps from Paris)

is the surprisingly rather ordinary small town of Jouy-en-Josas.  Tucked into a narrow, dark ravine among verdant hills, at the bottom of which

runs a tumbling river that was, back in time, especially especially clean.   It was so well suited to the rinsing of printed cloth, that Christopher Oberkampf (his family living room recreated in the photos above) sited on the hill above it, an important fabric printing factory that changed the economic fortunes of France while simultaneously 

contributing something to its artistic patrimony whose ultimate value may be inestimable.

As we now know more than ever in America, economic vigor and robust industry (or the lack thereof)

has tremendous impact on a country's well-being.  So when the fabric merchants of France saw their market slipping away from them, under the onslaught of cheap wood-block printed cottons from India

they mustered the forces of French law, and the talents of the French people

to super-charge an industry and to refine its product into something "imbattable".

 Something beautiful, something for the ages

that embodied the rigor, ingenuity, artistry and energy

of the French culture.  Something durable, portable, marketable, persuasive

of the pleasures of the French "joie de vivre",  graceful for wearing

morning, noon and night.

But which did not so much survive the wear of the years.  When worn on the PERSON.  For us now in the 21st century to enjoy.

Happily however, the good news is that maisons bourgeoises throughout rural france may yet

be found hung from floor to ceiling in these infatuating patterns which HAVE survived the depredations of the years and communicate and celebrate still

 what life could and should be.  With their scenes of sweet rusticity.

And their invitations to comfort.

Ah oui.  La be-l-l-e vie......!

You may not be surprised that there were NOT a lot of men in this museum.  Le Musee de la Toile de Jouy.  In fact, my own Mr. Paradis stayed in the car for a nap!  And the only other person I saw of the less-gentle gender was sitting outside in front, having a coffee.

BUT FOR YOU "La Boutique Oberkampf" at the museum is ALWAYS OPEN i.e., accessible 24/7.  If you read French!  Click the link to the museum and look for "Acceder a la boutique en ligne!"  If you can't visit the museum this weekend and soak in the glories of "toile de jouy", online ordering could be just the thing.

Happy Shopping!  

Paris - What Lies Beyond........

For those of us who don't get to live in these places,  and will never have the chance to know them intimately and take them for granted...........

All I can say is, "LET ME IN - LET ME IN!!!!!!!!!!"

Pakistan - What Can You Do?

Most of us, if we are lucky, have our homes, light, family, comfort, a future to anticipate.

    

Thousands in Pakistan, since the first of August, no longer have any of this.  They are fleeing flooded homes for their lives, with only their lives if they are the very luckiest.  And help is not coming to them.

Via the Huffington Post and Dalia Mogahed:  Muslim Faith: Function Over Form link here


Sharing our wealth with those in need, though it is dear to us, gives us practice putting God before material gain. By giving some of our money to the orphan and the wayfarer in kinship, not patronage, we empower ourselves to be masters of our material possessions, not their slaves, while at the same time building brotherhood in society.
  
Further to this Passage from the Koran:


True piety does not consist in turning your faces towards the east or the west -- but truly pious is he who believes in God, and the Last Day; and the angels, and revelation, and the prophets; and spends his substance -- however much he himself may cherish -- it -- upon his near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the beggars, and for the freeing of human beings from bondage; and is constant in prayer, and renders the purifying dues; and [truly pious are] they who keep their promises whenever they promise, and are patient in misfortune and hardship and in time of peril: it is they that have proved themselves true, and it is they, they who are conscious of God. (2:177 [Asad])


A couple suggestions to receive your donations:


The International Red Cross
The Red Crescent Society
Oxfam
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
UNICEF


The need is great.  

Forever Paris, Escape, Le Train Bleu

I'm so sorry all you Parigots....I hear it's raining there again.  These pictures are from the first or second weekend of "la Grande Evasion".  When it was still brilliantly sunny and vacation was still ahead.  We were returning a rental car to the Gare de Lyon and decided the thing to do immediately after was to have breakfast at le Train Bleu.  

Shockingly this place, which has at least been landmarked, is not these days so well maintained, in terms of its food, and its image.  The banal train station cafe below was packed and churning with activity, but upstairs here, an atmosphere not unlike Miss Havisham's house!  I think the restaurant must be owned and rather neglected, conceptually, by the SNCF - the national railroad company.  I generally think the French have the right idea about the government role in it's cultural patrimony.  But I'm guessing the SNCF think they're in the transportation, not the food, industry. Fair enough but in the case of Le Train Bleu, a rethink is in order!  This should be a destination par excellence.  Not a "lost relic".

What do you think?

Paradise in Plasticine - James May's Toy Stories

OK.  Just had to post this.  As part of my re-entry therapy, I've just watched James May's Episode Two about making a plasticine (Sculpey or Fimo to you?) garden for the Chelsea Garden Show.   You can find the whole of it on YouTube - just google James May's Toy Stories and look for Episode Two.  Someone has uploaded it in 6 Parts and there's actually more of it there than was shown on BBC America where it was a bit tightly edited.  (Ain't technology grand!)  

This will get you started:

Well hubby and I are pretty much in agreement this is our favorite "Toy Story", not only because it has "Paradise" in the title, but also because there are so many of our old haunts in it, from Liverpool St. Station that we went in and out of daily when we were working in the City, to a sequence shot at one of our local pubs from back when we lived in Chiswick. (Yup that's it!  Which has been much improved since our time there.  Closer to Christmas I'll post some pictures of it.)  And because they show Jane Asher's cake shop on Elystan Place, a neighborhood we know very well for all it's lovely shops, and services.  We've gone past Jane's shop a million times - and never EVER seen her in it! The whole series is in a "Best of British" vein, but this one makes everyone there seem very loveable.  Especially Joanna Lumley who you should know from AbFab.

I've been wanting to play with plasticine for awhile although I have some reservations about how "green" it really is. But this was very inspiring!  And James May!  Isn't he cute?  Also if you haven't seen it, check out the Lego House Episode which I posted about here earlier this summer.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYBODY!  

Los Angeles - Disney Concert Hall

I haven't been to the Guggenheim in Bilbao which I expect must be a 

very much larger structure.  And I don't know the interior of the Walt Disney Concert Hall intimately.

But I feel very lucky to be living close by to it.  The exterior is sleek and exciting in a very refined way.  At the rear is a nice little garden

with this blossom shaped picassiette fountain.  

This fountain's esthetic is so different from the actual structure either in or out.  But it's kind of fun, with nice textures to run your hands over.

The actual main concert hall is a veritable jewel box, one made by a traditional Japanese bamboo craftsman or wood worker for his prize cricket or favorite nightingale.  So sorry I don't have a picture.  Though I have been to a concert there.  The atmosphere is rarefied, and exquisitely intimate.  The acoustics are already famous.  They are everything you might expect.

Meanwhile how fun is this little recital hall?

So if you're coming to L.A., to visit this, don't just stand in front and get your picture taken.

Take the tour, have a walk all the way around, buy some tickets and get the full experience.  You won't regret it.  Here's the link to everything you need to know about it!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Paris - Luxembourg Gardens

What do I need to say?