French la Vie

 

I look forward to checking in with u every day because life in France has the appearance of something more. I still can figure out if this is true. So my question is a request to have you add small ideas of change that you have learned in France and from your mom.

 

France has a long rich deep history which weaves itself within time as it goes throughout the ages. Carried on with respect and sometimes upheaval the culture and history of France are present in everyday life. From the architecture, cuisine, the laws still intact from Napolean, an understanding and or acceptance of traditions mixed with change. I agree there is something more and I believe the history the roots make it this way. The small ideas of change and that is what they are small ideas that have influenced my life often without me even being aware of it. One thing I believe is that I made a conscious choice to understand the French culture and pass that on to my children. I wanted them to "fit in" not to stand out as the foreign kid, to be immersed in the lifestyle, the culture, the language, the history, the day to day life of France. Because of that desire, I worked hard integrating into life when I arrived over thirty years ago and tried to surround myself with French people and not just stay safe with people who spoke my language. and then pass that on to my children. Because of this, I love sharing the nuances, the beauty, the small things that make France such a lovely place to live and grow.

 

 

 

what are your thoughts when you peruse your readers comments on your stories? When you share your stories with pictures but We are unable to provide you with as much background in our comments.. do you wonder about our lives and try to imagine us?

 

One of the greatest gifts I have had is meeting so many readers from my blog. At last count several years ago we estimated that we probably have met over 700 people. Many of you have come to visit me, or I have met you in your homes, or you have sought me out in places I have been. I met Irina and "Alfredo" in Hong Kong, Merisi, Liesolette, and Dieter in Austria, Carri in Ireland, Joanna, Lynn, Mari, Linda, Ludmil, Susan, Stephanie, and PLENTY more in Marburger, Diogenes, Kaari, Shelley, Teresa…., at the Gilded Life in L.A., many of you Barbara, Jackie, Robin, Judy, Frieda, Ann, Gina, Cheryl, Joanna, Arnelle, Helen, Kipper, Cosifantutti, Jan, Sarah, Lizzie, Laurie, Sharon, Niki, Charland, Kim, Ching, amber, Shannon, Gary, John, Camy, Kristin, Melanie, Tamara, Elizabeth, Julia, Lorna, Finchely Papers, Patrice, Debbie, Christine,Vlad, Michelle, Rebecca, Dianna, Diane, Laura, Jani, Georgianna Lane, Blamey Rose, Denise, Joan from Bully, Krista, Ian, Laurie Annya, Tina… and those of you who have come of French la Vie Journeys, AND MANY MANY MORE the list goes on and on (and I should not list these names because there are hundreds more and I do not want to offend anyone) and I am ever so grateful, grateful for the encounters, the FRIENDSHIPS virtual and real, it would be so very hard to stop blogging because I would never want to end the vast community that is here. Yes it is impossible to comment on the comments, or respond to every email, if I did I would be living online and sleeping at the computer. But I do read every email and comment, those of you who have been commenting for years I feel I know and hope to meet you one day. 

 

 

How do you do it every day?

Simply because of you.

 

 

 

Being a wife of a retired Marine and always saying goodbye to friends and family over the years, I would like to know how you handle it when you visit the USA and that long teary ride back to France.

 

Living in a foreign country, I have two places called home and family and friends that live far away. The homesickness feels so common that I think of it as a bruise on my arm that doesn't go away, I am ALWAYS missing someone. Therefore out of necessity, I know how to protect the "bruise". For me, I had to accept that this is my life, that it is a constant passage, part of the journey. It is okay to get sad, it is okay to feel melancholy, it is okay to sit with depression, loneliness, and longing, and it is okay to put those emotions, people I love who live far away in a safe place in my heart and not "think" about them in a way that will make me sad. It is how I protect myself from going insane.

 

 

 

 

I’m bringing my granddaughter to Paris next year, she will be 18. I will take her to all to the usual suspects but where is a fun place to take her shopping? Any special desert places?

Last summer my five teenaged nieces came to France to visit me. We shopped a little, but not enough for me to give you names of shops. Though I found this online and I agreed with it when I read it. Teen Shopping in Paris.

