Patricia Sands

Author

lake union authors

Let truffle season begin!

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

In France, for certain enthusiasts, the celebration this week will be all about musky-smelling, subterranean fungi … truffles.

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On November 15, the historic walled town of Richerenches, will open its famous market for black truffles, the largest in France, with the proclamation of le Ban des Truffes. This official opening of the market by members of the Brotherhood of Black Diamond and Gastronomy, begins the truffle season which lasts until at least March. Foodies around the world rejoice!

Photo credit - Richerenches, Bureau de Tourisme
Photo credit – Richerenches, Bureau de Tourisme

Truffle sellers often work out of the back of their cars and vans around the corner from the regular market with sellers and buyers from restaurants and other agents, negotiating prices and making deals. If you know your truffles (often referred to as black diamonds), you are welcome to join in!

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My friend, author and journalist Anne-Marie Simons, has an excellent chapter on the subject in her book Taking Root in Provence.

Great examples of being possibilitarians (my favourite word, as you know). They retired to Aix-en-Provence in 1998 and were wonderful role models of how to begin a fabulous new chapter in life. Sadly, Oscar passed away last year. If you haven’t read Taking Root In Provence, I highly recommend it! 

Click here for the link! It’s also available in paperback.

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A few years ago I was delighted to hear from the owners of Les Pastras, who shared their story with me.

Johann and Lisa Pepin, are a Franco-American couple who left their corporate careers in Chicago to take over the Pepin family vineyard in the south of France in 2003. They wrote me about living their dream and I was instantly intrigued. Here’s a bit of information from their website and I think you will want to know more too.  At this time of year, truffle-hunting forays are the highlights.

“Our 11 hectares produce grapes, olives, apricots, cherries, plums, apples, pears, pomegranates, figs, almonds, hazelnuts and black winter truffles. We offer truffle-hunting tours of the property when in season. Tours include a sampling of fresh truffle hors d’oeuvres, Champagne and a taste of our organic Les Pastras olive and truffle oil.

Fine food enthusiasts can adopt a tree at Les Pastras and receive a yearly shipment of olive oil or truffles. The perfect gift! Visitors can even choose their own tree during their truffle-hunting tour.

And for every tree adopted, Les Pastras buys a fruit tree for the One Family orphanage in Haiti.”

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How cool is that? With the gift-giving holidays just around the corner, how about an olive tree for the person on your list who has everything? My late father-in-law gave us this as a gift a few years ago and it was so much fun to receive our delivery of oil, we kept adopting for several years!

There is an excellent article about Johann and Lisa in The Good Life France along with all their important links. Go on over there and read it, you’ll be glad you did!

How do you feel about truffles? Have you ever tasted them? Are you a fan? Would you adopt an olive tree or give one as a gift?

Amazon Marketing surprised me with a $.99 sale of THE PROMISE OF PROVENCE ebook in a special sale this week only. There are just a few days left to pick up a copy or gift some to friends! Here’s the link. Happy shopping!

Giveaway week on the blog …

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It might be a case of spring fever, but we seem to be immersed in giveaways at the moment. It’s always fun to do promotions. We hope readers enjoy having a chance to win books and other prizes and, as authors, our goal also is to make our work known to some new readers. So we hope you share the news about this with your friends.

Here’s the biggie. This actually came about after Heather Burch, Mary Tod, Marilyn Simon Rothstein and I happened to be in Naples, Florida at the same time. It was a little meet-up of Lake Union Authors when we got together for a relaxing lunch on the beach at the popular Turtle Club Restaurant. I love eating there, sitting outside with that soft silky sand between my toes!

Among other things, we were celebrating the recent release of Marilyn’s sequel to her hilarious first novel, Lift and Separate, the equally hilarious Husbands and Other Sharp Objects. One thing authors love to do is celebrate each other’s new releases!

Needless to say we spent a lot of time talking about writing and books and life and laughing … oh … and we had some of those tasty beach drinks with the little umbrellas. They were SO delicious, they didn’t need any alcohol in them. Seriously.

