21 Tuesday Aug 2018
Posted in Sharing
Micheline Walker
The picture located on my page until today, was taken when I was about 65. I am now 74. My hair used to be black. Well, that’s gone. I am petite and slender, which I have been most of my life.
My ancestry is mostly French and Irish.
My nom de plume is Micheline Bourbeau-Walker. Bourbeau is my mother’s name.
Love to everyone ♥
Jean-Paul Lemieux (Pinterest)
© Micheline Walker
21 August 2018
WordPress
20 Tuesday Nov 2012
Tags
Camille Saint-Saëns, Carnival of the Animals, History, Louisiana Purchase, Louisiana Purchase Treaty, Micheline Walker, United State, WordPress
Photo credit: Antique Vintage Prints
Dear readers,
I have discreetly updated the Louisiana Purchase Treaty. As some of you may have noticed, earlier versions of blogs sometimes appear on the screen. Or else, a thought comes to one’s mind.
Writing allows further understanding of an event.
My last posts have not been very entertaining. I have readers who require information.
However, my main reason for writing to you is that I may not be able to post articles for two or three days for medical reasons: minor surgery. Or else I may post articles that do not require much research. But I will reading your blogs.
* * *
composer: Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) piece: “The Swan” from The Carnaval of Animals performer: Jacqueline du Pré (26 January 1945 – 19 October 1987)Micheline Walker©
November 20th, 2012
WordPress
10 Saturday Nov 2012
The Four Seasons: Summer, or Ruth and Boaz, 1660–1664, Louvre Museum
* * *
I have just destroyed my Credit Card. It was a new Credit Card, a third card because I had already destroyed two cards.
Yesterday, a person from the Credit Card Company phoned to inform me that all the money available on my Credit Card had been spent. They were suspicious because the money was used by a company located in France, which was unusual. Normally, my card is used to pay for groceries or cat food. To my surprise, someone authorized these expenses, but it was not me. My money will be returned to me, but I must now involve the police.
I can think of only two ways in which they could have accessed my Credit Card number. First, they could have done so when I paid WordPress for an update. I did not use the Credit Card on the internet other than to pay WordPress money I owed. Second, they may have entered my online bank account. They are hackers.
My money will be returned to me, but the items will show on my next statement and I am now alarmed.
* * *
Two weeks (approximately), I received comments from a French site calling itself Référencement gratuit (Free reference). Référencement would mean cataloguing. I replied to these comments by explaining that if my posts were quoted, a source had to be given as the writer would otherwise be in violation of copyright laws. I also feared they would make money using my posts. A student would kill to have access to the blog I published yesterday. It may not be popular with most readers, but for a student preparing a term essay it is very valuable. So are my voyageur posts.
* * *
But we have left the realm of copyright violation. That is bad enough, however… using WordPress (the name, the ability to leave comments, etc.) to defraud me is just as serious a matter, and I cannot exclude the possibility that WordPress was used to defraud me, even though WordPress does not keep a Credit Card number. The police will have to deal with this matter, but I need to contact WordPress. Please tell me. How does one contact WordPress? If one phones WordPress, no one answers. One leaves a message, but one’s call is not returned. If you write a message to WordPress, again you will hit a brick wall.
I can reach the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada. I believe I can also reach the Pope. However, I cannot reach WordPress. Nor can I reach most online businesses.
I have to talk to someone at WordPress. It is an URGENT MATTER. I have to secure my site. WordPress is an honest platform, but hackers are not honest. They are criminals.
If any of you could help reach WordPress, I would be most thankful.
By the way, change your password often. Moreover, when you bank on the internet and your password is not accepted, please take that matter very seriously. Do not use PayPal, unless you can authorize a payment and they have hired investigators. Credit Card companies have professional investigators.
But it is best not to give your credit card number to anyone on the internet, including our above-suspicion WordPress. Your Credit Card number will nevertheless be in cyberspace for a few minutes and cyberspace is not safe.
I have been removing what I considered harmless personal information from the internet. It is not harmless. In fact, if I post a lovely picture, I soon find that an internet company has chosen to put it in its inventory. If they do this, they should pay me. This keeps happening. Moreover, Micheline Walker’s pictures are on the internet. I have obtained or purchased permission to use art from certain sources, but some of these pictures are on the internet and not on my site.
