Table Tuesday

 

A hidden table.

Mona Monday

Mona on a book cover about the history of art.

Francophile Friday: a good life in France

  

The book that started it all.

Recommended holiday reading

Into the weekend with 4 great reads by Janine Marsh, guaranteed to make any Christmas bright 

***

Besides photography enthusiasts my stats show that visitors to this blog include not only the curious but regulars, many of whom have followed me here from my USA Today writing days. Most are Francophiles, those ardent admirers of France and everything French. And while some reside in France, of those who don't some have confessed that they envision themselves pulling up stakes and settling in The Land of The Gauls.

 Well that is exactly what author Janine Marsh, creator/editor of popular online magazine The Good Life France, where I am a contributor, did, not all that long ago, now detailed in a first book, My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream that shot up to #1 on Amazon shortly after its release, beating out J. K. Rowling at the time.

 It all started on a dreary day with zero expectations - except to find some cheap French wine on a trip to northern France with her husband and father. That trip turned into a true life adventure, and Janine found herself returning to England “a few hours later having put in an offer on a rundown old barn in the rural Seven Valleys area of Pas de Calais.”

Eventually leaving behind both life and livelihood in London, she leapt into unknown territory of what was to become a completely new lifestyle in the French countryside that included a plethora of animals (another revelation), local characters and many other, sometimes perplexing, discoveries.  

The writing is light and keeps the reader turning pages. If you are expecting a "how-we-fixed-up-an-old-barn-and-made-it-liveable" manual, you will be disappointed. It is a story of survival in a culture that turns out to be surprisingly different than anything she knew, often bemusing. This book is evergreen that is, it won’t grow old, especially now, post Covid, as the world has changed and such forays have become the food of fantasy.

Since then three other books, the second two, sequels of sort and equally delightful, have followed:

Toujours La France!: Living The Dream In Rural France 

My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life in France 

Her fourth and quite recent (October 31, 2023) How To Be French: Eat Drink Dress Travel Love, is a toast to French l'art de vivre and what it means to be French, filled with useful advice, insights and tips à la française. - BPJ 

 

Janine Marsh is a British writer "living in the middle of nowhere rural France, with 72 animals and a husband." - From her Amazon page

 

 

 

Days of books and roses

 

Yesterday was the Feast of Saint Georges in France, celebrated as a Valentine's Day in (south of the border) Catalonia and known as, La Diada de Sant Jordi, The Day of the Book and the Rose.

Explosion

To all our Lebanese friends and at The American University of Beirut, all our sympathies, sadness, and prayers.

Book: "The Bitter Years" / "Les Années Amères"
Photography of Edward Steichen

***

Update 8/10/2020: This photo was taken on July 26, nine days before the explosion in Beirut. I had just been offered these magnificent lilies, no special occasion, and the first thing I thought, feeling slightly uncomfortable, was, "Um white lilies are for funerals" but didn't say anything as they were such a beautiful gesture and gift, put them in a vase and took this photo. When I looked at it I noticed that the grim coffee table book was in the shot and wanted to re-take it without it, but decided not to bother. Days later, on August 5, the world woke up to the terrible news of the explosion in Beirut, and the next day, August 6, searching for a photo to post as usual, this one almost jumped off my screen. I was struck how the overhead angle made the lilies look uncannily like an enormous explosion of some sort, while below, on the cover, a man covers (protects?) his face with his hand. Since then this post has elicited comments about its symbolism but it wasn't done on purpose, as the photo had been taken days before. - BPJ

A book by its cover

That which is striking and beautiful is not always right, but that which is right is always beautiful. - Ninon de l'Enclos, French courtesan, author, patron of the arts

Amaze

Cristina Mittermeier Photography
Publisher: teNeues Publishing Company

 

Available at La Hune Gallery 16 rue de l'Abbaye 75006

 

 

Love in the time of corona

 

 

Boulangeries remain open.

 
***

As countries across the globe restrict travel, close borders and put cities and towns on lockdown, most everyone will be huddling indoors for what might become a long haul, perhaps as much as four months. France is starting with two weeks, with a wait-and-see clause in reserve.

Already, on an ecological level, we are seeing what might be: satellite images show large metropolitan areas from Wuhan to New York spookily pollution free. In Venice, some claim that waters are running clear as fish return to canals, something not seen for decades. Our Montmartre apartment, thankfully on a side-street with a great choice of food shopping (not to mention a Thai takeaway) just downstairs, overlooks a quiet interior courtyard with trees, and while we usually wake up to birdsong, this morning sounded like we are living in the countryside.

For couples and families, being confined together brings its own challenges. At the end of last week, as glasses clinked one last time at our now closed local café, ideas were shared of what to do and what not to do, in the hopes that when this all blows over, we will all be better off for it.

What came up again and again: respecting each other's space - harder to do than it sounds. Obvious culprits: leaving a mess for others to clean up; high noise volume - whether loud phone chats, late night TV, Pavarotti belting out "Nessun Dorma" or thumping rap tunes with windows flung wide. We agreed that lots more cooking at home will be inevitable, and that immune-boosting soups and cutting out sugar, which lowers the immune system, made sense. It turns out that for now, meal deliveries will stay in operation - Deliveroo, Frichti, UberEats... - and will be left at the door to respect distancing.

Before/after-the-lockdown photos of thin-to-obese have been making rounds, but as France is not (yet) a country of fridge-raiding and pancakes and popcorn, this remains to be seen.

Habits to acquire: removing shoes upon entering the home, using cleaning products that disinfect surfaces, door handles, on/off switches, daily; keeping a gel soap within easy reach of sinks and of course washing hands (think Lady Macbeth) but surgeon-like, farther up the arm. Even in buildings with cleaning crews we talked about a need to take individual responsibility for wiping down banisters, elevator buttons, street door handles. It's believed that the virus clings to metal and glass surfaces - change, cellphone screens, elevators, supermarket checkout counters - for hours. And to clothing.

We see this as a chance to catch up on much - side-lined reading, projects, films (providers such as Orange are offering its customers free unlimited movies til the end of March), organizing closets, shelves and neglected caves - as well as to re-connect, cuddle, get into parlor games (chess anyone?), long talks, soul-searching. 

 

A post on Instagram said, "Your grandparents were called to war. You're being called to your couch. You can do this!" Happy hunkering. - BPJ

 

Street scene

Book stalls, bicycles, and much activity as I exit much-loved Left Bank librairie, Taschen.

Book nooks

"Happily, one-of-a-kind bookshops are alive, well, and thriving in Paris..."

 Article winter issue, "10 Brilliant Book Nooks":

The Good Life France Magazine

Book benches

A square behind the Institut de France with its book benches signals entry into Literary Paris, where many writers, composers, artists, intellectuals and bons vivants flocked to in the early 20th century in search of the like-minded.