French la Vie

The Original Annie Hall

What Keeps You Going?

 

Yesterday the sky was clear though an overcast hung over me.

I carried Julie with me while walking

in and out of here and there over and under around and around

Came home after walking for several hours

made dinner of two bowls of Coco Puffs with blueberries to feel healthy,

binged watched on the British series on Netflix "Sex Education"

 

The windows were open

bird song flooded our home

Curious as to where the birdsongs was coming from I looked out our window

hundreds of birds on a crane singing their hearts out

Other people were looking out their window's too

Laughter through smiles filled my airspace with joy.

 

 

When joy slips in reign it in

Coco Puffs

Binge watching Netflix

Birdsong

------------------------------------

 

Thank you for your love and prayers for my cousin.

 

PS

the link to the video that some of you couldn't see the other day

Alex Vervoordt

 

 

 

Julie's Birthday / Hospice Care

grief has a roadmap of its own

my heart has traveled that tumultuous path

more than once

and it is markably the same with its

unexpected turns

going into the jungle

of memories and regrets

uprooting what 

was paved with worn steps 

with echoing voices of why and ifs

and how can this be?

 

my cousin Julie who I have known throughout my life

and lives in my inner circle, my hard drive, my cheerleader, holding a chunk of my heart

is in hospice care,

today is her birthday.

Life without her will be strange, the ground beneath me a watery mire

sloshing as I go

until

the scent of spring whispers 

here we are.

oh Julie danm you for going ahead of me.

 

 

Alex Vervoordt

 

A wonderful video as why we collect and what it means to us...

by Alex Vervoordt.

My friend Barbara sent this video to me saying she thought of of me when she watched it.

ah lovely, to be thought of by this video.

I love everything he says xxx little did she know how much I admire his style.

If I could be as wise and as gifted as he is with design.

A hero of style.

 

Holding Memories in a Safe Place

The inside of this box took me by surprise, because of it I had to buy it then I sold it that is how it goes as a brocante buyer. In one hand and out by the other. 1800 hand embroidery piece tucked into a small case. It probably was used to hold a rosary or relic… I have seen plenty of curious and beautiful antiques many ask me how I can stand to let things go… I am not sentimental about objects, well maybe once in awhile, that is why I can do what I do. My mother would beg to differ as my home is stuffed. But if tomorrow someone wanted to buy it all I would let it go. Though Yann would throw a fit he likes things to stay the same. But if you ask him to find something let’s say a big red box with a purple bow in the fridge he wouldn’t be able to find it.

Are you like Yann or like me?

 

Let the Wind Take Us

 

In my mind’s eye my cousin Julie and I are riding bicycles again on county road P we are about 13 years old.

The sky is blue,

 the  rice fields are waving that brilliant green,

our long brown hair wiping around our faces as the wind is at our backs …

we let go if the handle bars throwing our arms into the air,

we look at each other laughing!

Letting the wind take us home.

(My prayer for my cousin, from the above memory we shared years ago.)

Spider Chrysanthemum and What Not to Take to a French Dinner Party

The plant identifier app that I use claimed it King Protea which I knew wasn't right.

The photos the app shared were nothing like the flower in my photo. 

Thank you for the suggestions Leonie was the first to tell me it’s name it is a spider 

My friend Mary (we were in a monastery together) sent me this article...

"...Cultivated as an herb in China for more than 3,500 years, the chrysanthemum represents nobility and is considered one of the four gentlemen: the pure and defiant recluse that represents fall. For a long time, the flowers were only permitted to be grown by nobility, later becoming the badge for the old Chinese army..."

________

 

  The differences between France and America are subtle take Mums and pumpkins for example.

Mums a fall flower arrives in force in October. They spill out from the French floral shops onto the streets, creating a parade of magnificent color. Just as pumpkins shout out Autumn in America, Mums are the flower that say Autumn is here in France. Pumpkins are a food in France, were in the States pumpkins are more for decoration, a Halloween Jack-o-Lantern.

When invited to a dinner party it is a thoughtful gesture to bring something to the hostess. Candy, wine, or flowers is the typical avenue. (FLASHBACK 1988...)

Why not bring a Mum's plant I thought and bought one that seem to be a perfect ball of gold.

When I came home French Husband told me it was a plant that symbolized All Soul's Day because:

  "It is the flower we take to the graveside of those we love who have gone before us." 

Oh! scratch that flower off the list.

Mums are not a flower to give to "the living" in France.

 

September 11th Twenty Years

Where were we that moment still fresh in our minds?

Where are we now and have we learned?

What peace do we have, do we offer

 to those who died that day

to their families

and to those in Afghanistan the millions who died after the towers went down?

