Dear Choco,
Our adventure together is coming to an end, but life goes on, yours included, even if it’s in a different way.
I imagine you in good company with Birdie, Choupette, Stella, Mr Smith and Archibald. Tell them all that I miss them too and that I think of them often.
Love to you all,
Loedi
You spun around one too many times before finding the right position to lie down.
After a few minutes, you’d finally relax, stretching out before exhaling with a deep sigh.
Then I’d fall asleep, lulled by your heavy breathing.
Tonight, I fall asleep, letting my thoughts escape to you:
“Come Choco, join me and let’s go for a walk together, just the time of a dream.”
One morning in January… after long weeks spent in a cage following your abandonment, you found yourself at home… YOUR home.
We had to get to know each other, understand each other and trust each other. It took me many months to convince you that you would be safe, loved and protected… until your last breath.
A few hikes later, we had become inseparable.
J.R. Ackerley said:
“The dog has only one purpose in life: to offer his heart.”
I gave you a home and you gave me your heart. Thank you, Choco!
“- Look at Choco! Visitors marvel at the seeds in our meadows. Does nature have to be locked up in a museum for man to become aware of its beauty?
– Apparently Loedi… “sigh”.
– These are the same people who walk past parks, gardens, flower boxes and other plant installations every day without even a glance. And if I stop to admire a flower or the veins of a leaf, they look at me sideways as if I were abnormal.
You have to know how to look at nature in its natural state. Even in the city, it is omnipresent if you take the trouble to pay attention to your surroundings.
– But Loedi, maybe they don’t know how to see and wonder anymore.
– How sad! Could the exhibition be a bridge between their lost childlike soul and nature? An ephemeral bridge…
– Perhaps… “Sigh”.
– Loedi why come to the Centre Pompidou since neither you nor I really like modern art?
Choco only received a big smile in reply, and then Loedi dashed up the escalators. One floor… two then three… four… five…..six!
On the sixth floor, Loedi crossed the gallery without stopping to look at the many paintings and sculptures. Choco trotted behind her and together they arrived at a huge terrace.
There, loudspeakers were placed along the railing and broadcasting … how can I put it? Sound? Noise? Certainly not music.
– Loedi what are we doing here? This sound installation is bursting my eardrums!
– I agree Choco but that’s not why I brought you here. Let’s ignore the noise and get closer to the edge…. There, you see?
– Wow, the Eiffel Tower! And over there the Arche de La Défense! And oh, there’s Montmartre!
– Yes! And down there is Saint-Eustache. And if you look over there, you’ll also see the Hôtel de Ville and Notre-Dame.
– It’s beautiful Loedi!
– Come on Choco, let’s go back inside now.
– Wait wait wait…. I’d like to keep enjoying it a little longer, it’s the most beautiful view of Paris I know!
– Hahahaha! You see Choco, you managed to forget the noise
We were cornered on all sides:
Huge snakes with sharp fangs were climbing higher and higher, and seemed to grow in number.
All around us, an ocean of blood that stretched to infinity left us helpless, without a shadow of escape… without a shadow of hope.
Then I saw them: huge skeletal creatures, like dinosaurs of yesteryear, hurtling towards us! The sound of their clashing bones was frightening and the size of their gaping jaws made my blood run cold.
My barking became a death howl and then a yelp, I saw us lost and backed away from the edge, defeated.
“Fight Choco! Fight back! Fight! Come on! Get up Choco! Fight!”
Loedi screamed as she swung her sword endlessly. The slightest bit of tongue, fang or flesh… she didn’t hesitate and her blade cut.
The wounded animal would retreat while she faced another… but it kept coming back to attack.
I regained my courage and stood up. We may not win, but we won’t give them the pleasure of an easy victory, we will fight to the end, like heroes!
And who knows… if the Gods are with us… we will win!
“Choco! Choco… get up Choco!”
I opened my eyes…
The last tourists had left the room, the museum was about to close and Loedi had just finished his drawing. It was just a nightmare… a horrible nightmare…
“How do you manage to play music on this broken harp?
– I can do it because the music I play represents the soul of a country: it’s the Ukrainian anthem.
– I don’t understand…
– Like this harp, even if everything around you is destroyed, looted and ravaged, never forget that the soul of a country and those of its heroes are immortal… Keep hope Choco, keep faith in the future. ”
_
Душа страны
“- Как играть музыку на этой сломанной арфе?
– Я делаю это потому, что музыка, которую я играю, представляет собой душу страны: это гимн.
– Я не понимаю…
Подобно этой арфе, даже если все вокруг разрушено, разграблено и опустошено, никогда не забывайте, что душа страны и ее герои бессмертны… Сохраняйте надежду, Чоко, сохраняйте веру в будущее.”
PS: Why Kharkiv and not another Ukrainian city? Because the drawing is based on a photo. The one of Alina who left her home when a shell fell in front of her house. She now lives in Paris and tries to keep hope in the future.
_
Почему Харьков, а не другой украинский город? Потому что рисунок основан на фотографии. Алина покинула свой дом, когда перед ее домом упал снаряд. Сейчас она живет в Париже и пытается сохранить надежду на будущее.
Once upon a time… at Café Léonard, there was a happy band of amateur artists who liked to share their passion.
“You see, Choco, it’s more motivating to draw with others. And over a coffee, it’s fun! I can’t wait to see each other’s drawings!
– Yes Loedi! I’m hungry… Isn’t there a biscuit for me next to your coffee?
– “Sigh”. You’re always hungry Choco… and no there’s no biscuit.”
A shepherd’s hut made of dry stones with a wool blanket as a door… a small wood stove where Choco and Loedi warm up and prepare their meal, a duvet on the ground… and that’s all.
This morning, the sun’s rays have remained hidden behind a sea of clouds. The wind blows and the hills are soon wrapped in a white cottony blanket.
Then the first snowflakes fall. Timidly at first, they soon give way to a real snowstorm.
Loedi goes outside and welcomes the wind, the snow, the storm. She receives all this energy, this wild force that carries with it all the past wounds and imbues her with a new strength.
Invigorated, her soul soothed and comforted, Loedi feels again in every part of her being how beautiful life is…
