Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année 2008 à tous de nos creatures Tim Burtonesques!

Ojai

Sean Sobczak's light sculptures

For Halloween the Kwan Fong Gallery welcomed the beautiful light sculptures of Sean Sobczak. So the week before I went to Downtown LA to interview the artist. My cousin Stephanie was staying with us and she was happy to accompany me and be my co-pilot through the maze of LA freeways.
We were in for a treat. Walking into Sean's studio at the Brewery was like walking into a dream: huge luminescent multi-coloured larger than life sea-creatures welcoming us, seahorses everywhere, sea dragons, a jellyfish, a mermaid, a two-headed dragon, a spider, dragonflies. We entered a fairy-tale universe of pastel colours and soft shapes, the vibrant phastasmagoria of a child’s imagination. Check out his work on his website: http://www.sandmancreations.com/ and also on www.myspace.com/sandmancreations .
His inspiration comes mainly from the Burning Man Festival, an art festival in Nevada, on a dry lakebed, 3 hours outside of Reno. It is a city built by the participants, over 25.000 people. It is over-the-top massive art and impossible to describe. It is all about meeting people and participating.
Other than that they are things he loved as a child, like seahorses. " I really love seahorses, they really became an inspiration for me. I first went to the 2001 Burning Man and was so inspired. I wanted to bring something the next year. I only owned a hammer and a screwdriver. So I went to the hardware store and bought tools. I was 31 and realized I was a sculptor."

"I am working on an octopus right now. So I am spending time on YouTube working out its movement. They are stunning creatures. I look at things; try to get back in touch with the magic of seeing them for the first time.”
It was strange to leave the studio. The happy, childlike universe of Sean’s creatures had taken us back to when we were small. It was so lovely to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade...
My nephew Zak who wqas over here for Halloween is a real fan, he adored the two-headed dragon. Christine loved the multi-coloured worm; my favourite was the blue sea-dragon.

Last week the exhibition finished and Michael , Janet and I helped take the creatures back to the Brewery. How sad it was to see them leave.

Carmel Mission

Bon Slogan

photo envoyée par Stéphanie, gentille cousine du Canada.

Back from San Francisco

After the fires, the Santa Anna winds, the visits from Stephanie, Laurence and her friend ( why does every one came to visit at once?) Chistine, Eric and Zak arrived and we set off to San Francisco.
San Francisco was so cool, we only stayed for four days , far too short! After an eight hour's drive we arrived in the night. Now driving through SF in the night, that's a challenge.
Those lovely hills give so much charm to the City, but when you are trying to find your way through North Beach, you want to turn left and there is an uphill drive so sharp, you look through your windscreen and all you can see is tarmac? And if you turn right the slope is so steep you pray your brakes are good enough, especially if you have your familly in the car!!!

I am sure it is all right for those who live there, though. San Francisco was as cool as ever.... the best bookshop in the world: City Lights, haven of peace and coolness, where we felt the earthquake!! SF Moma, Museum of the Legion of Honor, Haight-Ashbury, the Golden Gate, wonderful Japanese Gardens! Chinatown!!!

Driving back we followed the Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, all in three days!!!

Downtown Los Angeles vu du Getty Museum

The Santa Anna winds and the fires in Malibu

Last week we saw the strangest weather conditions we had ever seen. The santa Anna winds turned Thousand Oaks into this post-apocaliptic planet. The wind started blowing in the night and woke me up. Tree branches rattling against our window kept me awake for hours. The strenghth of the wind was of the kind that would knock my plants out so I went on the terrasse to rescue them and saw nature angry. Tree branches breaking, dust everywhere. How bizarre. I am used to the Mistral, which is a cold wind, which blows in the winter continuously for three, six, or nine days according to the legend, But this one is hot and blows in all directions. The following day a yellow cloud arrived and surrrounded us with more dust coming from the desert this time!!! and then the smell of smoke, and ashes falling on us. It was a Sunday so Stephen and I took a short walk towards the Hill Canyon, but we couldn't go very far, so much dust the visibility was limited. The sky was yellow and the sun had the most unbelievable colour, a blood red luminescent quality. The fire brigade was patrolling every so often.
"Passion weather" said Cyn. What a beautiful description of it.

The wind continued for about four days and the smell of the smoke too. The reports on tv were showing the situation in Malibu and around here, Filmore, in the valleys.

The Getty Museum and Weston

Everytime we go to the Getty Museum it is just an oasis of beauty in the midst of freeways and a huge megaloppolis... How a place this beautiful can have been dreamt by benefactor Paul Getty and architect Richard Meier amazes me. On a hilltop of Santa Monica, this white fortress stands halfway to the eternal blue sky, and the rest of Santa Monica, the Pacific ocean in the distance. Arranged around an atrium, the four buldings, the South, West, North and East wings, hold an unbelievable art collection from around the world.
We went a few times so far and once with, Cyn, who is a fabulous painter. We all loved Weston's photographs. and went again just for that. Black and white ideal pictures from his life in California, his voyages to Mexico, portraits, nudes. They feel so close, so alive!

Two blogs at the same time!

Sorry I have abandoned my blog for a little while, but I am currently volunteering at the Kwan Fong gallery ... blogging and helping out. The gallery is part of the Art department at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. Check the blog here http://blogs.callutheran.edu/gallery/. Feel free to add comments on both blogs, it is easy ... just click on comments after each post.
At the moment there is an artist-in-residence Cyn McCurry, who is from Texas and an amazing painter. This is one of her paintings. At the gallery I interview her, help prepare openings, contact the mailing list, take pictures...perfect for me really!

Today it is her birthday so we are going to the Getty Museum.

On the road to Los Angeles

Pour aller à Los Angeles, pas trop le choix, il faut y aller en voiture (hormis Downtown LA). Au début la vision de l'autoroute 101 ne me rassurait pas mais il a bien fallu m'y mettre. Pour aller à Westlake, Ventura, Malibu, Oxnard, Ojai...et Los Angeles, donc allons à Hollywood! au LACMA! et au Getty Museum! Première impression, les routes ne sont pas lisses, donc ça fait un bruit inquétant dans la vouture, mais on s'y habitue. Puis il m'a fallu prendre la redoutée 405, méga autoroute blanche, où la lumière reverbère au maximum, et naviguer sur leurs multiples voies! Si vous avez vu le film A Wedding (1978) de Robert Altman, la fin du film se passe sur une autoroute losangelienne. Les échangeurs sont comme on voit sur les photos, en hauteur sur plusieurs voies, pas intêret de se tromper de sortie...
Pour la durée du trajet: impossible de savoir si on va être coincé dans des embouteillages pendant des heures ou si ça va bien circuler. Il faut donc prendre son mal en patience. Un train ferait bien l'affaire et savoir qu'il y avait une ligne de chemin de fer au milieu de la 101 mais qu'elle a été vendue, me parait fou. Et devinez qui a acheté la voie ferrée pour s'assurer que personne ne s'y remette? Le lobby automobile!!!

Je dois dire que la signalisation est différente de la France, un peu toujours à la dernière minute, ce qui oblige les automobilistes à se précipiter vers leur sortie. Drôle de comportements sur la route: pour changer de voie, tout d'abord, s'approcher doucement de la ligne de séparation des voies, mettre son clignotant à la dernière minute, et déboucher en même temps... Si vous mettez votre clignotant pour plus de trois secondes, on vient vous boucher le passage exprès... Ca ne m'étonne pas qu'ils aient des "Road Rage", les colères au volant sur ces autoroutes. En cas d'altercation, ne rien dire, la population locale pourrait avoir des armes à feu (dixit Chrissy) !!!
Le "California roll" (hormis le sushi) est aussi un comportement sur la route: il s'agit de ne pas vraiment s'arrêter à un stop, juste ralentir presque jusqu'à l'arrêt et continuer. Au feu rouge il est permis de tourner à droite après un petit arrêt, et avoir vérifié que le passage est libre.
Voilà pour mes aventures au volant pour le moment. Hier, ma fidèle Toyota m'a laché et il a fallu que je change aujourd'hui pour une Mazda...

Scorching heat

We have been suffering from a heat wave for about five days. It has been about 38 C/ 100 F on average! I went to Ojai up the hills and also dropped Christian off at Magic Moutains and it was even hotter. Impossible to go on hikes before 5pm. Besides the temperature didn't cool off in the night as it normally does and the only cool place was the beach, so off to Malibu like everyone else! Unfortunately people create even more heat with the air conditionning and there were power cuts over the past two days in the area. Article in L.A. Times: Heat may be to blame in 4 deaths

Portrait de la Californienne

Qui est-elle? Es-ce un femme comme les autres? Pourquoi le monde entier s'interesse-t-il tant à elle?
La premiere remarque sarcastique à son sujet que j'ai entendue ici est la suivante: "You can never be too blonde, you can never be too slim, you can never be to rich." Est-ce une boutade ou un mot d'ordre? Nous voila donc fixés sur les ideaux de la population en question: la blondeur, la minceur, la richesse. Ce portrait ne s'applique pas à toutes les Californiennes, j'en suis sûre; je force un peu le trait et voit tout avec le sourire. De même qu'on dit la Parisienne, je me permets d'utiliser le mot la Californienne.