Tragedy ...

hate offers a brutal response

and somehow makes some of us have tunnel vision

Eye for an eye.

Such sadness at every angle, every corner, on those stairs

 and on the other planes that day.

No we won't ever forget.

Can we forgive?

How, why did this happen?

Where did it start?

Can we bring healing instead of more hate?

Can we ...

The Turning Point (on Netflix)

 

Please Do You Know the Name of this Flower

Calling it pretty isn’t enough.

Do you know more about it!

The Pied Piper

Water and being outside are two things most children love.

The fountain at the park was hard to turn on for most of the little hands there so Yann decided to hold it on for them.

Gabriel, as you can see doesn't like wet clothes, hence he was in his diaper.

Once the children knew that someone was holding the water on the lineup was continuous their pails, and water bottles were filled and dumped in the sand box.

 

 

 

Children being children

carefree, barefoot, playing with water and sand at the end of summer.

The parks in Paris are full of children I am discovering more parks than brocantes, not really but sort of.

 

Bee Sting

Sent to me by Patricia xx

The thought above reminded me of  

Saint Francis and his teachings-

… though when the bee stings me

the idea of being a flower fades.

Ah to be able to hold good thoughts about another when they sting you, to seek understanding in the face of adversity.

That was Saint Francis.

 

French Ways

Finally at the end of summer the warm weather has arrived in Provence, driving everyone either inside or to the beach.

Luckily, for us our maison du village (house in the village) has stone walls that are over three feet thick. Our maison's wall butts up against the neighbor's maison's wall creating a six foot thick stone wall. Insulation at its finest: Cool interior in the summer, holds heat in during the winter.

Our home is a mere four hundred years old... and yes most French household keys do look like this.

 

The bakeries and pastries shop gift wrap their goods. Each item bought, whether a baguette, pain au chocolate, crossiant which is wrapped in light paper then the ends on the paper or twisted or, if you buy a cake or other pastries the light paper is used but instead of the ends twisted they tie a box up with a ribbon or string. Then you can carry the package of baked goods from the loop that the shopkeepers make when they tie up the packages.

 

 

When in France do what the French do... your bread never goes on your plate, unless a small plate is offered. Otherwise, and in more cases than not, your bread goes on the table, on the left corner of your plate above the fork.

Also instead of biting into a piece of bread, the French tear a bitesize piece of bread and eat it that way. It is consider rude otherwise.

 

 

 

At a restaurant tips are included in the bill.

You do not need to leave a tip. But you can leave a coin to be nice, but it is not consider bad if you do not.

 

 

 

Recently, at the brocante, a friend remarked how impress she was at the variety of French linens and lace one could find. She asked if it was always like this, or just the luck of the draw at this particular brocante?

I have said it many times and I'll keep on saying it... If France took out every piece of old linen, lace, dishtowel, bedsheet, and spread them out one by one, they could cover all of France, and have a massive slumber party.

Linens are plentiful.

If you want a thousand old nightshirts, or monogrammed bed sheets, or dish towels, or napkins, or lace, or nightgowns, or pantaloons, or table-clothes let me know and I'll have them to you within a week.

I would love to fulfill that bet, as long as I didn't have to pay for it.

 

 

 

The French say babies come from cabbages, just like the Americans say babies come from the stork. I say that when Chelsea came she was as big as a cabbage (ten pounds), and I wish the stork had delivered her to me.

 

 

In France, the French celebrate their 'name-day.' Every day of the year, a saint is remembered. If your name, or middle name is the same name as a saint (or a name that has something to do with a saint) then your family and friends give you a gift and / or say happy feast day to you. It is as if each French person has two birthdays. The word for the 'name-day' is: "Le jour de fête".

List of saints names for each day can be found here.

We do not do this is our Franco/American household as I can barely keep track of the day of the week. Numbers and I are not dancing partners. Plus the fact that Chelsea and Corey are not on the saints day list.

When I first arrived in France I asked my French Husband if I could have October 2nd as my feast day as it is the feast day of the Guardian Angels and I like angels, and Corey wasn't on the list. He siad, "No it doesn't work like this." That was the begining of what I call French Husband getting, "French in my face."

 

 

Playing cards:

V

D

R

instead of:

J

Q

K

And if that is not enough, the keyboard is not at all the same as the American keyboard. For instances the A is where the Q is.

 

 

 

The scarf / shawl thing...

Yes a French woman does do it best.

Even if it isn't tied at all.

They just got it, like Americans got big smiles. It is what it is and that is that.

 

 

 

 

Some Facts About France:

- Favorite sport: Soccer which is called football.

- Team sports are not played in school, nor are there cheerleaders, or school proms.

- Did you know that Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty were penned by a French author?