The next thing we knew we were planning a promotion. As most writers do, we all had books in our cars. As I always do, I had my camera at the ready. Badda bing, badda boom … here’s our

Beach Reads Giveaway ~ Four Signed Novels You’re Going To Love  & A Fabulous Kindle Fire !

 Please invite your friends to join in too. READY, SET, GO!

 CLICK RIGHT HERE TO GET STARTED.

GOOD LUCK!

DROP BY ON FRIDAY TO SEE WHAT OTHER GIVEAWAYS WE HAVE FOR YOU WHILE THIS SPRING FEVER LASTS!

 

 

Twitter Chat & Marco Island Writers talk

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Good morning! It’s a new week with lots of good things happening. Is today a holiday for you? It’s Family Day in Canada and President’s Day in the USA!

I’m just popping by to remind you about our great Twitter Chat tomorrow … if Twitter’s your thing! Check out the schedule at the end of this post to see when your favourite authors will be on. I’ll be there from 1:30 to 3:00 tomorrow and would love to answer some of your questions. The giveaways will be awesome! 

More news …

If you happen to be in the Naples, Florida, area this Wednesday, February 21, please drop by the Marco Center for the Arts, 1010 Winterbery Dr., Marco Island at 6 p.m. I’m delighted to be speaking at a meeting of the Marco Island Writers group. It’s always a pleasure spending time and exchanging thoughts and ideas with other writers.

The public is always invited and first time visitors are free. Thanks so much for the invitation,  Michael Meguid and Joanne Tailele.

Please feel free to share with your friends in the area. We’ll be happy to see them!

Here’s the full agenda for tomorrow’s twitter chat. (You may need your reading glasses! )What time works for you?

What are your plans for the week? Whatever they are, I wish you a good one!

Drawing Lessons ~ prelude to publishing!

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

(There’s giveaway info at the end …)

It’s no secret that I have an obsession with France … the south of France, in particular. I love writing stories set in alluring and evocative locations there that bring history, beauty, character and ambience to the reader. When someone writes and tells me they were transported to France in the story … my work is done. And I am so grateful.

Thank you to every person who takes the time to share their thoughts in a review. Your words are important to me, as well as to other readers. Reviews don’t have to be long, just sincere.

October 1 is the publishing day for my fifth novel, Drawing Lessons. It’s always an exciting day for a writer after a long journey that begins with the seed of an idea. After months of research, writing, editing, re-writing, critiques from advance readers, re-writing, copy editing, proofreading, cover design, and many other details to consider, the release day arrives. Whew!

Drawing Lessons begins in Toronto before the story settles in and around the ancient town of Arles and the intriguing Camargue. After visiting Arles several times, my husband and I spent two weeks there while I took photos and filled notebooks with details.  Here’s an excellent tourism website. It’s definitely an area to visit.

I loved writing this story and learned a lot about many new topics in the process. That’s part of the fun of writing fiction. Every story is an eduction for the author. There are many other people to thank and that will happen in another post. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here’s the blurb:

The author of the Love in Provence series returns to the South of France with a poignant portrait of a woman who must learn how to create a new life for herself…

Sixty-two-year-old Arianna arrives in the South of France for a two-week artists’ workshop full of anticipation but burdened by guilt. Back home in Toronto, she has been living with the devastating diagnosis of her husband’s dementia and the heartbreak of watching the man she has loved for decades slip away before her eyes. What does her future hold without Ben? Before her is a blank canvas.

Encouraged by her family to take some time for herself, she has traveled to Arles to set up her easel in the same fields of poppies and sunflowers that inspired Van Gogh. Gradually, she rediscovers the inner artist she abandoned long ago. Drawing strength from the warm companionship and gentle wisdom of her fellow artists at the retreat—as well as the vitality of guest lecturer Jacques de Villeneuve, an artist and a cowboy—Arianna searches her heart for permission to embrace the life in front of her and, like the sunflowers, once again face the light.

Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered! If you haven’t, you can do so easily by going to this link. This guarantees your book will be in your hands as soon as it is published. No waiting!

Until then, there’s still an ebook giveaway going on until September 30. ONE HUNDRED EBOOKS ~ CLICK RIGHT HERE TO ENTER … GOOD LUCK! BONNE CHANCE!