'BY INVITATION ONLY' - CONNECTIONS

"You Are Invited to... My Sensory Connections."
 - the topic for this month -  
*
*
 
Growing up in South Germany on the country side, in hamlets, small villages and farms -
I am deeply CONNECTED to rural country life.

When I've visited the Périgord first time in 1984 it felt like coming home,
coming back to my childhood, and it was so clear for me -
one day I will - I have to live here.

I fell in love with this part of France, 
the Périgord which is the Department Dordogne in South-West France.
Have found my home at La Pouyette...

 

And now - after 30 years - still love it, being still connected.

CONNECTED to the soft rolling country side, the space to breathe.....

.....being surrounded by old farms,




old manor houses,
 


and as an "extra" - 

countless Chateaux, Castles....

.....Romanesque Churches.....

 ......some dating back to the 11th Century.....
*

All in all - a country side full of history, 



not to forget the gentleness of the local people, 
the old farmers and....and....

 

 A country side which has kept authenticity -



 "Herz, was begehrst du mehr..."  -  


......what could the heart desire more?..... 

I'm fully CONNECTED !
*
*
*
 PERIGORD - "Impressions...."

As I'm also connected to music - what would be better than Beethoven's Pastorale
to "accompanied" a walk over the the country side....


First movement:
"Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande"  
(Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the countryside):  
Allegro ma non troppo (F major)
* 
Beethoven was a lover of nature who spent a great deal of his time on walks in the country. 
He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locations.
The first sketches of the Pastoral Symphony appeared in 1802. 
It was composed simultaneously with Beethoven's more famous—and more fiery—Fifth Symphony. 
Both symphonies were premiered in a long and under-rehearsed concert 
in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 22 December 1808.
The composer said that the Sixth Symphony is "more the expression of feeling than painting", 
a point underlined by the title of the first movement.
*
*
*

*
*

*

*

*
*

*
*

*
*
*

 *
 5th Movement - also called:

Shepherd's song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm

Thinking of this movement which represents
 the shepherds' song of thanksgiving.....

whenever having this old and antique German sack in my hands.....


*
*
*
*
*
"Straw and Order"......

*
*

*
like "sculptures"...

  Simply love the look of it - every year again....

...again.....  

 ....and again....

*
*

 *

 *

 *

*
*

Sunset at La Pouyette.....
 and....

 .....a Sunrise

*
*
*

Our river - the Dronne

'Scene by the brook.'

The 2th movement was titled by Beethoven "By the brook"

At the opening the strings play a motif that clearly imitates flowing water. The cello section is divided, with just two players playing the flowing-water notes on muted instruments, with the remaining cellos playing mostly pizzicato notes together with the double basses.

Toward the end of the movement there is a cadenza for woodwind instruments that imitates bird calls. Beethoven helpfully identified the bird species in the score: nightingale (flute), quail (oboe), and cuckoo (two clarinets).

*






















*


*
*
*
CONNECTED to Objects:

"What Objects Tell the Story of Your Life?"
(by Michael Gonchar)
here
"— Do you think telling history through objects is a “a clever way to hook people on history”?
Do objects tell a story that words or images aren’t able to convey quite as effectively? --"

*
I'm connected to all old objects related to food,
food containers storage, jars, pots, jugs, bottles.....
*
*
*
The History Of Food Storage. ... 
Heat, cold, time and moisture are all enemies of food and its lifetime. Food preservation enabled ancient man to make roots and live in one place and form a community. They no longer had to consume the kill or harvest immediately, but could preserve some for later use.
*
Preserving food has been a problem of man since the very beginning. Ever since the first people began roaming the planet the problem of food and water has always been our first and foremost concern. Right from the very moment of harvest, food begins to break down which causes us as people a major problem. Heat, cold, time and moisture are all enemies of food and its lifetime. Food preservation enabled ancient man to make roots and live in one place and form a community. They no longer had to consume the kill or harvest immediately, but could preserve some for later use. Each:
 culture preserved their local food sources using the same basic methods of food preservation. In other words, its allowed civilization as we know it to form. Since the time of the ancient Egyptians, Mayans and Greeks there has been advancements in the technology and techniques that have helped us come up with the processes that we use today.

Here is a small history of the methods that people have used to store food through out the years:
https://valleyfoodstorage.com/the-history-of-food-storage/
Text source with great THANKS to Valley Food Storage

*
*
*

19th Century Italian storage jars

 *
*


 These 19th century Italian storage jars 
were the most rare and beautiful ones I've ever had...

*
*

 *
*

 Two 18th Century Swiss jars - or jugs? With a most beautiful patina.

 *

  French 18th Century Oil jars - originating from the Périgord and Lot et Garonne

*

Old Master Still Lifes - with jugs and jars...
 

