Dick Annegarn

Bowdie and Tish

My parents are about to achieve a milestone that I find so incredibly impressive—60 years of marriage. My sister and I are throwing them a party in Bucks County, where they live and we have been looking through old photographs of their wedding day, the 5th of May, 1951. I love the formal black and white pictures that were taken, so evocative of the times and their very proper east coast families.

I am envious of those who weather the storm of a long marriage. I had always dreamed of being married to one person all my life, even though I was actually afraid of marriage, having watched my parents mid-life struggles from the eyes of a critical teen. I wanted lots of children too, the big family.

It is so sweet to see them now, knowing each other so well, moving slowly and quietly through life, tolerating each other with love and compassion. I envy that, having someone to grow old with, that you were once young with. Someone who knows your whole story. It's incredibly touching.

Bang Bang!

I have been in one of my romantic dreamy modes and these are always underwritten by music of some kind or another. I love the floating sound of this young French singer, Stéphanie Lapointe.

Urban Beauty

Poppy, 16, by Halliday

We had an absolutely fantastic day yesterday. It doesn't get any better in Lyon weather-wise than it has been this past week. Sunny, blue skies, dry and 78 degrees.

Abbie and I decided to do some shopping. Her 14th birthday is coming up so I am fishing for ideas for presents (apart from a plane ticket to California this summer to visit her best friend, Ellyse.) We ended up at Sephora and spent an hour trying on make up (which is so unlike me.) Here's what we ended up buying. A gold eye pencil by Makeup Forever and this absolutely crazy beautiful bronze liquid eyeliner by Urban Decay. This is Poppy (Hallie's bf  from Cité Scolaire Internationale and my favorite of Hallie's friends) wearing the two products. She's magnificent!

Bon'home de Monde

I instantly fell in love with these amazing creatures at Maison et Objet. I guess you either love them or you think they are weird. They are like the Petit Collin baby lamps we use to carry, that horrified some people and were coveted by others (like me!)

But these bon'home (a play on the French word "bonhomme," which means good man or gentleman and the English word "home") are simply divine. The colors are amazing, the fabric is beautiful and you just want one to cuddle with (I know that sounds queer.) Very soft and fuzzy pillows that are both comforting and comfortable and made by France's most famous peluche (stuffed animal) maker.

Anyway, we are going to be the first company in the US to carry them and it's terribly exciting because they are all the rage in Paris. Click here to get your own bon'home.

Cute Easter Pillows

I wish I could say that I had these in stock at Basic French in time for Easter. These pillows by Teo Jasmin are so darn cute and I would love to carry them, but I just discovered them today! Next season! What I do have this season is just as cute though, so check out our New Arrivals!

Childhood

It would be good to give much thought, before
you try to find words for something so lost,
for those long childhood afternoons you knew
that vanished so completely -and why?

We're still reminded-: sometimes by a rain,
but we can no longer say what it means;
life was never again so filled with meeting,
with reunion and with passing on

as back then, when nothing happened to us
except what happens to things and creatures:
we lived their world as something human,
and became filled to the brim with figures.

And became as lonely as a sheperd
and as overburdened by vast distances,
and summoned and stirred as from far away,
and slowly, like a long new thread,
introduced into that picture-sequence
where now having to go on bewilders us.

by Rainer Maria Rilke

Quiet Country

My make-shift mailbox with no mail

We spent a really quiet weekend in the country. It was the first warmish weekend and I wanted to check on the house and make sure there were no leaks. It was so deeply peaceful there that I was able to start reading a 746-page daunting tomb, Proust by Ghislain de Diesbach that my friend George put me up to reading. George, was so alarmed that I had not read Proust in my college days and that I in fact thought Proust was a German writer (based on his Germanic-sounding name and my ignorance,) that he proposed I read Proust's autobiography before reading his work. Easier said than done. But in the country, at least it is quiet enough that I can concentrate. At least natures' noises replace the buzzing of the refrigerator and the swirling of the washing machine and the hum of the ever-illuminated Macintosh.

