September 27, 2005
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Je peindrais cette maison si je pouvais
I'd paint this house if I could
English version below the picture
En Juillet dernier nous étions dans un minuscule hameau en Bretagne et il y avait cette maison . Nous avons senti une indicible beauté dans cette vieille maison en granite , entourée d ' arbres et enveloppée de feuillage . Elle méritait une photo à défaut de peinture . Ses pierres , son charme rustique étaient en parfaite harmonie avec la nature .
C ' était une ancienne maison typiquement bretonne .
Mais en plus j ' eus l 'impression que cette maison me regardait et même me parlait . Imagination ,bien sûr . J ' imaginais la série de générations qui avaient habité là , les naissances , les cris des jeunes enfants , les mariages , les amours , les jours de fête qui lui donnaient de la vie . Mais elle fut aussi le témoin de la souffrance , de la mort . Autrefois on naissait et on mourrait à la maison . Combien d ' âmes imprègnent encore cette humble habitation qui paraît maintenant a demi ensommeillée .
Les châteaux nous racontent l ' histoire des puissants mais cette simple maison raconte la France réelle et profonde et spécialement la Bretagne . En face de ce paysage rural je sentais battre le cœur du pays …..
Ancienne maison bretonne Old house in Brittany July 2005 M. Fauquet
Last July we were in a tiny hamlet in Brittany ( Western France ) and there was this house . We felt an inexpressible beauty at seeing this old house built with granite , surrounded with trees and wrapped with foliages .It deserved a photo if not a painting . Its stones , its rustic charm were in total harmony with nature . It was a typically britton old house .
But I had also the impression that this house looked at me and even talked to me . Imagination , for sure ! I imagined the rows of generations that had been dwelling there , the births , the cries of young children , the weddings , love , feast days , all of them brought life to it . But it was also the place where people suffered and died . In the past birth and death took place at home . How many souls still are floating into this humble abode that looks half asleep now ?
The castles relate to us the history of the powerful ones but this simple home relates the real and deep France and especially Brittany . In front of this rural landscape I felt the country ' s heart beat …
Comments (119)
what an amazing picture! Thanks for the translations! Gives me an opportunity to try to refresh my now 10 year rusted French.
oH! I feel it, too. Thanks for sharing your world.
i love castle pics. i would love to visit European castles.
have a great day, Michel.
~janny
what a beautiful house!!!! oh...I wish I could live in it! I feel the warmth and the history in that place just like you!
Welcome back...we've missed you! Hope all is well with your family...God bless you and yours!
Ah, mais les vielle roches (pierres?) sont beaux! Et -- maintenant en Anglais parce que je n'ais pas les mots Francais -- I have heard that the property tax in France is based on the exterior appearance of the house, so many houses are left unpainted, etc. en l'exterieur mais l'interieur est tres beau!
That is a beautiful house. I love the old ones.
After I showed my husband (who has built several homes) that photo in your blog, he was wondering if the outside walls on the old homes are wood framed on the inside and stone on the outside? or if it is solid stone?
Our daughters home is stone on the outside with just stucco on the insided walls.
Old houses do the same thing to me. I'm sure people are whispering stories and echoing lives within the walls...
How beautiful! I would rather have an old home with charm and history than a new one.
Have a blessed day, Michel!
Michele
I do believe houses can speak to us... and share their pasts
Buy the house and I'll rent a room from you.
I grew up in a house similar to this one! It was in Virginia, though. Very cold house. Cool in the summer and hard to keep warm in the winter.
the house is so pretty. i've never been to houses like this before since i grew up in Hong Kong ... i wish i have a chance to visit
love,
anny
yes, Sammy is my new parakeet.
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/4251/1005973web21jg.jpg
Oh I could live there. I love it!!
I know what you mean about houses speaking. I wonder often about the first people to live in my house (it's not "old", built in 1925)and what they thought of it.
Some houses just seem to live don't they?