Tout d'abord replaçons l'objet de notre étude dans son habitat préféré: la Californienne conduit un gros 4x4 qui la protège du monde extérieur, si hostile. Il lui permet de se rendre à son travail, pas trop pénible si possible, elle travaille dans un musée, une galerie, dans le marketing, la mode; elle est parfois psychanaliste aussi. Elle vit dans une grosse maison blanche où vrombit en permanence le climatiseur pour la protéger de la chaleur. Elle a un énorne réfrigerateur, un énorme four, stocke de tout en quantités démesurées. Elle porte de gros diamants au doigt que son mari lui a acheté, plusieurs de préférence, pas de limites, et deux ou trois carats!!! Ce n'est même plus du tape-à-l'oeil, c'est une sorte de code, de compétition entre femmes. Le carat du diamant lui permet de se situer dans la société de manière tacite. "Mon mari gagne plus que le sien et moins que le vôtre".

La Californienne adore les magasins, le Shopping Mall est une sorte de temple pour elle où elle revère le dieu Consommation; mais elle aime aussi faire de bonnes affaire ( ou bien le croit-elle). Target ( déjà mentionné) et surtout les "marts"; WalMart et K Mart, Costco sont de grands hangards ou on achète des marchandises en gros. Ma banquière est une femme adorable, son décolleté pigeonnant toujours mis en valeur nous rappelle qu'ici c'est un des critères de charme essentiels. Quand elle me voit, elle me vante toujours Costco. La voilà partie dans une description des plus dithyrambiques de ses samedis où elle part à l'assaut du hangard en question. Non seulement elle peut y faire des affaires, mais aussi elle nourrit ses enfants des plus grosses pizzas imaginables pour la modique somme de $1.50!
Et là, tout vous apparait sous un autre jour: le monde entier fabriquerait-il sans limite des produits à bas prix pour permettre à la Californienne de continuer à satisfaire ses pulsions consommatrices?

La Californienne est bronzée à tout prix et toute l'année: en bouteille, en pulverisateur, en cabine, le faux bronzage a des nuances qui m'échappent et le vrai bronzage n'est à utiliser qu'en dernier recours.
Le bistouri est l'ami de la Californienne quand il s'agit de beauté. Pourquoi avoir des complexes, tout, absolument tout est corrigible! Des premières rides au séquelles de la maternité; c'est bien simple, on vous enlève un peu de graisse par ici et on vous l'injecte par là et on réhausse le tout!!! Le Botox fait oublier le temps qui passe, le silicone vous donnera une poitrine qui fera l'envie de vos voisines. Par contre, si vous avez franchi le seuil du chirurgien esthétique, un seul conseil: "Ne l'avouez pas!"
La dentition de la Californienne est pour moi une source de joie sans fin. Le blanchiment des dents se fait parfois tant qu'apparait un reflet blanc-bleu légerement phosphorescent du plus grand naturel! Elle est toujours très avenante et parle volontiers, vous aurez donc tout loisir d'admirer le reflet en question.

En cas d'excès, la Caifornienne va se réfugier au bord du Pacifique, à Malibu ou à Ojai, petite ville dans le hauteurs de Santa Barbara, pour se refaire un sante physique, mentale ou spirituelle.

Heading back to California

After Grand Canyon, we didn't have that much time and hundreds of miles to drive over the next two days. We were not going to go back to Las Vegas, but to Williams, then Kingman, Barstow then LA along the Route 40 ( a highway) and incidentally along the old Route 66 too. Williams, AZ was fun, we stumbled across some vintage car show and it was like stepping back in time. 30's, 40's, 50's cars were great, what a shame I had left my camera in the boot. Kingman, AZ was forgettable except for Mr D'z Dinner, a cute caf' where we had breakfast ( thanks to the Rough guide to South West USA). Before Barstow Christian was bored with the higway so we continued on the route 66, not well maintained, but we came across the Bagdad Café from the 1988 film "Out of Rosenheim" in English It had been very susessful in France so the walls were covered with cards from French tourists!!! Strange in such a barren land.
Driving back to Thousand Oaks we crossed the Mojave Desert again, Joshua trees still lurking in the background. We avoided Los Angeles this time, Palmdale, Santa Clarita and the 126 to Ventura at last, then Moorpark, and Thousand Oaks! What a week!

Grand Canyon

The last leg of our journey was the Grand Canyon. We set off in the afternoon from Bryce Canyon so we travelled throughout the evening to Arizona. We had a few "Waow" moments approaching Cameron with the sun setting over huge plains and canyons, when you can see hundred of miles around and the nature is outstanding, bare plains, deep valleys and red cliffs. We drove to Lake Powell and stpped to admire it. We arrived at Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim at night and really discovered it in the morning. The size of it made it difficult to comprehend, It is more thean a hundred mile wide, a huge opening in the mountain. We walked along the Rim for part of the day, and had to get used to the heat again, after Zion and Bryce. Of course we were in one of the most famous spots in the world and had been caught up with mass tourism, buses and coaches poured out the crowds, and we realised August wasn't the best time of the year to come here. We din't have enough time to embark on a hike, for that you need at least two days on a mule trail, which is the way we had enjoyed Zion and Bryce, shame really. Staying in Bright Angel Lodge was great. It had been bult in the late 19th Century by odd adventurers/ travellers/ miners and restaured in the 1930's. A few old buildings had been restaured. We didn't spend more than a day, it was already saturday and we had to head off to California.

Bryce Canyon

Then we continued to Bryce Canyon, which is about two hours from Zion. We drove, well Christian did, through landscapes similar to those in Thelma and Louise, really outstanding red or black stone, mountain roads, canyons. We arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park for the sunset and headed to Sunset Point. More amazement, more red sandstone, amazing yellows, pinks, and whites. Here the erosion has created a geological curiosity, thousands of little chimneys called "hoodoos" in the canyon. Very different from Zion, really surprising. More French, Italian, and German tourists everywhere... The following day we walked in the canyon, Peek-a-Boo Loop Trail, with and elevation of 1555 feet/473 m. The landscape changed everywhere you looked and I got carried away taking pictures.
At last it was a bit fresher, and we even saw a bit of rain! The following day we left Utah with a feeling of amazement and certainly wanting to come back again.

Zion National Park, Utah

On Tuesday morning we were relieved to leave Las Vegas and continued on Road 15 to St George, Utah while singing Beatles tunes in the car. Back in the desert, back in the heat. St George couldn't be more different from Las Vegas. The place is all very sober and sweet looking on a hill.
We continued uphill towards Zion National Park and found the most relaxing town called Springdale where we stayed for two days. Zion Canyon is amazing; it is a small canyon, made of red sandstone, with natural arches. The hikes are among the most beautiful ones we have ever walked, Emerald Pool trails, Angel's Landing, with an elevation of 1488ft/453m, and the most amazing of all the Narrows, a hike along and in the river towards where the canyon narrows. I sacrificed my walking boots wading through muddy waters for four hours, and have to say the sights were amazing. As you go along the Canyon walls get narrower and we reached a place where they are six metres apart! The only danger is flash floods, so we had to keep an eye on the weather and be ready to get clear of the river.
The small town of Springdale is gentle if touristy, full of arty shops, and we stayed in El Rio Lodge. I must say Zion Canyon was full of French and Italian tourists. Is it just the strong Euro or Sarkozy spending his holidays in the States?

Las Vegas

First of all, when Christian arrived we knew we were going on a trip, but hadn't finalised it. So with the precious help of the excellent Rough Guide to Southwest USA by Greg Ward, we sorted out everything in one afternoon. We set off on the Sunday to Las Vegas by car and saw the most amazing Mojave desert sights. It is a huge desert in the South East of California, complete with sandy plains, rocky mountains, big cacti called Joshua trees for miles on end. Arriving in Las Vegas at night was amazing. From Interstate 15 you start to see tall buildings illuminating the desert night, huge neon billboards, and smoke billowing from a pyramid of glass. And then as you leave the highway and drive to the center you see crowds of tourists in disbelief walking the Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard).
This is the town for which superlatives were invented: Las Vegas is the hottest town we have ever been to, the most crowded, the biggest, the most ridiculous. At times it makes your head spin. Overstimulation of the senses is everywhere, scorching heat, blaring colours, the fake electronic sound of slot machines, sexy girls in exotic costumes trying to entice the punters, advertising flashing everywhere, "Spend, Spend, Gamble, Gamble" is a constant message in "Sin City". To avoid the sun we had to stay in the over air-conditioned casinos. The most ridiculous themes, Excalibur, Luxor, Paris, Venetian compete with strange attractions, tropical gardens, lions in glass cages, rides overlooking the city, the Crazy Horse, Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil shows. "Disneyland for adults" as a taxi driver described it. I did like the old-fashioned side, though, everything 50's -60's. But it is a town which continually destroys its past and builds bigger, better, more outlandish casinos and attractions for the future.
It is the oddest town I have ever seen, an architectural mishmash planted in the middle of the desert, where people happily waste vast quantities of water and energy. The history of Las Vegas is just as eccentric. The Hoover dam workers needed a place to spend their money and the gambling started in the early 20th Century. Later the mobster Bugsy Seigel built a casino, yet six months later his associates realised he was cheating they had him killed in Los Angeles. It is a risky business starting up a casino.

