Patricia Sands

Author

living in the south of France

I have a confession to make …

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Okay, here are my excuses for not having a post organized for today:

1. Our wifi was down for five days.

2. Every time I went to an internet cafe I was distracted by all the cool stuff going on around me. Even in the quietest location it was all just happening … um, maybe my timing was off … happy hour is always happy, isn’t it …

3. I’m packing and organizing to return to Toronto after our four and a half months in Antibes.

4. Our French friends keep organizing “au revoir” moments (Seriously, my hairdresser is even closing her shop so a few of us can share lunch there tomorrow, how sweet is that? It will be my last opportunity to stumble through a social engagement entirely in French with three women whose laughter is contagious and who patiently explain until I get it too.)

5. With the internet unavailable at home the “distraction quotient”, a common writer’s issue, was greatly reduced. I got on a roll with my manuscript and made great headway this past week. A few unexpected characters  found their way into the story and I’ve been having a fine time developing them. I like it when that happens. I feel energized about the story and hopefully will be able to stay on track and complete it by December.

Now that I’ve shared my list of excuses, I hope it explains why this video has nothing to do with anything except entertainment. One of our kids sent it to me a few months ago and I watch it from time to time (did I mention the “distraction quotient”?) because it is just so much fun. It’s been around, so whether you are viewing it for the first time or the umpteenth, enjoy!  Then send it on to someone you know who will smile just as much when they watch it. Tillman rocks!

This week helped remind me that I need to spend less time on internet demands and more time on actual writing. I’ve got to keep Kristen Lamb’s words ringing in my ear!  If you are a writer or a blogger and haven’t taken her awesome blogging and social media online course, click here and sign up now. She puts it all in perspective.

Enjoy these last few days of September!

Les Amis – ours and Saint-Bernardin’s

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If It’s Friday, It Must Be France …

Mon Dieu! It’s a good thing there’s a time difference so I’ll get this post on my blog on Friday somewhere! We had six very special friends – 5 adults and one absolutely adorable two-month old Alice –  for lunch (le déjeuner) today and it did go on, in a very good way, until well into this afternoon!

This morning I dashed off to the market to pick up a few items and to have a fromage (cheese) consultation with my friend Jacques (who has now asked me to use “tu” with him, which means we’re tight … we’re friends … I’m so pleased ). Did I mention he is the model for one of the main characters in the novel I’m currently writing? But I digress …

I  just want to share this one comment of his with you because it demonstrates something that I love about the French and their traditions. He asked if our friends were French or English. When I said they were French, he replied, “Le Brie, c’est obligatoire!” In other words, when serving cheese (always after the meal, NEVER before in France except for little cocktail chunks of cheese which I’ll explain some other time) to your French friends you  MUST include some Brie. Then he chose a Bleue and a Beaufort to go along with that. I’m having quite an education in the art of cheese.

But I have a confession to make (and I don’t intend to tell my good friend Jacques, I hope he doesn’t read this … he did ask for my website … ok, I might have to confess …). We were having such a good time and our friends brought this amazing dessert and I forgot to serve the cheese. I can’t believe it!  After all that! I know Jacques would be as disappointed as I am. Never mind, some dear friends of ours are arriving tomorrow for a week and I’ll serve it to them. They aren’t French but I know they will enjoy it almost as much!

Speaking of friends, last evening my DH and I had tickets to a Bach violin oncert in the 16thC, La Chapelle De St.-Bernardin in the old town of Antibes (where we are living for just two more weeks … wiping tears so I can continue to type …). After all the amazing jazz we heard in July with the Nice Jazz Festival and then our own Jazz À Juan, this would be quite a change.

I often pop into this small church which is built on the site of Roman ruins, as are many buildings here. It’s on my way to the market and I’m in love with the doors. I like to touch them (you’re allowed to)  and think about the people connected to them. They’re 500 years old and the wood is simply beautiful with a colour so intensely rich and warm they almost feel alive. The date, 1581, is carved into them.

