Bobs interest is piqued by a group of people standing outside the church drinking coffee from Styrofoam cups. Restorers come to repair the plaster statues damaged by the overzealous decorators.
By the time we arrive Joan of Arc has been reunited with her lance, St.Francis has found his head and St.Bernadette's top and bottom half look as though they were never parted. A lady is sitting on a stool repainting the statues. She has an eye for colour that wouldn't be out of place in a Hindu temple. She looks up briefly , says 'Bonjour' and then continues with her work. I catch Bob by his collar as he's moving towards St.Francis. Bob has christening on his mind. St.Francis remains safe. Eau de Bob and a restored saint might prove to be a fault line between Catholic southerners and protestant northerners.
The angelic duo spend the rest of the day at the front gate watching the restorers. Sophie squeaks to let us know that she would like to be across there 'helping'. A PON princess , delicate plaster statues and lots of open pots of paint. Can you imagine anything more nightmarish ?
9 comments:
Not long back from SW France. Every time we go through TLS, my husband and I approach the doors going ... "whooosh" (and look for your PONs.)
Good thing for St. Francis! I am sure Bob's contribution to the statues would be the talk of the village! The statues standing around look almost "eerie" - these old eyes had to focus to make sure they weren't just smallish people waiting to get into the church.
You wouldn't want to encounter them on a day night !
It rather looked (on a larger scale) like the Santons we put out on a table at Christmas. Even that small size makes me nervous when the dog comes running into the room. Having Sophie loose amongst delicate old plaster statues would make anyone tremulous..or scream...or both.
Bob knew that St. Francis is the patron saint of animals! Just paying respects, right Bob??
Truly a recipe for potential disaster and glad disaster was averted. I like the statues; our church doesn't have any.
Well, they are very colourful. Can just picture the PONs if allowed an unsupervised visit....can imagine the statues, too.
Good God! They're being given garden gnome paint jobs! How awful.
Sophie would have given her time freely to help...just a few Jaffa cakes or croissants and she'd be the best paint restorer ever!!
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