Patricia Sands

Author

General Travel

Travel theme: POSSIBILITY

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Ailsa of Where’s My Backpack  chose one of my favourite words as her travel theme photo challenge this week. If travel and photography are as important to you as they are to me, you should be following her website too! As well as enjoying Ailsa’s excellent photos,  you can visit the  photo links in the comments section to experience an incredible variety of visual feasts.

When author Susan Sommers and I are invited to speak with groups, we begin by encouraging people to become possibilitarians. Don’t you love that word? No matter what life throws in our paths, there are always possibilities to explore and embrace. Don’t let anything hold you back!

Here are a few of my travel photos … um, needless to say they are from France … that represent, to me, the opportunity for possibilities just around the corner or up the hill or down a path. Wherever you are headed and however you may be traveling, let the possibilities lead you on!

“I see the road ahead is turning. I wonder what’s around the bend?” Charles Kuralt

Along an intriguing path ...
Along an intriguing path …
On winding roads with breathtaking views ...
On winding roads with breathtaking views …
Up a stairway to what ...
Up a stairway to ? …
Cycling through history ...
Cycling through history …
Would you hike the path or cruise the seas ...
Would you hike the path or cruise the seas …
There's a story down this lane ...
There’s a story down this lane …
Choices ...
Choices …
I know where this leads ...
I know where this leads …
Up, up, and away to endless possibilities ...
Up, up, and away to endless possibilities …

Do travel possibilities intrigue and lead you on to new discoveries? Is there one in particular you will never forget? Share your link in the comments so we can all enjoy the experience!

Here are two from Ailsa’s website that really caught my attention:

http://theurgetowander.com/2014/01/03/dare-we-hope/

Travel Theme: Possibility

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Lunch with Journeywoman!

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Some days are a little more special than others and yesterday was one of those!

Some people you meet are a little more special than others and the woman I met yesterday was indeed one of those!

Evelyn-bio-picEvelyn Hannon, aka Journeywoman, and I spent a couple of hours  yesterday chatting over a light lunch we picked up in Whole Foods at Hazelton Lanes in Toronto. Seriously … just the two of us … lucky me!

Through a conversation we were having online about promoting The Promise of Provence on her site, the next thing we knew we were arranging to meet. I am so delighted we did. As smart, funny and down-to-earth as Evelyn appears in her writing online, she is even more so in person.  This is a woman experiencing life to the max and sharing her energy and enthusiasm with all of us. Lucky us!

In a word: INSPIRING.

I loved the fact we share the same philosophy that age should not be a deterrent to anything you wish to do in life. We looked at each other and laughed as we agreed that getting older is simply an opportunity to have time to follow more of your dreams. Just do it!

No wonder Time Magazine included Evelyn in a list of “this century’s most innovative thinkers”. As a woman way ahead of her time, she recognized the power of the internet and began blogging about travel for women in 1997, expanding her reach from the magazine she began in 1994. She now has over 70,000 subscribers to her newsletter and over 30,000 avid followers on Twitter.

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Click right here to read how her personal journey began.

As a serial traveler, I’ve followed Evelyn’s Journeywoman.com website for several years and always found interesting, helpful and/or entertaining travel information there. Although the website is geared to women traveling on their own, the information is valuable for anyone planning a trip or, truly, for people interested in learning more about this wonderful world of ours.  The number and variety of articles on this site will keep you engaged for a very long time.

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Just ignore the fact I’m in my track suit as I dashed over right after tennis!

I’m pleased and proud to have The Promise of Provence occupying a little space of its own on Journeywoman.com for the month of November. We’re also going to talk about the WomensTravelNetwork ‘Promenade in Provence’. I will be on the tour … will you?

If you haven’t yet discovered Evelyn’s Journeywoman.com site, I am suggesting that you get yourself over there as quickly as you can. Here you go … CLICK!  You will be writing me to say thanks. I know it!

A few blasts on a trombone …

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Author Emma Calin has brought along her trombone further down this page and if we could we would ask her to give a few blasts on it for this announcement!

There’s only one spot left on our first June 2014 tour to Provence! Come and enjoy moments like this! Desolée messieurs, it’s ladies only!

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Click here to sign up at the Womens Travel Network website. We’re waiting for you! Don’t worry if you want your BFF to come too, a second tour has been scheduled for June 25 to July 5, 2014. Ooo-la-la!

