French la Vie https://www.frenchlavie.com French la Vie Mon, 20 Jul 2026 05:52:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 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/2026/07/20/the-vineyard/ The Vineyard: https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/961016750/0/tongueincheek~The-Vineyard/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/961016750/0/tongueincheek~The-Vineyard/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2026 02:00:32 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85768                 

Related Stories

 ]]> A week ago, my cousin’s son Jake died after a terrible illness. He was twenty-four. Talented. Creative. Loved. The kind of person who did not know an enemy. I did not know him personally. I knew of him. But I knew my cousin. We are family.

His funeral was in Napa, and because I was in California, my family asked if I was coming along. I hesitated, though I could not understand why. I knew I should go. I could go. I wanted to go. Still, something held me back.

At the very last minute, I threw on a black dress and got in the car.

We drove two hours to the vineyard where the funeral would be held. When we turned in, a rush moved through me. More than forty years disappeared. Someone I loved dearly had died. He was from that same area. He was the same age as this young man. The grief was palpable. I remembered it. I felt it.

And in that moment, I understood the hesitation.

The memory. The pain. The sorrow. The letting go. His family standing inside a grief so deep it could be felt to the bone.

The vineyard stretched around us. Rows of grapes, full and sun-kissed, gathering the sweetness of time. Green slowly giving way to deep purple. Still becoming.

And there it was—the reminder that what is becoming can already hold so much beauty, like the grapes ripening on the vine, carrying within them what the season promised.

Some do not finish becoming. They remain with us—in the way we remember, in the way we see, in the places our hearts return.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/961016750/0/tongueincheek~The-Vineyard/feed/ 7 Weekly Top Posts: 2026-07-19https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960900632/0/tongueincheek<ol><li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960216506/0/tongueincheek/~Healing-the-Image-of-Ourselves">Healing the Image of Ourselves</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960179939/0/tongueincheek/~Old-Friend%2cDear-Friend">Old Friend,Dear Friend</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960325190/0/tongueincheek/~The-Archaeologist-of-Creativity">The Archaeologist of Creativity</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960086366/0/tongueincheek/~Letting-Go-of-Fear-Learning-to-with-Guidance">Letting Go of Fear- Learning to with Guidance</a></li> <li><a rel="NOFOLLOW" href="http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960452750/0/tongueincheek/~Bastille-Day%2c-Last-Night">Bastille Day, Last Night</a></li> </ol><Img align="left" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="" style="border:0;float:left;margin:0;padding:0;width:1px!important;height:1px!important;" hspace="0" src="https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/i/960900632/0/tongueincheek"> Sun, 19 Jul 2026 04:00:01 GMTtag:feedblitz.com,2026-07-19:tongueincheek/2026-07-19T04:00:01-00:00 FeedSplice by FeedBlitz https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/07/19/the-big-adventure-grand-papa-and-gabriel/ The Big Adventure, Grand-papa and Gabriel https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960903563/0/tongueincheek~The-Big-Adventure-Grandpapa-and-Gabriel/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960903563/0/tongueincheek~The-Big-Adventure-Grandpapa-and-Gabriel/#comments Sun, 19 Jul 2026 02:00:45 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85755 Just the two of them for four days- deep in the French Alps, hiking, biking, camping, looking for marmots, playing Tic Tac Toe, creating memories, bonding, sleeping under the stars and riding with the wind.]]>

Just the two of them for four days-

deep in the French Alps,

hiking, biking, camping, looking for marmots, playing Tic Tac Toe,

creating memories, bonding, sleeping under the stars and riding with the wind.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960903563/0/tongueincheek~The-Big-Adventure-Grandpapa-and-Gabriel/feed/ 5 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/07/18/the-sign-of-the-times/ The Sign of the Times https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960800198/0/tongueincheek~The-Sign-of-the-Times/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960800198/0/tongueincheek~The-Sign-of-the-Times/#comments Sat, 18 Jul 2026 02:00:31 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85747 This morning, as I was walking, I came to an old fence post where a sign read: NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT I stopped there longer than usual. How many signs pass before us each day without our noticing? The ones nailed to a post. The ones carried across the news. The expressions on another […]]]>

This morning, as I was walking, I came to an old fence post where a sign read:

NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT

I stopped there longer than usual.