Fortunately we only stayed for a day and a half, saw a show, the Beatles' Love by Cirque du Soleilat Mirage Casino, gambled six bucks and won fifteen at the black jack, walked miles and saw people gambling night and day!

En francais
Quand Christian est arrivé nous savions que nous allions partir pour une semaine ensemble tous les trois mais la destination était encore incertaine. C'est grace à l'excellent Rough Guide to Southwest USA de Greg Ward que nous avons tout préparé en une après-midi. Nous sommes donc partis le dimanche matin pour Las Vegas en voiture et avons traversé le Désert de Mojave. Une chaleur incroyable, des paysages lunaires et des arbres de Josué nous attendaient le long du chemin. Une pause à Barstow nous a fait croiser la route 66, et découvrir un peu d'histoire de la conquête de l'Ouest.
L'arrivée à Las Vegas de nuit est une expérience étrange. Déjà sur l'autoroute 15 on voit d'immenses bâtiments illuminés, pyramides de verre d'où s'échappe de la fumée, publicités géantes qui clignotent dans la nuit. Puis on entre dans cette ville démesurée où tout converge vers une avenue centrale, Las Vegas Boulevard, the Strip et toujours plongés dans une chaleur écrasante on essaie de trouver son chemin. Des passants ébaubis parcourent la ville de la démesure. Nous avons réussi à trouver notre hôtel et nous sommes précipités au Casino Mirage pour voir le spectacle que nous avions reservé, the Beatles' Love du Cirque du Soleil.
Las Vegas est la ville des superlatifs: c'est la ville la plus chaude dans laquelle je suis jamais allée, la plus folle, la plus ridicule et qui vous donne le tournis. La chaleur étouffante, les couleurs criardes, le faux bruit des machines à sous, de belles filles sexy vétues de quelques plumes essaient de convaincre les badauds de jouer leurs économies au tapis vert, des panneaux publicitaires clignotent de tous les cotés. Le message est clair: " Venez consommer, et entrez dans la folie du jeu!". Las Vegas est même surnommée, "La Ville du Péché" et il y a un slogan publicitaire: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas..." Nous voilà donc là où tout est permis!!! La chaleur nous oblige à rester dans les casinos climatisés à excès. Des thèmes ridicules, Luxor, Excalibur, Paris, le Vénitien, disputent la vedette aux attactions les plus insensées, des jardins tropicaux, des lions en cage de verre, des manèges surplombant la ville, Céline Dion, le Crazy Horse, des spectacles de Cirque du Soleil. Pourquoi, oui pourquoi, ai-je dit oui à Christian et Stephen? " Disneyland for adults" nous a dit un habitant du coin!
Toutefois je dois dire que j'aime bien le coté kitsch. Les chapelles pour se marier à la va-vite, comme Elvis, ou Joan Collins, le design des années 50-60 avec son univers de pacotille, nous font sourire. Mais Las Vegas est un peu comme Los Angeles, elle détruit son passé au fur et à mesure et construit des attractions encore plus grandes, plus éblouissantes, plus extravagantes pour les années à venir. Des chantiers gigantesques montrent cet optimisme sans limite.
C'est la ville la plus étrange que j'aie jamais vue, un mélange architectural sans queue ni tête, plantée au milieu du désert, où les gens dépensent sans complèxe l'eau et l'électricité du barrage Hoover. Ce barrage, construit au début du XXième siècle est à l'origine de Las Vegas; les ouvriers qui l'ont construit avaient bien besoin de distractions, perdus au millieu du Névada! Plus tard le malfrat Bugsy Siegel y a construit un casino, mais ses associés decouvrant ses malversations l'ont fait assassiner à Los Angeles six mois plus tard! Métier à risques s'il en est.

Au bout d'un jour et demi (j'ai compté ) nous voilà repartis, ayant vu un spectacle, joué six dollars et gagné quinze au Black Jack, marché sur des kilomètres à regarder une ville de carton pâte, et vu des gens jouer au machines à sous et autre roulette du matin au soir et du soir au matin.

1551 miles!

Here we are, back at home, after having travelled 1551 miles through four states, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and back in California, having seen Las Vegas, Zion Park, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon, the Route 66 and many more things for a whole week!
I will start telling the story tomorrow when Christian, Stephen and I have settled again in Thousand Oaks.

Version française:
Nous voilà de retour après avoir parcouru 2500km environ et avoir traversé quatre états: la Californie, le Névada, l'Utah, et l'Arizona.Nous avons passé la semaine à visiter Las Vegas, le parc Zion, Bryce Canyon, le lac Powell et le grand Canyon! Nous avons aussi emprunté la route 66 et déjeuné au Bagdad Café!
Je me mettrai demain à raconter notre périple à trois, Christian, Stephen et moi, après que nous ayons repris notre souffle.

4.5 on the Richter scale

We have just had our first earthquake, which woke me up last night around 1am. Nothing dramatic but Stephen didn't want to believe me. Victory! It is in the Los Angeles Times:
4.5-magnitude quake rattles Southern California
"From the Associated Press 3:35 AM PDT, August 9, 2007
A moderate earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area early Thursday, waking residents and knocking some items off shelves and walls."

So we do live in earthquake country after all...

Version française

Nous avons eu notre premier tremblement de terre qui m'a reveillée vers une heure du matin la nuit dernière. Rien de dramatique, heureusement. Ce matin, j'en ai la preuve: c'est dans le Los Angeles Times!
4.5-magnitude quake rattles Southern California
"From the Associated Press 3:35 AM PDT, August 9, 2007
A moderate earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area early Thursday, waking residents and knocking some items off shelves and walls."
/" Un séisme modéré a fait trembler Los Angeles et ses environs, tôt jeudi matin, réveillant des résidents et renversant quelques objets."

Je me demandais ce que ça faisait; impression étrange de voir les murs danser pour quelques secondes!

Why I said yes to this adventure

I was at the supermarket and saw a Coleman icebox when I realised why I had said yes to coming to live in California for ten months.
It is because of our stay in Saudi Arabia in 1978-1979... almost 30 years ago! My father was working there and my mother and my sisters and I had followed him for a year. Until then I had only lived in Nîmes and found the experience freeing. I was a provincial little girl with a strong Southern accent and it opened my mind. When I came back to the same school, talking to the same friends I could feel the difference. I had started to learn English playing with our neighbours, Jane and John Eastham, and little Cameron, I was used to an international environment, Jeddah was where all the embassies were then. It made me a geography champion, a star pupil in English ( without much effort I have to admit) for years to come... I had lived in a tropical area where it only rains once or twice a year and the sun always sets around half past seven all year around. I had been in contact with children who had lived in several countries and spoke several languages. To be fair their knowledge of rude words was outstanding.

Though Southern California has no tropical climate the latitude is that of North Africa (so we have no long Summer evening like in Britain) there are similarities. The Saudi Arabia I remember had a childlike quality, a mixture of optimism, innocence, faith in expansion and consumerism, love of cars, of course, both endearing and irritating. In the UK, or in France, the humour is very ironic and sometimes too sarcastic. I'll never forget the day someone in London said to me: "That was summer!" after one day of sunshine in June! I was so disappointed!
In Jeddah we live in an enclosed European compound, called Armaska, with swimming pools, tennis courts, places to entertain, a little shop; and here I live in a "gated community" complete with an electric gate, a pool, gardeners, a warden who cruises on his little golf cart!
Besides people drive cute Chevrolets, the aforementioned Dodge pick-ups, consume goods in gigantic Malls, live in a children's world, absorbed by toys, games, children's films and literature. Ah! the second floor of the magnificent supermarket called El-Moktar entirely dedicated to toys!
I was only a little girl then so I wasn't fully aware of Women's condition in Saudi Arabia other than my mother could only go out of the compound with long skirts and arms covered. Yet there was also the amazement of discovering the Sahara, snorkling in the Red Sea, camping in Yambu.

In spite of all this I can see how different those two experiences are and am looking forward to unfolding the rest of this adventure.

Just a joke!

A perfect world

I was having troubles recovering from the jetlag and anaemia so I had to rest for a few days. I thought TV would be a good experience.
Daytime TV has a lot in common with British TV, though I hadn't watched the Box for two years when I left the UK.

Adverts are all the more fascinating. They show us the ideal world we should all aspire to, where you can eat tons of unhealthy greasy foods without putting on any weight. The food displayed on the screen is excessively well lit and with all the sauce dribbling on top of it, it is almost ALIVE. It is fried or barbecued, covered in brown sauces and gleams on the screen. These barbecues are literally bouncing back and jumping into your plate! It hypnotises you to make you believe you are craving these ribs/ steaks/ tacos/ Ceasar salads/burritos/pizzas served with an abundance of soda!. Not the slightest steamed broccoli in sight, or fish on a bed of herbs, or healthy fruit salad!!! Oh dear, don’t even think about a wheat-free and dairy-free diet, local produce, 5 fibres a day, seasonal fruit and veg. And no one would even think about drinking a glass of tap water. TGI Friday,Taco Bell, Mac Donald’s, Jack in the Box, here we come!