Walls certainly hold stories. How many stories that house must have seen! I like the way you put it.
Yes I think the house talked to me to. What story's it could tell had it a voice. How much happiness it must have seen. Yes like in life there must have been some tears.The struggles, the grand things that past threw all the generations. The changes in time. Wow I thank you for this picture. But can you just imagine the love it could tell us of. Thank you so much. God Bless Dorothy
C'EST UNE MAISON JOLIE!
such history to consider. that's a beautiful house.
-mark
gorgeous house! and you have such a way with words, Michel...very beautiful, indeed!
How beautiful! The house, your thoughts, your writing...
Oh, such a lovely house in such a lovely setting!! I think it would be so nice to live there and hear it talk to me. Thank you for sharing and for such enjoyable writing. Have a good day and a wonderful week.
(((hugs))) and smiles ~char
I'm smiling happily now cos you are back again
That is a very pretty house, full of " ghosts " that speak of history. It saddens me when I see the ruins of houses dotted in the countryside, I wonder where the people went to and why they had to leave. There are many such ruins in Wales, Scotland and Ireland - the results of industrialisation. 
Marie
You see such beauty in so many things…thanks for sharing your wonderful mind with us so that we can also see the beauty through your eyes. You are a wonderment!
That house makes me more eager to visit France. And I was already very eager to begin with!!
Your words about this house were beautiful Michel
A lovely picturesque area of Brittany.
If only the walls could talk ! What stories they could tell! Beautiful!
So charming! The trees, the flowers, the houses--they all breathe and talk. Rich history and present-day peacefulness abide there. Like a fairy-tale home! Thank you, Michel!
What a beautiful house in such a lovely place . I hope the photograph will give you great joy in the dark winter when you think of its beauty and all those lovely summer flowers .
Its so lovely to see you back here
hope you are enjoy the fruits of your garden .Love to Janine and you 
I'm in total agreement with your other commenters. The picture is just beautiful and your words do bring it to life. For those of us that may never see France, you are a treasure to show us your part of the world.
J'ai vu beaucoup de maisons vieilles quand j'étais en France (Besançon). Elles sont très belles. J'aime bien ce photo. Je suis d'accord avec vous que les maisons sont pleins d'histoires, comme des chateaux, mais différent aussi. Plus personnel, je pense.
Désolée si mon français n'est pas parfait. Je suis une étudiante dans le Nebraska qui aime bien le français.
Venez à mon xanga quelquefois, si vous voulez.
Brittany is very beautiful. This is a lovely setting with nature... peaceful and full of stories.
I love to read what you have written here, Michel.
So true and from your heart.
thank you for sharing this.
It is good to hear from you
Brittany is very beautiful. This is a lovely setting with nature... peaceful and full of stories.
I love to read what you have written here, Michel.
So true and from your heart.
thank you for sharing this.
It is good to hear from you
That is a beautiful house and I'm sure that it does have plenty of stories to tell.
I am so very happy! You are back! I love the photos and your words about this house. MMMMM.... it takes me to France with you!
Thank you!
Love
Debbie
oldman. xanga isn't for old people like you. so go get an online journal for OLD PEOPLE LIKE YOU not an online journal for teenagers.
fkingafxcore
C'est une maison TRES jolie...
Michel, you write so beautifully! Tu sais, en regardant ta maison bretonne, tu m'as inspirée d'aller chercher sur internet les appartements et les maisons à vendre en France!! J'ai trouvé pas mal de choses, mais malheureusement, je suis toujours jeune et je n'ai pas d'argent. Mais je t'assure qu'un jour j'aurai une jolie maison en France! Comme toujours, merci de partager tous ces beaux trésors de ta vie avec nous. Bisous, tiffany
Totally beautiful...............what a glorious and beautiful spirit you posess! I love that.......................Your writing is indeed amazing made me feel as though I was there amongst the yard.
ITS a dream of mine France....................a dream.
