Back on the Adventure Trail

It's been a long time. Yes, this blog has been in hiding...



BUT WE'RE BACK!



We're about to hit the road again! Django and I will be flying to London Sunday June 20th to be reunited with Simon who's already been away for four weeks!

Here are a few highlights since my last entry six months ago...

In December we took a trip to LA LA Land and stayed through the holidays. The weather was perfect and we saw lots of friends. Django and I had the never ending flu but we still had a lovely time. Simon took a "side" trip to Denmark to appear on a live tv broadcast with an orchestra backing him!

He is introduced in both Danish and Greenlandic, as this is a Danish program called Julehilsen til Grønland (Christmas Greeting to Greenland)

Here he sings Love Comes Back To You



and The Future



Back in Port Townsend Django shows his ambitious nature.
"Mama, that's not a spoon. You want to get some eatin' done, THIS is a spoon"



Just a cute video of Django challenging his equilibrium back in January



A big milestone. OUR BOY TURNED TWO IN MARCH!



Django got a helmet for his birthday (oh, and a bike trailer too, but who cares about that when you've got such a shnazzy helmet)



Ah yes, the cute kid contest photo. Look at how cooperative this two year old was being, seriously. Unfortunately the (ahem...last minute) online submission wasn't working and we missed the deadline. Maybe next year I'll be a little more organized.



Meeting critters is fun!



The very first haircut ever! May 15th. Good thing I put the BEFORE and AFTER labels. Pretty helpful, eh?



Lately it's all about jumping...



enjoying a little swimming...



painting...



In May, before Simon went on tour, we went back in the studio to resume recording my album after a 3 year hiatus! It was fantastic to give it that focused attention. We recorded in a local studio called Toolshed Sound Lab, here in Port Townsend. We made great progress on 6 songs, had 4 already in the bag and have 2 more to go, plus some more tracking and vocals on the songs we just recorded. At least now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Here's Django visiting while I was doing some vocals.



In between recording and Simon's departure, we moved out of my mother's house where we'd been staying for several months, into a cute apartment in Uptown Port Townsend. We finally unpacked our things from California that have been in storage for over two years. Within two blocks we have a fabulous bakery, a market, local pub, yoga studio, gym, coffee shop, 2 restaurants, acupuncture, nutrition/health shop, and a playground. Now that summer is here, the farmer's market is 1/2 block away. Pretty great spot.
And just in time for our next departure! Luckily we have a friend who will sublet while we're away for two months. Django and I plan to come back for a short trip August-September. But we'll see...

Here we are on the ferry with Simon on his way to the airport mid-May. Next stop Dublin and a five date tour with Ingrid Michelson around the UK and Ireland. (which went great, and the closing date in London had Simon playing solo to over 1,000 people)



THIS WEEK

Things have really picked up and gotten very exciting since last Sunday June 6th when the Sunday Times (London) did a feature on Simon:

An outdoor type - Times Online

On Monday morning he appeared on BBC1 Breakfast TV (which is like the Good Morning America of the UK), and his album was released in the UK on LoMax Records.




He's been getting some really great reviews of his album like this one... (click image for bigger view)




and some big press including this from Sky News, which I believe is available all over Europe.



As you can see, they are really focusing on his Greenlandic side. It is rather unusual (being from Greenland, a country of 56,000!) so it sure grabs people's attention. Besides, what self respecting reporter could pass up the chance to include the phrase "singing Eskimo" in a headline?
Needless to say, it's really exciting and gratifying to see Simon receiving all of this great attention and growing success with his music.

I am really (really) looking forward to seeing Simon again. We've been skyping a lot and I say thank the gods for webcams. It's so helpful for Django to be able to see Simon (and vice versa). I think about the days when one had to wait a month or more for a letter to arrive from overseas, and what that must have been like. We wouldn't have even had word yet, and here we are, ringing each other up casually. Strange.
I am excited to be going back to one of my favorite cities again. I am not looking forward to the 20 hours of traveling with a toddler to get there. Hopefully Django will travel as well as he did last time. Wish us luck!

More soon...

Peace.

Around France

I'm sitting here at my mother's house in Port Townsend, with an amazing view of the Olympic mountains, and writing about our trip to France. After a couple days back in the States, I'm slightly recovered from jet lag, which would be going better if the toddler of the family wasn't waking up at 4:30am. If I make any bizarre grammatical errors, or write generally nonsensical things, I hereby blame it on the jet lag and general lack of sleep.

That being said, enjoy the rest of the journey in France:

I am quite glad that we did have a car, and so we went in all directions and experienced the beauty and varied charms of Provence.
Now, there is one thing I won't miss, rather my stomach won't miss about the South of France, and that's the windy roads. It makes for beautiful driving but if you have the slightest tendency towards car sickness... ugh!