The most reassuring adds are car adverts. Beautiful people drive beautiful cars. And of course, they are alone on the road, not stuck in traffic like normal people going to work, oh, no! Shiny cars, especially SUV( Sports Utility Vehicles) glide along the Pacific Coast Highway, in the desert or against a dramatic setting. They create this magic world and protect your children and the environment. Once you are inside nothing can happen to you, it is all soft and comfortable. Besides, they encompass hundreds of enticing gadgets. No need for maps anymore since we have GPS! How could you think of travelling without a DVD player? And look at this design lovingly filmed…. They accelerate, they brake so easily, you already desire them. You have to have them. How can you live without the latest Cadillac? BMW? Jaguar? General Motors? Ford? Toyota? Nissan? They are godsent, really; they look so nice, how they shine, how their design makes them almost take off in the sunset … It is a love story between you and your car. The latest Toyota campaign is actually called Summer Love!

After cars, it is the Wooonderful World of Plastic Surgery. Teeth whitening, straightening, gastric bypass, a wonderful procedure too reduce the size of your stomach, nothing really, and so easy, and then once you had that done the plastic surgery to remove all the excess skin!!! Ouch!
And isn’t medicine wonderful? It will sort you out in no time. These ads talks about the latest drug to fight high blood pressure, insomnia, weight problems, restless leg syndrome, cervical cancer, erectile dysfunction (“male enhancement”). Each one is a miracle cure. Yet they have to list the various worrying side-effects with a nice big smile…. Beware! Get yourself vaccinated, drugged up! Run to your doctor’s!

Local adverts are by far my favourites. The picture is little fuzzy, as if they had been filmed with an old VCR camera from the 80’s. The editing is dull, the punchlines/ slogans cheesy and repetitive. Out-of-work actors praise a local furniture shop, a pizza delivery or car dealer in a silly uniform while staring at the camera, with a little map of how to get there. Fabulous!

Since all programs are interrupted every seven minutes by advertising it is very difficult to follow any plot development. With our increasing ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder adverts fit perfectly. They last for 30 seconds and don’t even get interrupted by films.

Back in Paradise

I have just recovered from a cold and the jetlag after our two weeks in Europe. So many places that I feel dizzy! London, Sloane Square, Battersea Park, Putney, Richmond, Ham House, Fulham, Piccadilly, the National Gallery, Covent Garden, the Southbank, Mark Rylance performing street theatre at the Royal Festival Hall, Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral, Lille, Wazemmes, Paris, Boulevard Malesherbes, Station Wagram, Le parc Monceau, les Champs Elysées, la Rive Gauche, Le Bon Marché, L'Illusion Comique au théâtre le Petit Hébertot, Le Marais, le Musée Carnavalet, Place des Vosges, des fallafels rue des Rosiers, des sandales K Jacques, Gare de Lyon, Marseille, des vêtements de bébé au marché de la Plaine, Le Cours Julien, le Vieux Port, Rue Paradis, Le Palais du Pharo, la plage du Prophète, Callelongue, la Canebière, le film " the Bubble", Le Panier, Le Musée de la Vieille Charité, des dessins de Bonnard au Musée Cantini, Lille, Londres, Islington, Heathrow, le film" Half Nelson", LAX...

And after all that, back in Everlasting Blue Sky Land,...where I picked up my new car, a shining Toyota, and our adventures continue...We are now planning our next trip in August with Christian probably going to see Emily in Tucson, Arizona.... That will be a challenge, especially for the moment I only drive to places I know in Thousand Oaks!

C'est dans la poche!

Who would have thought so? Today is the first day of summer and I passed my driving test!


Aujourd'hui, premier jour de l'été, j'ai réussi le permis de conduire!

Downtown L.A.

Last week-end we decided to visit Downtown L.A. We took the Surfliner again and went southward this time to Union Station in Los Angeles. Strange trip were we realised you can only take the train with your passport in this country... But relatively nice; we went through Burbank, Glendale.
Then we arrived in Union Station. It has a definite 1930's feel about it and nicer than I thought, grandiose architechture, with 1930's lines and a huge mural of nice healthy people of all ages and ethnic background to symbolise the Mellting Pot, almost socialist... Well, from what I have been told the area around Union Station is to be avoided at night. In the daytime it is ok, lots more beggars than in provincial Thousand Oaks as I expected. It was used in the film The way we were (1973). I remember the scene when Barbara Steisand has to leave Los Angeles and go to New-York to demonstrate against Macarthy and the Witchhunt, hounded by the press and photographers. Well, nowadays, part of the station has a very nice restaurant and walking passed it feels like we should be embarking on the Orient Express, or the local equivalent. Some of it is closed down today and there is going to be a wedding party. A bit surreal.
This is a totally different part of LA for Stephen and I. The previous times we have been to Santa Monica, UCLA, Beverly Hills, West Holywood. This is something else. It is scorching hot and we make our way to the City Hall, again 1930' s architecture, grandiose and old-fashioned, small gardens with tramps and druggies. We try not to show that we have a guidebook and try to look like we know where we are going. Opposite the City Hall is a disused building locked and abandonned hiding its former grandeur behind bars and outgrowing vegetation. We walk past the LA Times building, arrive at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is a fabulous building by Gehry, crazy, like a funky mushroom/flying saucer organically growing in all directions, with metallic scales shining in the sun. Fabulous and ... it has air-conditioning! We have a fresh lunch inside and then cross the road and visit MOCA, Museum of Contempory Art. It doesn't have what it says in the guide book, but instead a massive Richard Tuttle exhibition. Playful, wonderfully childish collages with cardboards, wires, MDF, neons, and painted over. They also organise concerts/ music events outside, and we would have stayed, had we had the time. We have to work out our route carefully in those areas because on the guide book it says near the Library, a few block away from here, is a open drug market where the police doesnt really go anymore! Great! The Business District is just behind MOCA, with Wells Fargo Buildings.
After visiting a very modern cathedral by the Freeway 101, we decide to go to Pueblo, the oldest neighbourhood in LA. We discover a bit of the history, how the Native Americans disappeared, the missions, the Spanish invasions, the American conquest, how the European settlers planted the first vineyards. The name Los Angeles was the name of the parish El Pueblo de La Reina De Los Angeles. Olvera Street is a colourful market for tourists with everything from leather sandals, Frida Khalo, Marilyn, Our Lady of Fatima posters to $6.99 pink plastic guitars with your name on it. It also has the oldest house in LA the Avila Adobe, built in 1818. There is a Mexican dance festival on the Plaza and it feels a bit like the Feria in Nîmes, Spanish music, the smell of fried treats, little girls dancing sevillane-type dances in a sunny afternoon, happy colourful crowds clapping and dancing.
Then it is time to take our train. Last futuristic vision of Union Station, a police man standing on a tiny motorised scooter; glimpses of "Blade Runner" come to mind.

As we returned to Thousand Oaks I saw this article on the L.A. Times website on John Fante's Downtown LA walk. The unforgettable novel "Ask the Dust" was written here but the LA it describes has completely disappeared, even Bunker Hill is not a hill anymore! A strange town really, growing too fast, and erasing its past as it goes along.


Je promets de traduire mes billets en français très bientôt. Désolée.

Hiking in Rabbit Valley

One of the advantages of living in a remote suburb is that there isn't much at the end of our road apart from hills and valleys. So we often go on hikes in the canyon we have discovered there. We can even go after Stephen has finished work. We were warned about bobcats, big wild cats that come out at dawn or dusk, generally angry that their territory is gradually invaded by the sprawl of suburbia and ready to attack humans! Everyone who has lived here for a long time says how much the valley has changed, that in the 70's Thousand Oaks used to be a big village, and has grown exponentially with the develpment of Amgen. The valley used to be farm land, mainly strawberry fields and horse farms.
There are signs along the paths that say: " Caution Rattlesnakes", which are not exactly reassuring! But it reminds me of the vipers in Lozère when we were little, watch where you walk, avoid rocky, exposed areas, since they love basking in the sun and if you get bitten, run to the nearest hospital!

On a hike with Flavia and her two dogs Ziggy and Zaza, she showed me some small skull left on the side of the path and told me that coyotes, small skinny dogs, run to catch pets, in people's gardens or farms but also on trails, and then kill them! Walking in Britian along the North Down way and the South Down Way, through the green rolling hills of Sussex or Kent over the past few years was quite different, much more peaceful! But we like hiking here too, the scenery is very dramatic: rocky cliffs, volcanic canyons, sandy earth. The vegetation is very dry. Some eucaliptuses, " garrigue" type of vegetation, aromatic plants, dry bushy trees and, that's different from the Languedoc or the Provencal hills, cactuses abound. In this region there are three geographical zones: the coast, the valleys and the desert. The weather forecast on the radio gives you the three which are usually quite different: in the spring, the coast is much cooler, usuallly overcast, the valleys are overcast until mid-morning, the desert is very hot and very dry. Here in the valley, it is quite nice. The wild life is quite different from England too, lots of rabbits, hence Conejo Valley (rabbit in Spanish), cute lizards, dragon flies with hues of luminescent blue, lots of crickets that chirp all year around, roadrunners, little birds that run fast on the ground (like in the cartoon, except they don't say "bip, bip"!). I am fascinated by hummingbirds, very small birds, that can only be found on the American continent, almost like big bumble bees, who don't really fly but hover or dive suddenly. Lots of seagulls fly here from the Pacific. We have also seen racoons, mainly around rubbish bins, small black and white mammals with big black eyes and a strippy tail, generally not as scary as foxes.

