Patricia Sands

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Patricia Sands

Bonne fête ~ May 1st, 2025

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Happy May Day!

En France ~ Bonne fête du muguet! Bonne fête du travail! Bon premier Mai! Happy Labor Day! Happy first of May!

In many countries around the world, the first of May is a celebrated Labor Day. In France there’s a special twist to the holiday that I love.
I recycle this post every year because I don’t want to change anything about it. If you read it last year … or the year before , I hope you enjoy it again. And if you can find some Lily of the Valley to give to a friend, all the better.

En mai, fais ce qu’il te plait!

Provençal proverb ~ In May, do what pleases you!


Here’s my May 1st muguet to each of you.

Every May 1st I like to share one of my favourite traditions in France ~ La Fête du Travail or La Fête du Muguet. The day is a national holiday ~ International Workers’ Day, like Labour Day in North America. But more than that it is an occasion when people give little bouquets or sprigs or pots of le muguet (lily of the valley) to each other. Like so many of the things we love about France, the tradition has lasted for centuries. It began in 1561, during the Renaissance.

Click here to read an excellent article by Margo Lestz, about this sweet tradition and all the history behind it.

Here’s another post about the tradition from Kristin Espinasse, everyone’s favourite scribe of daily French life.

A few years ago, my husband and I had just finished a magical stay (but then isn’t it always?) in Paris and the Loire Valley. We were driving south to the Dordogne region on May 1st and in every town, big or small, this was the scene. Even on a drizzly day. I loved it!


Obviously, young or old, everyone puts a lot of thought into this tradition.

A vivid memory of that rainy morning, is of an elderly woman sitting under an umbrella beside her small stand of bouquets of muguets. It wasn’t an appropriate picture to take … and no time to stop in the midst of traffic … but I’ve never forgotten the image. Does this happen to you sometimes when you travel? Your eye is the shutter and a particular image is captured forever in your memory?

Le muguet or lily of the valley represents a porte-bonheur, a good luck charm, to special people in your life. I am offering one to each of you.

Does your culture or country have a special May 1st tradtion?

Filed Under: Blog, France, UncategorizedTagged With: La fête du Muguet, labor day, le premier mai, may day, May First, Patricia Sands

Celebrating Easter, Passover and Spring in general

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April 20, 2025 by Patricia Sands (Edit)

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring!

Joyeuses Pâques, Joyeux Pesach, Joyeux Printemps!

Whatever joyous occasion you celebrate at this special time of year, may it bring family and friends together for reflection, fellowship, food … and chocolate. Let’s count our blessings and focus on how we can help those who cannot.

In France, the traditions around Easter are quite different than most countries. Here’s an excellent article from The Good Life France (my favourite website, as you all must know by now). It is written by my friend, Margo Lestz, who will give you all the history. It begins like this … “On the Thursday night before Easter, all the church bells go silent and they won’t be heard from again until Easter Sunday.” Click here to read more.

With the tragic fire that occurred five years ago at the beloved Notre Dame in Paris, thoughts will also be centred on once again celebrating Easter this weekend and hearing the bells ring out in the newly rebuilt cathedral. Whether for religious reasons or for the tremendous historical symbol it represents, people around the world are rejoicing at the amazing efforts by all involved in the restoration work. Response has been heartwarming and unifying, from the greatest to the smallest level. The heroes of that day are les pompiers, the men and women firefighters who worked tirelessly to contain the flames and those who helped save the priceless art. Click here to see an excellent video about the restoration.

This was the last photo I took of Notre Dame when I was in Paris in 2019. I will be there again this September and cannot wait to visit once again. I’ll send you a new photo and hope you will go with me in spirit!

I trust you are enjoying warm spring weather and good fellowship with friends and family at this special time of year.

From the window where I write, I can see the ski hills of Blue Mountain Resort. Amazingly, there are still two runs open leading into the village and the lifts will close tomorrow. It has been an amazing season with the best snow in years.

By the way, The Bridge Club is on sale this month … pick up a copy of the ebook for a friend if you already have yours! Just click here, it’s easy!

Bon weekend everyone!

Facebook/IG giveaway + Goodreads giveaway – it’s all happening!

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Hey everyone ~ To enter this giveaway, pop over to Facebook and/or Instagram! It’s easy to do.

