01 July 2018

Inspiration : animaux

I took so many photos of so many kinds of pottery and ceramics at La Borne that I'm feeling overwhelmed. I don't know where to start, what to post first or last, or how to organize them. Here are a few that I thought were cute. The all depict animals of one kind or another.

Un chat, un crapaud, une grenouille, et un lapin





Our old friend Cheryl loved owls, and she would have loved these. When she passed away in California, exactly two years ago yesterday, she had in her house a collection of about 4,000 little and large, ceramic and pottery, glass, and wooden owls. Figurines. Set-abouts. Dust catchers. Collecting owls was a joy to her, and she said getting owl figurines as gifts from friends was always a pleasure.





I'd like to be able to give her one or both of these, but she's not there any more. She left life far too early. We had been friends for 43 years when she departed. I knew her through good times and bad, in Illinois, in France, and in California. She was in many ways one of the smartest people I ever knew, and one of the most fragile. I think she liked the fact that there are two words for owl in everyday French, hibou and chouette. Hiboux have head feathers called aigrettes that look like ears or horns.  Chouettes do not have those.


Some of the pottery at La Borne is much less traditional. Look at these blue dogs. I saw them on display and for sale at Le Centre céramique contemporaine La Borne, which is in a modern building just down the street from the Musée de la Poterie. Do you find the blue dogs to be decorative-looking?


I'm not sure what this animal is supposed to be. A squirrel? Are those wings or leaves? I don't think it's Rocky the Flying Squirrel, but maybe I'm wrong.


By the way, I just felt a breath of fresh air blow in through the north window in our living room. The temperature got close to 90ºF yesterday afternoon, but the humidity is low, so even without air-conditioning the night was not too unpleasant. Welcome to July.

16 comments:

  1. Those owls have so much spirit. Wow, your friend had 4,000 owl figures. How sad to lose her and I wonder where her owls are now.

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    1. I wonder the same thing. I hope they didn't just get thrown out. It was quite a collection.

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  2. Thank you for the description of the difference between hibou and chouette; I'd always wondered.
    The blue dog is the working definition of the term "hang dog." Can't say he does much for me.
    My favorite in this post is the lapin in the first photo.

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    1. I like the toad and the frog, especially since we've had a lot of those in the little pond out back this year.

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  3. I thank you, too, for explaining the difference between the two owl words.
    I remember Cheryl always having an owl for her image when she commented here.

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  4. When Frank passed away in 2006, I inherited a set of coasters, four small and one larger metal owls. I sent them to Cheryl and she said she liked them. Last time I saw her, RIP, we had lunch with Walt at Le Troquet, not far from my place here in Paris. Time flies!

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    1. Aren’t Blue Dogs DINO* U.S. politicians?

      * Democrats in name only

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    2. Yes, "blue dog" Democrats are the very conservative ones. There's used to be a category of Southern Democrats (especially in North and South Carolina) called "yellow dog" Democrats because they were so faithful to the party that they would rather have voted for a yellow dog than for a Republican. Those days are gone in the U.S. South.

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  5. I remember someone commenting on one of your or Walt's posts "chouette" as a French synonym for "cool."

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    1. Could have been me. I love that word, chouette, but didn't know it meant owl until today.

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  6. I wish I had gotten a chance to meet Cheryl. It takes a long time to make an old friend.
    Seeing this pottery is fun. I love seeing owls in neighborhoods. They are around us, but keep a low profile. Here's a story about a man who painted blue dogs. I like his work. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/arts/design/george-rodrigue-artist-who-painted-blue-dog-dies-at-69.html

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    1. We have a lot of owls around here. I've seen big white owls several times over the years. They are quite impressive. P.S. Thanks for the link.

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  7. I love these ! I admit to having a small collection of ... frogs. It is my husbands fault. We were in London and be bought a little brass frog candleholder ... then we were in an antique shop in Paris and he bought a little frog paperweight and we were hooked. I have no idea how many frogs there are, scattered around the house .. large, small, brass, glass .. I love them all :)

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    1. I have a turtle carved out of ironwood, but no frogs except the green ones in the pond out back. I should havebought one in La Borne.

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  8. I adore the two frogs in the first picture. The blue dog looks like he was outside in your 90 degree heat and needs some water, lol.

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