 *

 *

 *

*
*
*

19th Century Water or Wine and milk jugs from the Black Forest region

*

 
The paintings by Julien Dupre bringing back memories of my childhood...

*

*

*
*
*

 French 19th Century Vinegar Jars
*
*

 French Mustard Jar and others.....

*
*

French 19th Confit pots

 *
*

 French 19th Century Pate pots
*
*

Antique and Vintage French Confiture / Jam jars and glasses

 *
*

French antique and vintage canning bottles
*
*
Collection of antique bottles for minerale water, selters, Eau de Vie etc...

 *

*
*

 
 ...and so on....there would be plenty more storage objects
but it would need another post.

 For now - like to finish this with a very special and rare object -
a French winnowing basket, dating from the late 19th century:

 Winnowing:
After a flail had separated the grain from the harvested sheaves, a winnowing basket was used to separate the corn kernels from the outer husks or chaff. The thrashed corn was thrown up from the basket and the breeze (sometimes created by waving a sheet) blew the chaff from the heavier kernels.
*

When I have found this I had to have it ! 

Jean Francois Millet -A Winnower, 1866-68

 *
Separating Wheat from the Chaff (c. 1460)

 *
******
GRAINS - 

that leads me to the special German grain and flour sacks,

another "Food - Connection":

Pieces / Objects of country ART

 *

 This sacks belonged originally to a Weaver ("Weber" means weaver)

 This is one of my oldest sacks, dating from 1814 !
It belonged obviously to a butcher because of the cleaver or shopper symbol

 *
Love the animals.....
*
*


Aren't they not beautiful !

 
 *

A Trousseau Flour Sack...
...and so on...
To show more, to talk about the history - it would fill a whole post.
*
*
*
"The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection."
– Johann Harri

I see it other way round....
...when CONNECTION became ADDICTION....

"Old Linen and Hemp"

As much as I love the fine monogrammed French Draps - Oversheets,
Damask napkins and table cloths...

 
 *

*

 *
My heart and soul is deeply connected to the 
HEMP,

mainly homegrown by the farmers, spun and hand loomed.

 French 19th Hemp sheets - different natural colors, different weaves
*
*

*
*
*

 *

 *

Nappe de Vendange 
*

*
*

 French antique bath towels from the Basque region
*
*

Late 18th and 19th Century Hemp - German Bauernleinen
*
*

*

 *

 2 French antique Hemp sheets - circa 1860-1880

*
*

These antique Hemp cloths originate from the Basque and Pyrenees region

Some of the large cloths were used to cover cattles to protect them from flies

also sometimes to bring them to villages or towns for exhibitions......

  *

 *
*
This one is the most special and rare one, 
also to cover cows - but only for exhibitions

 *

*
"Old Linen and Hemp - Connection - Addiction"
it would fill more than another post, it could fill a book !
*

*

******

“It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space,” 

T. S. Eliot wrote.
 
 *

Every so often I have olives on my small trees...

...these are from last year - stored in earthenware pots in sea-salted water -
- still waiting to be pickled !

*
*
But every year I have "tons" of walnuts !

 Love to collect them, although - bending down - my back sings "hallelujah" :-)



*
*
*
La Pouyette....

 

  

"The “ sensory ” part of sensory gardens, that is, 

the integrated sensory experience of nature, seems to provide the best benefits."

 

*

*


*


:
"Meaning of sensory:
noting a structure for conveying an impulse that results or tends to result in sensation, as a nerve..."
 Yes?



November-Sunsets at La Pouyette...

 

....breathe taking....

 
 
 O heart, what more do you desire?

 
 *
******
The Perigord....

*
«Diesseits von Griechenland kommt nichts dem Paradies so nahe» 
schwaermte Henry Miller....

Henry Miller went so far as to say that the Dordogne 
“gives me hope for the future of the race, for the future of the earth itself.”

 ...and:


"France may one day exist no more, 
but the Dordogne, the Perigord, will live on 
just as dreams live on and nourish the souls of men."

 

La Pouyette, the Perigord, the Country Life...
all of it...

...my Sensory Connections. 
*
*

*
*
*

 Please visit the blog of D.A.'s 
"Daily Plate of Crazy" to read all posts of our group.
click on this link below: 

https://dailyplateofcrazy.com/2017/11/14/you-are-invited-to-my-sensory-connections/ 

*
*
*
*

Remarks: A very interesting post about food preservation by Melissa Snell: https://www.thoughtco.com/medieval-food-preservation-1788842 worth to read. http://foodprocessinghistory.blogspot.fr/2011/03/ancient-food-preservation.html History of food processing is the history of transformation process of raw ingredients into food or food into other forms. Food processing dates back to the prehistoric age when crude processing including various types of cooking, such as roasting, smoking, steaming, fermenting, sun drying and preserving with salt were in practice. Food processing is probably one of the oldest avocations man has been involved with from time immemorial...... click on the links to read all.