Susan Walter and I are at it again, giving away SIGNED PRINT COPIES of two books to one lucky winner!
The theme of this giveaway is … SECRETS! “Letters from Strangers” by Susan Walter Author releases on May 27, and begins with the discovery of a bundle of secret love letters … And “The Secrets We Hide” by me is a mystical exploration of the secrets we hold the closest.
TO ENTER, go to Blue Sky Book Chat on Facebook or my account on IG or Susan’s account on IG and tag the person who you trust with all your secrets in the comments below. AND GOOD LUCK! Contest ends Saturday 4/19. US only.

And then there is this! My giveaway for the US and Canada good until April 25.

Click here to enter!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! WHO DOESN’T LOVE TO WIN A FREE BOOK?

April First and chocolate fish in France ~ no joke!

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April 1, 2025 by Patricia Sands (Edit)

April 1, 2025 

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

images

Happy April 1st! I hope you enjoy this repost of mine. Some things never change!

Imagine my surprise the first time I was in France on April 1st and found children sticking paper fish on my back, whispering and giggling and then hollering “poisson d’avril”!

Excusez-moi? Fish?

As Wikipedia explains: “In Italy, France and Belgium, children and adults traditionally tack paper fishes on each other’s back as a trick and shout “April fish!” in their local languages (pesce d’aprile!, poisson d’avril! and aprilvis! in Italian, French and Flemish, respectively). Such fish feature prominently on many late 19th- to early 20th-century French April Fools’ Day postcards.

April-Fools-vintage-Image-TheGraphicsFairy.com

April-Fools-vintage-Image-TheGraphicsFairy.com

I had no idea where the tradition began and, after a bit of searching, found this explanation on France Travel Guide.

“Although the origin of April Fools is obscure and debated, the most widely accepted explanation actually credits the “holiday” as starting in France. The most popular theory about the origin of April Fool’s Day involves the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century.

The theory goes like this: In 1564 King Charles IX of France reformed the calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. However, in a time without trains, a reliable post system or the internet, news often traveled slow and the uneducated, lower class people in rural France were the last to hear of and accept the new calendar. Those who failed to keep up with the change or who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d’avril, or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools—and so the tradition was born.”

poisson d'avril

poisson d’avril

Boulangeries and patisseries deliciously get into the spirit with fish-shaped goodies. Oh … and did I mention the chocolatiers? Schools of fish of all sizes fill shop windows, the larger ones often filled with smaller treats. To a chocoholic, fish never tasted so good!

Since Easter usually falls around the same time, fish feature predominantly in shop windows through that holiday as well.

Maybe we should adopt a symbol for April Fool’s Day in North America, so there would be a good excuse to buy special chocolates on that day over here. Not that we ever really need an excuse for chocolate …

Wherever you are, have fun on April 1st and enjoy some chocolate.

My friend, author Margo Lestz, has this tidbit to share on her blog about April 1:

“The annual “April Fish” in Nice, France ~
The city of Nice has its own special April Fool’s joke. Normally there is a cannon shot every day at noon from a hill overlooking the town. (It’s really a firecracker, but it used to be a cannon so they still call it one. You can read more about it here.) This noonday boom alerts the people of Nice that it’s lunchtime and it goes off every day at exactly noon. That is, every day except on April 1st when the “cannon” goes off one hour early and everyone is thrown off schedule. If you are in Nice on April 1st listen carefully after the boom and you might be able to hear a shout from the hilltop – “April Fish!”

Take some time and visit her website, The Curious Rambler, for entertaining posts about traditions and history based on her extensive travels in France, Italy and England.

Are you a prankster on April 1st or do you just grit your teeth and hope the day will pass quickly? Is there one April Fool’s Day joke in particular that you will never forget?

I hope Spring is settling in wherever you live. If this April is like most, we will still have the occasional day of snow flurries. But today is bright and sunny and I can see the ski runs on the hills are beginning to have brown patches. I put my skis away last week but am so thankful for the amazing season we had this year.

In book news, I’m happy to let you know that The Bridge Club is on sale for the month for $1.99. If you already have it in your library, now is a great time to gift it to friends or save copies for future gifts.

Happy April Fish Day!