On one of our walks we saw a film crew once, reminding us that Tinseltown is less than 50 miles away. Yesterday we went hiking in Wildwood Park, more canyons and gently rolling grassland plateaux. From what the hiking book, Day hike around Ventura County says, this particular park was used to shoot "a number of Westerns and televisions series like Bonanza in the 50's, 60's and 70's, the Rifleman (1958) by Sam Peckinpah, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, and the original town of Dodge City. One of the trails in this park is called the Stagecoach Bluff Trail, named for its numerous stagecoach racing scenes"! Other trails are appropriately named Lizard Rock trail, Teepee overlook trail, Paradise waterfall.
A real escape from consumerism and the car obsessed society or trying to know of Paris Hilton is in or out of prison!

The American Riviera

Last weekend wanting to escape from the daily grind of a stressful job (Stephen) and after having failed the driving test (me) we decided to hop on the trainline called the Amtrak Surfliner.
The nearest station is in Moorpark, we would go by cab and see where the train would take us. At first we toyed with the idea of going to San Diego and then thought Santa Barbara would be closer. Basically this one line, the Amtrak Surfliner, goes North and South along the Pacific coast. So we took our rucksacks (here: backpacks) and set off. Santa Barbara is only one hour away on the train and we thought we'd check out the "American Riviera". There are only three trains a day, and Moorpark is not even a station, just a stop. The train ride was very nice, along the beach sometimes overlooking the shore, through towns like Camarillo, Ventura,... Quite a few Americans have come and parked their campervans by the sea for the weekend.
Santa Barbara has a lovely little station very close to the beach. Last weekend was a bank holiday for Americans, Memorial Day weekend, celebrating American troops throughout history and as we arrived in Santa Barbara, we went to the beach and saw a pacifist demonstration. Arlington West: www.veteransforpeace.org. Veterans from various conflicts had set up this memorial with 3,000 white crosses commemorating the lives of all the American victims of the war in Iraq. They invited people to reflect on the meaning of war, with slogans and recommendations. We spoke to an old man, and were amazed when he replied in a perfect French: " Ma femme est de Charentes-Maritimes", and telling us he was Austrian and fought in the Second World War with the American troops and had taken part in the liberation of Italy. He knew what a war was and that is why he was campaigning for Peace. We were very impressed to have met someone who had lived through History and was willing to share his thoughts and memories.
On the first day we stayed by the sea and walked on the pier, sat by the Ocean and soaked in the atmosphere. On the second day we went to visit the Old Mission and stumbled across the I Madonnari Festival, a street art festival on the grounds of the mission to sponsor the Children’s' Creative Project. There were jazz and salsa bands, kids dancing, drawing and barbecues. The artists using chalk on the tarmac to produce amazingly colourful compositions that will only last until it next rains. Tigers roaring, water lilies, planets in danger, reproductions of Dali, symbolic and religious scenes, there were about fifty pieces of art to admire, the whole thing was very eclectic. The crowds were strolling in the alleys left to walk and admire the art. The artists were still drawing and talking to people. We carried on the visit of the Santa Barbara Mission, which is the best preserved mission among twenty one Franciscan Spanish Missions built at the end of the eighteen century along the Pacific Coast. The missions were evangelising the local Natives, the Chumash, with overall less damage than when California became part of the USA. Then the Natives were not treated as citizens, could not own property and could be shot on sight. Still, Missionaries changed deeply the lifestyle of the Native Americans and conversion to Catholicism was compulsory. Then it became more peaceful.
Then we walked through the town, a Real Town! With Buses! A town centre! Botanic gardens, an Art Gallery! And Art fims! Amazing! Even an organic market! How naughty of me to be sarcastic of Thousand Oaks, but I have forgotten what it feels like not to ride my bike along or cross the Road 101, my favourite motorway, to do anything! Any direction here is given as “in the parking lot of Vons/ in the parking lot of Target”…
On the third day we explored the town center, which has very nice courts of justice, County Courthouse, a 1920’s Spanish style building, with Tunisian influence. Basically this is the style of the whole town since it was completely rebuilt after the earthquake of 1925. Yet an old Spanish fortress, il Presidio, is still standing. We fell in love with a quirky second-hand bookshop on Santa Barbara Street, which seems to have the perfect selection for anyone who is keen on American and world Literature…
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is small but holds a beautiful collection of European paintings and sculptures, including a lovely Chagall, Matisse, Braque, Bonnard. Dufy. The Asian art collection was a real discovery, guided by an American architect who had lived in China. Another walk to the beach through the organic market, and it was time to take the train. We could live here, and I can see why it is called the American Riviera, "un peu de Douceur de Vivre" by the Pacific Ocean, wineries nearby, palm trees lining the beach. We'll come back again. Back on the train, vast carriages with very big seats. It is not so bad to be here.
Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/L.PonsWood

The Festival of Books at UCLA

With the annoying saga of the driving still going on I forgot to talk about the Festival of Books.
A few weeks ago I saw that the Los Angeles Times was sponsoring a book fair at University of California in Los Angeles, open to the public with readings by authors. I talked about it to several people and Chrissy and her dad fancied the idea too. So the plan was to go there with them for the day on Saturday by car (theirs!). We took our beloved Road 101 and headed south to Los Angeles, and then to Sunset Boulevard. UCLA is in Westwood, West of Hollywood, and across Sunset Boulevard is a very nice area called Bel Air. The university was created in the 1920's, at the same time as the development of Southern California, and the old buildings are very nice, imposing brick buildings with a definite Italian influence, some of them are copies of Milanese or Veronese churches! There are modern buildings with less character, an art museum, a botanical garden, theatres, and a huge university library open to the public! That wouldn't be the case in the UK.
With the festival of Books going on we coudn't see everything, I was trying to spot sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore in some of the gardens, but there were too many people. As we entered the campus we were greeted by Mexican Flamenco groups (it has a special name, but I can't remember it) and political groups telling us that 9/11 was in fact planned by the US government, and how to end cruelty to animals... a typical university campus atmosphere! It is a vast campus on a hill, as big as a town ( I keep saying that, Amgen, UCLA, everything big here). On a sunny day the trees create a shaded atmosphere and I can easily see how nice it would be to ponder the Meaning of Life in such a lovely place. What a place to study!
We decided we would stroll around. There were lots of stalls; the two major booksellers, Barnes & Noble and Borders, all sorts of publishers and festivals, the Los Angeles Film Festival, some commercial publishers, some ambitious, even an Armenian publisher telling me about the terrible stories of what happened during the Genocide. (I know, I know..). There were hundreds of people, this seems to be the place to come with your family, people picnicking on the grounds, kids playing. I am impressed how UCLA is open to the community. We gathered at the Children's Books Stage to see Julie Andrews Edwards. She was very much the " Grande Dame" of Holllywood, tall, dressed in a white suit, with a terribly English accent, talking about the book she had just written with her daughter. The crowds, obviously used to see Hollywood stars carried on their picnics, with kids running around. Some of them were queuing to ask questions or have their book signed by " Mary Poppins"!
There was everything from science to chldren's books, from film companies to amateur drama, poetry to art books, to cookery books and crime fiction. We walked passed the crime fiction booth and saw where James Ellroy was signing books. Stephen and I had just seen the film "the Black Dahlia" and were very impressed by the story. It a true story, both gruesome and fascinating, a mixture of broken dreams of Tinsel Town, dark vengeance and madness! Apparently James Ellroy has his fans and the case of the Black Dahlia has a whole following, for those interested in Los Angeles in the 40's.
We also saw Ray Bradbury. I am not a big fan of science-fiction, but his writing goes well beyond Sci-Fi. From what Chrissy's father was saying he has been coming to the Festival of Books at UCLA for years. UCLA is very important for him. In his new introduction to Farenheit 451 he says he wrote it at UCLA. He was broke at the time and with a young child at home he was looking for a place to write. As he was "wondering aroung UCLA I heard typing in the basement of the library. I went down to see what was going on and found that there was a room with twelve typewriters that could be rented for ten cents for half hour. Excited at the prospect I bought a bag of dimes and moved in the typing room."
He is an old man now and seems happy to meet the crowds. We bought a few of his books and had them signed. It is fascinating to see a legend of American literature, I hope some of his talent rubs off on me.

Otherwise I failed the driving test yesterday. I am sure it will be "fifth time lucky"!