GOING EAST:
One day we began traveling east and went through the town of Grasse. Wandering aimlessly for a bit, we looked at the map and realized we were quite close to Cannes, so we headed for the coast. The mountains and the coast have such very different characteristics and it doesn't take long to go from one to the other.
We had been in gray Poland and gray London, and Denmark, and when that Southern light hit me and the palm trees of Cannes waved their happy little fronds, I was in heaven.



Even with cookie cutter hotels along the beach, the place was lovely. Reminded me a bit of Santa Monica, California actually.

There is definitely something to the idea that the climate creates the culture. It is interesting to notice the very stark cultural differences between northern and southern European countries. In Denmark for instance, people shake hands. In southern France people say bonjour and smile. If you go a little further south to Spain, people you have just met kiss your cheeks. So we soaked up the relaxed vibe of Southern France.



Picnic on the beach.



Making acquaintance with the water.







GOING SOUTH:
On another day we headed straight South to Sainte Maxime. We collected tiny little stones and shells. You can see Saint Tropez across the inlet.



Rock climbing with Ataata.



On the peninsula close to Saint Tropez.








This area was so beautiful, with numerous vineyards all turned yellow and glowing in the sunlight.





GOING NORTH:
The town of Bargemon is situated at about 1200 feet altitude. One rare gray day we went north which took us further up the mountains, through some low clouds and onto a plateau where we met some meandering locals.





A large part of this plateau is Camp Canjeur, the largest military camp in Europe. Most of the land was empty with no sign of military presence.
(we did eventually drive past a area with an extraordinary number of tanks--definitely the least attractive thing we saw in all of France)

We came upon this abandoned town. Was it abandoned before or after the military moved in?



We had emerged from the military land and encountered many tiny villages. There were a surprising number of ruins all along this drive.



We were looking for a nice spot to have a picnic (in the car as it was drizzly), ended up going down some dirt roads and ending up here. There I am, surreptitiously sipping wine in the wilds.



View from our picnic location. Now THAT'S a spot!! (if you can't see the house, click on the picture to get a better view)



Near our picnic. The tiny village of Le Plan d'Anelle.



An inhabited village with ruins and abandoned buildings.



GOING WEST:

Near the end of our two weeks, we had yet to stop at a winery for a little wine tasting. I searched online for organic wine and read about a little town called Correns about 60 km west of Bargemon. The unique thing about this town is that everything grown by the farmers is organic. It is the first village of its kind in France.

We found out too that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (oh boy oh boy!) have an estate just outside of town, and one of the organic wineries is on their land. Ahh, who can blame them? I'd buy an estate there too if I had a few million extra dollars busting the seams of my pockets.

We arrived there during the afternoon hours when everything is closed. Somewhere between 12 and 4 pm almost everything closes down in all the villages. I guess it's part of that quality of life thing, and what lends to the relaxed atmosphere. So we wandered about town.

a persimmon tree in Correns.





Django contemplating a flower that a little 2 1/2 year old boy gave him at a playground. This little boy went out of his way to bring Django two flowers before he and his mom left the park. It was very sweet. Django held on to them preciously until we walked to the river that ran through town and he tossed them in. I love the easy tendency toward non-attachment!



Django and Simon discussing life at the river edge.



Mama and Django posing by a cool old wall.



Finally we found a little winery that was open just outside the village where they sold organic wine. It was quite good and we brought a couple bottles home to help us through our last 3 nights in France ;-)



Here we are, home again at last! We're enjoying seeing family and friends in Port Townsend, then off to LA next week. Not sure when I'll write again, but I'll keep you posted about our continuing journeys.

peace and love,
Janna

French doors

Doors in these old villages in France are just so incredibly charming and full of character. I captured a few. Several of these doors are so short I would have to duck to pass through. Enjoy!

This is a door to the old chapel in Bargemon which is undergoing restoration presently.



This door was about four feet high!



The door to the old Bargemon prison from 1585.












A building built around huge stones. We saw this several times.





coming next, our travels around Provence...

Bargemon

It was extremely refreshing to be in a place with no corporate presence. No Starbucks or Starbucks knockoffs, no supermarkets, nothing. There was one small market that may have been a chain but it was so unobtrusive it didn't matter. There were two bakers, one open in the morning, the other in the evening (probably an arrangement that makes a lot of sense), a couple markets with food and wine, a pharmacy, a wine shop, and several restaurants, most of which were closed for the season. There were a few galleries, but they were the kind of galleries where you find the artist at work inside.

I know what everyone says about the French. Rude, snobby.. It was simply not the case in Provence. Perhaps people are talking about Parisians (I did have more of that experience there). I only encountered very friendly folks in the shops and on the street. As you walk down the street in Bargemon, everyone you pass says bonjour or bonsoir. It's just the way, and so you join and greet everyone in kind.

On the very steep 10 minute walk into the village from the house.



So many things, and the very old things especially, are made of stone in France. The building are ancient and a marvel to behold.







Bargemon is known for having some of the purest water in the world. This is a fountain where water pours continuously. People come with their bottles and fill up their drinking water.





The village square at night



Smiling in the midst of old stones.



more to come...