-  The Eiffel Tower is as tall as a seventy floor building. My brothers Zane and Mat climbed to the top when they came to visit me years ago when I lived in Paris. I didn't climb to the top that day as I was seven months pregnant with the ten pound cabbage.

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is owned by the French government and is said to be the most valuable painting in the world. It was bought by French King Francis I in 1519.

In France, the Mona Lisa is called La Joconde.

Did you know that the Mona Lisa painting hung in King Francis I's bathroom?

And did you know that Mona Lisa has no eyebrows? The reason she does not isn't because Leonardo forgot, or ran out of paint. It is because it was fashionable in Florence to shave your eyebrows off. Beats plunking them!

 

 

There are some 40,000 châteaux in France.

I want one.

 

 

 

Nîmes is the birthplace of blue jeans. The famous fabric was imported to California by Levi Strauss in order to make tough work trousers for gold diggers. Denim is another way of saying: “de Nîmes”.

 

 

The French consume wine with most meals. I would say never but instead I will say soft drinks are not had with dinner.

 

 

The end..... unless you have something you really want to know about France or the French. I'll try to answer your questions in the comment section.

Hello Lovely Friends

   
        

 

 

Perfectly Modest Drab

Walking along in Paris two women in front of me caught my attention. Now I am not a fashionista, nor buy fashion magazines so who am I to judges, but I did. The mother and her thirty something year old daughter could not have been more dowdy if they tried from head to toe they looked like a throw back to 1970s and not in that hip cool sense but in the grammy frumpy sense (if you could call it sense!), and in Paris, where anything goes these days, those two could have won a medal for "Perfectly Modest Drab".  I wondered if it was missing something. Gee, even their haircuts were a throw back to older women in the 1970s. When we came to a stoplight I overheard the familiar sound of English, as I turned to them I noticed they had glasses that matched their look perfectly. How could this not be a costume I thought?

I use to think that I heard English better because it is my mother tongue though after three decades living in France I believe  Americans/English speak louder than the French so it is easier to hear. The Lawerence Welk Duo's conversation caused my eyes to pop and my chin to go straight back. Shocking is putting it mildly. If I had been blind I would have never guessed in a million years that their appearance was"Perfectly Modest Drab". Never. Ever. Their conversation was flat out full on wham bam thank you  mister raw hardcore sex. I gasped, caught myself before I said, "Oh my God!" when I heard them talk about the threesome they had the night before, "Mom you were on fire! The way you ..." 

As they crossed the street I walked along in disbelief. I felt like I was the, "Perfect Modest Drab" and grinned at the wild wonderful surprising world that is ours! How amused I was by their polar opposite demeanour compared to their activities. 

 

 

 

Happy 59th Birthday Yann

 

Birthday lunch for Yann with Chelsea, Martin, Gabriel, (not in the photo) Tatiana (Yann's great-niece) Juliette (Yann's niece) and Stephane (Juliette's partner). I love this photo so much! They are cracking up because Stephane and Yann were being funny. I was so in the moment that I took only a handful of photos, which are posted here. Plus (or should it be minus) I forgot to take one of all of us DING DONG.

We had lunch at the place were we celebrated Chelsea and Martin's civil wedding. It is near their apartment

Cafe A.

 

 

 

Delicious, fresh and unexpected flavors.

 

 

Dangerously close to Chelsea's is Le Pains des Copains, a wonderful bakery/pastry shop.

If I lived across the street from this bakery I would pop in a week. Their croissants! 

They have lunch boxes too.

A perfect place for gathering a picnic.

I bought these raspberry mascarpone pistachio tartlettes because I had to they called out my name.

 

 As we were laughing at Stephane and Yann this little guy climbed up onto the table to share his new trick

Climbing!

 

Happy Birthday Dear Husband!

I wish I had more photos, but I am glad we spent the day with family xxx

 

Paris After Sunset

 

Paris after sunset.

Walking from one end of Paris to the other,

or walking from my daughter's apartment in the 10th by Saint Martin Canal

to our apartment in the 14th by Montparnasse

it is about a five mile walk 

 

 

unless you do what I do which is weaving, mingling, poking in

and out of courtyards and favorite spots

then the time and miles can make sunset sunrise.

 

 

 

 

The Perfect 10

 

In a perfect world everything is perfect. Everyone is happy. Life offers geniune kindness and plenty to eat. Nobody suffers or dies, children grow up with only good memories of their families. Everyone has what they need. There isn't any waste. And if I wanted long legs and a little nose I would have it. But in a perfect world it wouldn't matter because nobody would see imperfections, nor judge one another. Futhermore, we would not judge ourselves, we would be perfect.