French Version:

Avec la saga énervante de la voiture, j'ai oublié de raconter le festival du livre de UCLA, the Festival of Books. Il y a quelques semaines j'avais vu que le Los Angeles Times sponsorisait une foire aux livres avec des lectures d'auteurs ouvertes au public sur le campus de UCLA. J'en ai parlé à plusieurs personnes et puis l'idée a plu à Chrissy et son père. Donc nous y sommes allés tous les quatre, Chrissy, son père, Stephen et moi, le samedi en voiture; la leur bien sûr. Nous avons pris la Route 101, notre autoroute préférée et avons pris la direction sud, vers Los Angeles, puis Sunset Boulevard. UCLA est située à l'ouest de Hollywood à Westwood. De l'autre coté de Sunset Boulvard se trouve un beau quartier appelé Bel Air. UCLA a été créée dans les années 20, en même temps que l'expansion de la Californie du Sud, et les bâtiments anciens sont très beaux, en brique. Certains sont même des répliques d'églises italiennes de Milan et Vérone. Les batiments modernes ont moins de charactère.
Le Festival du Livre amène des foules inhabituelles, donc impossible de voir le campus correctement. J'ai bien essayé de voir des sculptures de Barbara Hepworth et de Henry Moore, mais parmi les badauds, impossible. En entrant sur le campus toutes sortes de groupes folkloriques, flamenco mexicain, groupes politiques, clamant la responsabilité du gouvernement des Etats-Unis dans les attentats du 11 septembre, pour sauver les animaux sauvagement exploités par les laboratoires,... ambiance de campus classique! C'est immense, une vraie ville dans la ville (il me semble que je dis toujours ça, Amgen, UCLA...) un musée, des jardins botaniques, des théâtres, et une immense librairie universitaire ouverte au public! (Ca, c'est différent en Angleterre). Par une belle journée ensoleilée, et à l'ombre des arbres, je m'imagine bien réflechissant sur le Sens de la Vie. Quel cadre pour étudier!
Nous décidons de nous promener et de découvrir au fil des stands. Bien sûr, il y a les deux principales chaînes de librairies, Barnes & Noble et Borders, des éditeurs, des festivals, dont le Los Angeles FIlm Festival, des sociétés de productions, tout ça est très éclectique. De la science aux livres pour enfants, du livre d'art aux livres culinaires, de la poésie à la science fiction, difficile de tout voir. Il y a même un éditeur arménien qui me raconte des histoires de rescapés du Génocide, je sais...Il y a des centaines de gens, il semble que c'est un peu la sortie à faire en famille. Les gens ont apporté leur pique-nique, les enfants jouent sur les pelouses. Je suis très impressionnée par le fait que UCLA ouvre ses portes au grand public, ça ne se verrait pas à Cambridge. Sur la scène pour les enfants, une Julie Andrews toute vétue de blanc, très Grande Dame de Holywood parle du livre pour les enfants qu'elle a écrit avec sa fille. Je ne savais pas qu'elle était anglaise; son accent ne trompe pas, pourtant elle vit ici depuis le début des années cinquante... Les gens, visiblement habitués à voir des stars déambuler à West Hollywood, continuent leur pique-nique, quelques enfants font la queue pour faire signer leur livre et poser des questions à "Mary Poppins"!
Au hasard des stands nous passons devant la littérature policière et voyons que James Ellroy sera là pour des signatures. Stephen et moi venons de voir le film le Dahlia Noir,"the Black Dahlia" et avons été très impressionnés. Quelle histoire! Et en lus c'est une histoire vraie! Mélange de rêve hollywoodien brisé, de vengeance dans une ambiance tout ce qu'il y a de plus gothique, et de folie meurtrière. Apparemment, James Ellroy a des fans et le Dahlia Noir est devenu une sorte d'histoire culte sur le Los Angeles des années quarante! Un peu trop ténébreux pour moi, mais c'est un auteur et une histoire très " los angeliens" (?).
Nous avons aussi vu Ray Bradbury. Je ne suis pas une grande fan de science-fiction mais j'ai lu Farenheit 451 et les Chronique Martiennes et son talent ne se cantonne pas à la science fiction, c'est vraiment un grand écrivain américain. D'après le père de Chrissy, cela fait des années que Ray Bradbury vient au festival du livre. UCLA est très important pour lui. Dans la nouvelle préface de "Farenheit 451", il confie qu'à l'époque, fauché et avec un petit enfant à la maison, il était à la recherche d'un endroit pour écrire. "Hantant le campus de UCLA, j'ai entendu un bruit de machine à écrire dans le sous-sol de la bibliothèque de UCLA. Je suis descendu pour voir ce qui se passait et j'ai découvert une salle dotée de douze machines à écrire qu'on pouvait louer pour dix cents la demi-heure. Tout excité, je suis revenu muni d'un sac plein de pièces de dix cents et j'ai aménagé dans la salle en question." Tout ça s'est passé à la fin des années quarante et il n'a pas cessé d'écrire depuis. C'est un viel homme, avec une jolie présence. Il semble heureux de rencontrer ses fans et signe des piles de livres. Nous avons acheté quelques-uns de ses livres et suis impressionnée d'avoir vu une telle légende de la littérature. J'espère que le talent déteint un peu...

Sinon, j'ai encore raté le permis et espère que la cinquième sera la bonne...

Learning to drive in California

After a successful week last week I decided to ride on the wave (you'll notice the Californian metaphor) and sign up for a driving test next Monday, the 14th May. Studying for the written test was fairly staightforward. You go to the Department of Motor Vehicles, cf. previous post, 'Getting about in Thousand Oaks', and pick up one of these booklets, California Driver Handbook 2007, study it and come back for a test. On the front page an appealling photograph of the California coast reminds you that when you drive, you'll be so cool and be able to drive on the mythical Pacific Coast Highway, PCH or State Route 1.
Then as you open the booklet you are greeted by a smiling Governor of California, Arnold Schwartznenegger, so well groomed he looks like some advert for a hairdresser, "thanking us to help make California a fantastic place to live and wishing us a safe drive"...Apparently Arnold S. has been elected because he promised to abolish the car taxes!
The driving regulations in the US of A vary from state to state and California is huge, 410,000 km², almost twice as big as the UK (244,820 km²) and two thirds of France (674,843 km²). I only actually intend to drive around here....not to the rest of the States...I also have purchased a lovely book called "Frommer's California's Best-Loved Driving Tours", as a dare really, but it may come in handy.
The vocabulary in the California Driver Handbook can be a little tricky. American English and the British English regarding driving differ a bit: "to pass a car" means to overtake, an "SUV" is a " Sport utility vehicle" otherwise a very high car but not necessarily a 4x4. The "sidewalk" is the pavement, the "hood" is the bonnet, the car park is the "parking lot", a zebra crossing is a "crosswalk". "Carpool lane" are lanes designed for cars that carry two or more passengers in Southern California and three or more passengers in Northern California, that is to encourage people to be environmentally-friendly and share a ride. And of course everything is in miles per hours and feet. Picturing all the risks on the road gave me nightmares...
I took the test last Thursday, my friend Flavia and her dogs, Zaza and Ziggy came with me for moral support and I passed! It was only a multiple choice questionnaire, no risk on paper.
Today I just had my fourth driving lesson. The driving instructor is a strange and patient with a very monotonous voice. "Easy does it." is his phrase if I turn too fast...There are a few differences with driving in France and I still remember what I learned 15 years ago in my driving lessons (before failing three times the driving test!!!) but not too many. At an intersection the lights are situated on the other side, not where you are supposed to stop, the speed limit on the highway is 65 miles per hour, centre left-turn lanes, and you may overtake on the right if necessary.
With Flavia and the dogs I went to Santa Monica and to Malibu; it is definitely worth learning to drive. We'll see next Monday.

(...to be continued...)

