Absinthe! And, uh, facts of life.
May. 27th, 2005 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_rainetteMy girls are so cute they stop traffic.
Well, at least they slow it down considerably, especially when they wear matching dresses and brand new sandals, have just had their hair cut and blow-dried, and walk hand-in-hand a few feet in front of me (there isn't enough space on the sidewalk for the three of us to walk together).
Cars slow down, people point and smile to them, and inevitably, I get the question again: "are they twins?" despite the fact that one is a good foot taller than the other. *rolls eyes*
Froglet has Hibiscus flowers on her new shoes.
rainette: HI-BIS-CUS
Froglet: Heebeewhat?
rainette: Hibiscus. It's a very common flower in Tahiti. We went there on our honeymoon with daddy.
Froglet: WOW! Why didn't you bring us?
rainette: well, Tadpole was Not There yet. and you were, you were a tiny little pea in my belly. An embryo.
Froglet: What's an embryo?
rainette *realizes she should never have walked down that path in the first place and is now stuck at an ungodly hour in the morning with a question she does not know how to answer without resorting to an anatomy book* meedgvhds pffff ahahahaha. *deep breath* See, you start with a cell.
Froglet: and then it swells?
rainette: ahahahahaha no. It multiplies. It goes from one to two, then four, then eight...
Froglet's eyes *glaze over*
rainette *fumbles for a better subject*: so see, these flowers open up in the morning and die in the evening. People pick them and wear them in their hair, to enjoy them while they last.
Froglet: So when you went to Tahiti, I was in your belly. And Tadpole didn't even exist yet.
rainette *is floored*
I am amazed, because just a few months ago Froglet could not imagine the non-existence of anyone; in her mind, she and her sister both co-existed in my belly for awhile, and both of them ALWAYS existed, even if they were not in the open yet. She's bright, that Froglet of mine. *proud smile*
In other news, I found out yesterday that there is a museum of Absinthe in Auvers-Sur-Oise. A museum that show all the relevant paraphernalia -- although it doesn't say whether you can actually taste the beverage. Now, I have been to Auvers-Sur-Oise, on a week-end trip with Husband and his brother, and I have no recollection whatsoever of this museum, which makes me feel really, really dumb. I would have visited it if I had been informed of its existence. As thing were, we went there mainly to see the church, the famous church Van Gogh painted in this picture. Simply because we love this painting. See, when I look at the painting, the church looks crooked and slightly weird to me, and it gets me thinking about the artist's Brand New Vision of things.
But then we went to Auvers-Sur-Oise. And the church? Made my eyes water like a slightly tilted frame in an otherwise perfectly symmetrical arrangement of pictures on a very straight wall. Because it is actually crooked for real. Well, maybe not quite that crooked, but still: when I entered the building, I could actually hear my reptilian brain frantically shrieking at the back of my mind: "Get me out of here! Get me out of here before the building collapses!"
Scary.
So this is just by way of saying: the crookedness of the church in Van Gogh's painting may actually have little to do with his deep love for Absinthe. *sighs*
Well, at least they slow it down considerably, especially when they wear matching dresses and brand new sandals, have just had their hair cut and blow-dried, and walk hand-in-hand a few feet in front of me (there isn't enough space on the sidewalk for the three of us to walk together).
Cars slow down, people point and smile to them, and inevitably, I get the question again: "are they twins?" despite the fact that one is a good foot taller than the other. *rolls eyes*
Froglet has Hibiscus flowers on her new shoes.
rainette: HI-BIS-CUS
Froglet: Heebeewhat?
rainette: Hibiscus. It's a very common flower in Tahiti. We went there on our honeymoon with daddy.
Froglet: WOW! Why didn't you bring us?
rainette: well, Tadpole was Not There yet. and you were, you were a tiny little pea in my belly. An embryo.
Froglet: What's an embryo?
rainette *realizes she should never have walked down that path in the first place and is now stuck at an ungodly hour in the morning with a question she does not know how to answer without resorting to an anatomy book* meedgvhds pffff ahahahaha. *deep breath* See, you start with a cell.
Froglet: and then it swells?
rainette: ahahahahaha no. It multiplies. It goes from one to two, then four, then eight...
Froglet's eyes *glaze over*
rainette *fumbles for a better subject*: so see, these flowers open up in the morning and die in the evening. People pick them and wear them in their hair, to enjoy them while they last.
Froglet: So when you went to Tahiti, I was in your belly. And Tadpole didn't even exist yet.
rainette *is floored*
I am amazed, because just a few months ago Froglet could not imagine the non-existence of anyone; in her mind, she and her sister both co-existed in my belly for awhile, and both of them ALWAYS existed, even if they were not in the open yet. She's bright, that Froglet of mine. *proud smile*
In other news, I found out yesterday that there is a museum of Absinthe in Auvers-Sur-Oise. A museum that show all the relevant paraphernalia -- although it doesn't say whether you can actually taste the beverage. Now, I have been to Auvers-Sur-Oise, on a week-end trip with Husband and his brother, and I have no recollection whatsoever of this museum, which makes me feel really, really dumb. I would have visited it if I had been informed of its existence. As thing were, we went there mainly to see the church, the famous church Van Gogh painted in this picture. Simply because we love this painting. See, when I look at the painting, the church looks crooked and slightly weird to me, and it gets me thinking about the artist's Brand New Vision of things.