My Friend Isabelle

Isabelle's counter

If there is any one person I can credit for my move to France it would be Isabelle Grange. We met in the summer of 2000, before everything changed in the Hudson Valley, before 9/11. Isabelle an amazing painter was living at that time in a beautiful and funky house on the Hudson river, south of Rhinebeck. She had been peering through the Basic French store windows that were covered with white paper, waiting for our grand opening. That summer, Isabelle was working for my friends Steve Abeles and Ray Anastasio, at their beautiful antique store, Balsamo, in Pine Plains. They assured us we'd be friends.

When the doors to Basic French finally opened in August, Isabelle was one of my first customers. We immediately hit it off. I was awed by her talent and her sweet and gentle temperament. Over the years our friendship blossomed even after she moved back to les Monts du lyonnais to be near her family and friends. I often visited her hometown of Larajasse and on 9/11, when I was stuck in Paris during Maison et Objet with no flights scheduled to the US for four days, I called her and stayed with her family. The next summer, I rented a house in Perigord, and during the worst summer deluge, the girls and I drove across France, in 9 1/2 hours, by way of the Massif Central to visit Isabelle. While walking in the country near her family home, we spotted an old stone farm house high on a hill, neglected, savage but beautiful. I said "If that house ever comes on the market, let me know." Three years later I bought that same house, my basic French getaway, one kilometer from where Isabelle grew up.

Isabelle's kitchen

A brilliant artist who studied at l'ecole d'Arts Appliqués in Lyon, then later worked in New York for Raymond Waites as design director, Isabelle has a unique, personal painting style that has greatly evolved over the years. What never changes however, is her attention to detail and her amazing craftsmanship. She can paint anything. Her background as a decorative painter has landed her international projects for wallpaper manufacturers, publishers and high-end decorative design firms. She has exhibited her travel portraits widely and while her personal work is so different from her decorative work, both are highly collectible.

Isabelle's urn prints in her salon

We are thrilled to be carrying some of Isabelle's decorative prints at Basic French, a business collaboration following years of great friendship. To see more of Isabelle's personal work, click here.
To see her decorative work for Objet de Curiosité, click here.

Isabelle Grange, painter

Thoughts on London...

The girls and I hopped on an Easy Jet in Lyon and landed an hour later at Gatwick airport in London. Hard to believe, but it's time to look for colleges for Halliday and aside from looking in New York and Philadelphia this Spring, we are checking out England. Because, you never know and ya gotta keep your options open.

A bit of window shopping therapy was in order after a long dreary Winter in Lyon, which seemed lacking in fashion stimulation. It did not take us long to get really excited about design and clothes and stuff. London is filled with funky, fun places to go and it made me realize how conservative the French are, even if they have great taste. There is an element of not taking risks which exists in all aspects of French culture and while elegant and understated always works in fashion at least, I have been craving pattern, texture and color, feeling like I want to step out of the mold that the French are so good at staying in.

Winter Break

The girls are on vacation for the next two weeks and I must say, a much needed vacation. I am not sure whether it is the dreary Winter we are having or the extreme amount of pressure they have at school, but they are exhausted.

The dogs and I went to the country to check on our house, make sure we had enough oil to heat the stone foundation before we spend a few days of vacation there freezing our butts off. We were out of oil, oops. Thank God I checked. Mr. Salignant a local beverage deliveryman and the only old timer equipped with an oil delivery truck in our region, agreed to meet me on a dryish day. Our house is at the end of a farmer's path one that is extremely muddy at this time of year. He delivered 500 litres of oil for .87 euros per litre. Won't last long, but will get us through the Spring since we won't spend much time in the house until it warms up and the sun shines down on les monts du lyonnais. After all my years in the Hudson Valley, I just cannot bear the cold of Winter and being stuck inside because of bad weather. I guess I shoveled my walkway one too many times and lost my romantic view of it all.