Other than the classics Cafe Flore, Laduree, Angelina's… there are so many wonderful places you won't be at lost to find one, sweet special dessert places are as easy to find as breathing. With that said if you look these names up online, you will have a few in your pocket

Berthillon Glacier

Carette

Odette

Des gâteaux et du Pain

Pozzetto

Stohrer

…

 

 

 

 

I'd love to hear about your BelleMere's experience during WWII also?

When France was occupied by the Nazis during World War II, they set up their headquarters in certain large often beautiful French homes throughout France. My Belle Mere's (Mother-in-Law's) parents' home in Rennes was chosen for such a purpose. My Belle Mere was sixteen at the time, she and her family were allowed to live in the basement while the Nazis took over their home.

 

At the same time, my Belle Mere's family who lived in Paris were afraid that Paris would be destroyed came to Rennes because they thought they would be safer, they moved in with my Belle Mere and her family, forty-five of them lived in the basement.

 

My Belle Mere's Father was active in the French Resistance. Living underneath them in the basement provided a sneaky eye's view on what was going on. It also proved a place easy to eavesdrop on the Nazi officers' conversations. He was allowed to ride his bicycle into the countryside to collect fresh produce and dairy products, a note or two was often slipped into the potato sack. Certainly, he feared for his life and the life of his family. But "…to sit and do nothing was like death itself." he later said.

My French family has many stories about life with the Nazi officers, oddly none of them are brutal nor ugly, seemingly surreal. The head Nazi officer was a family man and his wife like my Belle Mere's mother was pregnant. When my Belle Mere's mother went into labor, the head officer took her to the hospital and made sure that she had everything she needed.

I often wonder how it was to live like that? How it must have felt to be treated with odd respect, yet knowing a violent war surrounded them. To see the enemy as human, to see their lives similar and intertwine. It was as if the Nazi officers in their home were not part of the war. The twisted twist of being involved and yet not wanting to be.

As horrendous and evil as that war was, it seemed some small acts of kindness sipped out of such ugliness. Often at night, the Nazi officers played the piano, and the music seemed to settle their frayed nerves. Though my Belle Mere's family never once let down their guard and knew that death was as close as their doorstep. The expression, "killing with kindness," seemed to hold a raw meaning for them in times like this.

A family in my village (whose home was also occupied during WWII) told me that their Great grandmother was told after celebrating Christmas with the Nazi officers that occupied their home, "We have had a wonderful Christmas celebrating with you, we have enjoyed our evening together but if tonight we receive orders to kill you, we will." He said as he smiled and went upstairs to bed.

 

 

 

 

What do you like most to read (ex., books of what genre, magazines, newspapers, etc.)? What are your favorite books, newspapers, magazines? Do you read most often from a screen or in hard copy? If you listen to music, what type of music and in what setting (ex., streaming in the background when you are at home, in person in concert, on the radio, and so on)?

 

I enjoy novels in book form, though I do read the news online Washington Post, the Atlantic, New York Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph of Travel. I do not buy magazines and haven't since 2003. Mainly, because I do not want to store them, nor throw them away. I look online mostly. I listen to all sorts of music, not one thing in particular. But mostly, I like to work in silence, I usually have music on when company comes over, to Yann's playlist or Radio Paradise. When I am out walking sometimes I listen to music on YOUTUBE, or Podcasts.

 

 

 

 

 

 Do you take them on your phone or with a camera. Do you use filters or any apps to get such great looks?

For my blog and instagram, I take photos with my cell phone (iPhone 7), simply because it is easier. On my blog, I rarely use a filter or apps, on Instagram I use a filter sometimes called Juno.

 

 

 

 

 

How do you come up with inspiration for posts and do some days feel as if you don’t want to do this anymore?

Either I write about something that I felt or experienced in the day. If I am tired or if something is going on that is too time or emotionally consuming I think about skipping a day or two. Usually, when that happens I repost something. For inspiration, I look at my day or my inner life.

 

 

 

 

How did you find your voice and what made you such a creative writer?

 

First Thank you for the compliment. That made my day. Though I know I could do better. For me, writing takes time, as in time to sit still in myself and listen, plus taking the time to write when I am not tired. Which is often not the case. Finding my voice has to do with the storyteller in me, the collecting of emotions that come with day to day life, then contemplation, and delight. To try to put what I see and feel into words, words that capture the heart of the matter. Going to the brocante or seeing art/beauty more so being with friends talking about whatever stimulates my imagination to write as well.

 

xxxxxx