But then we went to Auvers-Sur-Oise. And the church? Made my eyes water like a slightly tilted frame in an otherwise perfectly symmetrical arrangement of pictures on a very straight wall. Because it is actually crooked for real. Well, maybe not quite that crooked, but still: when I entered the building, I could actually hear my reptilian brain frantically shrieking at the back of my mind: "Get me out of here! Get me out of here before the building collapses!"
Scary.
So this is just by way of saying: the crookedness of the church in Van Gogh's painting may actually have little to do with his deep love for Absinthe. *sighs*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 10:13 am (UTC)And I found the information on the church interesting, too! ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 10:34 am (UTC)Perhaps you *did* find the museum then (which would clear up the uncertainty about whether it has a tasting tour) :D
Your kids are the best - it sounds as though Froglet has a far better grasp of things than the people who think her and Tadpole are twins!
Oh, and btw - any closer to deciding oui/non for Sunday? It seems as though Chirac is gearing up for a 'non' resolution; he seems to be preparing for damage limitation already (although by all accounts it's very close)...
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 11:59 am (UTC)*sighs* No, I'm still undecided. And I'm voting tomorrow! Because else, with the time difference, we'd have the same problem as last time with the presidential elections: the results got announced BEFORE WE EVEN VOTED, because they figured it wouldn't make much of a difference. And in this case, the numbers are close enough and undecided enough that they will want all the votes in before they say anything about the results.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-28 09:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 11:32 am (UTC)*tickles them*
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Date: 2005-05-27 12:00 pm (UTC)Point is, they fit them perfectly RIGHT NOW *cries*
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Date: 2005-05-27 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 11:41 am (UTC)Here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0811813193/qid=1117218839/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/104-1376644-4157533?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) is a book for you to go find. We got it in at the library and read it. I nearly ruptured something I laughed so hard. This woman has several books like this and I think this is the one with the comic type illustrations that show all the different ways mommies and daddies fit together. *nods* I had no idea that they could on a skateboard, or being held aloft by balloons but they can. It's just the book you need to explain the wonders of life to Froglet and Tadpole. *cracks the hell up*
I bet it would be even better if read while drinking Absinthe. That's you doing the drinking, not the little ones.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 12:02 pm (UTC)Thank you very much for the link, I'm going to get that book.
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Date: 2005-05-27 11:50 am (UTC)That is actually one of the first pieces of art i ever encountered. My mom has a painted copy of it and it hung in our house for as long as i can remember. I rememmber being very small and staring at it for long stretches of time - the colors being so vivid and the whole feeling so alive. I didn't know for a long time that it was a Van Gogh - i thought it was a real painting *headesks*
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Date: 2005-05-27 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 12:20 pm (UTC)They brought 3 of his pieces to the High Museum of Art here in Atlanta a couple of years ago - "Starry Night" was one - and it was absolutely incredible seeing the actual pieces. They are so much more vivid in real life than you can ever get from a poster. Getting to see the brush strokes was thrilling, at least to a geek like me!
no subject
Date: 2005-05-31 10:13 am (UTC)The Millet/Van Gogh exhibit floored me, because the overall picture was the same, and the colours were so DIFFERENT, so typically Vincent! A few of them are shown here (http://www.vangoghgallery.com/influences/millet/main.htm), but the colours don't come up as they should, alas. Noon: Rest from Work is one of the most famous, and you'll note that it is a reflection of Millet's work -- that's because the reproduction of the painting sent by Theo was inverted with respect to the original (it's probably due to the technique used to reproduce it).
Vincent was then in a mental institution in St-Rémy, and it is believed that this work on Millet's pictures is what helped him back on track...
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Date: 2005-05-27 12:09 pm (UTC)And, point is, there would have been no kids. But it's hard to wrap my mind around that. It's hard to remember that there was a life before them.
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Date: 2005-05-27 12:22 pm (UTC)Firefly = love
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Date: 2005-05-27 01:02 pm (UTC)*feels your pain, as both Atlanta showings sold out in 5 minutes*
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Date: 2005-05-27 02:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-28 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-29 06:56 pm (UTC)Froglet: and then it swells?
ROTFL
Re: Van Gogh and absinthe, he did cut off his ear...~_~
no subject
Date: 2005-05-30 01:30 pm (UTC)Yes, I know about the ear -- but again, Van Gogh wasn't the most balanced of individuals to begin with, so can we really blame that on Absinthe?
no subject
Date: 2005-05-30 02:45 pm (UTC)So he's unbalanced how? Is he the one who lusts after his sister or something? Or is that some other artist?
no subject
Date: 2005-05-31 10:00 am (UTC)Yeah, well, he was very depressed. And obviously he spent quite a lot of time in a mental institution in St-Rémy de Provence after he cut himself (where he painted the whole Millet/Van Gogh series: his brother sent him things about the painter Millet, and Van Gogh would then repaint the scenes in his own colours. He's the absolute master of Bold Colours, Van Gogh is.)