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lavender fields in Provence

My recent newsletter ~ hiatus over!

August 20, 2022 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

NL #93 August 2, 2022

Bonjour

It’s been a while! I have been on a bit of a writing hiatus and am glad to be getting back into my regular schedule now.


How are you doing? I hope your summer is going well and that you are managing to stay cool in those areas where temperatures have been skyrocketing. Our thoughts are also with everyone impacted by other shocking forces of nature … fires, floods … life has not been easy for many people.


I find it’s often difficult to focus on the positive when such tragic circumstances abound. But, focus on the positive is exactly what I hope to do here with you. But before I go on, here is one way we can help those in need of assistance. Just click here.


Now, here’s my first bit of good news!


As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I was finishing up the final details in order to release my new novel, THE SECRETS WE HIDE. In fact … ta daaaaa … drum roll please … the cover reveal just happened. Only the front cover was revealed but I am sharing the complete cover here with all of you.


The book is ready for pre-order now and will be published August 25. I hope you are ready for a story that ultimately is about commitment, hope and second chances. Life isn’t always what we expect it to be but we should always be open to change. That is Kaito Tanaka’s lesson.


Here’s the pre-order link.

Moving on to my next good news which I’m sure you will all understand, since so many of you have been with me through a lot of years. In June, I finally was able to return to my beloved south of France. It was only for three weeks, but I was thankful to have that.


Apart from simply being thrilled to stroll the colorful streets of the Côte d’Azur again, I also had the pleasure of spending an afternoon in Nice at an author event that was a lot of fun with a full house and great question/book signing session afterward. Organized by the über-efficient Ella Dyer and M-C-ed by the effervescent Adrian Leeds, author, real estate expert extraordinaire and seen on House Hunters International.


There were seven authors in the lineup and I can’t wait to tell you about their books in my next few newsletters. This time I am highlighting Lisa Anselmo and Craig Carlson. In the meantime, feel free to find out more here: Debra Moffitt, Janet Hulstrand, Jeanne Oliver, Oliver Gee.

First, I’ll begin with these two dear friends. Read on:


Lisa Anselmo is an author, branding expert, speaker, and coach. She spent most of her professional career in magazine publishing in New York City, working on such iconic brands as Allure, InStyle, and People. In 2014, she left her “day job,” and now lives (mostly) in Paris where, when she’s not hanging out in cafés, she’s writing and coaching.

Her experiences inspired the fabulous memoir My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home, (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press), a candid narrative of a woman searching for hope and healing in the city she loves after the death of her mother from breast cancer. Check out her blog and YouTube series and be amazed at this multi-talented special woman, who also happens to be an exceptional singer and tons of fun!


Lisa and her projects have been featured in New York magazine, Travel and Leisure, Bustle, House Hunters International, The Today Show, The Guardian, New York Times, LA Times, BBC, and CNN International, among others.

You can connect with her here ~ Website: LisaAnselmo.com

New York Times bestselling author (and super nice guy!) Craig Carlson first
came to France as an exchange student in 1985 and instantly fell in love with
the country. He never could have imagined that some thirty-five years later,
he’d be the owner of two American diners in Paris and be nicknamed “Le
Pancake Kid” by the French. With a background in journalism, Craig studied
cinema at the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts, using his experience
as a screenwriter to pen his debut memoir, Pancakes in Paris: Living the
American Dream in France
. It’s a great story!


Craig and his husband, Julien (also a super nice guy!), currently split their time
between Paris and Los Angeles. Well, at least they try to. With two busy diners
that can’t be left alone for too long, their lives lean heavily on the Paris side,
which, of course, is not such a bad thing, n’est-ce pas?


You can connect with Craig here ~ Website: Craig Carlson Author

After that first busy week in Nice, it was time to check into Hotel Villa Victoria,
hook up with my tour-host partner and BFF, Deborah Bine (aka Barefoot
Blogger) and excitedly await the arrival of fourteen fabulous women who would
tour with us for twelve-days. This tour was created exclusively for them! You
see, these ladies had all traveled with us previously and wanted to do it again.
And so we did. In style. We made new memories in wonderful places along the
Riviera and folicked in the lavender fields of Provence. You can see more
photos in my Instagram account @psands.stories. You may recall my original
account was hacked in the spring and I’ve had to begin all over. I hope you are
following me there.


Enjoy a few moments from our trip:

More good news! Here are the winners from Newsletter #92. The authors will be
in touch with you. Felicitation! Anne Hardy, Kathi Banholzer, Pat Schelling and
Marlene Gagnon.

This month I have a very special giveaway for two lucky readers. Please note: This giveaway is for Newsletter subscribers only.

My dear friend, Lisa Barr … you may well know her now as a Woman on Fire! Her must-read novel WOMAN ON FIRE has been seen everywhere on all the bestselling book lists and in the news, as actor Sharon Stone will be producing and starring in the movie of this story! How exciting is that?


I have two copies of this book that come with a bookplate signed by Lisa. I
purchased the books at Lisa’s book signing at Books And Books in Coral Gables,
FL, last March. What a pleasure that was! But the lineup for signing was too long … no surprise there … and we had to drive back to Naples, so Lisa sent me the signed book plates.


You know the drill. Send an email to patriciasandsauthor@gmail.com and tell me why you would love to own this book. Trust me, Lisa’s writing is exquisite, exciting and engaging.


Here’s a blurb: From the author of the award-winning Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables, a gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazilooted masterpiece—forcing the ultimate showdown between passion and possession, lovers and liars, history and truth.

I hope you have enjoyed getting caught up with me here. I would love to hear how you are doing, so never hesitate to drop me a line.