God Bless
How beautiful and marvellous!!
I have often looked at certain houses and thought Oh! how I would love to live there perhaps we will in another life who can tell we can only hope for more to come. Lovely place Love Marjie
Lovely to see you back, Michel.
You are so right about this old house! It's absolutely beautiful, and seems to communicate to the viewer it's history. 
It would certainly make a wonderful painting, for sure. Your country has so many interesting, historical places and things to see. 
I'm glad you're back.
I love old houses. I think 'flaws' like cracked bricks and stained wood just make them even more beautiful.
Michel, did you see the link to the French restaurant Glenn and I went to on my birthday? It's on the blog underneath the one you commented on!
It served absolutely delicious food!! You can have a look at the food they serve on the link I've included in red.
What a beautiful, charming castle-home! I am very impressed with all of your insights and reflections, Michel!
Avec amitie, Caroline
It captured the essence of France, the French people not of wealth and fortune but a middle class/working class series of families who are the backbone of the country....ah, the stories that house could tell!
hamlet .. such a funny word... neways glad to see u updating agen!!
bien belle maison
Des personnes sont mortes dans la maison? ça fait peur!! Brrr !!
a bientot
Beautiful picture. One of these days I would really like to visit Brittany and make my way to Amiens.
I also agree with Dreamsontheshelf - houses do speak to us of the past - so do the mountains and other things.
It was, in a way, like the first time I visited a close friend of mine in Arizona - flying into Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix and flying over the mountains, looking through the airplane window, I had this overwhelming sense of coming home even though this was the first time I had ever visited the state.
ahhh... c'est charmant, Michel.
Thanks once more for sharing. Your perspectives are always so beautiful to reflect on.
Wonderful picture and sentiments. I imagine hearing those kinds of things, too, when I visit old places. Thanks for showing us this.
Hello!! c'est re-NaNa !!
!!
Mes etudes? Je suis en japonais, je prepare mon petit Deug pour ensuite faire ma petite licence. (le mode LMD n'est pas encore compris ds mon ecole de langues
). Ensuite je trouverai un emploi dans une (grande) entreprise qui m'envera faire des (courtes) missions au Japon, tel que discuter et trouver des fournisseurs, etc etc. voila ce que je veux faire. ça à l'air passionnant, non? hi hi hi!! 
Enfin!! ça se trouve, je trouverai autre chose... mais du moment que c'est un boulot qui me permet de voyager au Japon... 
Mc Do !! Non, non, non!! je vais peut être au Mc Do mais je n'y mange pas!! J'accompagne mes amis... mais ne mange pas, pour une raison simple et simplette. mdr je ne mange pas la viande seche. Je trouve ça sans goût.
@ +++
That is so lovely. But aren't there two houses here?
Oh, I love this house. My goodness, I wouldn't mess up the charm with paint. I would love to sit at one of the windows and sip a cup of tea. Or curl up by one of the fire places with a good book, all cuddled in a warm comforter.
A stone house who speaks, It looks I am notalo,e in hearing stones speak.
Beautiful blog.
It is a pity you did not had the time to visite that coin of Brittanny but we did St Michel again.
Wonderful region Brittanny.
c'est si beau! merci bien!
i think the stones really do share stuff with you. only the rocks live forever, only the rocks never die.
xo
cassi
J'ai toujours adoré les maisons en briques ou en roches. Belles et solides. Beaucoup de gens les trouvent 'froides', mais pas moi. Peut-être parce que j'ai grandi dans une maison en briques et roches, et elle était loin d'être froide. Je suis contente de te voir de retour, Michel! En passant, je change de sites prochainement, pour retourner à mon ancien site de 'notagoose'. Amitié, Lisexo
That's a grate piture, and thanks for translating the words i was kind of lost in that French but now I'm good. thanks for sharing.
