Traboule with Monique

Traboule of Lyon France

traboule

Hey
We are absolutely overwhelmed with experiences. I only say that, to say that all our subsequent posts will not be consecutive. Lyon has a long history of human occupation. Let's start with the Romans in 43 A.D. And of course that means drama. The traboules, secret passages ways in between the houses that connect one street to another were built, some say, between the twelth century and the sixteenth. The passageways were built as an escape route from one form of persecution or another. Even up to the second world war the French Resistance used the traboules to outwit the Gestapo. Monique's second cousin who fought in the Resistance, losing both his legs, is a national hero. Monique's Father is another kind of hero to me. He carried this man whom his mom raised as his brother, up the stairs on his back, for years.

LYON

This is our fourth couch surfing experience, not counting our present surf. There are three last names in this family so I'll skip that part. What I will mention is that the father mother and six children were a wonderful group.They not only welcomed us into their rich, dynamic family with open arms, they also extented an invitation to continue our new friendship. I recommend couch surfing. It's a great way to meet friends.
Kent

This is our friend Paul who died last week. I made this image in his memory. Paul was a nice guy. Rare. And though he will be missed, what we remember of him makes us all smile. That, I think, is a great legacy.

Kent

Many years ago I had a photographer friend from Kentucky who thought that photography was just documentation. In part...and only in part, do I think that is true. For example when I think about doing this blog, I want to show what Monique and I are experiencing. In a sense it dictates what type of photos that we take. More subtlely, our intentions, and more subtle yet the manner in which we 'SEE'. So with my second trip to L'Orangerie, I am taking the kind of photos that I wanted to take the first time two years ago. The L'Orangerie houses the immense water lilly patings by Monet. I was struck by how one could become engulfed in this color as background.

Color theorist know that if a color surrounds you, it controls you. I wanted to document that phenomenon relative to visitors

Kent

Inside wall of La Geode

Researcher

Inside the Geode

For those those of you who speak Hindi, I'm sorry, I had to check the disable box.

When I join Monique on some of her conferences, it's usually a chance for me to explore what ever city we happen to be in. This time her conference was held in Paris at the Cite de Science. which is kinda like a museum dedicated to science, math, school tours, imax..etc. Her conference lasted two days. I took two trips to museums in Paris. My first trip I stayed right on the campus of the Cite de Science and went to see a film on Van gogh in a place called the Geode which turned out to be an IMAX inside a geodesic dome. It was Fantastic. Because of her passion for Van Gogh, the woman featured in the film was granted the priviledge of being able to even handle the letters that he had written to his brother Theo. I was granted the priviledge of seeing his paintings up close or small sections blown up forty feet tall and wide.

Dylan
Here's another picture for you.
Kent

Paris
Our next couch surfing host was a young man named Joel. Iroinically Joel's place was also undergoing renovation. 90% of his furniture was crammed into one room. For three days Joel slept someplace else. We saw him once when he returned to iron a shirt, once by accident and the first time when he gave us the key. He aplogized for not spending anytime with us but said the next time we're in Paris that his door would be open.
Kent

A couple pictures especially for you Dylan!!
Yes they tasted as delicious as they look and I thoroughly enjoyed each heavenly and creamy bite.

Paris
Monia, whom we had never met, was our first couching experience. We were also hers. She stood behind the rail in the airport with a faintly written sign that said 'M WHALEN.' It was a happy meeting and our stay continued to be so. As guests we were comfortable with the idea that we were stepping right into the middle of whatever was going on in her life. A this point it happened to be a renovation of her apartment. The workmen had left a substantial hole in the wall where the fireplace used to be. Plastic covered the floor, her furniture was in temporary places, and she had given us slippers to wear. Yet Monia was as happy as a clam. She loved her new place, which was bright, breezy, and had a southern exposure, where the Eiffel Tower could be seen in the distance. Her french was emaculate. I began my practice of the french language right there over wine, cheese and pasta. And Monique who is a consumate guest chatted with Monia as if she had known her for years.

Monique rides next to me on the plane. Outside the window the sun shines on the wing and the clouds below. We fly resolutely like geese toward our new life. We hold hands.

We laughed

Detroit
We danced

Hi Everyone

We're sorry that there has been such a big gap between our last post and this one. We'll try to catch up to today.

June 8th, Detroit

I didn't think leaving would be so difficult. I've spent a lot of my life with the Whalen Family. And while it was not as difficult for me as it was for Monique, I still felt as if I had opened my hand and let go of something valuable, or that I had been plunged under water and for a moment couldn't breath. I miss you all terribly.

After we loaded our 200lbs of luggage in the car I embraced my sister and we wept. Next I hugged my brother-in-law,Claudius Maximus Jones, whom I think is an angel here on Earth. I had a lump in my throat. And the emotion that I felt when I embraced my eldest daughter whom I've always thought was the perfect female version of myself was/is beyond words. The oldest living part of me, my Mom, had stayed in the apartment, having wished me and Monique farewell there.

Half Glasses

When ever I travel I wonder what adventures I will have. Some I plan and some are out of my control. We stopped in Detroit first to visit my family before going on to Europe. My sister whom I love dearly, but has an attraction to accidents, unknowingly knocked my glasse off the shelf and stepped on them. By some miracle the lenses stayed intact, but half the feames were completely shattered. She was very apologetic, of course, asking me where I had purchased my frames. A little numb I said 'SPAIN. So since we only had two before we were to leave for Paris, it became pretty important to find me a new pair of glasses. After two antique stores and one flea market we found new frames that my old lenses fit into perfectly. Here's the irony. My new glasses work better than the old ones. Half full ,half empty. Doesn't it depend on how you look at it?
Kent

Well, after many wonderful good bye parties and final hectic days of wrapping up the ties of our american life we are on our way to our promise land,our future in France and hopefully our dream farm, Sipapu.

I am leaving the US with much humility as I never imagined 15 years ago that I would meet so many wonderful and talented people and would have such an opportunity to manifest a vision of care and compassion. I had brought with me many preconceived ideas and many biases and quite a few have been torned down by the dedication and intelligence of the many people I have worked with. I am not sure how to talk about the frienships I have developped at the Drop-in Center from the people I set out to help when in deed I am the one who ended up receiving the most. It is truly a precious gift that I will carry with me always.

Enough of the deep staff as we want to keep this blog light and fun but I cannot omit mentioning the true joy of our life, our beautiful, crazy and amazing family with it's most amazing caracters and colorful gatherings. We are only expanding the ties of love over the whole planet!

And to all our special friends: thanks for your help and we hope you'll make plans to visit soon.