P.S. If I am late reading your posts, it has to do with the above-mentioned fraudulent activity.
_________________________ composer: Marin Marais (31 May 1656, Paris – 15 August 1728, Paris) piece: Spectre de la Rose performers:27 Thursday Sep 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
Better Business Bureau, Confidence trick, Credit card, Micheline Walker, Microsoft, Personal computer, Telephone number, WordPress
My dear readers,
I am about to post another blog, but my computer was hacked and nearly destroyed. The evil deed was perpetrated by persons who first phone and tell you that viruses are destroying your computer. They claim to be working for Microsoft, give you the badge number, a name and a telephone number. They then tell you that they will repair your computer… at a cost.
The next day, you receive another telephone call, by persons who tell you that you have been the victim of a scam but that they will fix the problem … at a lower cost.
At that point you phone to cancel your credit card and your bank account (s). An investigation is under way.
However, you receive yet another phone call. This time you hang up.
They are consummate con artists and because your computer does not work, you can be convinced they are Microsoft employees. They show you a photo ID.
I will have to get in touch with WordPress to change the name of my blog. Once they have your name, they can also get your phone number or vice versa.
Beware, they also get pictures. There are Micheline Walker pictures on the internet and since I am not the only Micheline Walker, there are photographs of people who are not me.
But life goes on. I have not lost a great deal of money, but how does one believe anyone anymore?
My computer (WordPress in particular) does not feel as stable as it felt. Writing a blog is difficult.
I will post this warning and try to finish what I was doing.
Best regards to all of you.
14 Friday Sep 2012
Posted in Music
Tags
Biography, Chevalier de Saint-George, Guadeloupe, Joseph Bologne, Marie-Angoinette., Micheline Walker, Saint-George, The Black Mozart, The French Revolution, WordPress
14 Tuesday Aug 2012
Posted in Music
Tags
Antoine Watteau, Hector Berlioz, Jean de Florian, Jean Paul Égide Martini, Kathleen Battle, Micheline Walker, Plaisir d'amour, Wikipedia, words and music
L’Embarquement pour Cythère, Antoine Watteau (1684 – 1721)
Wikipedia‘s entry on Plaisir d’amour is very informative. For instance, it even contains the lyrics for the song. I will therefore provide a point-form summary of the story of the song, using the Wikipedia entry. There are several pop music settings of this song. Nana Mouskouri ‘s interpretation is particularly delightful, but I have not been able to embed the video.
(please click on the picture to enlarge it) La Surprise, by Antoine Watteau07 Saturday Jul 2012
Posted in Art
Tags
Belgian, George Barbier, Hercule Poirot, Jacques Brel, Micheline Walker, Ne me quitte pas, Regina Spektor, Rod McKuen, Royal Albert Hall
The Sundial, a woman is crying, a man is going away, by George Barbier (1882-1832)
Illustration for an Almanach, 1922 (with permission from Art Resource, NY)Jacques Brel‘s “Ne me quitte pas” is a song one can never forget. It has a visceral quality that few singers other than the very intense Brel, its creator, can convey. Moreover, it is a poem and poems tend to suffer in translation, particularly in a literal translation. But I am nevertheless providing a literal translation. The song is translated one paragraph at a time.
Fortunately, Rod McKuen′s rendition of “Ne me quitte pas” is as translations should be, i.e. a rendition. It goes beyond the words to convey the same despair as Brel’s song. At times, he uses Brel’s devastating imagery, but at times, he strays from it in order to give the translation a more or less equivalent degree of intensity as the original version. Jacques Brel was a chansonnier, a singer-songwriter, and so was McKuen. Moreover, they were kindred spirits, so there is considerable affinity between Brel’s “Ne me quitte pas” and McKuen’s “If you go away.” We will therefore hear both versions.
McKuen is now 79. As for Brel, his signature cigarette killed him at 49.