 

 

 

 

While in Paris, I told French Husband I was going to take photos of numbers. He quickly jumped in calculating, "Send me the photos and I will put them in order for you. I know how you are with numbers."

"Oh, that's nice, but I don't want them in order."

"Why not?"

"Because it isn't how I see it."

 

 

We looked at each other knowingly.

We don't think alike and yet we do.

When it comes to facts and figures ask him, when it comes to maps and floor plans ask me. When it comes to being on time forget it, because I have to wait for him. When it comes to driving ask him unless you like the excitement of driving with someone who falls asleep at the wheel. When it comes to caring for a friend, or giving of ourselves, or walking the extra mile to help someone, we are hand in hand.

In a perfect world we are not perfect, but we are good for one another.

 

 

 

The above photos are in order.

French Husband knows that I am not kidding.

One through ten.

He knows I am not kidding but he cannot see my logic,

"Where is the ten?" He asked.

I answered, "Fifty five, is five plus five, which equals ten." 

We so don't see it the same way. Or I should say I see it both ways.

 

 

 

"Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it... 

Various thinkers discuss the role that luck can play in science. One aspect of Walpole's original definition of serendipity, often missed in modern discussions of the word, is the need for an individual to be "sagacious" enough to link together apparently innocuous facts in order to come to a valuable conclusion. Indeed, the scientific method, and the scientists themselves, can be prepared in many other ways to harness luck and make discoveries."

 Via Wikipedia

I am a scientist?

 

 

 

Do you see the reflection of my shoes between the number twenty-two?

Two shoes.

French Husband asked if that should be four shoes? He thinks he is so funny. I had to tell him it was the number two, then in the middle of the twos, are my two shoes, then the number two again. A balance of sort.

He was confused. Or am I confusing? It doesn't matter. I was having fun taking photos of numbers.

 

 

 

Number 126.

As simply as that.

Posted here for no other reason, excepted I liked the curls on the plaque. 

 

 

 

No number.

The old painted iron sign next to the red iron gate was calling for a photo. 

Anyway, we were driving down a boulevard and I saw the old painted iron sign.

Fortunately, French Husband stops on call, as I leaned out the window and took the picture.

 

 

 

At the end of Passage Jouffroy, a covered alley between two buildings, this clock face is above *Chopin Hotel.

"Always crowded and fun, this place gives a feeling for how the passages were in their mid 19th century heyday. Grévin (grevin.com), Paris's version of Madame Tussauds, is always packed, Pain D'épices (pain-depices.com) is a wonderful old-fashioned toyshop and Segas (canesegas.com) specialises in antique walking sticks. At the end of the main passageway is Hotel Chopin (hotelchopin.fr), with rooms from €96, if you book in advance. Turn the corner by the hotel and the boutiques become more intellectual with cutting-edge photography exhibited in Photo Verdeau (verdeau.fr) and sumptuous art books in the Librairie du Passage.
• 10 boulevard Montmartre, 9th, metro Richelieu-Drouot" 

*Inexpensive Hotel in Paris, Hotel Chopin.

Aren't those enamelware numeral amazing.

 

 

 

What is your lucky number? Place it in the shield above the door.

My lucky number is 53. Or I should say it is my favorite number. Because it appears often when I am looking for something, or needing something... hard to explain, but I am sure you know what I mean.

 

 

 

When in France if you see a number and then the word "BIS" next to it, it means that the number is repeated twice. Usually, the second number "bis" is inside the building or down an alley. Similar to: 4 a and 4 b.

 

 

In a perfect world nine would not be an upside down six.

What would be in your perfect world?

(given love, health, peace, fortune and food for everyone...etc. was already in place.) 

New Trend in Paris

 

When we went to Barcelona to surprise Sacha for his birthday back in June

I noticed that women were not wearing bras,

but it didn't register that it might be a trend or movement like it was in the sixties instead it was

something I noticed without equation ... 

Until I came to Paris this week. Oh, braless-ness is a thing-

If you want to be in style throw your bra away.

It is a thing and has been for over a year! Hence, I live under a rock when it comes to fashion.

How about you are you into fashion?

Are you braless?

------

 

I would have photos but seriously cannot take photos given the subject matter.  

Don't dare me.

 

Braless

 

Burning the Bra is Back

 

Bra Myths 

Duck Duck Goose…

graffiti in Paris

Got out if the stroller to check it out

 

Gabriel repeating after me 

dog, cat, mouse, duck… 

pink mouse

blue duck…

soooo many

beaucoup!

 

Simple pleasure

A long the sidewalk.

Paris Snapshots

 

 

 

 

 

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her,

still, she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings."

Victor Hugo

 

 

 

"The artist vocation is to send light into the human heart."

