Well, it's over now !

It's over, at last ! It has not been so dramatic but it was too fussy ... with my tub dripping over ... a gear that slides too much ... tons of bills ... a freaky computer ... a dilated spleen, a pumping liver ... grass ever growing ... a dustbin having a walk on the neighbourgs' pavements ... a freezing coffre coughing a bit ... and many more ! ... I won't tell you about my perso and epic troubles ... and those which remind yours !!! ... YES.. I know "there's no problem so far engouh !" And tomorrow in 2007, I'll resume my broom, my spade ... all my dayly tasks ... the same faces (a bit more flappy).. the same job ... the same guy ... well nothing won't really changed ...
Except that we shall be in 2007 !
And that everything can happen !
Tomorrow is another day !

The Wall Crossers

So are you ready ? are you ready for the Adventure ? to step ahead ? to cross the big wall ? to find yourself on the other side ? in the unknown ... the uncompleted ... the new... the fresh .. the incoming New Year !

Go ahead !

Mister Tussaut

He took the pose for the window shop of a famous shop ... with his puzzling smile of wax man, his appearing loosyness, his quiet and immobile presence ... he reminded me someone who appeared swiftly in my life and left me with a slight pervading scent for ever ...

La Bartelasse

It's an island on the Rhône river ... a trip of land swiped by winds ... rolled by the river waters that sometimes come there to carress and to invade her ... sun stop there in summer by the tender hours of dawn ... barges get attached to it and men love it deeply ...

Winter night in Edimbourgh

He opened the door, went down on the two first steps of the entrance ... a few and lean lamp posts caught a yellowish light on the deserted street ... fog had invaded the place ... cold was penetrating deep into his bones ... he shivered all over ... he drew up his collar ... fixed up his hat .. and went into the scottish night ...

Concertino

She had a scratcher laughter that bounced again and again heavily in the lounge... her friend just besides, burst into a pressure cooker laught , yes a laughter that went away with a stringent and dying whistle ... as for me, in my corner, I was just smiling, hihi, amused and friendly to that folks who were slightly boring the upperlipped customers of the quiet and smart restaurant in town ...

The Hussard

Noises from the street were coming up through large windows shields ... revolutionaries were gathering ... she heard steps in the staircase ... someone was coming up ... she was still in bed ... her blouse was opened and just let appear a tender and rosy shoulder ... the door opened silently ...

The Clock Tower

The sun was still shining on the Clock tower by this end of december day ... there was no watch man as in the middle ages ... but we were still looking up ... the clock of the tower was still showing time ... and when stone was not yet quartz, it was the official hour on which men and women of Bagnols used to fix their watch or their clock ... and days used to fly under the regular steps of the the Clock Tower

And what about a trip in Kamtchaka ?

And what about going to Kamtchaka ...

to listen to bagpipe in a scottich familly ! YES three are scottish famillies in Kamtchaka... YES they immegrated there recently ! ... NO, I don't have pics from Kamtchaka... NO I don't have pics from scottish famillies in my phototheque either .... so you just have to fancy a yourte made of yaks' skin and a few wooden sticks to hold it up... and, inside, a scottish familly ... with a bagpipe ...!

Oasis

There are oasis in big stores .... gazelles come there to have a rest ... to smoke for a while ... to wander quietly ... to sit down ... with their bags lying down by their feet like tributes gained from an endless war ... eyes tired by neons ... slacking down on affluence days ... when other get on their nerves ... when they are too numerous and when their make up is fading away ... I saw tired gazelles there and ... exhausted lions too ...

T'is not the Golden Gate !

No this is Not the Golden Gate ! But a French bridge over the canal of Donzere-Mondragon designed for the barges circulation and parallel to the Rhone River whose draft was irregular because of the sand banks coming from the delta ... build in 1958, it makes part of the huge works intended to link northen Europe to Southern Europe through the water routes of Rhine and Rhône ... but nothing compared to the Golden Gate except its colors and parts of its architecture ! ;-)

On the other side of the earth !

On our dark side of the earth, Christmas is fading away ... but it's beginning on the pacific coast ... we swicht of the light, the Christmas tree is still glimming... our children cuddle their new teddy and meet angels ... others discover with impatience and marvel their new toys ... Have a nice meal, Merry Christmas !

I go to sleep ....

Bambou loves Chocolades

Tonight I lied to my dog ... there are no more chocs !

