The Normandy Chronicles: Day Three: The Smell of Horses and The Noise of Water

Contrast is an amazing thing. During this trip through France, our experiences have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. But without the ridiculous, the sublime would not be as deeply appreciated. We left our lunch at l'Abbaye de Valloires with the taste of good food in our mouths, but tainted by an atmosphere of commercialism. But a drive through the French countryside restored our equilibrium, as Galadriel pointed out the beautiful caramel-colored horses - Henson ponies - that are raised in the Baie de Somme (Wiki).
Even though I lived in Arizona for many years, I didn't know anything about horses until I had the pleasure of meeting Todd Masden of Cave Creek Outfitters. After losing my job and being ejected from my family, I was pretty much a lost soul. But my friend Sharon gave me a job in her art gallery and Todd gave me a job driving his van to Scottsdale resorts to pick up tourists for trail rides out in the desert. I may have been scraping together chicken feed for a living, but I had two of the calmest jobs on the planet. Sitting in Sharon's art gallery in Biltmore Fashion Park (Phoenix shopping center), I was surrounded by peace and quiet and could gaze at the eclectic collection of artists that said so much about who Sharon is and who her friends are: Zarco Guerrero, Robert Miley, Dennis Numkena (RIP), John Boomer, John Soderberg and many others.
Meanwhile, when not working at the gallery, I would show up at Todd's ranch early in the morning and "help" him while he readied his horses for the day and loaded them in the trailer to take them out to the desert drop-off point. Then I'd drive his big van to the first resort, pick up a load of 8-10 tourists and drive them out to meet Todd. They'd take off for their one-hour ride and I'd drive to the second resort and pick up a new load of tourists. By the time I got back, the first group was returning from their ride, so I dropped off the new people and took the first group back to their hotel. This went on all day.
At dusk, after I dropped off the last load of tourists to their shiny resorts, I would "help" Todd return the horses to his ranch and he'd let me brush them. It was awesome to be so close to those sweaty, heaving beasts. I had great respect, a little fear, but much pleasure stroking and talking to them. And Todd was and is the coolest guy on the planet (and not a bad guitar picker, either). He had a lot of patience with me. I'd be yapping about all my ideas for expanding his business, and he'd just smile and tighten some saddle straps. He knew exactly how to run his business - with integrity and great care. That's why he's still in business today.
These were some of the thoughts that ran through my mind as I looked at the French Henson ponies, so far away from the Arizona desert. But in my mind's eye, I could feel their bristly fur, the silkiness of their cheeks, the warmth of their haunches. We lowered our windows and I could smell them, too. It was lovely. Just driving by them, seeing them grazing, remembering my times with Todd and his horses, reconnected me to life's beautiful energy...and erased the sound of tourists in a museum-gift-shop-buying frenzy, trying to reconnect to life by buying more stuff. It's OK. I've done it and still do it (yes, I do lust for an iPad). I just don't want to be around it any more. I'd rather be with the horses.
Or, at le Bruit de l'Eau. I know I got a little sidetracked here, but oh well. Reconnecting to the earth and to my own senses is really important to me now. This trip has given me so many blissful moments where I climbed out of my head and out of my fears and experienced the many pleasures of food, drink, people and nature. Writing about it and sharing it with you gives it the power it deserves and puts all of the worries of supposed "real" life into perspective. The horses were just a visual preparation for the surprise of senses that I experienced in the authentic Japanese garden of Le Bruit de l'Eau, surrounding an ecological B&B which might not be for everybody, but which swept me away into another world, right in the middle of French horse country.
Le bruit de l'eau means "the noise of water" in English. When we entered the grounds and parked, we walked along pathways and heard just that, the noise of water. It's an interesting contrast - associating water with noise - usually a negative connotation. But if you go to the Le Bruit de l'Eau website and scroll down to the bottom of the home page, there's a little audio gadget that you can click on to listen to the sound of this place. You might expect to hear water, but what you'll hear are the animals that live near the water - birds, frogs, lizards I guess... You might never turn it off.
There wasn't a soul anywhere in the place. We peeked into the exhibition kitchen where the owner prepares organic meals while his guests sit at the bar and watch.
We peeked into the main office. It was empty, except for some simple furniture and a tea pot. It was as if the whole place was taking an afternoon siesta or had softly ascended into deep meditation.
We whispered. And tip-toe'd. Galadriel told me that the last time she visited, they were building a Dôjô d'Été (summer dojo) along the water. A dojo is traditionally a place for training, but this room can be rented as a place to sleep. Galadriel wanted to see it, so we wandered the wild paths, into the potager (kitchen garden) and along the spring on a wooden walkway. Beautiful grass, moss and flowering plants filled the wandering streams.
When we found the Dôjô, we became even more silent, in order to hear the cacophony of silence along the water in front of the Dôjô: water sounds, birds flying and tweeting and frog mating sounds.
Here is the inside of the Dôjô, where you can see the sleeping mats rolled up and hints of the mosquito netting that I imagine is a necessity if you want to get any sleep at night (as I said, this isn't for everyone).
If you're sitting on the mats in the Dôjô and the Japanese sliding screens are open, this is what you can see past the deck.
Here is the front "deck." The outside toilet and shower area is on the left, behind the bamboo curtains. You probably have the idea now that this feels like an isolated place, even though it's just a few pathways from the main buildings.
Toilet en plein air, anyone?
Don't worry. They have very comfortable rooms in the main building like the room called Kio-ko, with its private terrace and direct access to the spa. Wifi is available too.
So...this was turning out to be a wonderful day. We almost left this quiet place without seeing anyone. But on our way out, we met the owner's girlfriend and she greeted us warmly, remembered Galadriel from the last time she came, and then told us to enjoy ourselves as she had some work to do. I expected her to be wearing Japanese wooden flip flops and those little white one-toe socks and a kimono. But actually, she was kind of glamorous. Snazzy jeans, hipster haircut, designer sunglasses.
Ahh...the contrasts.
Stick around. Day three isn't over yet. On our way to the sea and our final resting place for the evening, Galadriel and I will visit another Gaycoco B&B which we loved and end up sleeping in an Ohsoso B&B, which we didn't love. Sayonara!