I spent a wonderful few days in Paris, staying with our children, dining with mon cheri at Atelier Maitre Albert for Valentines day and meeting up with a friend for a day’s browsing and lunching.

Unfortunately I am presently struck down with an excruciating painful tennis elbow..can’t lift a glass, can’t brush my teeth, can’t sketch, can’t cook, can’t paint,  changing the gears when driving is a huge challenge, working on the computer is impossible.. the slightest twist of my wrist shoots up an incredible pain into my arm… I have to depend on my other clumsy arm to help with my daily tasks, which loads quite a bit of stress on that arm too. I do get this tennis elbow from time to time and the only real solution is..REST. So I am taking a few weeks break, especially from the computer, to rest my arm.

Keep an eye out though, because when I get back, it will be in full spring swing..with some posts on my growing garden with my new olive trees, my masses of lavenders and santolines, the planting of the potager, the plans for my “serre” (greenhouse), the new staircases built from stone in the garden, the olive terrace and barbeque terrace, the kitchen terrace and the walnut terrace. I will also show the beauty of our region exploding with spring fever. I will take up my plein air painting again, work on some shows hopefully and I will share some new recipes, where I focus more on recipes from the south of France, which is after all, my favorite foods.

Even though I enjoy a trip to Paris, I have to admit that the campagne and especially the campagne du sud  stays my ultimate favorite place, which is why I adore our little forgotten corner here in the south west, Coin Perdu. For that reason, mon cheri is taking me to Provence in  June and to Toscane for August, so I can touch up on my Mediterranean garden and cooking skills.  Any suggestions for these two upcoming trips????

So you see..a busy, busy spring is awaiting me..tune in in a few weeks to roller coaster along!

But first..PARIS..

To quote Edith Piaf in her song, Les amants de Paris

….A Paris, les amants s’aiment à leur façon.
Donnez-moi des chansons
Pour qu’on s’aime à Paris…

 …la musee Jacquemart-Andre..

..l’interieur: Le jardin d’hiver, la chambre de Madame, le salon..

…la femme q’u a l’sac..

I also went to see the 9 new cloches awaiting to be hung, each named after a saint. It made me a little sad to see thse new onesI couldn’t help but think of victor Hugo’s Quasimodo; what would he think of the new bells? Emmanuel was the big bourdon, which was originally Jacqueline, but renamed  Emmanuel by Louis XIV..I suppose it was quasimodo’s favorite bell..and now the big bourdon is called Marie(bottom right). the other bells are named Marcel, Etienne, Gabriel, Jean-Marie, Maurice, Denis,Anne-Geneviéve

I always play a game when I go to Paris…I don’t feel truly at home before having said salut to the Eiffel and I can’t leave without saying à la prochaine fois!

and so to all my virtual friends here, I also say for the time being

..a la prochaine fois, très bientôt!

Ronelle