Tongue in Cheek

A torn leaf

holds the remains of last night’s thunderstorm 

an insect approaches for a sip

walking by I am drawn to the vibrant color 

Mesmerized - my thoughts drift - leading my steps

in a different direction.

Literally.

A few kilometers later I sense the scenery is not the same

I have gone off course.

I keep walking...

When you fall in love with the brocante it stays with you

The older woman leaned out her window, it could be me one day. 

What will you still enjoy no matter what?

Our friends Rodger and Arnelle have generously offered their home away from home to us for a holiday shortly after we arrived we took an impromptu nap that lasted two hours! The warm breeze passing through the wisteria, the lullaby’s silence, the sturdy stone walls gave haven and we took advantage of its gift.

Open and ready may it be, 

to hold to give and receive.

Funny how something so small and unknown of its impact seems to sip into our consciousness, taking hold in the depths of our being becoming a symbol or a sign of something significant.

On a path deep in the forest where the morning light barely penetrated, where I deliberately watched the placement of my steps as not to trip a blackberry appeared...

When Yann went to Normandy last week he brought back a blue wooden sail boat for Gabriel.

A large zinc basin served as a pond for Gabriel to sail his sailboat with sound effects he vocalized of a motorized boat vroom vroom.

My daily walks continue. During the last several weeks I’ve been waking up earlier than I usually do around six so that I can have a lead beating the heat. I am not a morning person I literally have to push myself out of bed and dress with my eyes close. You might be thinking that since I go to the flea markets I must be a morning...

If only I could have taken a photo this evening

of the little boy (who was between three and four years old,)

galloping around the village fountain

in only bright yellow underwear and a homemade cape attached with a red ribbon tied around his neck.

His smile was megawatt, his eyes glowing with glee as he raised both arms in the air leaping...

Months have gone by with my brocante diet fasting. I put something I had online and helped a friend sell some pieces, and well fasting no more. 

As far as diets go-

Green salad is healthy.

Green beans with ginger.

Apples, meet the need for the crunch. But not when someone else...

Thank you to High Anxiety’s Instagram account for the above images and quotes.

Returning to France this time has not been as smooth as the times before. After spending months self isolating with my mother barely seen anyone, rarely going out, and amongst other self isolating habits I did not even hug my family goodbye. The first shock...

In the stillness. In the darkness. In the forgotten places. In the daily steps. While washing the dishes and taking out the trash. In the emptiness and the fullness and especially at the end of the day,

find beauty.

Voltaire's Theater Volume two.

Pink paperback.

Worn, though I do not believe this book was ever read. Most likely it sat on a shelf, eventually, it was put into a box and stuffed in an attic. Years later an antique dealer bought the belongings of the house. Discovering the book(s) he found them interesting, decorative, valuable enough...

Being so close to someone you hear their heartbeat.

Planting a seed and watching it bear fruit.

The subtle change of one season to the next.

Hearing silence.

Birth.

Witnessing courage.

Hearing your own inner voice soothe yourself.

Hugging.

Stories like Annie's ... the watermelon juice.

Being forgiven.

Having faith without reason.

...

The morning walk that I have...

"When one door closes, another opens;

but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door

that we do not see the one which has opened for us."

Alexander Graham Bell 

But what if the door only opens half-way?

Lately, life seems to be pulling out all sorts of tricks, the world's "door" seems to...

Chelsea calls him "Love Love" and he is and we do.

Chelsea was washing the dishes, I was preparing something and Gabriel sat at the kitchen counter angle between us. When I saw the light, and those silk ribbon tied rolls I grabbed my cell phone to take a photo of him. It is times like that I wish my camera was as near as my...

Antique paper

love

drool

But I cannot get attached that is the downside to being a buyer.

Desire.Hoarding.Sentimental. are not qualities to have if you are a buyer to resale.

(Wait a sec is hoarding a quality? Insert laughing face.) 

Taking the steps to reopen my online business. Though all I...

I promise I won't (though I that is all I want to do) post baby photos every day. Chelsea and her little family stayed with us for a few days. I am amazed I didn't gobble Gabriel up in one bite. He is a healing balm, an adorable joy, a cautious little boyboy and almost as big as me. My brother Marty asked that I send a photo of Gabriel...

Back in early March when I started to feel the delicate balance of our world as we know it and COVID 19  gaining ground I began to post a flower photo a day to my Facebook account to offer a sign of hope, cheer, serenity...

As of today, there are 119 photos here a few of them for a Sunday Bouquet.

Flowers from my...

The healing grace of living and walking in the countryside.