George Sand

 

 

 

"Each of us is responsible for everything and to every human being."

Simone de Beauvoir

 

"Life is the flower for which love is the honey."

Vicotr Hugo

 

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer...”
― Albert Camus

 

 

"...And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me,

within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

― Albert Camus

(Notre Dame Rose Glass Window)

 

"Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age."

George Sand

 

 

 

"Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness.

Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret,

how to acquire without meanness."

George Sand

As is…

A child’s collar in an old box

Art without effort or thought 

Two pieces traveling together through time 

captured together haphazardly  

…

 

Road Sign Reads like a Bucketlist

Where would you go first?
I know where I would go!

 

 

 

Kiss Kiss

 

Gabriel likes to kiss me I cannot complain.

Sweet little Boy Boy.

Cherish childhood.

 

Turning Everything into Light

Text by Adrian Michael Green on Instagram.

photos taken on our way to Normandy.



“…turn everything into light… into holy love…”

a seed underground with its elements of soil, water, & light has the best chance to sprout through the darkness and grow.

Like the seed we need our soil, water, & light to help guide us through whatever we are experiencing. 

finding what we need and then sharing it willingly freely unconditionally… and completely to become holy love.

 

 

Riding the Waves

                                                                                By Mari Andrew via my friend MerryHaul thank you.

 

______

 

 

After turning over and over and over again the airline ticket to fly back to California to visit my family and friends I decided to postpone my trip. 

There were too many what-ifs that I was uncomfortable with and in the end, I had to heed the global information Delta/Covid is rising amongst the unvaccinated and vaccinated. Not seeing my Mom and family, especially my cousins and aunt who are ill is regrettable but possibly catching covid and given it to anyone is worse. Plus, after being blocked in the States last year for nearly six months I am gun shy.

 

______

 

 

Covid has its hand on us, one way or another.

It is hard to believe how this has come into our lives

changing how we live, feel work, and or our relationships.

The question haunts; "Will it ever end?"

 

 

______

 

 

Seeing Gabriel in his innocence I cannot help but wonder what this world has in store for him?

 

After losing my brother, a good friend, plus Yann's cousin to covid, and having my two cousins and Aunt suffering illness this year

thoughts of mortality are not far from my daily thoughts. Also, growing older shows us plenty, doesn't it?

As Annie use to say,

"It takes courage to grow old." and I would add,

"gracefully."

 

_______

 

I am riding the waves.

Normandy granted me a good visual as the tides varied by the hour,

receding miles, then coming back steadily,

the ocean at times resembling a lake in its utter calmness,

and then hours later windsurfers would be sailing over the waves creating lace patterns with the foam and water trailing behind them.

 

While the ocean's tides varied I walked endlessly along the beach,

picked up seashells,

feeling seaweed swirl around my legs,

dodging jellyfish,

admiring Gabriel discovering sand,

flying a kite,

watching the moon rise,

listening to the soothing sound of life coming in and out,

pondering thoughts.

 

_____

 

Riding the waves

Salted strands of hair

browned skin

glisten body

chilled skin

staying afloat 

while having the urge to run and bury my head in the sand.

 

Though the waves swell 

reminding me where I am:

 

here

 

gifted with life, family, friends, love, a home, food...

and the sadness that loving can bring.

 

Riding the wave

and the next one

and the one after that

because the ocean is full of them.

 

I see my daughter walk by and her belly full of life, and Gabriel running ahead of her with a gleeful laugh.

 

I see the land

I know the land

with its firmness under my feet.

 

 

 

 

92 and 2 Playing Kick the Ball

They both won but didn’t know it.

Hanging Out with This Bunch

Hanging out with this bunch

wishing Sacha was here too.

(Diogenes, we won't know the name until the birth.)

We asked Gabriel what the baby's name is and he calls her

"Papillote"

and he calls himself, "Babou".

I love when he says,

"Maman, Daddy, Babou, Papillote, Grandpapa, O.E. (that's me) and then smiles

as if to say, "We are all here and I am happy."

Which swells my heart with joy.

Much needed and appreciated vacation.

Two Months to Go

Full of Grace

Utter joy being with this little boy boy.

Peace for All

Normandy Beach with a Kite

Flying a Kite

 

 

photographs from Gabriel’s Daddy Martin x

Thankful

thankful

xxx

Shifting Gears

 

 

I thought this vacation going to see Yann's family I would create a travel log of our road trip, add photos, tips,

and places to see... addresses. I thought of the delightful fodder for my blog.

I was looking forward to adding my photos -thoughts at the end of each day that would highlight the happy side. 

 

Though the reality is this year has been heavy emotionally, and this vacation as lovely as it is finds me wanting space to let go and just be.