Lovely house and landscape.
welcome back
what a great image - i think it fits in so well with the surroundings as well
please, don't paint it!!
xo
When I first started reading this post, I thought you were going to say you had bought this house!!! The fact you have been gone, also added to that thought. We have a program here that shows and interviews people who buy and renovate old houses. I love that program. My dream would be to have or find a house with all the furnishings intact! It would be so lovely to experience that.
Michel, I missed you very much. I am so happy you are back with us!!!!
It reminds me of Balzac's house, which I saw during a summer-long visit to France a long time ago. France is such a beautiful country...your pictures bring the memories back to me.
i could live there happily spirits & all thye home appears to be made of stone stones record everything that could be the reason for the intense feelings believe me on this one Michael beautiful as usual thank you always magi
la première fois que j'ai vu ce titre, j'ai pensé: "mais pourquoi mettre du peint sur les pierres?" (je peindrais cette maison)... après un moment, j'ai compris...
et quelle maison! j'adore les maisons très vielles... elles ont une charme. Maintenant j'habite une maison de plus de 100 ans, et je l'adore.
Welcome back Michel!
I love the feeling of being in the countryside...i remember once being in a Greek Church and it spoke to me in ways i cannot even begin to describe!
Bonjour, Enchantée !
Tu t'appelles Comment? Je m'appelle Veronique. Tu as quell age? Tu aimes le Francais? Je aime le Francais mais elle prefere l'anglais..
I hope that made since I am in 10th grade i took french last year this year I am in french II I thought i would use my French skills. lol. Tchao!
Glad to see you're back to posting! Lovely picture, as always.
Merci beaucoup Michel. You are so kind.
I once told my mother that I would live in a stone house, one day. My grandmother had one, and I loved it. Getting closer, as Carlo is a man that loves stones. Our new flat has a stone floor, does that count?
belle réflexion sur la vie d'une demeure bretonne !
nous avions visité des amis agriculteurs près de Tréguier (du temps où nous habitions Marseille) et avions été épatés par la beauté de leur logis
harmonieux, élégant, bref à la française
mais aujourd'hui je ne veux pas oublier le principal : Bonne Fête Michel
Amitiés de HK
Michel,Sounds you had a nice trip.That's really wonderful photo !! I heard my friend saw ghost at the hotel room in Italy.She said it was the orange color.I don't have the ability of the spirituality but I guess she had it.How was the supper there ?
What a beautiful dwelling...so much can be felt from a home
Tres, tres beau, le peinture! Et le photo aussi! Les deux egalement! Il faut "frame them" (English interlude), ensemble!
L'image et l' 'peinture' sont belles. Mais j'imagine que visitant l'endroit dans Brittany est le plus beau de tous. N'aimez-vous pas comment regarder la photographie apporte vos mémoires de Brittany clairement à l'esprit ? Quel cadeau!
Both the picture and the 'painting' are lovely. But I imagine visiting the place in Brittany is the most beautiful of all. Don't you love how looking at the photograph brings your memories of Brittany clearly to mind? What a gift!
That is such a quaint scene. I like the color in the "painted" version. I knew the history of my former house...all the families who lived there and the changes they had made. It was very interesting.
Oh, Michel, your enhanced picture is lovely as well. I would like to see you take up painting, tho. Had you thought of it?
that is a wonderful photograph of a beautiful setting. I bet the photograph is nothing compared to the real life setting....have a wonderful weekend!
The enhanced picture reminds me of a Monet or even a van Gogh.
Michel,
I normally communicate with Clara by email every day. She hasn't responded to me or Jon (hokie) in more than a week. We both are quite worried about her.
Michel,
I have only known her online. I've never met her in person, although we have become close friends. So I cannot have an idea of what has happened. She knows how to contact me by phone or postal mail, but I do not have her contact information. So I am left in the dark.
Eric
Dear Michael yes & in the spirit of that day i will say i have also found your energy countanance and namesake shall i say famaliar ? Spirit families are universal God Bless Michael magi/ beckon aam
Oh, it is so beautiful! And I loved the one that you pictured in the post above this as well...
