Auvers-sur-Oise, mid-June 2018

[bixaorellana]

Let me open by saying that this town has already been beautifully covered on Anyport. Htmb's report is full of lovely pictures, but for excellent inclusion of history and practicalities of visiting, I suggest starting with Kerouac's Giving Vincent Van Gogh his due, which is also replete with gorgeous photos.

Auvers-sur-Oise is dramatically associated with Van Gogh because it's where he ended his life after living there just over two months, from May 20 to July 29, 1890.
His creative output in that time was prodigious, one could even say manically so.

Nevertheless, even without Vincent the village has sheltered a remarkable number of important late 19th and also 20th century painters.
As this introduction is already full of links, I'll leave you with just one more. This overview of the village from 2015 ties in Van Gogh's paintings plus some touristic information.

My own little report is stuck here in Post Cards as it's not full coverage, merely a happy record of a perfect day in June. Since it's from me, though, you'll get lots of cemetery pictures.

Up the stairs to the church immortalized by Vncent ~



Lovely view from the church grounds ~



A sobering reminder of what France suffered in the war to end all wars ~



If there were no other reason to visit this town, strolling its streets and alleys would be plenty enough ~





Having seen the other Anyport reports, I was eager to get out to the fields and commune with what Van Gogh saw ~



No golden fields of wheat in June of 2018, rather young green corn ~











Please admire this picture. It's the one I took right after stumbling into the nettles

[bjd]

Love those poppies. Unfortunately, they are so fragile. Their name is one of the first words I learned when I came to France: coquelicot.

[breeze]

That path looks very inviting. So does the beautiful light of mid-June 2018, with everything lush and green.

Sorry about the nettles. You take your photographic duties seriously and if the best shot requires you to stand in a nettle patch, you'll do it. Your dedication should not go unrewarded. I've deposited 10,000 pesos in your offshore account.

A man told us his grandparents made seven-vegetable soup from their garden every Thursday, and if they didn't have seven vegetables they'd add nettles.

I wonder when corn/maize took over in France. It wasn't a crop the first time we visited. I also think that stop signs said "arrest," so we're talking about some time ago.

[breeze]

Arret, that is.

[kerouac2]

Everybody says that nettle soup is excellent, but I have never had the opportunity to try it.

[bjd]

It is good. You need fresh young nettles, fry them with a bit of olive oil, add water and stock and some potatoes. Let cook and blend.

Breeze, the only place stop signs say arrêt is Quebec.

[bixaorellana]

Dec 8, 2018 8:39:38 GMT bjd said:

Love those poppies. Unfortunately, they are so fragile. Their name is one of the first words I learned when I came to France: coquelicot.

Thanks, Bjd! Those red field poppies are part of a special memory of mine. When we lived in Madrid, my brother & I would go to the movies every Saturday. Part of our route went through a wheat field, which was always full of poppies. I love their light clean scent & associate it with nibbling the stems of green wheat.
That word "coquelicot" is driving me crazy. For some reason it seems so familiar, although I'm sure I didn't know the meaning. It is perhaps a brand name?

Breeze! You gave me 493 dollars & 21 cents?! I'll have to get hurt more often.
Thanks for the kind comments and the note about seven-vegetable soup. Where was the man from who told you that?
The corn could be for animal feed. Maybe it's part of a crop rotation plan. In Htmb's report she says she visited on June 17, 2009 and you can see the wheat was almost ready to be harvested. My pictures were taken on June 16 of this year, with the corn growing in some of those same fields. Kerouac says in his report that he visited on July 25, 2013 and he shows beautiful fields of ripe wheat. So -- you saw it here first: corn in Auvers-sur-Oise!

Kerouac & Bjd, I've always heard that nettles are extremely nutritious. Your recipe sounds very nice, Bjd. How do you handles the nettles -- with gloves or tongs or ?

[bixaorellana]

Yaaay ~ it's cemetery time!

Here lie two of the Van Gogh brothers, side by side. I wish I had a flower to put on Theo's grave. Without him, we would have had a great deal less Vincent ~



Upon entering we'd made a beeline for those famous graves. But looking around, I realized to my joy that this cemetery was everything I wanted in a cemetery and more.
I've been in some great fun and eccentric graveyards in Key West and in south Texas, plus Mexico goes all out once a year. But this cemetery took the cake for sheer everyday exuberance ~











This one must surely win the Dearly Beloved prize ~

[bixaorellana]

You have to wonder what this poor veteran suffered in the year or two he lingered after the war ~

[breeze]

Alsace was the region of the 7-vegetable-soup grandparents. I started making 7-veg soup myself, but sometimes I have to count dried thyme as a vegetable.

Somehow this cemetery is nicer than anything I've seen in France. The ones we see are full of rusty metal crosses. They are usually mowed to a fare-thee-well, whereas this one has the poppies and tufts of grass to soften it.

[kerouac2]

I like the way that in two of the three last photos, the church seems to be watching over the cemetery like a guardian.

[bixaorellana]

Well, Breeze, at least thyme is good for you!
The cemetery is quite friendly, isn't it? I note that in the earlier Auvers-sur-Oise threads it looked more severe, so maybe there was some policy or personnel change.

Oh, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out, Kerouac! It is lovely the way that the cemetery is up on that plateau, elevating the dead.

Out of the graveyard & on to more wandering, including visiting the house where Van Gogh lived (No photos allowed).
At the house you can take a fascinating tour and see an excellent, if sad, film about Vincent's last days.
There was also a stroll by the river and a park. The day was perfect in that way that visits to the country can be, but so distractingly lovely that I didn't take pictures of everything.

This is the Groupe scolaire Vavasseur de 1933 -- French for "school for creepy kids" ~





Which way to go? Off to see the chateau. This turned into an exercise in the art of just sitting and letting the world go by in the clean air and soft breeze ~







And that, unless my kindly companion has something to add, is that.

[bjd]

Nice pictures, Bixa. I agree with Breeze that most French cemeteries are much lower-key than that one, which is why I liked the ones I saw in Yorkshire with lots of trees and greenery.

You need gloves to pick the nettles and clean them but afterwards, once they are cooking, you don't touch them. And they don't prick your mouth when you eat the soup.

[cheerypeabrain]

These are stunning. The juxtaposition of the sombre, quiet graves with the occasional exuberant decoration is mesmerising. I've always found cemeteries to be fascinating places, steeped in secrets and sadness. The thought that must go into the gravestones..how do you sum up a life with just a name and 'beloved wife and mother" or similar ? My niece and nephew took 2 years before they came up with just that. ( Spike Milligan'sI told you I was ill..flippant, yet it sort of made you smile and remember him)

Your flower portraits are lush...anybody would think that you were a gardener....x

[bixaorellana]

Thanks, Bjd. I have always wanted to try nettles and now I know how to handle them.
I was sort of thrilled to see that the French are perfectly capable of giving full vent to cemetery adornment.

Thanks so much, Cheery! I so agree about the fascination of cemeteries. There's one in my home town that is properly atmospheric and capable of eliciting sobs with some of the Victorian verse on the gravestones.
I am positively basking in the flower comment ~ you know it's what I love!

[nycgirl]

What a beautiful and and surprisingly joyful-looking cemetery. I wasn't expecting to see such riotous colors.

As a fan of Van Gogh, I hope to see Auvers-sur-Oise one day.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you, NYCGirl! I do hope you get your wish, as Auvers-sur-Oise is a serenely beautiful and satisfying place to visit.