General Travel

I just had to do it …

August 22, 2016 by Patricia Sands

I know I’m taking the easy way out here but … I just had to do it! I have so much to share with you after our two months in Europe and just not enough time. Writing another novel seems to be eating those hours up in a hurry!

So I’m reposting my last newsletter here and I hope you enjoy it. If you are already a subscriber, please forgive me … and I hope you’ll be happy taking a peek at it again … My next one should be out in a week or so.

Newsletter #35 July 24, 2016

Bonjour mes amis

I’m writing to you on a beautiful calm, south of France kind of day and I hope you are enjoying a similarly peaceful day, wherever you are.

This header photo above is actually the front entrance to the exchange house we are enjoying in Antibes. Honestly, just opening the gate and seeing that front door when we come home each day is a calming factor in itself!

And there’s a resident tortoise in the garden that I have been asked to leave some lettuce and fruit for every morning. His name is Geoff!

A big MERCI to everyone who joined me and my seven other author friends for our Facebook book event on July 12^th. We had a record attendance and it was great fun!

Here’s what I’ve been up to since my last letter.

Our two-week stay in Arles, just after my last newsletter, meant I was able to do a lot of research and planning for my current manuscript. It’s such an intriguing town with its Roman history so alive throughout with monuments and sites that are amazingly intact … after 2000 years.

I shared a lot of information and photos about Arles in my last newsletter and in this post on my blog last month.

One of the first things we did was get right over to the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh to see a current exhibit of 31 original paintings by the master. It’s on until September, if you are in the area.

A thrill was visiting the Antiquities Museum where a complete Roman transport boat is displayed. It was recovered from the sandy bottom of the Rhône river, that runs by Arles, in 2014. The story of how they managed to recover and preserve the boat is quite remarkable. The danger was that the disintegration of the wood could begin immediately once it was exposed to the air. Here’s a brief video about it.

I was fortunate to spend a day in the Camargue area just south of Arles: a unique, marshy triangular river delta, famous for its white horses, black bulls and pink flamingoes. The remarkable Aigues-Mortes, a medieval walled town is also located there. Have you ever been there?

Part of my next novel is set in this area and it was wonderful to have someone tour me around who is very familiar with the history.

Next, we spent three days in charming Saint-Remy-de-Provence at the delightful Maison-de-Line B&B (within easy walking distance of the old town). I was excited to take my husband to Les Carrières de Lumières near Les Baux. Chagall’s work is featured this year. If you are visiting the area, be sure to take this in!

Before leaving for the coast, I also was fortunate to spend some special days in new (to me) towns. One day Carolyne Kauser-Abbott, founder of Perfectly Provence, toured me around the captivating village of Eygalières. And … bonus … it was market day!
Carolyne introduced me to a talented young woman who creates these gorgeous lavender fuseaux (wands) in the traditional way taught to her by her grandmère. I was glad to know that Carolyne features them for sale in her Atelier on Perfectly Provence. I couldn’t resist and bought three at the market!

On another bright, sunny day, I took a bus from Arles to Uzés where Deborah Bine, The Barefoot Blogger, gave me an insider’s tour. It was so much fun to meet her in person and last week she came to Antibes so I could return the favour.

After all of the terrible events happening around the globe, I feel even more committed to continue writing stories that somehow carry us all away to happier places. In fact, those events compelled me to focus even more on the positive in the manuscript I’m currently working on. Now if I could just stop being distracted by the beauty around me at the moment, I might make more progress!

As always, I am in my happiest place when settled on the Côte d’Azur … and particularly in Antibes, surrounded by the images from my Love In Provence novels. This year we are in the Juan-les-Pins side of Antibes and tonight we’re going for dinner at the Hôtel Belles-Rives. Kat and Molly spent an evening there with Nick and Graham in The Promise of Provence. I have a feeling I may sense their presence.

Click here to read the past and current history of the hotel.

Even more so, I hope to feel the spirits of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda … well, maybe not Zelda who was basically having a breakdown during that time. They lived here when it was the private Villa St. Louis in 1925/26. It was on this property that he pennedTender is the Night, as well as working on aspects of other stories.

In a letter to Hemingway, Fitzgerald wrote, ““With our being back in a nice villa on my beloved Riviera (between Nice and Cannes) I’m happier than I’ve been for years. It’s one of those strange, precious and all too transitory moments when everything in one’s life seems to be going well.”

It’s a pity the rest of his life did not play out that way, but he certainly left the world some excellent novels.