Mr. Salignant is a man of few words and those that he speaks I can hardly understand because of his very thick local accent. There is a patois in this region and when they speak quickly, I have no clue what they are saying. He is a bit too curious about my life. I must be such an anomaly to him, to just about everyone in these parts. I can't imagine what they think of me. I am just super friendly and have learned not to talk too much, not to reveal much about my life. Better to remain mysterious and unknown.

I was struck by the calm of the country compared to the bustling city I live in, Lyon. I wondered why I don't spend more time in the country, why I don't allow more silent space in my head, because I miss it. I thought about how much more connected to myself I feel in the country. I wanted to write, and jot things down. I wanted to just sit and breathe, something I never feel able to do in the city, always have to be moving, accomplishing something. I felt good. I made a plan to come back later this week, just for a few days, before we go off to London to look at Universities for Hallie. God time flies.

De cet amour ardent je reste émerveillée

Je reste émerveillée

Du clapotis de l’eau

Des oiseaux gazouilleurs

Ces bonheurs de la terre

Je reste émerveillée

D’un amour

Invincible

Toujours présent

Je reste émerveillée

De cet amour

Ardent

Qui ne craint

Ni le torrent du temps

Ni l’hécatombe

Des jours accumulés

Dans mon miroir

Défraîchi

Je me souris encore

Je reste émerveillée

Rien n’y fait

L’amour s’est implanté

Une fois

Pour toutes.

De cet amour ardent je reste émerveillée.

Andrée Chedid, Printemps des poètes 2007

Vicomte Arthur

If you really want to understand the French version of preppy, check out Vicomte Arthur. Halliday is a big fan and swoons over the new collection. I love the packaging and the really fun aspect of their design and their free spirit.

 

My Boy Vincent

Vincent Delerm

I am having the most terrible time making time to write in my blog. I have so much going through my head. I have taken tons of photos and videos and I don't know what happens each day. I can't seem to sit down and post things, even though j'ai envie. Then today I realized that I have been so busy I have not even been listening to music, and I am so passionate about music that we know something's crazy here. So this is what I can do today. Post a song by one of my favorite French singers, adorable Vincent Delerm and then make a promise to myself to write and post more VERY SOON!!


                        

Do you want to rent my house this summer?

 I am serious. I have the most wonderful authentic simple country house imaginable in France, near Lyon and I am hoping to rent it this summer either for the full summer or for 2 separate months. I usually rent it by the week, but because I personally am going to be in New York and Yay! at Brooklyn Flea on the weekends for July and August, I will not be able to be in France to meet and greet my renters every week.

Here is a tour of the outside of my house and the first floor. There is a beautiful second floor with master bedroom (king size bed) and reading nook, a third bedroom (2 twin beds) and a bathroom + WC. Click here to see the Sneak Peek in Design Sponge! I would also consider trading houses or apartments with someone who lives in Brooklyn! Serious inquiries only please! carol@basicfrenchonline.com

Interactive Window Display

Interactive Display Window from Marcus Wallander on Vimeo.
I love this idea, a link I saw on Design Sponge. I can imagine a Basic French window and cute French models on Parisian backgrounds interacting with people in the street. I think it would be so fun to create. This is the amazing work of Stockholm-based designer Marcus Wallander at Hyper Island. Very cool. And thanks Grace! Click here to see the interactive window displays.

The Best Grandmother Ever!

 

Before the holidays, we got an order at Basic French from one of our favorite clients, Ginger. She wanted to find something special for her very accomplished granddaughter. She's very proud of her!

We were so excited when Tal herself (beautiful and bronze in her marinière dress,) sent us this amazing picture, taken in December by her boyfriend in Aruba. Wow, I wish I had a grandmother that cool! Yay Ginger! You win the best grandmother of the year award!

Happy Deux Mille Onze from New York!

Lucia and Abbie in Prospect Heights by Halliday

It's hard to believe that 2010 is over! This has been such an inspiring year at Basic French, despite the sluggish economy—full of exciting changes to our product offerings, structure and vision for Basic French. I have more inspiration in France and video possibilities of our offbeat life in Lyon than I can possibly contain in my blog. And my New Year's resolution is to write more and share more with those who are interested! A good jumping off point!

