Always look up : the mystery of the blue bird

One swallow does not make a summer

This post really sums up the theme of this blog. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever wherever you happen to find that thing. A few years ago I bought a book called Seize the Day as a present for a friend. I admit it. I seized the book figuring that my need was greater than my friend's. Anyway the book, which has a foreword by the late Anita Roddick, is simply a collection of good advice, whether practical, philosophical, esoteric or spiritual. There are 366 pages, a thought for each day including February 29^th in leap years. A wide range of famous and not-so-famous high-achievers and eccentrics each contributed something for a day that was special for them. There was one suggestion that caught my eye because it seemed so easy to do. The thought for April 7 is simply, Always Look Up. PJ Kavanagh, poet, columnist and actor gave this advice given to him first by an architect friend. When you walk through towns along the high street, Always Look Up. You might see architectural treats, ironwork, columns, sculpture, cornices, stained glass, inscriptions or gargoyles that you miss when you are focused on the pavement.

And so to Juvisy-sur-Orge post office. It is in itself an interesting example of early 20th architecture. According to the local suburban architecture museum, it was designed by an architect named Aubert and was built between 1930 and 1938. So it must have survived the heavy bombardment by the Allies in 1944. The curves of the administration side of the building are almost like a wedding cake.
Here’s the thing of beauty that I walked past for at least 4 years because I wasn’t looking up. This little fellow was hiding in the middle of all that red brick just above the lintel of a disused doorway.

La Hirondelle, Swallow

There’ll be bluebirds over 

At the beginning of the century the French post office was part of the all-encompassing PTT - Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones. You can see how the style of the PTT logo changed from Art Nouveau to Art Deco over the years. However when the post office became independent from telecommunications in 1960, Guy Georget designed the new La Poste logo. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a paper dart? It’s whatever you think will wing your message as fast as possible to its destination. It is also been transformed over time but the yellow of the French post box remains.

But there’s a mystery. Was the swallow already a symbol of La Poste/PTT before Georget’s iconic logo came into being? Is the current logo based on a swallow? Or was the bird tile added to Juvisy post office when the logo changed? The style of ceramic colours and the parallel lines on the tile is certainly in keeping with the Art Deco of the 1930s. The swallow may relate to the tattoos sailors would get to symbolise how far they had sailed, their one true love, or drowned souls being carried up to heaven. The thought that swallows could send messages and migrate far away is summed up in a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

‘O Swallow, Swallow, if I could follow, and light
Upon her lattice, I would pipe and trill,
And cheep and twitter twenty million loves.’

Of course though this is a physical example of the rewards of Always Looking Up, the advice can be taken figuratively. Maybe just changing the tilt of our thoughts can help us see things that have been there all along just waiting to catch our attention.

Always look up

A lot can happen in a month

When Nature moves faster than blogging…

After a frosty, cold and snowy winter, everything was well on cue to sprout, shoot, blossom and bloom as soon as night ground frosts lifted and days lengthened. With that extraordinary long hot spell in the middle of April, the roses in local gardens already in full bloom at Easter are starting to look past their best, some decidedly fanées, and it’s still the first week of May.  

Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa)

At the end of March, the Sénart forest floor was carpeted with white starry wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa) and sunny bright celandines (Ranunculus ficaria). The Forêt Domaniale de Sénart is an ancient forest where the kings and court of France would once hunt. Now managed by Office National des Forêts, the forest just less than 3000 hectares, is a very popular weekend destination. As we arrive in Soisy-sur-Seine, one of several entry points into the forest, after passing over the Seine behind the Ris-Orangis rail station, husband P unfortunately still gets the ‘not done my homework’ feeling, a reminder of the compulsory Sunday afternoon family walks of his childhood.  

Map of the criss-crossing pathways through the Sénart forest

However when we visited in March, many people were enjoying walking, horse-riding, cycling and scooting. One group of women and children had optimistically attempted rollerblading but had soon come to the conclusion that the surface was not really ideal for skates as they struggled back to the car park. The forest is geometrically divided by long pathways that join at nodes, allées and carrefours. Be sure to make a note of the number or name of allées, painted on or nailed to tree trunks, as it’s easy to get confused.  Once we had to rely on following the setting sun to find our way out.

Cute but invasive species

It’s not too difficult to spot the cute but invasive species, the Siberian chipmunk or Korean squirrel (Tamias sibiricus). The animals were imported from Asia and sold as pets, but some escaped and have formed several colonies in France’s forests. The effect on the native ecology is being studied by researchers at National Natural History Museum in Paris. Forest fires often occur in the summer when cones of smoke and attendant helicopters can be seen from our vantage point in Juvisy.

I’m not sure if climbing trees is allowed but there are some prize specimens that are hard for children and teenagers to resist. Meanwhile the merisiers, wild cherry trees, looked beautiful with their white blossom making confetti in the wind.

Cherry blossom (Prunus avium)