‘The end of labour is to gain leisure.’ Aristotle How many gendarmeries per square mile in the south of France? I wonder how these little creatures got their name, and laughed to myself at the comparison. It is nice to have a few moments to contemplate life after such a busy summer. I started the long overdue…
French Cooking Day Cooking with Mom, Julie and the Hungarian girls again, we tackle the Über famous Coq Au Vin. Notes: 1 hour prep time Over…
And God looked down on the Earth he created and said, ‘ I need a caretaker for this world I created.’ And so God Made a Farmer. Paul Harvey What the heck is a Navet? It is a black turnip with a white flesh, and a nutty flavour. These rare large turnips go for a pretty penny,…
It is one of those things, Canadians seem to know what Canadians like when travelling. We expect things to be a certain way when we travel. I like to think we are not only open and kind while we visit different countries in the world, but like to find the off the beaten track pearls,…
Alain Beurrier, a friend and local musician who plays the accordion and sings from the group L’art a Tatouille heard me sing at a local fair and asked me if I would like to sing with him. That was the start of another dream come true to sing with a band on stage. I wanted…
Milano! You either love it or hate it here or at least that’s what the tourist book says. Milano on first glance is noisy, crowded, busy and dirty. On second glance you will find a lively culture, with people out and about with many things to do and see; even in the middle of…
‘Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention.’ Deepak Chopra After class today I thought, wow, what an awesome time in world history we live in! I asked…
Melted cheese under a grill, served over boiled potatoes and a variety of traditional meats. We spend our Sunday afternoon sampling the fine wines of the Languedoc. After, our hosts take us for a walk to work off our lunch. In Beziers, we find a park along the River Orb with giant trees for Daniel…
Mom has been visiting our family in France for over six weeks and with Daniel and Angelina’s school schedule, we have not shown her much of France or the neighbouring countries. We decided to change all that and take her to Barcelona on a three-day excursion. We drove the 2 hours and 45 minutes to…
Imagine finding a statue of a Black Madonna in a cave high up on a mountainside: a relic from a time past, with a story to be sure. Some believe The Virgin of Montserrat – The Black Madonna was carved in the early days of the church, others say as late as the 12th century….