Saint-Gervais-Les-Bains. August 14, 2016
On our way from Zermatt to Chamonix we drove by Saint-Gervais-Les-Bains where Pierre spent every month of August as a child in the family house: Les Airelles (Cranberry in French). The house was built by Pierre's Great Great Grand Father in 1906 and has been since then the summer mountain retreat for the Faÿ family.
We had not planned to stop in Saint-Gervais but on Isabelle's impulsion we decided on a surprise visit, not really expecting to find any of Pierre's Aunts and Uncles. Luck was in the cards and we had a fantastic catch: Nicole (Pierre's godmother), Gérard and Yves (Pierre's uncles) and their wives Michelle and Bernadette were there just finishing lunch. An impromptu Family Reunion!
The stunning views over the French Alps brought back many souvenirs to Pierre!
A small painting hanged in the former maids' office representing Pierre's Great Grand Mother "accessories" threw Pierre back on Memory Lane. She was in her 90's at the time and always wore a big straw hat often praying on the living room balcony with her rosary. Having lived through two wars, she had developed a solid aversion to anything she perceived as wasteful - like using too much sugar. She would not hesitate to kick the children's hands across the dinner table with her wooden cane when we would put more than one spoon of sugar in our yogurt. In "retaliation" and during her afternoon naps, we would regularly undo several raws of her knitting which she kept in her egg-shaped basket and, for some reason, would seem to never grow in size....
Everything was there on the painting - Priceless!
Painting by Bruno Faÿ