Version française

Enfin, j'apprends à conduire. Ceux qui me connaissent depuis longtemps savent que j'ai déjà tenté ce redoutable examen en France, en vain. Londres a un réseau de transports qui fonctionne assez bien (hormis les accidents et les attentats), donc il n'y eut pas de nouvelle tentative outre-Manche. Ici après la chronique Domestic Goddess in America, je ne vois pas d'autre issue que de tenter à nouveau l'expérience. Et, ici, contrairement à la Perfide Albion, les gens conduisent à droite!
Après une semaine positive, j'ai décidé de surfer sur la vague (métaphore californienne s'il en est) et de m'inscrire pour le test de conduite lundi prochain, 14 mai. Préparer le code fut assez facile; il m'a fallu aller au Department of Motor Vehicles, cf. chronique précédente, 'Getting about in Thousand Oaks', pour aller chercher un livret intitulé: "California Driver Handbook 2007", l'étudier, et revenir passer le test.
Sur la couverture du livret en question une jolie photo de la côte californienne me rapelle que si j'arrive à passer cet examen, j'aurai peut-être le bonheur de conduire sur la légendaire route:Pacific Coast Highway, PCH ou State Route 1! Ce livret est préfacé par un très souriant Gouverneur de Californie, Arnold Schwartznenegger, tellement apprété qu'on croirait une publicité pour un coiffeur, qui nous remercie d'"aider à faire de la Californie un endroit formidable, et qui nous souhaite bonne route."... Apparemment, Arnold S. a été élu sur la promesse de supprimer la taxe sur les voitures!
Le code aux USA varie d'état en état, ainsi que les lois fédérales. La Californie est immense: 410,000 km², presque deux fois le Royaume-Uni (244,820 km²) et à peu près les deux tiers de la France (674,843 km²). Mes ambitions de conductrice sont assez modestes et je ne pense pas conduire hors de la Californie. C'est vraiment juste pour aller au supermarché, au yoga, à la plage, à la ville suivante, Moorpark, pour prendre des cours et prendre le train pour Los Angeles de temps en temps. Toutefois pour m'aider à relever le défi, j'ai acheté le livre: "Les plus belles ballades en voiture de Californie": "Frommer's California's Best-Loved Driving Tours", ça peut toujours servir.
Il y a des différences de vocabulaire dans le domaine de la conduite entre l'anglais britannique et l'anglais américain. Par exemple, dépasser une voiture, se dit "to overtake" en GB et " to pass" aux USA, une voiture haute, un "SUV" , ou "Sports Utility Vehicle" n'est pas forcément un 4x4. Le trottoir se dit " sidewalk" aux USA et "pavement" en GB, le capot de la voiture se dit " hood" aux USA et " bonnet" en GB, le parking, " car park' en GB et "parking lot" aux USA; le passage piétons, " zebra crossing" en GB et "crosswalk" aux USA. un 'Carpool lane" est une voie sur l'autoroute où les voitures font du co-voiturage, c'est-à-dire où les voiture transportent deux passagers ou plus, grande mesure "écolo" de La Californie! Et bien sûr, tout est en pouces et miles par heure...En étudiant le code, on est mis en garde contre tous les dangers de la route et, ayant une imagination fertile, j'en ai des cauchemards...
Jeudi dernier, je suis donc allée passer le code avec ma copine Flavia et ses deux chiens Zaza et Ziggy, pour le soutien moral et .. j'ai réussi! Un QCM sur papier, c'est sans danger!
Aujourd'hui, j'ai eu ma quatrième leçon de conduite. Mon moniteur de conduite est un peu étrange, très calme, mais surtout il a la voix la plus monocorde que j'ai jamais entendue. Il me dit parfois: " Easy does it.", si je vais un peu vite en tournant, très phlegmatique comme garçon...
Il y a quelques différences avec la conduite en France, mais pas énormément. Je me souviens encore de mes leçons, il y a quinze ans. A une intersection, les feux de signalisation sont situés de l'autre côté de l'intersection, pas là où on doit s'arrêter. Sur l'autoroute, la vitesse limite est 90 km/h, il y a parfois des voies au milieu de la route pour tourner à gauche que les deux sens de la circulation peuvent utiliser. Et on peut dépasser par la droite si necessaire.
Avec Flavia et les chiens nous sommes allés à Malibu et à Santa Monica. Ca vaut vraiment la peine d'apprendre à conduire!

French elections from abroad

How strange to watch the French elections from afar. A mixture of emotions, at the same time difficult to feel concerned by all the mesures that will be take, and also I am going to recognise the France of my youth. Here in California and everywhere in North and South America, they took place on Saturday so that French people who vote here don't get to vote after the results have been announced. I am not very proud this time. Made a mistake and didn't write to the French consulate in London on time to be struck off the lists and then again to the French consulate in Los Angeles to be able to vote knowing it takes more than a month....and missed the dates for the vote by proxy! My guilt was increased by an article in Le Monde saying that the vote from French citizens abroad matters more and more in terms of figures. In London alone, the number of voters had more than doubled in five years. I had worked out though how to go from Union Station to Wilshire Avenue by tube, but getting to LA is still a fairly big deal.
Five years ago in 2002, I was a good little French citizen and helped with the vote in the Lycée Charles de Gaule in South Kensigton, I was an "assesseur", that is to say the person who checked the passports or carte d'identité, and checks the lists and says " M/ Mme/ Melle... a voté!", and also supervises the vote counting.
As expected the websites were really really slow and at twenty to eleven in the morning I phoned Christine in Normandie to get to listen to the French TV live. Unfortunately my nephew Zacharie was watching some cartoon and Christine didn't know how to turn it off so we listened to the radio...
The Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, the Independent have already published their headlines. Strangely enough, the LA Times calls Sarkozy a "center-right candidate"... I can't really see where the "center" is in Sarkozy.

Results for Los Angeles:
Total numbers of voters on the lists: 12665
Total numbers of votes :3433
Total numbers of vote per candidate:
1. M. Nicolas Sarkozy : 2155
2. Mme Ségolène Royal : 1222

French version
Bizarre d'observer les élections présidentielles de si loin, à la fois difficile de se entir concerné par tous les enjeux, et en même temps mon coeur est toujours en France. La France que je connaissais va-t-elle changer pour toujours? Ici en Californie et partout en Amerique du Nord et du Sud , les élections ont eu lieu samedi. Avec le décalage horaire les Francais continueraient de voter après l'annonce des résultats si c'était dimanche. Je ne suis pas très fière cette fois-ci, je n'ai pas fait les bonnes démarches à temps. Il fallait se faire rayer des listes électorales du Consulat de France à Londres et après un mois se faire "immatriculer" pour pouvoir s'inscrire sur les listes électorales de Los Angeles. Vive la France! J'ai aussi raté les dates du vote par procuration...Mon sentiment de culpabilité n'a fait que s'accroître à la lecture d'un article dans le Monde qui disait que le vote des Francais de l'étranger compte de plus en plus. A Londres par exemple, le nombre de votants inscrits sur les listes a plus que doublé en cinq ans.
Aux dernières élections, j'ai fait mon brave petit soldat et ai participé aux élections en tant qu'assesseur. Je n'étais pas peu fière: "M./Mme/ Melle... a voté!" au premier et au deuxième tour, ce qui voulait dire passer toute la journée au Lycée Charles de Gaule à South Kensington à vérifier les passeports et reconter les bulletins, tout ça pour dire : J'ai participé au processus démocratique...
Evidemment tous les sites web ralentissent au moment des résultats dimanche donc, à onze heures moins vingt du matin, je téléphone en Normandie chez Christine et nous discutons des élections. Le petit Zacharie est en train de regarder des dessins animés en DVD et au moment du résultat Christine ne sait plus comment arrêter passer sur la télé, donc nous écoutons ensemble France Inter... Ah! la technologie!
Le L.A. Times parle de Sarkozy comme du candidat de " centre-droite" , je ne sais pas très bien où est le "centre" dans Sarkozy...

Résultats pour Los Angeles:
Nombre total d’élécteurs inscrits : 12665
Nombre total de votants : 3433
Nombre total de suffrages exprimés par candidat :
1. M. Nicolas Sarkozy : 2155
2. Mme Ségolène Royal : 1222

Boston under the snow

Hello everyone,
I am now in Boston writing to you from the library and it is snowing!!! What a difference from Thousand Oaks!! And since all my winter clothes are in storage in London, I just had to go shopping for a coat and gloves!!!... I was dreaming of lovely spring weather in New England! I was told there was a cherry blossom festival in Washington that week-end. Not really! Today it is snowing and the weather forecast for the rest of the week is not very optimistic! I was not very prepared for that and a bit too optmistic while packing... Boston is like London in some ways. Stephen tells me the accent is a bit similar. People are less talkative than in California, something to do with the weather I suppose. Of course we had sea food at Legal Sea Foods, saw the 200 year old battleship USS Constutition, walked the Freedom Trail, and were amazed ... We followed in the footsteps of those who started the Independence of America with the Boston Tea Party, with Paul Revere's cartoons, and important speeches at the start of the abolition of slavery. Believe me, we walked the freedom trail extremely quickly and with lots of tea breaks in warm places and stops in various bookshops to survive the cold. On my own, I discovered the town center, China Town and loved Beacon Hill, with wonderful 18th Century architecture, very smart Back Bay, and fell for the Museum of Fine Arts , which owns a wonderful collection of art, including van Gogh and the French impressionists. Boston is also the home of the Kennedy familly and of Malcolm X. The Italian quarter, the North End, is so great with the best Italian bakeries and people with that air of "they know it all" and you are just a tourist...
I met up with Emily and we are spending the day together. It is so great to meet up again. The last time was in London. She lives on the East Coast so she drove here. Instead of freezing on our way to the Arts Museum, we went shopping in a great second hand clothes shop on Newbury Street, Second Time Around where we found some good bargains. In London, we used to go to charity shops and our best day is when Emily bought these leather trousers for £10 and later found £10 in one of its pockets! In the evening we are going out with her sister Liz, who lives in Boston, in a restaurant in South End. Liz works for the Big Sisters/ Big Brothers of America, which is a great project. I am very impressed by it; I have heard about this mentoring scheme from different people. It should be adapted it in London.
We are fairly jetlagged, three hours this time, and Stephen has to work at Amgen, Boston, near MIT, Massachussets Instiute of Technology, one of these places in the world where grey matter abounds: sixty-three Nobel Prize winners!
Boston is sooo different from California!!! There is a SUBWAY and there are BUSES, the town centre is quite small and very WALKABLE! How lovely and civilised!
We are staying at th Marriot, Kendal in Cambridge, Massachussets, just on the other side of the river, two stops away from the center of Boston, and it is only twenty minutes walk from Harvard. It is strangely familiar for Stephen and I to be in another university town and the atmosphere is similar to the other Cambridge. So this is part of the Ivy League and one of the centres of intellectual life in the USA. Great architecture, with a mixture of colonial influence and grandiose university buildings.
As we travel, we have to tip everyone and Emily told me I was stingy...How do you work out who to tip and how much? Oh, dear, I forgot that poor taxi driver on the first day. But it is not easy to carry luggage, keep an eye on everything, and rummage through my bag with gloves on, while working out what 15 to 20% of the fare might be...

