Sign Language, Part Three

In this the third edition of Sign Language I’m offering three pairings. Pair One tells the tale of a leather tanning town in Provence that was left empty when that odiferous trade left France for North Africa. Pair Two hales from the epic Verdon Gorge. And Pair three juxtaposes photographs from places more than 5,500 miles apart that show that the American West has long tentacles and broad appeal. 

Tannerie A. Plauchud Fils, Barjols, France

Galeries Ateliers des Artistes

Barjols in Provence Verte was home to 24 tanneries and 19 tan mills in the late 19^th century. It was the home of the finest French leather. But in 1983 the last tannery closed, the victim of international competition. The gritty village is trying with limited success to reinvent itself as an artmaking mecca.

Watch your step, Verdon Gorge

Steep and Deep

Just 50 miles away from Barjols is the gaping 1,300-foot-deep Verdon Gorge, the deepest in France. Image one warns you to watch your step. Image two shows you why.

Sitting Bull Boots at El Rio Grande in Saintes Maries. Note their website www.gowest-boots.com

And from the real west is this rope twirling cowgirl on Santa Fe's Guadalupe Street.

Saintes Maries de la Mer on the other hand is a bustling tourist town in the Camargue that can swell from 2,680 locals to 500,000 tourists on a hot summer day. It’s charming enough but the mosquitos will eat you alive. Because the Camargue is home to sturdy white horses and local cowboys called guardiennes who are devoted to the 17,000-year-old breed an unlikely connection has been forged between Saintes Maries and the American West.