Puppies & Babies. Seen but not heard.

I’d say, in general, in the United States that people are pretty tolerant of babies. And dogs are allowed to live in the house, the yard, in the park & around the neighborhood on walks. Babies go everywhere, and as long as they’re well behaved it’s okay. Well, here it’s the opposite. Dogs are everywhere. Walking along the streets without leashes, running all around the park while their owners’ sit and chat, pooping everywhere (no one picks up their dog’s poop…ick), under the table at cafés & everywhere else imaginable. I like that the dogs are such a prominent part of this society because they are so well behaved. I’ve been here three weeks, I’ve seen countless dogs, and I heard a dog bark for the first time two days ago! I was surprised because the dogs here don’t make any noise! They mind their own business, walk near their owners and generally just look cute.

Babies, however, are supposed to be seen and not heard here. But babies are babies and they’re not always quiet. The only babies I’ve seen (and that’s about 3) have been asleep in their strollers. The only exception was a baby at a gallery whom the parents dared to bring out in public. The baby wasn’t screaming or anything (Mel & Em – think of the babies on our flight to FL – not nearly as bad as that!); it was just making baby noises. And everyone in the building shot sidelong glances and some others blatantly death-stared at the parents and baby. Needless to say, they didn’t see the whole exhibit. Now I understand babies shouldn’t really be in art exhibits because they’re quiet affairs, but this is just an extreme example of people not liking babies when they’re in public. I very rarely see babies. And the small children I do see outside of the park are like little adults. Emily, you’d like children here. They’re miniaturized adults, clothing – mannerisms – everything…they’re just much shorter. I do see kids being, well kids according to the American sense of the word, at the park. They run around, play games, play with the dogs & are adorable.

Moral of the story: If you’re a dog in Aix it’s more likely that people will be happy to see you at a restaurant than if you’re a baby. And if you’re a baby, you better be quiet – seen and not heard, baby.

In other news:

Us very cool kids of the Marchutz School of Vision started landscapes today! We were driven out into the beautiful, breathtaking countryside of Aix-en-Provence where we started our work. And guess what we could see? Mount Saint Victoire. Yes, the mountain Cezanne painted and Picasso admired (also the mountain I'm hiking this Friday with some friends). I'm painting where the greats have, and it's exhilarating! Today while drawing I turned to my friend, Mary, and asked her if this was really happening. It all still seems so surreal. But I'm trying to appreciate every day here because this experience is going quickly and I'm loving every minute of it.

ML's cooking continues to amaze and satisfy me on a daily basis. Tonight was homemade soup, fresh bread & this new dish! It was ground beef on the bottom layer of the casserole, then onions and cheese and finally mashed potatoes on the top. It was all put in the oven so the potatoes were nice and warm and baked a little. It was perfection. And I ate so much! But that's easy to do here because lunches are light and I spend most of my day walking.

This is the view from where I sit doing my landscapes with Marchutz.

Yea, I still can't believe I'm here either!