From Grenoble I took a bus to St. Bonnet where I was met by my next host, Aime (sitting to the right in the picture below), who lives in a small village near a ski station called Chaillol.  I had met Aimie once before because he is a good friend of Joelle and Daniel’s.  I had also received his email almost a year ago from a Frenchman named Christian (who I met at the John C. Campbell Folkschool) who was kind enough to put me in touch with many of his musician friends.  Christian’s generosity is one of the biggest reasons I have been able to make such wonderful connections here.  Thank you Christian!

In the email I received from Christian about Aime he described a very cozy weekly gathering: “l’hiver nous joueons une fois par semaine dans un gite avec vin chaud et bonne soupe, tu vois ta copine serait aux anges.” (“in the winter we play one time a week in a bead-and-breakfast with hot wine and good soup, you see your friend would be with the angels”)  Sounds like heaven eh?

Aime and his very friendly/lively/fun friends only spoke a little English, which was perfect for me.  We understood each other just fine (expect when Aime started talking about philosophy and other such abstract topics…he would completely loose me, he’d realize and then we’d have a good laugh).

Aimie showed me all kinds of things during my visit: his favorite movies, his collection of books on philosophy, his packed away letterpress equipment from they days he was a printer, his favorite view of the mountains, and the community bal folk dance and potluck they have every Tuesday night.

One day, he took me to this very old, teeny-tiny church covered with stone “dolls.” The story goes that once upon a time there was a man who was deeply in love with a woman and for some reason he was not able to tell her.  Rather than kill himself, he used his frustrated energies to create the odd facade of this rural place of worship.

One of the wonderful things about France is that you don’t have to go very far before you are in a completely different landscape or even climate.  The area surrounding Aime’s small village was sooooo different from any place I had been yet.  It’s even more interesting that different landscapes naturally inform different ways of life for the people who live there.  There are difference cheeses, different wines or liquors, different ways of farming, different ways to build houses, different expressions, accents and jokes.