Our teenage granddaughters came from Toronto to spend last week with us. What a joy that was! We loved sharing travels with our children in years past and to have that opportunity with this next generation was special indeed. Have you travelled with grandchildren? I heartily recommend it!

With just a week to take them to some of the places we love, we managed to accomplish a lot and the girls were fabulous company. They also took the best selfies!

More good news for us is that our oldest granddaughter, newly graduated from university as a registered nurse, is arriving here this afternoon. I’m going to hop on the train to Cannes (just two stops) to meet her at the bus station where she is arriving from Barcelona.

I better finish up this letter and spend the next few hours writing!

Here are the winners of Sally Christie’s latest release, our June giveaway:

Ebook: Kara Taylor

Print: Vickilee Miller

Audio: Sandy Pochapin

Congratulations! I’m sure you have already heard from Sally.

This month’s giveaway will be for a gift box of goodies I have been collecting from the French markets I visit on a regular basis. The value of the contents this year will be around $50.00 and they will be items such as French soap, lavender, sea salt, tea towel and other things I can’t resist.

If you would like to enter, you know the drill ~ simply send an email topatriciasandsauthor@gmail.com and tell us if you are taking a summer holiday or enjoying a ‘staycation’ at home. We always like to hear what you are up to!

As I’ve been choosing photos for this letter, I realized I have so much more to share with you. Instead of bombarding you with mail, I’ll be writing blog posts about the beautiful places we visited. I you would like to see more, just check on my blog every week. If you care to subscribe to it, you’ll automatically know when a new post is written.

My recipe this month is for the classic French sandwich, le croque-monsieur i.e. the French version of a grilled cheese. Every once in a while, it’s a must to eat one!

Stay well, my friends, be kind to one another, read a lot and appreciate every single day. Profitez de tous les jours! I’m reminded on a regular basis that the best part of being an author is hearing from readers. I value the messages I receive from you. Thanks also for sharing my books with your friends and for the reviews you write. It’s all most appreciated and inspiring. See you next month!

À bientôt et bon appétit,

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Change your life ~ Jacquie Gauthier did!

April 19, 2016 by Patricia Sands

Recently in my newsletter, author Jacquie Gauthier offered two copies of her memoir, The Gift of an Elephant, in our giveaway. I’m delighted to have her stop by the blog today to chat with us.

Jacquie is a Canadian now living in South Africa and she has a most interesting story to share. Like Kat, in The Promise of Provence, Jacquie had a major mid-life transition that took courage.

She’s a great example of how to be a possibilitarian and you know how I feel about that!

PS ~ I love how our lives first connected through friends we have in common in Canada! Please share a bit of the story of how you took a chance and completely changed your life to make your home in South Africa.

JG ~ I have always thought of myself as a true romantic, but I even surprised myself when Johann and I eloped! We met in January of 2010 in South Sudan. Johann, a South African paramedic was there on a U. N. contract locating the landmines that had been laid in the region during all the years of conflict there. I was visiting as part of the team from Canadian Aid for South Sudan. We only saw each other a total of four times, but we both knew we had made a very special connection. After 6 months of constant conversation via email, we needed to know if it was love, so I went to visit him in South Africa. On the fourth day of my visit, we were married in an intimate African ceremony in the bush!

PS ~ Of course, your memoir, The Gift of an Elephant, explains your journey in great detail. What prompted you to write a memoir? Had you ever written a book in the past?

JG ~ Almost every time someone heard our story, they would exclaim “Wow- you should write a book!” After getting that response so often, it occurred to me that maybe I had something of value to share. Our story seemed to resonate with so many people !

Often they expressed that they were feeling “stuck” in their lives, especially at a certain age when they felt that it was too late to risk or to change. I hoped that sharing our experience would show others that it’s never to late to create the life you want. If you can hear the call of something more and take a leap of faith, your life can change in ways you never could have imagined.

PS ~ Is there any one lesson in particular about writing that you learned from the experience?

JG ~ Write from the heart.Be honest and share your truth. Ignore your internal editor and try not to judge what you are writing- there’s plenty of time to do that later.

PS ~ Do you have another book planned?

JG ~ I have just started working on the sequel, tentatively titled ” Twenty-eight Elephants and Other Every Day Miracles”. The story I tell in The Gift of an Elephant ended over three years ago, and so much has happened since. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and about life. Probably the most important thing I have learned is that the only thing I ever have to change is my mind. I am happier now than I have ever been, and if telling my story can in some small way inspire some one else to find their happiness, I want to do that.

