Bonjour,
I hope that you and yours are well.
Spring has well and truly sprung here in France, nature is having a party and bringing joy to each day as we see leaves sprouting on trees and reaching up to embrace the sun’s rays, vegetable seeds starting their journey, flowers blooming, my chickens are laying eggs at a rate of knots and tomorrow the clocks spring forward.
After a relatively sleepy winter season, punctuated by Christmas and New Year festivities and a few big celebration days such as la chandeleur (pancakes), and Valentine’s Day, this time of the year there’s heaps going on including April Fool’s Day next week, rapidly followed by Easter.
April Fool’s Day always makes me think of a terrible joke/article I once read: On 1st April, a thief stole a painting from the Louvre and jumped into his van to escape with it but was caught when the van ran out of gas. He told the police “I did it because I had no Monet, to buy Degas to make my Van Gogh.” Oh dear, I think I can actually hear you groan!
Easter is a big deal here, boulangeries and patisseries are full of cakes that look like little works of art and chocolate shops are full of fantastic chocolate concoctions – life-sized chickens seem to be very popular this year, and of course the Easter bell is everywhere which for the French is just as traditional as an Easter egg. Legend has it that the church bells are silenced on the Friday before Easter, and fly to Rome to be blessed by the Pope. On Easter morning, the bells return from Rome and ring out loud. And on their way back, they drop chocolate treats for children to find. I shall of course be searching for my own Easter treat in the local shops and will post photos of the amazing chocolate sculptures I see on Instagram for you.
Wishing you a very happy April Fool’s Day and Easter from the middle of nowhere, northern France,
Bisous
Janine
Editor
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