Michel, thank you for coming to my new site. I am so glad that you did. If there was ever a subscriber that I could not dream of losing, it would be you.
Your descriptions are so powerful Michel! I continue to think about the "births and deaths" even after I am off the site, while I am vacuuming...Such a powerful thought. It really puts into perspective how close we all are. How even though people may have lived and struggled or found happiness many, many, years ago. They were still people. And because of that we are all connected. We all experience "Life". Thank you for sharing.
As far as the "painting" I find it very dreamy. I do like it but prefer the real picture. I am interested in seeing and experiencing the trueness of the picture. The painting looks as if I can only obtain it through dreams and fantasies.
Love and HUgs,
Sarah
Michel, this is lovely. I enjoy seeing the world through your eyes.
Thanks for the comment! I do feel that music is the language of the soul, that it speaks directly to people's hearts, and that it transcends words. Music binds people together, strengthens them, and teaches them about who they are. Et, oui...je parle français. Je suis un étudiant americain, et j'etudie français à l'université. J'ai voyagé en France l'été dernier. C'était fantastique!
amicalement,
-Jeff
hi, thanks for the inspiration. i play the trumpet in band, but this year, i'm the field commander, which menas that i conduct the band while they march. it's kind of fun, but i sometimes miss marching too.
I do love the way your friend touched up your picture! It's so vivid!
Michel,
I just heard from Clara's Martian, Chris. Clara's grandmother became ill, and Clara is caring for her.
Très bonnes imaginations, Michel. J'ai bien la photo et aussi la peinture d'ordinateur! Les maisons ici sont très charmantes, surtout si on imagine tous ce qui s'est passé dedans. Amitiés
This looks like a lovely place to grow up. Old houses do seem to have their own personalities......and spirits!
Have a wonderful weekend, Michel!
bonjour!
i came here via kaitija 's site. what a gorgous photo! like yourself i could easily imagine all sorts stories that it could tell. thank you so much for sharing it! 
Beautiful, Michel. Just beautiful. Your words as well as the picture. Blessings, kc
Very neat painting.. I wanna learn how to do that.
Michel, I also love the enhanced picture! I have known Mitzi for around 5 years now--she is a wonderful photographer, and has enhanced many of her own pictures. Enhanced, it looks like 'fairy-tale land'! Surreal.
ryc: Thank you, I understand. Big money bought his votes. Take care.
"Objets inanimés, avez-vous donc une âme?"... Il paraît que oui, si l'on est capables de se taire et d'écouter. Merci d'avoir partagé cette émotion avec nous! Ciao da Annalisa
I think I prefer the photo.To paint it it should be a real painting, with the pc it is a kind of fake, I think. Perhaps I am wrong..but I prefer real things. Paintings or photo should be real.
I live in San Francisco... the city is somewhat older for the west coast, but it still can't compare to the history of some European cities. It boggles me to think of visiting a place that has been around for hundreds of years. I think you could say "The American" way of doing things is probably related to this lack of history... since we deny our Indian culture, we have no mythology.
It's kind of sad, in a way.
Thank you very much for the praise for the work on the "painting". I appreciate the opportunity to enhance others' pictures. With much affection...MitziRenee
I am a great fan of grey and the slate greys are so lovely I don't like seeing them in blue. I like the real though the fantasy is nice. Glad to see your computer is fixed and that you are back again. You are always missed when you are gone. Hope all is well with you and yours.
Love, Brenda
I commented earlier, but that was before the "enhancement." You gain something and you lose something. Which would I hang on the wall of my house? Every inch of me wants to cop out and say, "both of them," but if you held a gun to my head, I'd take the enhanced version.
It's certainly a beautiful spot, and the 'painting' above turned out really well.
When I see a house like this, I wish it could talk and tell us it's story. MitziRenee's vision of it is delightful. Makes it look surreal. And you have a wonderful way of describing it!