How many signs pass before us each day without our noticing? The ones nailed to a post. The ones carried across the news. The expressions on another person’s face. The tightening in our own chest.

What if there were signs that read:

NO HATRED BEYOND THIS POINT.
NO HARM BEYOND THIS POINT.
NO WAR BEYOND THIS POINT.

Would we stop? Would we turn around?

Perhaps the earth has been placing such signs before us all along—through everything, and through everyone.

But our days are crowded with noise. A constant bombardment of signals, opinions, demands, and distractions. We become practiced at looking without seeing, hearing without listening. Living without engaging.

Are awake enough to recognize them?

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960800198/0/tongueincheek~The-Sign-of-the-Times/feed/ 3 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/07/17/heartland/ Heartland https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960668384/0/tongueincheek~Heartland/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960668384/0/tongueincheek~Heartland/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2026 02:00:26 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85740 Love lived here, and remains. I left for France forty years ago. An ocean of living has happened since then. Other homes. Another language. Other versions of myself. And yet, stepping back into these rooms, I discover that some part of me never packed a suitcase. I have been here all along. Waiting beside familiar […]]]>

Love lived here, and remains.

I left for France forty years ago. An ocean of living has happened since then. Other homes. Another language. Other versions of myself.

And yet, stepping back into these rooms, I discover that some part of me never packed a suitcase.

I have been here all along.

Waiting beside familiar shelves, beneath familiar ceilings, knowing what every drawer holds.

Where the child you were and the person you became sit beside one another—

Where everything is still in its place— 

so am I.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960668384/0/tongueincheek~Heartland/feed/ 11 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/07/16/all-of-it/ All of It https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960522221/0/tongueincheek~All-of-It/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960522221/0/tongueincheek~All-of-It/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2026 02:00:16 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85734 We can be delicate and strong.We can be sad and still share joy.We can have today and live it moment by moment, yet still yearn for tomorrow and the day after. We can have nothing to say, yet want to scream while remaining silent. We can feel the sun on our faces and the rainstorm […]]]>

We can be delicate and strong.
We can be sad and still share joy.
We can have today and live it moment by moment, yet still yearn for tomorrow and the day after.

We can have nothing to say, yet want to scream while remaining silent.

We can feel the sun on our faces and the rainstorm running down our cheeks.

We can be hungry and not want to eat, or eat and still feel hungry.

We can waste so much time on so many unimportant things, yet fiercely guard what is important in our lives—especially when it all comes to the edge.

We can be many things, hold many things, love many things, want more, and wonder why it all goes by so fast. The truth is, we have more than most, and yet we still think it is not enough.

We can question God, our faith, and life itself. We can shake our heads, call it unfair and beautiful, and realize that we are just one beautiful drop in the bucket—grateful to have made even the tiniest splash.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960522221/0/tongueincheek~All-of-It/feed/ 4 https://www.frenchlavie.com/2026/07/15/bastille-day-last-night/ Bastille Day, Last Night https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960452750/0/tongueincheek~Bastille-Day-Last-Night/ https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960452750/0/tongueincheek~Bastille-Day-Last-Night/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2026 02:00:09 +0000 https://www.frenchlavie.com/?p=85726 The fireworks in Cassis celebrating Bastille Day were spectacular. We’re fortunate to have front-row seats from our Fisherman’s House, which looks directly toward the lighthouse where the fireworks are launched. Chelsea sent me these photos of the Pickles oklast night. She also sent a short video, which I’ll post on Facebook. Olivia danced to the […]]]>

The fireworks in Cassis celebrating Bastille Day were spectacular. We’re fortunate to have front-row seats from our Fisherman’s House, which looks directly toward the lighthouse where the fireworks are launched.

Chelsea sent me these photos of the Pickles oklast night. She also sent a short video, which I’ll post on Facebook.

Olivia danced to the music, while Gabriel watched until the end. He said it was beautiful, but also too loud and too bright, and that it scares all the animals.

]]> https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/960452750/0/tongueincheek~Bastille-Day-Last-Night/feed/ 4