If I don’t go into the church, I look at the doors at the end of the narrow alley leading to them every single time I walk by. Did I mention, I love them? I’ve posted about these doors before but will just remind you of the story. In the 1500’s there was a terrible plague in the area. The survivors arranged for these doors to be carved and donated to the church in thanks. Beautiful.

Part of the wonderful story of this little chapel is that it almost didn’t survive the passing of centuries and the change in society’s approach to religion. Like many churches during the French Revolution (1789-1799), the church was taken over and it’s riches plundered. After that the building fell into disrepair and abandonment. In the late 1970’s there was a fire in the building after which a group of local people founded Les Amis de Saint-Bernardin. Through their dedicated efforts the chapel has been restored to it’s former glory. Every detail was carefully researched and returned to it’s original appearance. They were able to uncover and clean one fresco in such condition that it has been left in it’s original state. It’s very moving to view.

The before and after photos of the work accomplished in this project are incredible. When the doors of the church are open anyone may go in at no cost and in fact there is no place to even leave a donation. It was declared an historical monument in 1985.

The concert, performed by renowned Olivier Charlier, was beautiful and the setting simply intensified the experience. Click here to visit his site and actually hear him playing.

I’m certain Les Amis de Saint-Bernardin feel proud and satisfied by their efforts. We stand in awe. It’s wonderful what friends can do.

Have you worked on any special projects with friends of yours? It would be great to hear your experiences.

Have you forgotten to serve something special to your friends when they were over for a meal? Please leave a comment below and tell me I’m not alone!

Bonjour mes amis!

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Please join me in the south of France for the summer! My husband and I have rented an apartment in Antibes between Nice and Cannes. We have visited this area on several vacations and fell in love with the beauty, the history, the culture, the people, the weather … I could go on but you will see what I mean … and besides that, I LOVE to speak French! I think I must have been born here in another life!

The two most important criteria we wanted for our accommodation were location and view and we have both to perfection. In fact, there really is no need for a car as we can get to so many places all along the Riviera and even into Italy from the train station just down the street. The town of Antibes is more like a village and one walks everywhere. There’s a car rental agency around the corner from us if we want to go further afield from time to time.

As you know, photography is a passion of mine so my beloved Canon Rebel XT has been steaming. I’ll get some photos organized and share them here in the next week or so. We’ve spent the past few weeks getting settled here and also having visits from some good friends, which we’ve spent exploring and discovering. I’ll share some of those discoveries as well – beautiful perched villages, switchback roads that open onto stunning vistas, talented artists and traditional artisans, fabulous coastal towns and beaches, architecture that takes your breath away from the very simple to the sumptuous, and restaurants … oo la la, the restaurants.

What does this have to do with my writing? Well I’ve been working on my next novel and when I knew we were coming to this part of the world for an extended time, my storyline moved over here too. I’m busy making notes and plotting and hopefully will have something close to a finished product by the time we leave. It’s easy to be motivated here as the ghosts of  artists come to you in the narrow streets lined with shuttered houses, many hundreds of years old. Writers as early back as 1500 BC left their work in caves in the area. In the last few centuries a long list of  influential writers found inspiration here including Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, DeMaupassant, Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham, Graham Green, James Joyce, Nabakov, Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pound, Sylvia Plath and the list goes on. Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse, Renoir, Chagall, Picasso, Bracque, Miro  are just a few of another equally long list of painters and sculptors who found the special light and air of the south of France irresistible.

The musical history of the area, particularly during the Jazz Age, is also impressive and we are excited to be here for the Jazz Festival of Nice in early July, followed by the 51st anniversary of Jazz A Juan in next-door Juan-Les-Pins. More on those later.

If spending an extended time in a different part of the world is something that appeals to you, talk to me about it. We are experienced home exchangers and renters and I have lots of good tips. I’m happy to say we have never had a bad experience.

There’s a small fish market on the pier at the end of our street so I’m off to consider our dinner menu and shoot some more photos of the local fishermen cleaning their nets.

A bientot! (Now I’ll have to figure out how to add the french accents to my text!)