Marilyn on 'geometry and junque'

dear friends -

in the 1600's william congreve wrote "Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak."  it is, no doubt, true.  music is a great balm, comfort and delight.  however what soothes, comforts and stimulates me far more than music is geometry.  with algebra and calculus thrown in for good measure.  i thrive upon patterns, derivatives, mysteries and mathematics.  paris is one of the best places in the world for someone of my ilk.

the other day i went to st. germain des pres, perhaps my favorite spot in all of paris.  a church was first located on the sight at st. germain des pres, on the left bank of the seine in paris, dozens of years before congreve wrote about the charms of music.  various buildings have been erected and destroyed since then.  the current church is romanesque.  an old slate roof on a large church needs mass and strength in the structure beneath for support.  flying buttresses are the marvelous device which allows the most famous of the world's old cathedrals to support massive roofs and have space between the columns for glorious stained glass windows.

st. germain des pres predates the flying buttress.  instead the slate roof and night blue ceiling with stars of st. germain des pres are supported with columns like multi-storied sheaves of wheat.  each stalk is painted with soft geometric patterns in rich and muted hues.  golds, mulberries, teals, midnight blues, wines, grays, etc.  some stained glass windows were added a while ago, of course, as the church was repaired and renovated.  but the windows i much prefer are the simple, geometric leaded glass windows.  never washed except by rain and sleet, so they provide a softening, gentle and quiet urban gray light to the interior of the church.  notre dame is bigger, brighter and more bustling, and it should not be missed.  unless one is inexplicably drawn to geometry.  st. germain des pres always makes me happy.

but so also do all the doors, windows, gates, grates, covers, racks, shutters, rails and fences strewn about on every street and alley in paris.  the scale of manufacture here is so much smaller than in the u.s., so hand made and special order are more the norm here.  (to me appealing) geometric metal work, brick work, woodworking, textile artistry and stained glass abound here.

today betsy, chris and i spent part of the day at the famous paris flea markets, just outside of the paris city limits.  the flea markets are amazing.  monday is a slow day in any case and it rained all day.  we saw a small but select portion of the more than seventeen acres.  it is no longer a place to get magnificent bargains, but neither is it only rag and bone dealers.  movie set designers go to the paris flea markets to get anything they might imagine they want.  we shopped mostly for antique housewares and jewelry.  it was tempting to bring home a small set of beautifully carved two-headed wooden stocks, an eel skinner, an elaborate 8 foot wide chandelier, a 15 foot high marble fireplace or a highly polished airplane propeller and matching ejector seat, but we confined ourselves to what we could both carry and afford.  and couldn't live without.  chris was perhaps less interested in shopping than betsy and i were, but he both is a good sport and was excused early to pick up the boys from school.

my birthday is in june and i was treated to a nice new little digital camera just before i came to paris.  as it is, my house looks a lot like a parisian flea market shop.  it is far more frugal and practical to fill the disk in my camera with images of large curved axes, spools and spindles of thread, sharpening steels, plumb bobs, jingle bobs, antique cork screws, shoe lasts, sets of typeface and cobblers' benches than it is to purchase and pack (into suitcase and then some non-existent space at home) any of these treasures.  i have uploaded some photos onto my facebook page (marilyn may miller karr) and will upload/download some more.  actually i'll have betsy, chris or one of the boys help me do this.

for now, though, i'll go to sleep.

love,

m