kate5kiwis: ma vie française: my french life

kate5kiwis

“If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.” — Mitsugi Saotome

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

ma vie française: my french life

I've really been missing my français fridays...
I'm pining for Paris.
My friend Mel shares my love for toutes les choses françaises: all things french.
She brought her newest literary acquisition, all the way from vegas, to persuade me that moving the family to Saint-Rémy de Provence for a year or two really is a good idea.
Oui
, I think I could do it.



This book is full of delicious photos and vibrant memories, historical and cultural tidbits, little snippets of sagacity in a rich, eloquent, yet chatty style.
It makes one want to lick the pages.

She says:

A weekend in Paris is like a tablespoon of elixir: it should be taken full strength and on a regular basis.

Food is an integral part of french life, to be shared and savoured.

Style takes time, the french have time.

A scent is more than a few dabs on the wrist and a brief squirt behind the ears: perfume is personal magic.

Nowhere else will you find the shrug of the shoulder, the tilt of the head and the little puff of air that regularly escapes a frenchman's mouth, or the formality of good wishes that introduce every conversation.

I miss the soft crunch of gravel in the Jardin des Tuileries and the formation of sharp box hedges at the
Hôtel des Invalides.

*kate exhales longingly*
Ah, moi aussi
: me too.

6 Comments:

Blogger Emily said...

*sigh* if you go to Paris again can you take me with you??? :)

4:07 PM  
Blogger LeighLeigh said...

Oh dear - Grant will not be happy with you. I have just been going through a rather bad spell of missing Europe, and after our family weekend we have all got ourselves trying to work out how we could afford 4 weeks away this Oct for our cousins wedding in Scotland (we'd saty for 3 hours for the wedding and a couple of drinks and then head directly to Paris....we planned our full route over a few glasses!!
Anyway - just so you know, I have been looking into getting Visas to get into France for a year for us and the girls, and the possibilities are slim to nil - they have a high unemployment rate, so they offer first to France, then to the EU and then overseas..... so if we went for a year, it would have to be fully self funded. Still a possibility though - unless we buy a house in Westmere - which has better odds right now!

6:40 PM  
Blogger BeachMama said...

Hmm...if only it was so easy to spend a weekend in Paris.

2:27 AM  
Blogger skatey katie said...

em
what a fun thing that would be, to rendezvous in paris....
leighleigh
oh i love dreaming. and i think your wedding-appearance-and-straight-on-to-Paris idea is *the best*.
beachmama
i love her phrase "..a tablespoon of elixir" though, it's *so true*.. i'm still living off that weekend (and the rest of our wonderful england holiday) half a year later.

8:13 AM  
Blogger Rach said...

Oh Kate you've *got* to do it.
And you might want to tell LL that a year in France beats a lifetime in Westmere!!!!

9:02 AM  
Blogger LeighLeigh said...

Do pass onto Rach that a year in France could be funded by the rent from a house in Westmere!! LOL ;0

3:53 PM  

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