And speaking of France, who better to visit today than Emma Calin who lives her life between the UK and France. Welcome/Bienvenue, Emma!

Hi
I’m Emma Calin – lovely to be here on Patricia’s blog. As a fellow francophile I greatly admire Patricia’s books and the way she evokes the people and the scenery of my beloved second-country.I like to blog about France and my frequent visits to a tiny town in the south west of France called St Savinien sur Charente.  It is fascinating and a great privilege to be able to observe life in Europe from two different viewpoints.  As a romance novel writer, I set Knockout! partly in France: in Paris (where else for lovers?), Troyes and Antibes.But for today’s post I am rooted firmly in my native Britain – at the bandstand in the park to “Blow my own trombone” for the launch of my new boxed-set the “Love in a Hopeless Place Collection”.
Part two of “Rock-a-my-sax” (can you spot me and my instrument?).


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Lfqh1rN0U&w=560&h=315]




(For
the part 3: jump forward to tomorrow 27th
July with Stephanie Keys.
For other tunes, e.g. The Muppets, Eidelweiss, go see the other posts
in my tour below.)
 
The “Love in a Hopeless Place Collection” is a set of five of my titles amalgamated into one. A bargain way for you to get your hands on my gritty
tales-with-a-twist. Initially available for e-books (Kindle, iPad,
Android, iPhone, Mac, PC etc on Amazon), the paperback will follow
and an audiobook is in production.
 

 

 
The five titles in the collection are all novelettes or short stories.
They stand alone in their own right but are linked by a common theme:
the universal quest for survival, love, passion and respect against
the gritty backdrop of working class life.
 
Today I would like to give you a few snippets from SUB_PRIME – a gritty short story included in the collection.
 
A character:

She was close and he could smell her—a trace of greasy hair and
woman sweat. It wasn’t unpleasant to enjoy her pale silent
strength, their shared dirtiness, the untidiness of their beating
hearts.

A location:

Even the snow wasn’t real snow. At first it sparkled like
tinsel, giving the grubby old town that X-Factor moment of fame
before the gods laughed you off. Now grey slush soaked into Mike’s
cheap trainers as he walked from the job centre.


An end of scene
sentence(s!):
Would he go home to his missus with a
bag full of knock-off? Would he go home and tell her that he’d been
locked up as a scumbag thief? They’d
never catch him … 6’4”, nearly two years rolling tyres off a lorry
… it’d
take more than the pale-looking kid in the security uniform.
 

Sub-Prime, along with all my titles, including the new 5-in-one
collection is reduced to 99c/76p/89€, for my Worldwide Summer Sale until the
3rd August – so fill your suitcases!



USA: http://astore.amazon.com/realifaccto09-20

UK: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/realifaccto02-21 

Canada: http://astore.amazon.ca/realifaccto0b-20

Germany: http://astore.amazon.de/realifaccto0e-21


 

 

I would like say “Un grand merci” to Patricia for having me here as part of my “Blowing My Own Trombone Book Launch Blog Tour”. I will be sounding off at the following locations until the end of July…
 
17th
July Anneli
Purchase
20th
July Sheryl
Browne
21st
July Nicky
Wells
26th
July Patricia
Sands
 
 
 
About
Emma Calin:

 

 

Emma Calin was born in London in 1962. She currently lives part of the year in the UK and spends the rest in France.  She has been writing since
childhood and has won numerous local, national and international
prizes for poetry and short stories.

Emma enjoys writing love stories firmly rooted in social realism.
She blogs about the contrasts in life on both sides of the English
Channel, which she likes to explore on her tandem whenever weather
and fitness coincide. She is a Lifestyle Contributor on
Loveahappyending Lifestyle.
She defines herself as woman eternally pedaling between Peckham and
Pigalle, in search of passion and enduring romance.
 


Emma
Calin Links
For
more books by Emma Calin:  http://www.viewAuthor.at/EmmaCalin
Emma
Calin Website: http://www.emmacalin.com
Twitter:@Emma
Calin
 

Come to France with us next June!

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Eze Village-PSandsPhotos
Eze Village-PSandsPhotos

When I wrote The Promise of Provence, it never occurred to me that an opportunity like this trip would arise. I’m a writer. I love what I do and my greatest reward is hearing from readers. As you know from this blog, I also love to travel. To combine these two loves in my life is beyond exhilarating, so please excuse me if my excitement is showing!

