Bonjour from France
I truly hope that you and yours are well.
Here in France as we are entering week 5 of lock-down, I’m continuing to try to focus on the positive. The newspapers are reporting all the bad stuff and I am leaving it to them.
Here, as I write to you, I’m looking out of the window of the pig sty where I write, at the most beautiful blue spring sky, not a cloud to be seen, not even a wisp of a cloud. The birds are singing louder than I’ve ever heard, including a cuckoo, and there seem to be more than ever of them, it’s almost as if they know we humans need their cheerful tunes.
I should have been in Versailles this week, researching for a commissioned article Instead I am spending time planting vegetable seeds and a small meadow for the bees. And I’m weeding out the stinging nettles that have long ruled the garden but which this year will instead be confined to borders for the bees who love the pretty but painful to human flowers.
Meanwhile we’re opening our minds to new possibilities. When Mark, my husband, said on Tuesday: “I just read there’s going to be a pink moon tonight and it’s going to look bigger than normal, shall we get up and see it – at 2.30 in the morning” I said yes. Normally I would say no, I have to work tomorrow but what the heck, I don’t even have to get dressed tomorrow if I don’t want to!
So we set the alarm, got up and went to look at the moon which was supposed to be at its best at that ungodly hour. But the sky was so cloudy we could hardly see it at all. We sat in the garden giggling like a pair of fools in the dark, several feral cats watching us with eyebrows raised (you know what I mean). Thierry the farmer’s sheep dog was patrolling the street as he does every night, literally barking at the moon, or maybe telling us we were barking mad. He may be right as apparently the moon was at its best on Wednesday night, not Tuesday!
And on another note, I said I would let you know about my new book – it’s out next week and it’s called My Four Seasons: A Year of The Good Life by Janine Marsh. And you can get it on Amazon (UK, USA, Aus and well, everywhere Amazon is really. There are links here) and usual online outlets as I’m not sure that books are being distributed as normal to book shops during these difficult days.
Finally, an enormous thank you to everyone who has messaged me via email or social media, there’s a saying that a journey is best measured in friends rather than miles, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being part of my journey…
I wish you and yours truly well and a Happy Easter.
Bisous from France,
Janine
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