Le travail de Mizirenee est fort sympathique
...
mais rien ne vaut l'originale beauté de la Bretagne !
amitiés hongkongaises
Merci, Michel. J'habite en Maryland, l'etat pres du Washington, D.C. L'etat de Virginia est pres d'ici aussi et Virginia est plus grand et plus connus. Je suis peut-etre 25 minutes a l'est du batiment du Capitol. Il sont des quatre saisons ici et c'est pas trop nord ni pas trop sud pour le plupart. Peut-etre parfait si vous aimez les quatre saisons, comme nous, ma femme, Amy, et moi.
Et "Les Berenstain Bears" sont un cartoon, oui, Canadien, en Anglais principalement je crois. Ici, certainment. En Quebec, certainment en Francais, je suis sur! Il est sur le TV chaque jour, les episodse 30 minutes. Et il sont des filmes aussi, et livres. Livres premierment, avant des episodes de TV et les filmes. Il sont tres amusant et "wholesome," "appropriate" pour la famille et les enfants. Pas seulement les enfants; je les aiment aussi. Comme Tintin, que j'aime aussi et j'ai peut-etre 15 des livres Tintin ici sur le "bookshelf," et en Francis. Felicitations! -- Richard
Hey, just checking out your Xanga, trying to see other people in France with Xangas, feel free to poke around at my Xanga.
I love both the picture and the painting. Both are very evocative of that tucked-away feeling. As Kahlil Gibran has said of houses: "Your house is your larger body. It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night; and it is not dreamless. Does not your house dream? and dreaming, leave the city for grove or hilltop? "
C'est une image vraiment jolie ! : -)
Thank you for your kind words about my French! I will speak in English this time, though. I don't know how to call India using the internet for free, though of course other people do know how. But my satellite internet provider does this, transparent to the caller. I just telephone the "toll free number," also called an "800 number" because all of the exchanges begin with 800, and when they ran out of those, with 877 and 866 -- various other combinations that are all "toll free." But, they have it set up to "ring through" to India. The only way to know it is India is by the accent, and I almost always ask the person where they are, since it is so fascinating to be talking to the other side of the world like this. Very "global village." Another time, a "help desk number" rang through to El Salvador. Another time I had a telemarketer call me from a "call center" on Cape Breton Island, Canada. Wherever there is surplus "labor" or educated, linguistically-capable, people who can perform this sort of function, the international businesses find them. I suppose the "help desk" calls to India do route through the internet, all set up by my satellite internet provider, so that they are not paying "per minute" for the calls. India, of course, is unique because there are so many people, the educational levels are relatively high, and as a former English colony, there is a history of English language knowledge and usage -- and I think perhaps there may be many Indian sub-languages or dialects, so English may be useful even for communication between Indians.
It is a lovely old house. I can easily imagine all the generations that have enjoyed it. You are right, it deserves to be painted or photographed. When I was young, I wanted to paint, but that is a talent that I do not have.
It's amazing. I think I like the painting better (the surreal is always better for me, reality is too harsh)... It's good to see you back from your break!
-the rachael
Je pense qu'ils sont les deux très beau.
You are a magnifcent man, Michel. I'd enjoy, God-willing, someday the honor of meeting you.
Ah, Michel! Your very sweet comment makes me even more sure you are a French gentlemen! You know how to make a lady feel good! Thanks.
I too am commenting here after being gone too long. I always enjoy your entries, dear Michel.
ryc: Thank you, love the eagle and dove analogy.
I am just enchanted with that photo and hope to be able to visit Bretagne one day. Of course you must know what I will be looking for! Wine and cheese!!!!!
Both pictures are lovely. Sitting and imagining the history of a place has captured my attention as well. Sometimes, I look into pictures of my ancestors and wonder endlessly who they were and what I could learn from them if only I could speak with them. Old houses like this also have the power to send our imagination wondering. Thanks for taking us all with you (if only through photos).
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