Patricia Sands

Author

France

Le quatorze juillet – party time!

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It it’s Friday, it must be France …

Bonne Fête de La Bastille! Bonne Fête Nationale! Happy Bastille Day! 

Every July 14 the storming of the Bastille in Paris in 1789 is celebrated throughout France and around the world by French ex-pats. A fabulous party is guaranteed!

This national holiday commemorates what is recognized as the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th’s Ancient Regime. With this uprising, the people signaled that the king’s power was no longer absolute as they fought for freedom from oppression and the establishment of liberty, equality and fraternity.

The holiday celebrates the birth of the French Republic. In most communities, all kinds of festive events are planned for the day – including parades, dances, feasts – and  a bang-up finish to the evening with the kind of fantastic fireworks the French love!

Bastille Day Fireworks over the Mediterranean
Last summer we were living in Antibes and loved being right in the midst of all the festivities. This year trying not to whine we will be celebrating in Toronto … hmmm, not quite the same!
We’re living a little vicariously this July 14 as our youngest son (26) is in Antibes/Juan Les Pins and somehow we know he’ll be only too happy to party for us!
Bastille Day Fireworks over the Mediterranean
So whip over to your closest French bakery and load up on croissants for breakfast,  practise the words to La Marseillaise and get out the corkscrew to toast the day with some fine vintage French wine. Wherever you celebrate, I wish you a bonne fête!

Nice Jazz Festival 2012

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Excusez-moi, I’m slacking a little today and watching the men’s semi-final tennis matches at Wimbledon. SO good!

And then my DH and I are slipping out to an afternoon movie. After reading all the fabulous posts author Barbara Conelli left on my blog this week and last, she put us in the mood for something Italian. We’re going to see the new Woody Allen movie, To Rome With Love. Va bene!

As a result, this post won’t be too long. Was that a sigh of relief I heard …?

The next four weeks on the Côte D’Azur will be filled with the most fantastic music. S’wonderful, s’marvelous … as the song goes. The Nice Jazz Festival begins this weekend  (July 8 – 12) and, as well as ticketed concerts, there will be music in the air wherever you go. Musicians wander the heart of this beautiful city, playing on street corners and offering free concerts to fortunate passersby. It’s simply great fun!

Click here to see all the details and watch some videos. Enjoy!

Are there jazz festivals where you live? The Toronto Jazz Festival just ended on July 1st and was a huge success once again. Next year I will try to have my act together and talk about it before it is on instead of after the fact. Tell me what happens in your town!  Bon weekend, tout le monde!

P.S.

I had a few photos I took last year during the Nice Jazz Festival but they seem to have vanished from my iPhoto files. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??? Never mind,  just because I can’t help myself, here are a few random photos of this city I love so very much …

Ten guilty pleasures … in France …

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Bonjour! I’ve been having such a fabulous time at Jess Witkins’s HAPPINESS PROJECT that I simply haven’t been able to leave.

Today she has my Friday “France” post featured on her “Guilty Pleasures” page so click here and take a blog hop over to join us for a little decadent indulgence. After all, it is Friday, so we’ll have the weekend to recover!

Don’t forget to leave a comment at the Happiness Project and your name will be entered to win a free e-copy of The Bridge Club! See you there!

Bon weekend tout le monde!

Please don’t think for a moment that those ten items are my only indulgences in France … far from it …  They’re just the ones that we’re talking about today. IMHO, one can never have too many guilty pleasures … and, seriously, let’s just drop the “guilty“. Care to share some of yours here? Slide down to the comment section below and spill! I can’t wait to hear from you!

La Grande Nomade …

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Yes … I’m still hard at the WIP … so since I can’t get away from it, I thought I would bring you into the story with me for a moment. Oh come on! No eye rolls! It’s just for a moment …

By way of introduction – This sculpture was installed at the end of the ramparts in Antibes in 2007. It was taken into a private collection at one point and the outcry was so loud when it was gone that it was replaced. We overlooked it from our terrace last summer. Magic … day or night … just magic …

The setting for this scene in my story is at night. Of course in the WIP there are no photos … only the images created by my own letters …

Patricia Sands Photography

At the end of the ramparts, they stepped inside the white stainless steel sculpture that faced the sea and dominated the harbor of Port Vauban. Lit from the bottom in the unfolding darkness, there was a sense of a shimmering diaphanous embrace.

“I’ve been mesmerized by this from my terrace,” Katherine murmured. “It’s as if  he’s a guardian …  almost like a mirage from a distance.”

“This part of the ramparts is Bastion Saint-Jaume. Originally constructed in the 1700’s, it was blown up by the Germans when they retreated in 1944 and rebuilt according to the original plans,” Nick said, ever the historian.

Photo by http://www.casa-infos.fr/node/54

“It’s so unusual …  almost magical … ” Katherine studied the outline of a person squatting, arms around knees, constructed entirely of letters.

 “La Grande Nomade … but tourists refer to it as the Man of Letters … for obvious reasons,” Nick continued. “Oddly, the Spanish sculptor’s name is Jaume Plensa …”

 Katherine smiled at the coincidence.

Nick’s voice softened, reflecting the intimacy he craved. “His philosophy behind the work is that letters are like bricks. They help us to construct our thoughts. I read an interview where he expressed his feeling that our skin is permanently and invisibly tattooed with the text of our life experiences and then someone comes along … a friend, a lover … who is able to decipher these tattoos.”

 Biting her lip, Kat looked out over the calm sea. “The text of this year of my life would call for quite the tattoo.”

Photo by http://yaellecaplan.blogspot.ca/2011/08/la-grande-nomade.html
Patricia Sands Photography

Are you able to get a good enough sense of La Grande Nomade from these photos? What do you think of Plensa’s philosophy about letters?

It’s a long weekend in Canada and the weather is beautiful in Toronto – Victoria Day on Monday or, as it’s ‘fondly’ referred to up here “May two-four”. I’m taking tomorrow off from writing. Woohoo!  We’re going to Mosport with some of our children and grandchildren to watch our son, Sasha, compete in his auto racing division. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I wish you all a Bon Weekend!