Your present !

You are adults, you cared for your children... and what about you ? So, if Santa Claus only cared for children ... I care for you, for the child you were, that you still are ...the one who hides deep inside ... the one who would like to be loved as when he was a kid ... so I offer you this present, this is a very particular present ...it is made for you and specialy for you ... it contains everythings you want ... all your dreams, all your most sweet and tender fantasies ...
But be careful to open it, because you know, these things can fly away very easily ...

A day as every day

I would like to have a special thought to those who are alone today, because other ones left them alone ..and who don't care about Christmas ... for whom this day is a day as every day ... to the young ones and the old ones, to all these ... I LOVE YOU

Merry Christmas !

I found it in a window shop ... it was white and grey, I found it sad... so I dressed it in blue and white to wipe rainy days off ... so that it brings sunshine in your heart and in your children's eyes !

Piles

Chocolate, caviar, champagne ... toys, garments, jewels ... Versailles? Bysance ? Ali Baba's cave ???

NO ! Store !

The Thirteen desserts of Christmas

In provence, in the south of France, there is a tradition that comes from old age ... by Christmas eve, we use to arrange the thirteen desserts of Christmas, which represent the thirteen presents that each of the thirteen tribes of Judea are said to have offered to the King Child ! You can find almonds, chestnuts, nuts, pasteles, dryed figs, dryed apricots, pralines, bread, small triangle cookies, marsipan, chocolate, and dates !!!

so today, for this special occasion, I offer you Pralines, wrapped in light !

Tis Christmas tonight ! For French people, Santa Claus is coming to night ! But only children beleive in it .... adults do not ... they are wrong ... we should always keep a part of fantasy in our heart ...

Here is the proof !

The colour of the day

I wanted to see the colour of the day .. I was still busy on my computer and... I felt like going to see the colour of the day ... so I went out ... the day was rosy, icy blue and white ... it was fresh and almot cold ... there were some ducks along the Rhône River and a few barges waiting there ... water was iced and almost moired ... the colour of the day was magnificient !

Connoisseur

He loved bottles, every bottles ... and above all smart ones ... special ones ... with nice curves ... and precious nectars ... He loved vintage wines ... clarets which were high in colour... powerful with fine legs ... smelling of red fruits ... and light to swallow ... He didn't neglect lighter, white, honey-like wines white flowers favors, smelling acacia and cinnamon ... younger but very elating ...

But he also loved the fine and fresh little rose wines, very young and ... very tempting too ...

A lock watch

He had a lock watch, a gold one, that he locked to his deep blue denim ... it had light needels and a beautifull sweep second hand.... and sometimes, when he wanted to know what time it was, he opened it up as a flower ...

I am the Queen !

A rainy day ... a doggy day (mine is sleeping on his chair)... a tripod, a camera ... three drops of patience ... two of imagination ... a few adjustments ... and hop ! I am the Queen !

It's good to be alive !!!

My Golden Lady

Come with me ... you're going to feel its heat ... to feel its vibration ... bending on curves ... rebelling ... rubbing your gutsssssss !!!!

I'm on the leave

No,no, I've no time for talking ... I'm leaving !

kisanlove

Fast Coffee

It looks like the sixties in this deserted fast food on this night of december ....

YES, you will say that I enjoy pubs a lot ... I have a nice collection on my photo gallery at home ... so, I show them to you ... I do not especially enjoy pubs, taverns or coffee shops above all, but.... it's colourful !

and ... I like coffee !

I'm a heavy coffee drinker ... so, as I am very fond of it when it's hard and percolated, I go to the next pub around the corner or I go a little further ... and I chat with so and so ...or I have a rest for a while in a lonely one ... a pub is a kind of atmosphere !

Driving alone

The road was narrow and winding ... on a way she did not know... drivers' night suns hurrying up on the moor blinded her somehow ... she was driving deep into the night ... and began to feel tired ... the shelter was still far away ... and seemed to be on an endless night ....

He

He was standing in front of the door... his hand was already on the hub ... did she would open ? ... did she would recognise him ... she had left him one morning without a word ... but it's long time ago ... he had looked for her, searched for her ... he had dreamed of her, fancy her so many times ... he had never forgotten her ... the ones who came accross him were just shadows now ... he was s tanding here on the steps ... ready to knock ...

