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art vitamins, hearts, international, monday motivation, thanx so much, trois couleurs

Much needed Monday motivation: « À Bicyclette »

December 13, 2010 7 Comments

My partner in artsy-things-and-silent-film crimes, sent me this link the other day which he so nicely included the lyrics +translations. So cute, now I need a little Campari mid-day cocktail and close my eyes imagining I’m at his concert.
Yves Montand, Olympia 1981

 

« À Bicyclette » “By Bicycle”
Quand on partait de bon matin When we left early in the morning
Quand on partait sur les chemins When we left on the roads
À bicyclette By bicycle
Nous étions quelques bons copains We were a few good friends
Y avait Fernand y avait Firmin There was Fernand and Firmin
Y avait Francis et Sébastien There was Francis and Sébastien
Et puis Paulette And then Paulette.

On était tous amoureux d’elle We were all in love with her
On se sentait pousser des ailes We felt like we were growing wings
À bicyclette On our bicycles.
Sur les petits chemins de terre On these little dirt roads
On a souvent vécu l’enfer We often went through hell
Pour ne pas mettre pied à terre To not dismount
Devant Paulette In front of Paulette.

Faut dire qu’elle y mettait du cœur I must say that she really put her heart into it
C’était la fille du facteur She was the daughter of the postman
À bicyclette On a bicycle.
Et depuis qu’elle avait huit ans And ever since she was eight
Elle avait fait en le suivant She followed him around
Tous les chemins environnants All the neighborhood roads
À bicyclette By bicycle.

Quand on approchait la rivière When we approached the river
On déposait dans les fougères We left in the ferns
Nos bicyclettes Our bicycles.
Puis on se roulait dans les champs Then we rolled in the fields
Faisant naître un bouquet changeant   Giving life to a changing bouquet
De sauterelles, de papillons Of grasshoppers, butterflies,
Et de rainettes and tree frogs.

Quand le soleil à l’horizon When the sun on the horizon
Profilait sur tous les buissons Cast over the bushes
Nos silhouettes Our silhouettes
On revenait fourbus contents We returned exhausted and content
Le cœur un peu vague pourtant Yet the heart a bit vague
De n’être pas seul un instant Because we never had a moment alone
Avec Paulette With Paulette.

Prendre furtivement sa main To furtively take her hand
Oublier un peu les copains To forget the others a little
La bicyclette The bicycle.
On se disait c’est pour demain We tell ourselves that’s for tomorrow
J’oserai, j’oserai demain I will dare to, I will dare to tomorrow
Quand on ira sur les chemins When we go on the roads
À bicyclette By bicycle.

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las neighborhoods in SF, pinches hills, the frenchie, the states, trois couleurs, weekend report

Happy Memorial Day!!

May 31, 2010 2 Comments
frenchie post arguello hill.
thank you, veterans.
Top of the hill at the Arguello street gate, The Presidio – San Francisco, Calif.
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las neighborhoods in SF, red limbs, the frenchie, trois couleurs

Civic duties.

April 20, 2010 10 Comments

This photo was taken across the street from City Hall. I really enjoy biking past the civic center area at night, there is some sense of strange tranquility along with sudden insane crazy racket. I consider it four-block pivoting point between Hayes Valley, the Mission, Tenderloin, taking the lane on 8th street to the south of market or heading east on Market to the beautiful Ferry building. Take a direction, take it easy and soon after riding, even at a slow pace like mine for 10 minutes, you will be there.
No red glittery shoes needed, or Toto – maybe just some really bright tights 😉

Thursday night.
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art vitamins, eye candy, hump day inspiration, la blogesphere, qué cute, thanx so much, the frenchie, trois couleurs

Hump Day Inspiration: Fifi flowers.

March 3, 2010 6 Comments

Fifi and I have followed each others blogs for internet-ages now. Her drawings, travels and interpretations of city and traveling scenes jump out of the screen within their drawing and painting forms and embrace you into a story, a tale. She often accompanies a photograph with her drawings, but the latter is so much more round, much more lively.

This is a tremendous THANK YOU! to my lady fifi from fififlowers.com
She absolutely surprised me with two adorable drawings she has just featured and this has become the first ever to have had the honor to have art and creative pieces made from photos of my beloved Frenchie, my bicycle, presented here in this blog (one has been my user icon for years, and the other is from a recent post)

Oh my, am I smiling – this is wicked cool!
♥merci beaucoup!!