PS ~ Two Girls and An Elephant is an amazing undertaking that began as a result of your new life in South Africa. I love the tagline on the website, “African art with attitude“. Please tell us about it.

JG ~ This new life has brought many gifts and one of the greatest has been the freedom and the inspiration to explore my creativity. Almost three years ago I had the idea of combining photography with fine art on elephant dung paper! My friend Alicia Fordyce is a beyond gifted self-taught artist. I approached her with the idea, and now we are Two Girls and an Elephant; photographer, painter and paper maker.

Last year we had successful exhibitions in Canada and Switzerland. We are now focusing on selling prints of our originals as well as greeting cards and bookmarks. We are hoping to raise funds and awareness for elephant conservation by donating 10% of the price of these items to Elephants Alive South Africa.

PS ~ I love following your photography on Instagram (@Jaxisclever) and seeing your FB posts about the wildlife that is part of your new world. What is your involvement with that?

JG ~ I want to share the love and appreciation I feel for all of these animals with as many people as I can because Africa needs the help of the entire world to protect them!

Living where we do, at the gateway to Kruger National Park, almost every day we see the tragedy that is animal poaching. There are two ways to stop this practice- through education and economics. Teach people that ivory is not a status symbol, and that rhino horn is not medicine; and we need to boost the South African economy with a thriving tourist industry that will provide jobs and lift people out of poverty.

I try to be involved in any way I can, by volunteering in and supporting community projects, fundraising for conservation and encouraging people to come and visit these majestic animals in their glorious natural habitat.

I’m also currently spearheading a Parliamentary petition that will ban the importation of hunting trophies in to Canada. I have to say I was absolutely stunned to learn that it is still legal to import ivory and lion skins into Canada! We can change attitudes and stop the slaughter of elephants and rhinos and other vulnerable species, but we have to do it now.

PS ~ Would you say writing, photography or painting is your greatest love?

JG ~ That is a difficult question! Writing was my first love. I am at my absolute happiest when I am out on a game drive taking photos, but then I get really excited at the prospect of turning those photos in to art pieces. I love playing with multiple images and creating modern art- or as we call it, African Art with Attitude. I am an absolute beginner when it comes to painting- that is definitely Alicia’s department. But I am excited about learning. And I recently had the privilege of working with respected Canadian artist Hendrikus Bervoets, the founder of Art for Aids International. We have done a series of collages using my photographs and they turned out beautifully!

PS ~ What can we eagerly anticipate from you in the near future?

JG ~ I will be coming back to Canada in May for a few events; May 12 I am returning to my home town of Penetanguishene and Midland, where I started my radio career. I am the guest for ” A Day in the Life” an interview series at the Midland Cultural Center. I’ll be there along with my books and some of our art.

Then May 15th we are hosting an event called” Music, Art and Africa” in Port Stanley Ontario which will feature the music of Denise Pelley, the Art of Two Girls and an Elephant and our friend Nicola Coady (a fellow Canadian now living in South Africa) Proceeds from the event will support the art and music camp in South Sudan, a project of Canadian Aid for South Sudan. It’s wonderful to see all my passions dancing together to raise money for causes I am passionate about!

For more information about Two Girls and An Elephant, click here.

Click here to visit Jacquie’s Amazon Author Page.

Stop by and say hello to Jacquie on Facebook.

The real deal!

March 19, 2016 by Patricia Sands

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

I’m having a throwback to our time in the Pays Basque of France in April/May last year. Two weeks ago I wrote a post for The Good Life France about these cookies. Les véritables macarons of the Pays Basque were such a surprise when I discovered them … how had I not known? They truly are the real deal when it comes to macarons.

Click right here to read my article on TGLF and you’ll see what I mean.

I used to think all macarons were like these: the trendy, frou-frou, multi-colored, every-flavor-under-the-sun kind that have become so popular in recent years. Don’t get me wrong, many people love these … and I have tried my best to love them too, with mixed results. But the moment I tasted the crisp crust and soft interior of the richly-flavored Basque macaron, the truth was revealed to me.

A single layer of gustatorial goodness. No filling required. Locally it’s called “mouchou”, from the Basque word musu, meaning kiss. Yes.

But my post on TGLF explains that. Writing that article had me lingering in my photo files from our trip. I was reminded of the very different and fascinating Basque country of the Pyénées-Atlantiques departement of France. Although we were based in beautiful Biarritz, we explored widely … as we do.