She

Someone had just knocked on the door ... the hub was still sounding in her silent house ... did she would open ? ... she felt that the moment was special without knowing exactly why ... it had like a guess, like a swift but strong feeling ... she was living there, alone in an empty house ... fear was still present that night ...but she also knew that someone would never forget her ... and that, one day, he might knock at the door ... again

Light and Bulbs

No this is not Versailles ! This is Avignon Town Hall, which dresses for Christmas... with lights and flags ... stuck and marble ... but it is so beautiful ... that I wanted to offer you ... for Christmas !!

From Anvers to Genes

I'm not living too far from the Rhône River, in France ... and on the Rhône River, there is a dam in Caderousse, with a shift ... so, sometimes, I go there to have a look on barges ... there can be up to 13 on a single day !!! ... Yes, this is Jacques who told me so ... at that time, there was a blue one going out of the channel ... it came from the north, from Anvers, i think ... and Jacques told me that she was going to Italy by sea ... it carried 36 000 tones of pieces of iron ...silently ... so at that time ...sure, I would have liked to embark ...

Tangerine Dream

Did I tell you about the Lalogen Pub ? YES, I told you about Paco and Mourad ... but the Lalogen in Avignon, is also a place where bikers and rockers use to meet ... they use to come to listen to good music in an acid-orange atmosphere, fully smoked ... and, here come Johnny Lee Hooker or Jackson Brown who pump it up .... with an excellent sono ...

It was too late in the afternoon, and too early in the night for the pub to be crowded ... so, it was such a good opportunity to take my camera and to shoot !!!

Rear Wheel

He had a heavy one ... a big machine ... a ZZR, brand new ... mo.nu.mental ... he was not shaped as James dean... but was rather stout, powerful and rebel in his helmet ... a new horizon, always ... and ... "never afraid !" ...

The goats' door

I went through the gooats' door... one street, two streets .. nobody ... the stones where wet and my step uneasy ... and above me, stood the massive and ruined shadow of the Marquis of Sade's castle ... but, now, it was only a sinking boat overlooking the valley ... night was coming ... shadows grow slowly ... it was time to go back ....

Lacoste

There is a villi in Provence which bears my name .. yes, indeeeeed ! My name ! Well, it's a bit worrying because this is the Marquis of Sade's domain .... but all left now of his monumental castle, are a few ruins, some walls and many sentences ... but, nowadays, Lacoste is a peaceful village, on the step of a hill... with a very nice and small pub ... where I go there sometimes to play cards with a few pals of the Café de Sade ...

Hello giiiirls !

Did you see what I put in Magique ??? YES, this one, I cannot put in here because the picture is not mine, it's from Muhamad Mushin ...but I wanted to tell you here ... so that you do not miss a single piece ... anyway, this one is going to make you dream ... to make you shiver ... he is iranian and ... if he comes home ... with this one, I will not sleep in the bathroom !!! but hush ....

Gorgeous Night !

It was already late in the afternoon ... she was standing there in her shop window ... in a small nighty ... silent but attractive ...three threads of lace ... a small tie .... two light leaces to let appear two sweet shoulders....... sufficiently short not to be boring too long ... just fitting ... just short engouh ... to be ready for a gorgeous night ....

Bar des Sports

It was in the Bar des Sports, a pub in Bagnols sur Cèze ! There were Jean-Pierre, Philippe, Jeanine and others ... this was the place were we used to go on playing or rainy days... we could meet them sometimes on market days sitting at a table on the terrace or leaning on the bar ... and sometimes we used to go there to enjoy one or two sticks of beef and a hot cheese on the barbecue ... under the platane trees ... Le platanes trees are still there ... Jean-Pierre too...

The man with his knifes

He was standing there in front of his knifes... poeple were crossing by ... proud and nice, he got interrested in my focussing ...it was a very nice sunday morning ...it was a market day in Isle sur Sorgue ... there in Provence ...

From Amsterdam to Tunis

36 tons behind .... and the road in front ... from Amsterdam to Tunis, Ouarzazat or Dunkerque ... from small rubs to big rubs, kilometers in a row ... from highway park stations to brothers' club houses ...

They go ahead ... and from up above they hover over the world ....

Great Expectations

She shivered for a while... Uzes was retreiving to the night ... only Oliver Twist could be roaming there ... Street lamps were casting a dim and gloomy shadow that... only the morning light would unspell ...