I need a rest, I need time for my emotions to find a place where they 

do not spill out unexpectedly.

Whenever thoughts of my brother, my cousin(s), my aunt, my friend... come to the forefront of my consciousness

 holding back tears in impossible, the river flows.

I know that is good, needed, normal... 

In honesty I need to take a break from my blog, I am sorry I haven't responded to your lovely messages, comments, emails...

But I need to step back as I did in January 2020 when I first heard about my brother Marty's terminal illness.

Therefore I will post photos, little bits with little content until I can find my footing.

No worries I am okay, just in need of some space to rest.

I will continue to add a floral photo on Facebook, as I have plenty in stock, and continue to add to my Instagram as it is an easy platform.

 

But here on my blog, my journal, my personal account with a community that I treasure I trust understands.

Hopefully, in a week or two, I will be more collected, the storm inside more at peace.

I guess I am saying that when I come to my blog, my journal I am usually am transparent, 

though lately I have been holding back and that has caused me hesitation in my posting, 

"I cannot write again of the grief!"

or maybe that is what I need and should do?

Letting Facebook and Instagram hold my work and let my blog be my journal?

 

Shifting gears... look at the road map, finding myself in a world of change.

Adjusting.

 

Thank you for listening. 

 

Tell me about shifting gears?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Beach in Normandy

As far as my eye could see the beach went further

my feet longing to walk and walk

but first, we will visit Yann's family

and then my desire to walk will run along this beach.

Sorry for the lack of photos, but between a slow internet and full days of traveling

my eyes long to surrender to sleep.

 

 

Open Spaces

 

The open space enters inside me and expands

the passages that need me to breathe.

 

A cloud passes by,

I take hold of a wisp of it,

as strong as any current I know,

and I fly.

 

Over open fields of harvested lavender fields

bales of fresh hay

dancing wheat fields

pear orchards

vineyards

and rivers snaking along.

 

The countryside reminds me of the cycles of life

seasons bringing their gifts

farmers' toil

table feast in the silent seedlings

cows in the pasture chew their cud

the little girl running barefoot along the ditch bank with her brothers.

 

I don't know where I will be tomorrow, and today that is okay.

 

Marseille-Normandy

Driving from Marseille

to 

the Normandy coastline 

to see Yann’s family 

16 hours in a car with anyone is a proof of love, right?

We are taking the backroads…

I want to stop every two inches to take a photo.

But that hasn’t happened - we are not driving straight through

That was the compromise!

 

 

So many roads!

so many charming villages!

so many chateaux!

so many « oh look at that’ »

so many naps.

more to come …

 

Just Desserts

 

When going out for dinner I usually eat less during the day as I know it isn't polite to offend the hostess by asking for a small portion

and not finishing my plate.

Hence, I did not heed my own advice when going out to dinner at Pierre Jean and Sylvie's home.

Double hence, the button on my pants was undone.

In their town, there is a pastry shop called, "TO DIE FOR" ... no just teasing it is called Carre Noir (Chocolate Square) but seriously, it should be called,

"Be prepared to have your socks blown off and your waistline let out."

The pastry shop is small, creating a few varied wonderful delights, selling out mid-afternoon.

Go early or leave empty-handed.

The cakes above:

Lemon with black sesame seed crust,

Two cheesecakes one cherry another confit orange with granola crust,

A Palova with blackberry cream and dark fruit, and a Basil lemon mousse on a sable.

Which one would you select?

As I was the oldest woman and a guest I was to go first.

Lemon with black sesame did not disappoint. 

 

The Invitation to Dream

 

 

Within each of us, there is a dream wanting to wake up and become real, tangible, whole, and complete.

 

Within each of us, there is a past, present, and future in collaboration with the scribe of our script. 

 

Within each of us, there is a history buried, wanting to be born anew.

 

Within each of us, we have cells that connect us to the sun, to the bottom of the sea, and through the black hole.

 

Within each of us, we carry the invitation to dream.

 

 

 

I Confess

Thank you Rebecca for posting this I had to share it.

Flowers Growing Around Windows

Looking up 


Flowers growing around and about windows

 

Green thumbs in a limited space.

 

Adding life to facades, narrow streets, and dry Provence.

 

Where do I add life, light, love especially in areas where it is needed?

 

The wonder never ceases when I see a flower growing in some impossible place its message to me is clear:

 

anything is possible 

 

and sometimes against all odds.

 

 

 

 

 

Bread, Cheese and all that Jazz

 

FRENCH BREAD. The endless world of French bread. Baguettes... God, after thirty-some years in France you would think I could walk into a bakery and not drool on myself.