Check them out here:
Frenchie Travels»

——-
Images from fififlowers.com
Visit her etsy shop: fifi flowers shop

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fun, la blogesphere, las neighborhoods in SF, newspaper/media, postal delivery, red limbs, the frenchie, trois couleurs, VELCRO, with love from

Get it off your chest.

January 26, 2010 40 Comments

Sometime around 1997, a girlfriend and I had ditched school and went to the record store. On one of days (ok, this happened often) I bought some music I don’t recall now, local zines & 2 magazines starting with the letter B, I had never seen before. BUST and Bitch. I remember reading this article on PJ Harvey and 10,000 maniacs and of course some very cool stuff to read for when I got grounded. Both magazines have evolved and I am happy to see both of them around and not gone. Very cool

So, now I’m going to shamelessly let you know I’m in a magazine. It’s BUST.
The beloved Frenchie – the motobecane astra that has become the vehicle and my shrink of confidence everyday– this steel beauty, gets some love. yay!

Picture 57
February/March 2010 issue posted at bitsandbobbins.com
and this is a photo of the page by my friend eric 🙂
meli in bust magazine


Many gracias to the fabulous lady behind bits and bobbins and creator of the wonderful Wardrobe Remix, Tricia Royal. I was pretty flattered when she contacted me about this and also I think is super rad that the beautiful America Ferrera is on the cover & those hearts!!!!

We had fun doing the shoot. The photo was taken in Alamo square (you know, those postcard houses) and it even though it looks quite dry when the sun even came out for a bit, then we got some freak flash rain, crazy. Thought I’d share

Lucy
Lucy, the photographer. Very cool lady.

What makes me happy is the exposure of the bike, the cities we live in and that being dressed ‘normal’ and a woman is no longer that rare. We don’t need crazy get-ups (cute shoes are not consider crazy! he hee), fancy gadgets or man-lead long distance groups, to be part of the bicycle culture. We are here, and we are ready to ride, with our normal clothes and our happy faces. We move forward, sometimes make friends along the way ‹I have met amazing women that are now best of friends›, discover new places in town, enjoy the great smells from the bike lane (ok in SF, often not-so-great at all), climb hills, fall, bleed, sweat, learn to dodge doors and learn everyday that really it is not hard, to move around with your bicycle.
And dress up? sure why not! give it a try 😀

Velcro approves
and my wicked cat Velcro approves.

– – – –
Gracias Lucy, Tricia y BUST – and all of you.
♥ much love / meligrosa ♥

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bicycle parking, bike science, eye candy, frames, las neighborhoods in SF, pimp that ride, ride on, the frenchie, trois couleurs

Les lovelies.

January 20, 2010 9 Comments
Les lovelies.
Les lovelies.

I have seen this bike around the city many times, and always thought –that bike and my frenchie are so made for each other— I do not know who the owenr is (yet) but well, apparently the very tall he/she likes coffee too, because this was a stone throw away from Four Barrel. Good taste mate, good taste 😉

details:
Frenchie's boyfriend.
Frenchie’s boyfriend.
detail.
neat-to

*tip/hat to Jason, who showed the link to the person that actually built the bike//
Through the flickerland, J.Muir from Santa Cruz has this picture below showing Frances buiilding details:


BK HT by J.Muir from Santa Cruz on Flickr®

As it turns out, J.Muir is the frame builder behind Frances Cycles, based out of Santa Cruz, and has built beautifuullllllll creatures such as this yellow mixte below. Oh my…

Emily’s Mixte by J.Muir from Santa Cruz on Flickr®

Anyways, couldn’t help myself but to share immediately a good dose of eye candy.

If those frames ever had offspring it’d be the an absolute gorgeous glittery blue tricycle…
Frenchie et Frances. Qué cute.

– – – –
♥ Ah, the beautiful things roaming the small San Francisco bikeneverse!! ♥

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red limbs, top shots, trois couleurs

Freewheeling

March 10, 2009 15 Comments

Special delivery from an European snow castle in a place far-far away…

Much needed TLC for my much neglected smurfette. I plan to ride my road bike a lot more this year than ever, because, why not. It is a beautiful steel frame with some very nice old-school components and it spends most of the time jealous of the Frenchie. Anyways – She got much love from the sweet boys over at Freewheel on Hayes st. ♥You guys rock. Testing how that vicious cranky crank is behaving soon. Riding in progress.


Done.

Off to new adventures with deers, the steepest hills in SF and roaming around Marin County. Watchout now…
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