51fxI-husZL._AA160_Susan Sommers is a fellow author and my partner in our Sommers & Sands speaking engagements. She is also my very good friend.  A non-fiction writer, her latest book is Power Source for Women:Proven Fitness Tools, Strategies and Success Stories. If you are looking for realistic ways to get yourself in shape, it’s the book for you.

Women’s stories comprise the common element in our writing. Sharing these stories is what inspires and motivates us. That’s why we had no hesitation in joining forces with Debbie Ross and her fabulous Women’s Travel Network. Debbie and her enthusiastic, knowledgable, team of tour leaders love to help women make their travel dreams come true. They listen to where their clients would like to travel and then plan the trip of a lifetime to that destination.

She knew she had clients who wanted to visit Provence and the Côte d’Azur.

She knows how much time I have spent in that part of the world and how I love to share it with friends.

Say no more!

I’ve been thrilled to hear from women who said they are coming because they read my novel. How much fun is that? Check with your BFFs, your daughters, your mothers, your sisters or simply come on your own. It’s going to be magnifique!

11 days, 14 women, memories to last forever!

In a last-minute telephone conversation with Debbie last night, she let me know this new information. Woohoo!

June 12 to June 22, 2014    Only a few spots available!
2nd Tour Added!  June 25 – July 05, 2014

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French Riviera  & Provence
June 12 – June 22, 2014
LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE
Only 5 spots left!
Greetings!

Join novelist Patricia Sands and visit the charming towns depicted in her newest novel The Promise of Provence.
Patricia writes about Katherine’s experiences in Provence and her eagerness to feel renewed by her surroundings: endless rows of lavender and fields of sunflowers flow in golden waves among vineyards and olive groves overlooked by ancient hilltop villages.

Our tour co-leader, Susan Sommers, is a “Fitness over 45” Motivational Speaker and Strategist, two-time Marathoner (at 61 & 63), and co-author of Power Source for Women.
During your daily outings in Provence, Susan will show you how easy it is to take 10,000 steps while enjoying exquisite scenery.
It’s the picture perfect place to become passionate about fitness.

Enjoy the cultural, historic and natural heritage of Nice & Provence during our visits of Eze, Monaco, Les Baux, St Remy, Arles and Avignon to name a few. Take a stroll through the local market brimming with spices, fruits, veggies and local wares. Visit one of the best-preserved Roman ampitheatres “Les Arenes” where bullfights still carry on the tradition. Learn the secrets of French Provencial cuisine during a hands on cooking class.  Taste fine wines, indulge in gourmet meals, and relax in the warmth of the Provencial sunshine.
  
This unique tour is limited to 16 travellers.  

French Riviera & Provence


Itinerary:
Day 01: Depart Toronto or other gateway
Day 02: Arrive in Nice
Day 03: Eze, Monaco
Day 04: Nice
Day 05: St Paul de Vence, Grasse
Day 06: Avignon
Day 07: Cooking class
Day 08: Les Baux, St Remy
Day 09: Arles
Day 10: The Luberon, Roussilon, Bonnieux
Day 11: Depart to Toronto or other city.

 

What’s included:

  • Nice, 4 nights at Hotel Beau Rivage or similar
  • Provence, 5 nights at Hotel Novotel Avignon Centre or similar
  • Transportation throughout by private mini coach
  • Breakfast daily
  • 8 dinners with wine
  • Services of an English speaking guide
  • Services of a WTN Escort throughout
  • Hotel taxes and service charges
  • Wine tasting and Olive Mill visit
  • Perfume making class, Aromatherapy workshop
  • Cooking class in Avignon
  • Visit of Aix en Provence
  • Guided visits of St Paul de Vence, Grasse, Avignon, Les Baux, St Remy, Arles, Luberon towns- Roussilon and Bonnieux
  • Entrance fees to all sites visited
Are you travelling alone?
Don’t worry, we will match you with a roommate.
Single rooms are available if preferred.
Additional cost $1425 CA
Nice
Lavendar fields of Provence
France narrow streetsProvence shopping
Enjoy, art, culture, gastronomy and shopping on this wonderful tour of Nice & Provence.

June 12 to June 22, 2014
Price: CAD $3750 per person, double occupancy

Click here for tour itinerary:

Hurry, space will be sold out soon.Call Now to reserve your spot!Contact:
Womens Travel Network
Phone: 905-771-8338
Toll free 1-888-419-0118
Email: info@womenstravelnetwork.ca

Check out photos from past trips to France. 

Click here!

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