Most of all, I want to thank you, our loyal customers, for shopping at Basic French and for sticking with us through our growing pains. You are my real inspiration and the reason I want to make Basic French the best French website in the States. Without you all, it would just be me shopping and shipping and talking about my life to myself. We thank you so much for your support and hope that you will keep following us in the coming year as we add regular columns to our blog, take on a site redesign, host some exciting pop-up store shopping opportunities and become regulars at Brooklyn Flea this summer. Yay!

The girls and I are flying back to Lyon tonight after a wonderful East Coast work/vacation/holiday/family time. We had a fabulous New Year's in Pamela's perfectly styled Brooklyn apartment, ate Henri's amazing annual carbonara and a had a killer view of Prospect Park's fireworks—trop bien! A great and necessary break. Now I'm back to work and onto Maison et Objet in Paris at the end of the month to buy for Spring/Summer 2011!

All of us at Basic French wish you a happy and healthy New Year. Très Bonne Année Deux Mille Onze!

Fireworks in Prospect Park by Halliday

Brooklyn Rocks!

 

Brooklyn is such a cool place. I know this is nothing new, but I am just having such a fun experience here. Today, New Years Eve Day, Hen and I went for a slushy trek all over Park Slope and it was better than fun.

Fabulous Painter Henry Finklestein, in deep thought...

 We started at the groovy food coop, moseyed onto the bodega which was absolutely jammed to the brim and ended up at an Italian deli/épicerie so Henry could buy pancetta for his famous New Year's
specialty: wholewheat carbonara.YUM!

  

Happy Saint Sylvestre! Happy Réveillon!

Doing the Brooklyn Thing

It's been two days now that we've had our first Brooklyn-based pop up store at One Hanson Place. Everyone seemed to know about Brooklyn flea but me, and it is amazing. Setting up was stressful and I would say that today, we are starting to feel at home, as if things are a bit under control. We've got some fabulous neighbors. Across the aisle is "dAN's Parent's House," a funky collection of Star Wars action figures, block and tackle pulleys, old letterpress type, vintage gum ball machines, and a poodle decanter with six shot glasses. He plays Vampire Weekend, one of our favorite New York bands, and the girls and I dance around.

Right next to us is Twig, that's Katy and Michelle, the amazing terrarium makers. Tomorrow morning, they are doing a special terrarium-making event with Grace from design*sponge.

Today I did a little shopping myself (I think I've spent more $$ than I've earned) and I bought two gorgeous hand-block printed notebooks and a set of colorful note cards–all one of a kind from Beau Ideal Editions.

Anyway, it's been so fun and I'm learning a lot. The girls have helped me so much. Here are some pics that Hallie took with her new camera. Stay tuned...

Buns are Fun!

Here's what you do when you are supposed to be putting new products online and packing. You make a bun and then break out the old Polaroid. There are always lots of fabulous ways to procrastinate! And I am a pro!

Dans les Valises

 

Actually I wish I could actually say that I was "dans les valises," busy packing my bags. That always seems to be a last minute event for me, 2 in the morning kind of thing. Thank God I am a light packer. This trip my bags are going to be filled with merchandise for the market in Brooklyn, exciting stuff that I hope arrives before I leave Lyon. Yikes it's a tight squeeze. And I still have 3 cartons + to send—one a day, that's my motto.

Anyway, the weather is turning balmy after some mighty snowy days. And since Abbie and I are so rarely pictured together, I thought I would pop this photo on. Time for me to get some new glasses. The nerdy look is getting a bit old!

Reproduction by Arnaud Fleurent-Didier

I am a little big stuck in a music mind today. Not getting a lot done. But, this guy is absolutely fabulous!

Oh Yikes!!!