At the market a woman walked by carrying three baguettes, they looked the same at a glance, but look at the ends-

Each one has a slightly different end... Different endings though the taste is the same. With that said I prefer the one on the left, a ficelle it is long and narrow, more chewy crust per bite. Good for dips and spreads.

The square-ended one is called a pain de Campagne, it has some rye or whole wheat flour, last longer than a day.

The one in the middle is a batard, Shorter, half the size and thicker than a baguette. Sounds like body types don't they? The whole body that is. Batard means 'bast-rd" in English. When the baker comes to the end of the dough, and there isn't enough for a baguette he uses the leftover bit to make a batard.

Anyway bread, cheese, wine, some fruit... the daily feast.

The last supper, my favorite supper. Oh, these French classic basics. Give or take a beret, Soccer, and cigarettes.

Thick edible crusty goat cheese, Valencay is covered in charcoal. Direct from the farm. Soft center.

 

The name of these cracks me up...

Bouton de Culotte - Underwear Buttons. Also a goat cheese. Can you imagine asking you guests if they would like some more "Underwear Buttons and a Bast-rd piece of bread?

Lovely.

The French know how to add humor to their daily rituals. They know how to hide a smile. They know how to beat the system. They know that life is not that serious even if they get caught up with how to cut the cheese.

Goat cheese is my favorite 

(no it doesn't smell like goat urine, any more than cow cheese does.)

This one is a soft cheese with rosemary. 

Add some tomato chutney, a bit of this cheese, and a glass of Medoc.

 

Sechons, or dried hard like a rock, tough as brick, break your teeth goat cheese.

I think if you take fresh goat cheese (above photo) and let it dry for ten years and a day, without counting you would have Sechons. Doesn't that sound yummy? They are, but they are not my favorite. Honestly hard as a rock cheese, why?

My theory is leftover cheese that didn't fly off the shelf. Re-brand it. Call it Sechons.

Marketing baby.

(Actually, these can be grated, and or soaked in olive oil, garlic, and herbs.)

 

Bleu d'Avergne, Gorgonzola, Roquefort.... love it.

Endive Roquefort Walnut Tart is one of my stand-by quick dinners.

Isn't there a saying that says, "You can tell a foreigner by the shoes they wear?" I am sure I have heard that before.

Anyway, in France, they say, "You can tell a foreigner by how they wear their scarf."
I am teasing they don't say that. 

They know I am a foreigner when I open my mouth.

Melons and strawberries, cherries, and peaches. 

Summer is for romancing the taste buds.

 

 

 

I love these little signs, especially when they are attached with these metal hooks.

 

Onions in a basket from Cevennes. 

Flowers in a zinc bucket. 

 

Fish in shells.

Picturesque.

 

Then I saw the cherries which caused me to shiver.

If you cannot pick them from your neighbor's tree,

if you have burnt them making jam.

Then you can buy them at the market...but only if you are going to eat them and forego making jam.

On Your Mark…

We spent the day wandering around Arles.

As any of you who have had children know that when you go anywhere with a toddler you spend

most your time wandering after them.

We knew that

and the day went as planned.

Wandering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chelsea took this photo.

Ask me how many times we raced and I will tell you...

Enough where he was winning at the end.

Sealed With a Kiss

 

 

Great guess and a wonderful collection of names. Some of you guessed more than one time and that is okay. The baby's name was mentioned but I am not allowed to reveal it until the baby's birth.

I cannot say much about the names you sent me because if I do it would be giving you clues to the name. Does that make sense? I cannot say if I liked certain names, or if any of you guessed the same name I did... 

Thank you for your guesses! 

_____

 

On another note, I bought a box full of seals, and when I got home the box full represented 500 seals!

Most of the antique seals were red and black but also pink, white, silver, gold, green, yellow... 

• "... in France, different colored waxes were used for different occasions:

  • White for communication relating to weddings
  • Black for obituaries
  • Violet for sympathy
  • Chocolate for dinner invitations
  • Red for business
  • Ruby for engaged lovers’ letters to one another
  • Green for letters from lovers who live in hopes
  • Brown for refusals of marriage offers.
  • Blue denotes constancy
  • Yellow jealously
  • Pale green reproaches
  • Pink used by young girls
  • Grey used between friends..."

I have seen all of these colored used.

I will try to show them in the days to come.

 

 

"In the Middle Ages, sealing wax was typically made of beeswax and "Venice turpentine",

a greenish-yellow resinous extract of the European Larch tree.

The earliest such wax was uncolored; later the wax was colored red with vermilion. ...

In some situations, such as large seals on public documents, beeswax was used.

 

Examine the material from which the old wax seal is made.

The wax seal, or stamp, is called the "matrix."

It forms the "impression" that is the actual imprint on the wax.

Old seal makers are made of natural materials, such as lead, bronze, gold, bone, or ivory.