—ooo—
Barbier’s illustration dates back to an age of affluence and composure. It does not seem to match “Ne me quitte pas,” except remotely and in another mode. Barbier’s illustration is an Art Deco classic and reminds me of the television episodes of Agatha Christie ‘s Hercule Poirot, her charming Belgian detective. Actor David Suchet has become Poirot’s embodiment. But I could not resist Chabrier’s red and black illustration: le rouge et le noir ne s’épousent-ils pas? Unlike Brel’s chanson, which expresses raw grief, the lady’s tears suggest mere sorrow. But the lady is in a public environment, she is French, and appearances are deceptive.
Ne me quitte pas / Il faut oublier / Tout peut s’oublier / Qui s’enfuit déjà / Oublier le temps / Des malentendus / Et le temps perdu / À savoir comment / Oublier ces heures / Qui tuaient parfois / À coups de pourquoi / Le cœur du bonheur / Ne me quitte pas (repeated)
Moi je t’offrirai / Des perles de pluie / Venues de pays / Où il ne pleut pas / Je creuserai la terre / Jusqu’après ma mort / Pour couvrir ton corps / D’or et de lumiere / Je ferai un domaine / Où l’amour sera roi / Où l’amour sera loi / Où tu seras reine / Ne me quitte pas…
Ne me quitte pas / Je t’inventerai / Des mots insensés / Que tu comprendras / Je te parlerai / De ces amants-là / Qui ont vu deux fois / Leur cœur s’embraser / Je te raconterai / L’histoire de ce roi / Mort de n’avoir pas / Pu te rencontrer / Ne me quitte pas…
On a vu souvent / Rejaillir le feu / D’un ancien volcan / Qu’on croyait trop vieux / Il est paraît-il / Des terres brûlées / Donnant plus de blé / Qu’un meilleur avril / Et quand vient le soir / Pour qu’un ciel flamboie / Le rouge et le noir / Ne s’épousent-ils pas / Ne me quitte pas…
Ne me quitte pas / Je ne vais plus pleurer / Je ne vais plus parler / Je me cacherai là / À te regarder / Danser et sourire / Et à t’écouter / Chanter et puis rire / Laisse-moi devenir / L’ombre de ton ombre / L’ombre ta main / L’ombre de ton chien / Ne me quitte pas…
© Micheline Walker
7 July 2012
WordPress
Louis Valtat, 1869-1952
Anemones and Green Jug, ca. 1926
Musée Jean de la Fontaine Chateau-Thierry
(with permisson from Art Resource, NY)
19 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Sharing, Uncategorized
Tags
France, Jean de La Fontaine, Micheline Walker, New York, Paris, Roy Arden, United States, WordPress
1919 Quebec Street, Vancouver, 1994
by © Roy Arden (b. 1957)
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
(with permission by Art Resource, New York)
(to your right, above: Jean-François Millet [Barbizon School]: The Gleaners, 1857)
(please click on the picture to enlarge it)
There is a watercolour version of this image, but we are looking at a grisaille.
06 Sunday May 2012
Posted in Art
Tags
Micheline Walker: Fantasy
It’s a spring day in Sherbrooke. Such days do not last. So I thought I would celebrate by sending all of you a photograph of one of my little drawings: pure fantasy. For the first time, I let the camera do part of the work, except that it wasn’t work.
Please accept this token of my appreciation for your lovely blogs and for the kind messages I receive from you. I enjoy this exchange.
This little drawing is, again, pure fantasy.
So let us savour the moment and laugh a little.
Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte, Soave sia il vento Micheline Walker© May 6, 2012
03 Saturday Mar 2012
Posted in Art
This painting is called 183. It’s a cyclamen rendered in happy colours.
Flowers are so beautiful that it us difficult to do then justice in a painting. They are perfection, yet grow on their own, which invites reflection on creation. How can anything be so beautiful.
I have made several paintings (watercolours) of cyclamens, but not always successfully. Some have found their way to the recycling bin. I am fond of the cyclamen and orchids.
I am currently working on a blog about casuistry. Casuistry can take sinfulness out of sinning. One must therefore be prudent in presenting such a subject.
So I thought I would send you a cheerful painting on a very grey Saturday in my corner of the world. I hope you enjoy it.
March 3rd, 2012
Micheline's Blog 