Camille Claudel: A Life, by Odile Ayral-Clause****

Camille Claudel, 1864-1943, was a headstrong, difficult person from her childhood. She also proved talented for sculpture at an early age. Her mother always resented her, but her ineffectual father loved her. Her younger brother Paul was her friend and confidant, but a very religious Catholic, he eventually decided that Camille was probably "possessed."

The famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin accepted Camille as his student, and soon fell in love with her, although he had another mistress whom he would not give up. Camille's strong personality eventually showed signs of mental illness, chiefly paranoia, a strong persecution complex. She broke with Rodin and became obsessed with the idea that he, and others, were stealing her works and plotting against her life.

Her family committed her to a French asylum in 1913, where, at the request of her mother, she was restricted from seeing or communicating with anyone outside the asylum for long periods. Rodin continued to have strong feelings for her the rest of his life, but in his old age he married his mistress Rose, and they honeymooned in an unheated government house. Both died of pneumonia within the first year of their marriage. When Camille died, possibly from malnutrition, in 1943, she was buried in the asylum's cemetery.

Ten years later, her brother Paul requested permission to move her remains to her home village of Villeneuve. The reply he received was that her burial place had been reclaimed for the needs of the Cemetery Department. The bones of all the interred individuals had been exhumed and  transferred together to a communal grave. Camille never returned to her beloved Villeneuve. Of the communal grave, of her bones, there is no trace.

Camille Claudel, 1878

The Secret Garden, by Susan Patterson****

Lately, I've got several books for "free," by using my Amazon and

Amex points. I really like this book. I would love to make a container garden, but I probably won't attempt it. I've been trying to finish our book club selection for next week, but I just can't seem to get into the story. It's hard to believe I haven't read a book since Christmas, except for this Secret Garden one. Uh--I did read the January book club selection, Oh My Stars.

One of the books for free that I've got coming is a biography of

Camille Claudel, the sculptor who was Rodin's assistant and lover,

who some say really surpassed Rodin in skill and aesthetics. Her work is very personal and some of it erotic or suggestive of the erotic, so in her late 19th-early 20th century time, she was mostly ignored.

I finally replaced my old sofa, and now I'm trying to hang some art

and stuff on the living room walls. I've called Pat to come and help me, as I want to hang the bigger pieces high.

 I found the sofa on sale at Rooms To Go online. That's not a bug under the red table; that table is on black casters. The picture in front of the green lamp is of GMR in his "cowboy" costume. I've never been able to make out what he wrote around the edges of the photo.

Yesterday I was "meditating" upon things that people have said that hurt my feelings. After going over (and over) a few of them, it suddenly occurred to me that I have thoughtlessly hurt several of my loved ones by exercising my big mouth. I went over the examples, cringing all the while, until I got tired of the subject.