Measure the diameter of the wax seal matrix.

The original version of wax seals dates back to early civilizations in the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia—

meaning they're even older than pen and paper!

These early seals didn't actually use wax. Instead, people used rings or cylinders to press their seals into clay tablets.

 

Seals were a common part of the everyday life of the Medieval era;

 

They were used by a variety of social classes to authenticate documents

 

such as land agreements, business exchanges, official court documents, or charters,

 

which needed proof of identity or a royal seal of approval." via google

 

 

 

 

More about the history and reason behind seals

check out this link 

https://www.victorianpassage.com/2009/07/unfolding_the_mysteries_of_sea/

 

 

 

 

What would your seal have on it?

 

"Animals were the most common type of symbol used in association with heraldic shields.

They were used to represent the defining trait or quality of the owner of the coat of arms.

The antelope, for instance, represented the peace and purity of the owner.

 

"The lion is a common charge in heraldry.

 

It traditionally symbolizes courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness, and valor,

 

because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts".

 

The lion also carries Judeo-Christian symbolism. The Lion of Judah stands in the coat of arms of Jerusalem."

 

"The art of designing, displaying, describing, and recording arms is called heraldry.

The Escutcheon (also called scutcheon) 

was the term used in heraldry for the shield which was displayed in a coat of arms."

 

 

 

Name Baby Girl

Chelsea and Martin are having a baby girl towards the end of October.

When a woman is pregnant the questions center around:

Is it a boy or a girl?

Do you have a name picked out?

I thought you might like to know what they plan to name her... but they are not telling.

Though they gave us some clues as to what they think they will name her. But as any of us who

have had a baby knows the name can change at the last minute. Nevertheless, as of today, the name remains.

Please take a guess, and in October when Baby Girl arrives those of you who guessed correctly I will send you 

a little gift. Please put your guesses in the comment section or by email.

Clues

The baby girl name starts with one of these letters

L  M  N  O  P  

the name has three syllables,

and it is not in the top ten baby names in France.

Which Gabriel is still the number one baby boy name

and Emma remains the number one girl name and has so for years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feel Your Feelings

Via Christine_More on instagram

Feel your feelings

My son-in-law asked me, "How are you feeling?"

Without hesitation I gave the classic response, "I'm fine."

He persisted, "No, really how are you?"

and he paused to listen.

I answered more truthfully.

I knew he wanted to know how I was...

how loving, how loved I felt.

Dandelion

(Thank you Patricia for the quote)

A Hard Baguette is Rescued

 

 

How to make French bread and tomato salad.

In the land of baguettes, where a bakery is on every corner and bread is baked in a wood oven at least twice a day,

where buying a baguette is as natural as breathing, having a day-old baguette around is common.

Hence French Toast, or as they say in France, "Pain Perdu," a direct translation is "Lost Bread,"

was created as a dessert,

not for breakfast.

 

 

 

We live in a small town, where the only fast food is the bakery and take-out pizza. To say I cook often is an understatement.

Sure there are a few restaurants in town and I am, I don't like to say it, but a food snob.

I don't appreciate going out to a restaurant unless they can cook better than I can.

Don't get me wrong, cooking better than me isn't hard to do,

what I mean is, if I am going to go to a restaurant I expect it to be good which isn't hard to do in France but in our town that isn't the case.

 

 

 

 

With that said when a baguette is sitting on my kitchen counter feeling sorry for itself because it can be used as a hammer,

instead of smeared with cheese, a tomato salad comes to the rescue.

The Recipe:

Chop half of a bowl full of garden-fresh tomatoes.

Fill the other half with a dried hard baguette, in bite-size pieces. 

Add a few crushed garlic,

Two handfuls of fresh basil,

Two fresh balls of buffalo Mozzarella chopped,

Olive oil (about half a cup or more),

salt to taste,

and toss gently until evenly mixed.

Cover and set aside. 

 

 

This salad is at its best if it sets for about an hour, tossing it every now and then helps saturates the bread and flavors.

It can be kept in the refrigerator overnight and served later, toss before serving.

 

 

 

Fresh, wholesome ingredients, including a "sorry for itself" baguette, is simple fare.

A glass of rose adds the voila to the meal.

 

What is your favorite summer salad? And do you like to cook?

Summery Sunday

Gabriel Counts

Gabriel grabbed a rock to put it in his toy car

and as he did it he said, « One. »

He grabbed another rock, « Two. »

I had only heard him count to two so when he took the third rock and said, « Three. » I smiled!

When he reached for a fourth rock I wondered what he would say as he put it in the toy car he said,

“Quatre!”

Four in French.

Little bilingual boy.

Rock on!