I will be returning to Thousand Oaks with lots of ideas and good resolutions.

Techie heaven

We have landed in techie heaven. I am now the proud owner of a digital camera with a whopping 1 gigabyte of memory...and a brand new mobile phone which flips open and can take pictures. For every teenager this equipment is average, for me this is gadget heaven. My favourite shop is now Circuit City , which is only 15 min by bike from here! All the latest BlackBerries can allow you to be permanently connected to the Tv, the news, your mails, a phone... what next? and the Apple fan that I am is in awe in the Apple shop, a white paradise with colorful iPods and iBooks...
Every town has an identity; people dream of different things around the world. London is obsessed by investment banking and California by computing. I can feel the proximity with the Silicon Valley. I have my techie guru: the French journalist Francis Pisani, based in the Silicon Valley, who explains all the latest craze in the magic world of Information Technology in his blog: Transnet Blog, to read about the Internet 2.0 and other concepts. People joke about the latest Microsoft platform, Vista. Ideas are turned into programs and then turned into dollars. Bill Gates is still a star, and if someone feels bad about not having completed their university degree everyone recalls how Bill Gates dropped out of university to launch Microsoft....The Internet was "invented" at UCLA! Beloved Internet, Heaven and Hell united in one. What would I do without it? Thanks to the World Wide Web I can be in touch with family and friends, All this is far from my hippy ideas of California. And oh, dear, I woke up yesterday listening to the horrendous news that if one spend more than 30 hours a week in front of the dreaded screen ( except if it is the Apple screen I presume) is more than likely to get depressed after a length of time. Should we revert to the old pen and paper? Not really possible, it is a bit late for that. We have to be even more in touch with reality and our emotions, and develop a sense of community.
I also have to start my web design again, my sites need looking after.

Otherwise I still cycle and a currently studying for the driving theory test. DVM is at about 8 miles from here so I keep fit. We have been on a couple of nice walks and it is great to be so close to great hills and the outdoors.
Boston next Friday until Easter Sunday, and I have heard there are buses and trains there, good.

traduction francaise: Au paradis des technophiles.

Me voila l'heureuse détentrice d'un appareil photo numérique doté d'une mémoire éblouissante de 1 Megaoctet et d'un téléphone portable capable de prendre des photos!... Tout adolescent trouverait tout ça normal, pour moi, friande de gadgets, c'est follement intéressant. Mon magasin préféré en ce moment est Circuit City , qui n'est qu'à 15 minutes à vélo d'ici et qui est rempli des gadgets les plus sophistiqués, BlackBerries, ordinateurs portables, appareils photos et caméras numériques et autres merveilles. Le magasin Apple, paradis blanc comprenant iPods, iBooks de toutes les couleurs me laisse sans voix...
Toutes les villes ont leur identité, les rêves, les espoirs des gens changent selon les cultures. Londres est focalisée sur la finance; la Californie rêve d'informatique. Ici on sent qu'on est proche de la Silicon Valley. Je suis avec ardeur les dernières avancées expliquées par mon gourou de la chose technologique, le journaliste français Francis Pisani qui a un blog sur le sujet pour le Monde; Transnet Blog et explique tout sur Internet 2.0, et autres concepts. Les dernières blagues tournent en ridicule Vista, la nouvelle plateforme de Microsoft. Les idées sont transcrites en programes informatiques, qui a leur tour sont transformés en billets verts. Bill Gates est toujours une star; si quelqu'un a le moindre complèxe de ne pas avoir de diplôme universitaire, on lui rappelle que Bill Gates a laissé tomber ses études à Harvard pour lancer Microsoft... Internet a été "inventé" à UCLA (Université de Californie à Los Angeles)! Internet adoré, paradis et enfer rasemblé en un. Que ferai-je sans lui pour rester en contact avec famille et amis? Tout cela est bien loin de mes idées hippies sur la Californie...Horreur, ce matin, je me suis réveillée au doux bruit de la radio annonçant les résultats d'une étude qui dit que si l'on passe plus de 30 heures par semaine devant un ordinateur ( hormis l'écran plat de Apple, je suis sûre), à long terme on a toutes les chances d'être déprimé. Charmant! Va-t-il nous falloir retourner au papier et au crayon? C'est un peu tard pour cela. A nos donc de rester en contact avec la réalité qui nous entoure, nos émotions, et les gens que nous aimons.
Aie, il faut que je reprenne le webdesign, mes sites manquent un peu d'attention...

Sinon j'étudie pour le test du code et le DVM, le département de la conduite dans mon "county" est a plus de 10 kilomètres d'ici, ça me maintient en forme. Nous avons fait deux marches sympas jusqu'ici et c'est très chouette d'être si près des collines et de la nature. Sinon le séjour a Boston a été reporté d'une semaine et nous y serons du 30 au 8 avril. Il parait qu'il y a plein de choses à visiter et qu'il y a même des transports en commun!

"You must be from Simi Valley"

People here are not really used to foreigners or expats. We joined the library last week and we must have looked a bit lost, so the lady at the counter said : " You must be from Simi Valley.", which is the next town north of here... No, much further East and North, about 6,000 miles from here, we come from across the Pond, "London, England" as they say, and yes, we wouldn't mind a few pointers. To join of course, you need a b.....y driving licence so we produce passports and lease agreement, which works as well.
At the bank, same thing, I have to explain everything right from the start, and there, the magic word is Amgen, major employer around here. Of course having a British employer is completely odd to them...and no social security number? ...Things are more bureaucratic than in the UK, it reminds me of France! And this is a small town here. In London, nobody is surprised if you are a foreigner, since pretty much every other person is.
Online shopping is out if the question without an America credit card. Where is my dear Ocado?...
When we first arrived we watched DVDs I had bought before leaving, a TV drama from BBC History, "the Cambridge Spies", set in the Cambridge of the 30's. How nice to see the Colleges, Clare Bridge and the Cam...How awfully English, secretive and terribly well brought up as spies go! and how anti-American! We were really " Lost in Translation", and we are definitely not from Simi Valley!

To try and adapt to the US of A we have since stopped watching British films and have watched the film " Legends of the Fall" (1994) based on a novel by Jim Harrison, a wonderful writer, article in Wikipedia on Jim Harrison. Really beautiful and makes us want to go to Montana.

Travelwise Stephen is going to Boston in a week's time for a week, and so am I. I wonder who is going to have to organise that trip?...

Version française: " Vous devez être de Simi Valley"

Les gens ici n'ont pas trop l'habitude des étrangers ou des expatriés.
Stephen et moi nous sommes inscrits à la bibliothèque la semaine dernière et nous devions avoir l'air un peu perdus alors la bibliothécaire nous a dit:" Vous devez être de Simi Valley"...qui la ville la plus proche au nord de Thousand Oaks, à peu près trois kilomètres d'ici...Non, nous ne sommes pas de Simi Valley, mais d'une destination un peu plus lointaine, direction est et nord, environ 9.000 km d'ici, " London, England" et oui, nous voulons bien de l'aide pour nous inscrire! Evidemment, on nous demande le satané Permis de Conduire (...), mais passeports et preuve de notre adresse suffisent. A la banque même chose, il me faut recommencer notre histoire, normal, mais pas de permis et quoi? pas de numéro de securité sociale? C'est beaucoup pour la banquière. Les choses sont un peu plus bureaucratiques qu'en Angleterre, ça me rappelle un peu la France! A Londres, c'est un peu normal d'être étranger, comme à peu près la moitié de la population.
Pas la peine de faire son shopping sur Internet sans carte de crédit américaine; mais où est donc mon cher supermarché en ligne, Ocado?
A notre arrivée, nous avons regardé des DVDs que j'avais achetés avant de partir, un film de BBC History sur des espions à Cambridge dans les années 30, "the Cambridge Spies". Terriblement anglais, affreusement bien élevés, ces espions, et tout cela baigne dans le secret et les bonnes manières, l'élégance, et un anti-américanisme convaincu. La douce beauté de Cambridge, les collèges, Clare Bridge au bord du Pacifique...Nous nous sommes retrouvés " Lost in Translation" avec le dépaysement. Nous ne sommes vraiment pas de Simi Valley!
Pour essayer de s'adapter nous avons opté depuis pour des films américains, en commençant par "Légendes d'Automne" (1994), adapté du roman de Jim Harrison, merveilleux romancier américain, et depuis nous rêvons du Montana.

Coté voyages, lundi prochain, nous partons à Boston pour une semaine pour le travail de Stephen. Je me demande qui est-ce qui va bien pouvoir organiser ce voyage-là...