These photos are from my village which sits at the base of the Saint Baume Mountain. The ancient stone bridges are at the Source du Nans natural park about a mile from our home. Chelsea and I strolled Gabriel there to put his feet in the ice-cold natural spring...

On the trail, I spotted a small blackberry patch its pink petals waved me over, the blackberries are weeks away from ripeness. As I walked on I thought, "What is it with blackberries this year?" It is as if it is my symbolic message guide or something. Thinking that struck me funny as Covid 19 has changed me... Today a large black beetle...

As I was doing my morning walk I flashed back to the rice fields that I toured for the last five months where I witnessed three seasons unfold. Though where I live in France I would never use the word pancake or the word crepe to describe the landscape around my Provencal village, though in the Sacramento Valley where my family lives the landscape...

Today I came back home. 
Though what I did not expect from the three hour train ride from Paris to Provence was that the train would be full, not one single seat empty. When I saw the mob to catch the train I knew that there wasn’t going to be any spacing. Sure it was obligatory to wear a face mask. But after months of being...

is ALL is everything is

          HOME

SINGULARITY
by Marie Howe

          (after Stephen Hawking)

Do you sometimes want to wake up to the singularity
we once were?

so compact nobody
needed a bed, or food or...

 These photos don’t do justice 
to the biggest cherry I have ever seen, honestly, a cherry like this could make a pot of jam as well as put a smile on my face. Cherries remind me of my old neighbor Mr.Porte who passed away years ago. Mr Porte taught me about gardening plus I would pick cherries and figs from his trees and make jam....

Soulfood restores the heart and mind. 

Finding my source was needed. 

Love leads the way, it does. Finding what gives us life, passion, desire does too.

I will go home on Monday. 

Thank you for your messages yesterday. I feel more grounded today. Yesterday I...

The bricks came one by one

Did that make it a ton?

it felt like it.

Looking closely at the hues of burnt orange mixed with red 

The wall did not appear, not even a stump,

just bricks out of place staring at me.

I know I know 

and yet I don't

bricks not so heavy

but damn them being out of place.

...

Yann called

missing me

tempting me to foregoing quarantine

to come home...

he said,

“ Gabriel is coming here tomorrow,”

(you see Chelsea and Martin will be with us for summer as Martin can work from home,)

Yann continued,

“... and I am going to cuddle him, play roll the ball with him, smell his sweetness, push him in the swing and do...

Back in France. Surreal experience at the airports with the haunting emptiness and everyone respectfully wearing masks at times I thought I was in a science fiction film. I arrived last night in Paris and will stay at our apartment to self-quarantine so I haven’t seen my family yet. It feels odd to be this close and not home. But...

My brother drove up to my mom’s home, then he got out with his two children and jumped in...

Who says you cannot bring a pool to the party?

So unexpected and original my mom and I laughed and laughed. We did not get it due to self distancing but man oh man was the temptation great!

I like to squeeze the toothpaste in the middle, I always have.

I can't help it the plump spot just aching for a squeeze tempting me like a pinch to a fat baby's cheek.

There are certain things we aren't supposed to do.

...

Life is running alongside us begging us to take hold,

literally feeding us with all it has

surrounding us with an invisible yet visible bountiful blanket.

How easy it is to be blinded by the beautiful abundance,

as we wake up to a new day with too many stars and grains of sand to count.

Whatever brings you joy no matter how...

• My nieces and I are having a hand-picked homemade blackberry bake-off with social distancing outdoors. I plan to lose, have fun and gain some weight tasting the entries.

•  Chelsea told me that before leaving the apartment Gabriel walked over to the cupboard opened it and out took a tin of sardines to carry to the park....

Photo via Kaari Meng

Join French General Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9am PST for chats with some of our favorite friends, craft demos, and a few of our favorite things.

Our chat will be on Kaari Meng's French General's Instagram live and on YouTube.

I must say as happy I am to be asked to be part of French General's chat I...

the saying goodbye part is stirring

how could it not

knowing I will be going home makes it a soft landing

saying goodbye this time feels different as you can well imagine

I am trying to focus on the absolute lucky chance, the beautiful chance I have been given instead of the hard goodbye.

One year old

without a single tooth

sucking on an apricot.

He walked at ten months, so did his mom, but she had plenty of teeth at his age.

His favorite food, not the apricot he devoured, nor the seasonal Provencal fruit, oh yes, of course, he likes it- he likes everything except avocados. But his favorite food, the food he eats no...

Fingers crossed the flight I have back home to France will take off July 5th.

I am a mixed bag of various feelings and thoughts as you can imagine starting and finishing not in order with Yann, my mom, my brother, my family, little boy boy... will the plane leave or be canceled a fourth time, covid 19... 

Faith.