My recipe for you today is an apéro I fell in love with all over again at the fabulous Bistro du Paradou on the last night of our June tour. We had the most wonderful ending to our tour there with the tremendous combination of joie de vivre and always delicious food!

Enjoy this Lillet Spritz ~ mine was made with Lillet Rosé but I understand Lillet Blanc is much the same. My garnish was mint and lemon but a strawberry sounds good too! (Book Club question ~ who remembers in which book Philippe first introduced Kat to Lillet? There might be a prize for the person who gets the answer right! In fact, there WILL be a prize.)


Here are a couple of shots from our farewell dinner. What a fine time! And I hope somehow you are all managing to have fine moments as we work our way through this summer. I trust you have many good books bringing you escape and wonder and great enjoyment.

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!

Note from me today August 20th: I’m working on my next Newsletter right now!

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Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, France, General Travel, Photo blogs, Writing Tagged With: Adrian Leeds, Author event in Nice, Cote d'Azur, craig carlson, Deborah Bine, Debra Moffitt, Ella Dyer, Hotel Belle Rives, Janet Hulstrand, Jeanne Oliver, lavender fields in Provence, Les Pastras, Lillet, lisa anselmo, Lisa Barr, new release, Oliver Gee, Patricia Sands, Provence, South of France Reunion Tour, The Secrets We Hide, Woman on Fire

Travel theme: PURPLE

July 22, 2014 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack Travel Theme is a favourite blog stop of mine. The theme this week is “Purple”. Click right here to check out the amazing diversity of photos others have posted on the theme.

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Knowing where I’ve been hanging out recently, is there any question what kind of purple I’ll be posting? Thanks for your patience while I get PURPLE out of my system!

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These are some of the shots I took when we visited some lavender fields in the Luberon area of France, on the two tours I just completed with the Womens Travel Network. What a fabulous time we had and I’m sure you can imagine how many photos like these we all took! Too irresistible!

Have you visited fields like these in other places? Do you grow lavender in your own garden?

Apart from the visual beauty and fragrance of these plants, lavender’s essential oil has a great variety of important uses that can uplift your life (and mood), heal and entice in a variety of ways. Visit this website for more details and add a little drop of purple into your life!

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Filed Under: Blog, France, Photo blogs Tagged With: Ailsa's Where's My Back, France, lavender, lavender fields in Provence, photo challenge, postaday

Literature, lavender and lunch – part 2

August 5, 2011 by Patricia Sands 10 Comments

If it’s Friday, it must be France!

Friday again! It seems to come around faster every week. Ok, I got so caught up in the excitement of the literary history on the Côte D’Azur last Friday that I didn’t get to the other two subjects in my title.

So now it’s on to lavender! Last week we rented a car and drove 2-1/2 hours north to the Valensole area of Provence. We were a little late for the full lavender whammy as the harvest had begun the week before. However, as you can see from my photos, there were still many fields in bloom so we weren’t disappointed. But here’s my word of advice about that: if you want to see the incredibly beautiful effect of the lavender fields in their full glory, go the first week of July. When you open the car windows or step outside, to take way too many photos, the fragrance in the air is amazing!

Of course when you have lavender, you have bees (they’re not interested in you, by the way) and many farms have apiaries to make their own lavender honey. They also often craft their own soaps, candles, and dried lavender products. I have one word for lavender honey – DIVINE!  When we popped into one small farm, they were just putting the fresh honey into jars and offered tastes with great pride. We stocked up!

I have to admit I was never a big lavender fan, although I always loved the look of  the plant, but after this experience I’ve become a convert. The true fragrance is so pure and sweet. There are also the holistic and aromatherapy benefits to lavender which are many. I had a moment of wishing I still lived in a house with a garden so I could plant some myself. Maybe I’ll try a plant on my condo terrace next summer and see what happens. I did see lots of  lavender in pots but suspect they had been there through many winters. Somehow I don’t think that will happen in Toronto!

When you google lavender, there’s a ton of information. You will find some really interesting sites. I’m including a video here that gives excellent information about growing your own lavender. Take a look!

Click here for the video which I couldn’t get to embed after a bizillion attempts!

And now on to lunch! We drove to the beautiful (it’s hard to find other words for these places …) village of Moustieres-Ste.-Marie which we have visited on previous trips.

In the past, we’ve had some fine meals at a small restaurant there and looked forward to another visit. Yikes! Not going to happen! There were tourists everywhere and the walk to the nearest available parking spot was better suited for a mountain goat. We drove straight through the village and tried to control our whining.  Then, voila! Just a few minutes out of town we saw a most inviting sign and quickly pulled in to the Restaurant Ferme Ste.-Cecile. The setting was pastoral and the cuisine was “gastronomique”, specializing in local products and surprisingly reasonably priced. Between the main course and dessert, the chef sent out a serving of perfectly aged chèvre accompanied by a tiny bowl of lavender honey. Bonus! Don’t you love it when a disappointment turns into something unexpectedly wonderful?

Are you a fan of lavender? Do you grow it in your garden? Have you tasted lavender honey? If you have any tips to share with readers about lavender or about your own travel surprises, please add a comment. It’s always so rewarding to receive them!

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Filed Under: Blog, France, If it is France... Tagged With: 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, Cote D'Azur, follow your dreams, ForeWord 2010 Book Of The Year Finalist, holiday in the south of France, lavender, lavender fields in Provence, lavender honey, lifelong friendship, Moustieres-Ste.-Marie, Patricia Sands, Restaurant Ferme Ste.-Cecile, The Bridge Club, the power of friendship, Valensole

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