Picasso and the Nazis

The French did their best to go on as if the German Occupation and the
War did not exist in their own personal worlds. The French prided
themselves on being survivors and whether heroic or not they were
going to survive this German occupation. There were plenty of
problems to overcome during this time from economic disaster to
ideological skirmishes to just finding enough food to eat.
Survival was going to take some serious existential hard work.

It was into these horrid conditions that Picasso decided to enter back
into Paris from western France.

The French were going to experience four years of totalitarian tyranny
and Picasso decided to go through this horror with everyone else.
Many French found that Picasso's act of being in Paris, at great risk
to himself, was an act of enormous courage. If Picasso, who did not
have to be there, was going to live through this with us then there is
hope we can all live through this oppression thought many French.

Studio update

I had to evict 3 obstreperous squatters but I was finally able to claim the backroom studio as my own.

from Charles

My book, Picasso and the Nazi's, brings to light the development of
Picasso's social conscience in a time of great personal stress for him
and the rest of the world. While most books about Picasso focus on
his Art or his development of style or seek to place Picasso in the
timeline of History my book culls the stories from the times that
Picasso lived in and shows the inner drama and conflict of his life
and Art thrust against the forces of Fascism. It shows how Picasso
becomes inadvertently a social revolutionary. Choosing to continue to
be himself and keeping a low profile amidst the war raging on around
him Picasso became a symbol of hope in the face of the Nazi Occupation
of Paris. By continuing to go on working in his studio Picasso became
France's greatest symbol of hope and an unintentional hero of the
French Resistance. The book is primarily a non-fiction book told in a
narrative story telling fashion so that all of the elements can be
blended together for a good read.

Bura

Bura destroy my makeshift shade.
Blown bamboo broken.
What a relief.

Vruche 2

It is the worst drought in Croatia in 50 years.  SOme areas have not had rainfall in 15 - 18 months.

MY poor little smokva -- fig tree.  Half of its leaves are yellow and dying or dead.  INstead of a plump, juicy yellow-green, its fruit are small and a thick-skinned black from the sun.  I am watering it daily.

On the other hand, the small prickly pear cactus that someone has planted in my garden seems to be doing just fine.

I have found a couple of free wi-fi sites.  Unfortunately, the one with the best connection and fewest problems is located in Models --one of the open air bars with the worst and loudest music imaginable.  I will keep working on the connection down by the toursit office as a preferable alternative.

Vruche

Mantis green flicker flame
The only thing
Cool
Today

Night 1

Change of Pace

Leaving summer here and heading to Illyria, I put away my "Shaking Those Archaic Furies."

Harv's Benefit Salmon Dinner

Lori and Julia compare pale white legs at Harv Wolden's Annual benefit salmon grill.

Lori is in summer garb celebrating getting her third cutting of hay in despite scorching heat.

Chaz Produces on Vacation

Charles left behind a new painting that I mischievously call "Big Orange."   (Seems Melanie told him there was too much orange.  Dakota Art, on the other hand, told him Cadmium Orange was hip.)
(p.s. Chaz and I built the strainer bars and stretched the canvas on this one.)

Lori Writes: Update

The fishing trip was great!  Still need to catch up! Got 24 25+lb, Ling cod, 16 big yellow eye, 14 kings,

and a couple silvers! Lots of fish! Even had a few sea lions thinking about stealing our fish a couple
times when they were on. That was weird they are about the size of the dang boat! All the fish
is down at Sylvana meats now getting packed up. Should eat good this winter!

Here's a pic of the pool fun on the 4th. My fave is this one with Eason surfing! he had a blast and
is our future tractor driver! I can see it already!

We may have a real good line on buying a baler then we would be totally self-sufficient on our
hay business!

We dumped the crab pots for the first time last night so hopefully we get some crab!

Gotta get together for dinner . . .

Just Flew in and Back in His Studio