Here’s the main beach, one of many, in Biarritz. A surfing capital of the world, a lot of newbies learn and experiment at this beach. The more serious … and I do mean SERIOUS … put on amazing spectacles just around the corner, when the surf is up.

The palace (shown below) was originally built by Napoleon III for his wife, Princess Eugenie, and entertained many aristocratic and royal guests during the golden years of the resort in 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s now a luxury destination with a first-class restaurant.

But today I want to share a bit about the birthplace of the scrumpdiddlyumptious Basque macaron. The town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz is just twenty minutes south Biarritz and even closer to the Spanish border. Fabulous San Sebastian, Spain is only a half-hour away … but that’s another story and I will definitely do posts later about those places.

Famous for its crescent-shaped bay on the Atlantic and its history of fishing, pirates and royalty, today many of the attractions are the beautiful beaches and golf courses more recently developed.

Away from the sea, the countryside is pastoral and gently leads up into the Pyrenees. Dotted with farms and rustic villages, the quintessential white-washed homes and outbuildings are finished with wood timbers. Doors and shutters are stained blood red or deep green, the colours of the Basque flag. Garlands of local hot peppers hang everywhere.

The Basque people are proud of their ancient roots and language (Euskara), the latter spoken extensively and found on signage throughout the region. Lively traditions and delicious cuisine (particularly charcuterie, cheese, ham, seafood) are mainstays of the area, celebrated with frequent festivals. Click here for an excellent detailed article.

Oops, I’m losing focus … as I often do! There’s just so much good information to share.

The heart of Saint-Jean-de-Luz history revolves around the royal wedding in 1660 of Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’, and Maria Theresa, the Infanta of Spain. The chapel where the ceremony was held and the buildings in which the newlyweds and their entourages held court exist, along with much of the old town, as they did all those centuries ago.

The local pâtisserie, Maison Adam baked their popular macarons, even then. Apparently the king’s bride-to-be and his mother loved the cookies, so they were served at the wedding.

The closely guarded recipe remains the same to this day and, through all these centuries, the family business has been handed down through father and son. Baked into rustic rounds that are sold as single biscuits, until recently, these Basque macarons were seldom found outside the Pays Basque.

Visit the shop, in the same location, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, or in Biarritz. They also craft irresistibly delicious chocolate … warning: there is a chocolate fountain in the store in Saint-Jean. If you have time, even if you don’t want to practise your French, take a look at this gorgeous website with vintage photos.

I could go on here for pages, but will just share some more photos. As I mentioned above, this link is the one to read for a truly fine article … and, don’t worry, it’s not too long. You may even want to plan a visit to the Pays Basque of France by the time you finish reading. We would definitely return.

Oh, and berets! The Basque beret! That’s one of the reasons I wrote some characters from the Pays Basque into I Promise You This. I loooove the berets! *Promotion opportunity here ~ I Promise You This, Book #3 in the Love In Provence series will be released by Amazon on May 17th! It’s available for pre-order now. I can’t wait for you to read it.

Have you visited the Basque region of France or Spain? Have you ever tried the P’tit Basque or Petit Basque cheese? It’s mild and delicious and your local cheese shop might carry it. Check it out.

Bon weekend!

The Good Life France SPRING Magazine

March 4, 2016 by Patricia Sands

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

When this publication arrives in my mailbox, I’m done. Whatever I am working on is set aside, while I take a quick look through the entire magazine. Then I decide which article I will settle into first. My weekend is planned!

Here’s the SPRING EDITION OF THE GOOD LIFE FRANCE MAGAZINE ~ as always, FREE AND FABULOUS! The photography and presentation simply keeps getting better … and it was always superb from the beginning. Take your time, mesdames et messieurs, and savor this gem. Once again, kudos to Janine Marsh, the tireless editor.

On y va!

The new issue of The Good Life France Magazine SPRING 2016 magazine has been published.

You can now access it instantly HERE.

VIEW DIGITAL EDITION

The digital magazine technology requires no special software and loads quickly in your web browser. Just click on the magazine cover or link above to begin reading now!

If you will be asked for an access key to view the magazine use this: nzaDE4

There’s nothing else I could post on this page today to compare with the goodness found in this magazine. Dive right in and enjoy it! That’s what I’ll be doing!

À très bon weekend!

Change your life ~ Jacquie Gauthier did!

The real deal!

The Good Life France SPRING Magazine

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