Closing Hour

He had just closed down ...and he thought to the ones he met, the ones he transformed with a curl .. a brush... a different color ... all these happy glances of these women who enjoy now to be younger in the miror again ...

Black Story

I met Doudou, a few days ago, on the roof of the local court ... it's leaking that sort of things ... he was coppering !
A few hours later, he was cooling in the coffee shop downstairs ... Hi, my name is Doudou ! ... Doudou comes from Senegal... he is talkative and has a tender eye ... he came from Senegal a few years ago to copper ... on the court roof ...

To the Lalogen café

I met Paco in the Lalogen café ... I felt like having a cup ... there were Paco and Mourad ...
Paco is a musician, a guitarist ... Mourad is .... Paco comes from Andalousy, he plays Flamenco and sometimes salsa ... Paco speaks about his guitar, his life and his band Viaje Latino ... and he weaves your dream... next time he will come back, he will take his guitar ... and he will sing !

Water story !

Down the palm tree, lives the crocodile .. it is waiting ... magic and timeless ...

Golden steps !

Today is a great day !
I welcome the 1000 th visitor on VOIX OFF !
So for this occasion, I offer you my brand-new favorite picture !!! (I took it two days ago !)
So that, in the future, it will bring you luck and happyness !
I love you !

They sing the Blues ...

They were hiding, shyly, behind their shop window ... I could feel them vibrating and getting alive... the saxo was answering to the deep notes of the counterbass with a heavy and long melody ... when, suddenly, I heard her voice ... warm and powerful with sweet and nostalgic tones ... her voice was filling the whole space ... Norma Jean Brusso was singing the Blues ...

In St Rémy of Provence

I met Péra...she paints young ladies with strange and attaching, in her workshop in Saint Rémy of Provence ... so, if you spend some time there ... go and stop there on the boulevard and let her seduce you with her light surrealistic and tender paintings ...

Underground

6 p.m ... steps behind... heard of high heels noice on icy ground ...he glanced through his rear back .. a fin figure was appearing in a shadow ... she might be young ... over thirty .. he could not see her face ... he heard rumbles of kees ... a door slamming ... he shivered ... he turned on and started slowly ...

On the road to ...

We were on Sunday ... it was a very pleasant aftenoon ... Nîmes was friendly to buyers ... and ... I decided to go there to offer you some presents ... don't worry, there is also something else that Christmas shots ... I took a few underground pics that you are going to adore .... wait and see ... ... ...

I've got super powers !!

I am Super Alcaline, I've got super powers !!!
I can go faster than horses - I have a car- .... I can speak to everybody in the world -I've got a computer - ... I can turn off water ... I can turn on light ... I can grow wheat ... and I can heat air ...
and many more .....

Red Bolero

I wanted to buy a red bolero ... you know one of these red boleros, damassed, not so thick .. the ones that,in Arles, ladies used to wear on parade's day ... they wore the Cross of Arles, with gold and rubis ... gold for glory and red for blood ... Christ 's gold and blood !
An on parade's day, they used to walk among horses but far from small bulls ... they wirlhed like flowers under the guardians' feverish hat ... and sometimes, they dare to forget a small pink handkerchief on their way home...

Special thanks to The Costières de Nîmes for having created it for me !

The Comte of Salsifi

He used to arrive in the tavern ... sometimes, bowed somehow, blewish somehow... as if he came from the depths of the earth ... exhausted, broken, hopeless ... he used to stand by the bar ... his shoulder up, he used to let his scarf down on the wet wood ... from his tired and gloomy eyes, one could still perceive a faint sparkle that he used to drown in his dayly spirit ...

My Oignons !

Silky my oignons, ho ? ..... Golden, ho ? .... Don't you feel them frying under my pow ? ... Don't you feel them vibrating ? singing ? ...

Well, you don't ear them ? ...

Wait a minute ... I pump it up !

The nothing familly

The used to come every year at the same period of time, the cousins from the capital .. It was on August and they came for breathing in the countryside ... There were the cousin somehow thin and not very talkative, the cousin still childich and silent in spite of her missis demeanours ... And, there was the aunt with her mishievous smile that distorted her face and .... at last ... the uncle, the patriarche... always very smart ...

Copper pans

She was standing in from of her cooker ... she was not very tall but small and fine ... the kitchen was smelling of roasted beef and hot cakes ... a black lick get down and touched her neck slightly on her breast ... He came slowly... took her by her waist and kissed her gently in the back of her neck .....