French la Vie https://www.frenchlavie.com French la Vie Sat, 02 May 2026 07:51:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.frenchlavie.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/poppy-1-150x150.png French la Vie https://www.frenchlavie.com 32 32 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/05/02/open-space-for-beauty-to-unfold-for-all/ Open Space-for Beauty to Unfold for All. https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/955052306/0/tongueincheek~Open-Spacefor-Beauty-to-Unfold-for-All/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/955052306/0/tongueincheek~Open-Spacefor-Beauty-to-Unfold-for-All/#respond Sat, 02 May 2026 11:00:44 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=84731 Life keeps moving.Through birthdays and funerals.Through wars on screens and dishes in the sink.Through heartbreak and grocery lists and mornings where we open our eyes and wonder what we will see. I walk through antique markets and touch things that outlived the people who loved them first.A plate, a glass, a dish towel-A letter folded […]
               

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Life keeps moving.
Through birthdays and funerals.
Through wars on screens and dishes in the sink.
Through heartbreak and grocery lists and mornings where we open our eyes and wonder what we will see.

I walk through antique markets and touch things that outlived the people who loved them first.
A plate, a glass, a dish towel-
A letter folded worn at the corners.
A painting carried through decades by hands I’ll never know.

These things survived.
Wars. Hunger. Floods. Life.

Borders changing names.
Someone packed them into a suitcase once.
Someone held them against their chest while leaving home.
Someone decided this mattered enough to carry.

We keep going while the world turns through joy and tears and tears itself apart and rebuilds.

Nations rise. Countries burn. Children grow up. Somebody falls in love. Somebody else loses everything.

Most of it beyond us.
We protest. Donate. Boycott. Speak. Pray. Hope. Cry. Question. Turn away. Shake our heads.
Then the next morning comes-

Laundry. Lists. Bills. Bread. Invitations. Traffic.
The ordinary for some is extraordinary for many.

I sit in my home with food in the refrigerator.
Hot water. Electricity. A bed.
Things so normal here they almost disappear.
And somewhere else those things are miracles.

Sometimes it feels impossible to hold both truths at once.
Gratitude and guilt.
Beauty and brutality.
Safety built from someone else’s suffering.

Why here.
Why me.
Why does one person get softness while another spends their whole life surviving.

I keep thinking maybe nobody really knows where they’re going.
We pretend.
We make plans.
We speak about the future like it belongs to us.

We plant gardens.
We set tables.
We save photographs.
We pass down rings and recipes and stories.
We keep loving each other.

Maybe faith is just that.
Getting up again.
Boiling water for coffee.
Calling your mother.
Buying flowers.
Holding the door open.

Carrying something fragile through the world and hoping it reaches the next hands safely.

               

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]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/955052306/0/tongueincheek~Open-Spacefor-Beauty-to-Unfold-for-All/feed/ 0 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/05/01/happy-muguet-day/ Happy Muguet Day https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/955006385/0/tongueincheek~Happy-Muguet-Day/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/955006385/0/tongueincheek~Happy-Muguet-Day/#respond Fri, 01 May 2026 11:00:35 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=84727 On the first of May, in France, we give muguet- lily of the valley- to those we love.]]>

On the first of May, in France, we give muguet- lily of the valley- to those we love.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/955006385/0/tongueincheek~Happy-Muguet-Day/feed/ 0 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/04/30/the-red-hat/ The Red Hat https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954891314/0/tongueincheek~The-Red-Hat/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954891314/0/tongueincheek~The-Red-Hat/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:52 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=84724 Walking past a shop, a photographer asked if she could take my photo. Hesitantly, I agreed, while giving a sideways glance at my reflection in the window. That’s when I spotted the red hat- the shopkeeper approved, I plonked it on my head—improving the situation, if not the subject. The photographer looked slightly disappointed. “I […]]]>

Walking past a shop, a photographer asked if she could take my photo. Hesitantly, I agreed, while giving a sideways glance at my reflection in the window.

That’s when I spotted the red hat- the shopkeeper approved, I plonked it on my head—improving the situation, if not the subject.

The photographer looked slightly disappointed. “I was hoping to catch your face,” she said.

“I’m afraid that flew off a long time ago,” I replied. “This is as good as it’s going to get.”

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954891314/0/tongueincheek~The-Red-Hat/feed/ 10 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/04/29/when-in-cassis-2/ When in Cassis https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954828809/0/tongueincheek~When-in-Cassis/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954828809/0/tongueincheek~When-in-Cassis/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:00:51 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=84710 ]]>
]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954828809/0/tongueincheek~When-in-Cassis/feed/ 4 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/04/28/stepping-into-marie-antoinettes-styled-rooms/ Stepping into Marie Antoinette’s Styled Rooms https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954763883/0/tongueincheek~Stepping-into-Marie-Antoinette%e2%80%99s-Styled-Rooms/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954763883/0/tongueincheek~Stepping-into-Marie-Antoinette%e2%80%99s-Styled-Rooms/#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:00:59 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=84697 Hotel Caumont, Aix en Provence]]>

Hotel Caumont, Aix en Provence

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954763883/0/tongueincheek~Stepping-into-Marie-Antoinette%e2%80%99s-Styled-Rooms/feed/ 4 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/04/27/french-la-vie-journey-2/ French la Vie Journey https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954663338/0/tongueincheek~French-la-Vie-Journey/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/954663338/0/tongueincheek~French-la-Vie-Journey/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:00:06 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=84684 The light here—how do I tell you? It drifts between the plane trees, catches the edge of a glass of rose, lingers in the air… Provence holds light. Early mornings when the mist still clings to the vineyards, when the markets are unwrapping their treasures: A stack of linen, monogrammed, initials of someone long gone. […]]]>

The light here—how do I tell you? It drifts between the plane trees, catches the edge of a glass of rose, lingers in the air… Provence holds light.

Early mornings when the mist still clings to the vineyards, when the markets are unwrapping their treasures: A stack of linen, monogrammed, initials of someone long gone. A mercury mirror that has seen more than we will ever know. The scent of café crème. Hints of lavender and thyme. Life, paused, waiting full.

We will chase these moments together.

From village to village, unhurried, and conversations drift. We will tuck finds under our arms – A confit pot. A bundle of deckled page books. Maybe nothing, perhaps everything. Because the brocante is what stirs inside you when you hold a piece of the past and feel it.

And in between… Provence unfolds the light, warm bread in your hands. Doors left slightly open. Cats sunning themselves. Pétanque balls rolling. Brocante finds smiling back. We will sit at tables, share stories, sip days that taste like dreams, as the day soften around us.

There is a space, waiting for the week of May 19th. Can you come that soon? Next openings are in Spring 2027.

If you have ever longed to step into a painting, to gather beauty with your hands, to slow down enough to notice the poetry in a faded ribbon… then you already understand.

All that’s left is to say yes.

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