 

My friend Ka just sent me a photo he took in the New York subway yesterday . A poster for Brooklyn Flea's Holiday Market "Gifted." Now this is a big deal. I sure hope you will all come and visit me. I just made the best mix of new French music and we are going to rock this show!!!!!

Thoughts on Christmas

Christmas is a funny time. Not funny haha, but strange.

I love the idea of abundant food, cozy and warm, bright shiny lights, snow, the smell of pine, ornaments, candles, a fire, inspiring church services, Christmas carols, a creche, happy children and one big happy family. I love it all. I love shopping and cooking and thinking about presents for my friends and family, I love buying (we all know that.) I like less receiving, but I like buying for myself (who doesn't?)

That's it, I love the idea of Christmas. Eat, pray, love. It's the reality that I am not too fond of. I'm sorry. I have to be honest. Christmas is just wildly stressful and I dream of the moment when I can actually have a life where I am able to enjoy the holidays and not dread the monumental task of traveling overseas, working up until the final hour, sleeping in a strange bed, leaving my dogs behind, rushing, fearing bad weather, feeling un-entitled and guilty, burntout and disappointed. Each year I try to manage my expectations and this year for example, I am again very excited about the idea of the upcoming holidays.

Here's what I have going on. Between now and December 8th I am an absolutely crazy maniac, packing cartons, managing family life with 2 teenagers and 2 dogs, trying to see friends and loved ones, packing suitcases, dealing with Basic French and pre-holiday retail madness, writing my blog, answering emails, twittering, facebooking and taking HD festive holiday videos. The 7th I drive Clementine to the country where she will board with all her Weimeraner pals at a cost of 16 euros per day. I can't move the car on the 8th because it is Les Fetes des Lumieres here, the absolute busiest day of the year in Lyon when no one can park and all the roads are blocked off. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on Lyon for a week of illuminated frenzy. The 9th we leave from Lyon, fly to Paris, arrive at JFK at 9:15pm, drive to Red Hook, and then the fun begins around midnight! This is the holidays.

God bless Barb and Barb, who welcome me, now that I don't own a house in the Hudson Valley, into their lovely amazingly cozy and fabulously festively decorated home, a place that feels like home to me, the way home should feel. You can paddle around in your pjs and slippers, mumble to each other in the morning until the coffee kicks in, then go independently your own way during the day only to regroup at the end of the day for a home-cooked meal by chef Bob. It truly does not get any better than this!

I will be in Red Hook for 4 whirlwind days preparing for the Brooklyn Flea Holiday Market "Gifted"  and trying to fit in visits with all my friends, not to mention numerous doctor's appointments. The show goes from the 15th until the night of the 22nd, or at least that is when I pack up my stuff, race back to Red Hook, unload the van, pack my bags and hightail it to Bucks County, PA to see my parents. Am I enjoying the holidays yet?

Let me pause. It is usually at about this time that I have a complete change of mind and a wave of grace passes through me. It is about now that I begin to be tired of all the spending and excesses that this holiday engenders. I hate to be Scrooge and kiss a good festive moment goodbye, but I must look at the big picture. At this time of year, I start worrying about the homeless people in my neighborhood. It's cold, they are outside all day, and Christmas is going to be an unfun day for them, like all the rest of the unfun days. I begin to pray for them and pray for peace in the world. I remind my girls how fortunate we really are, that getting stuff is nice, but a thoughtful gesture, however small, brings far greater joy to the world. So we bake cookies for the lovely old ladies in our building who thrill at the chance to share a lyonnaise story with us in the hallway as we dash away, dash away, dash away all. I try to smile more and say nice things to people who look lonely. I go to St. Martin D'ainay, the 13th century abbey next to my house, and cry for all the sadness in the world...then I feel better. The bells ring, the low golden sun bursts through the cool gray clouds.

Christmas, for me, is love, pray, eat {in that order}. . . and on this 3rd of December, 22 days BC, I want to remember why I am here on this earth and embrace the true Christmas spirit! It's time to put on Ella Fitzgerald, hug my kids, be grateful, bake more cookies and sing!