April 21, 2012, Multiply, returned from my travels

Returned from my travels.

Apr 21, '12 8:45 AM for everyone

Returned from my travels.

Here I sit, returned from France and more or less caught up with myself. It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to spend time in ‘very’ rural France with only the sound of birds, cows, sheep, the donkey who lives down the lane, frogs and the occasional tractor to break the silence.It was equally good to spend a bit of quality time with my sister, not to mention experience her delicious country cooking.
The weather was pretty awful at times, we had some sunny days and, on the whole it was warmer and dryer than it was at home, but it wasn’t the hot sunny break I’ve experienced in the past. I walked along the country lanes some mornings before breakfast; the cold misty mornings showed me a whole new side to the area. It was quite beautiful, but in a totally different way. I just love her garden, it’s quite wild, and much bigger than most gardens, more like a small field really with magnificent views across the country side. She has cherry and apple trees, many different fruit cains, a walnut tree, a fig tree and a selection of vegetables, salad food and herbs in varying stages of growth. The Forsythia was in full bloom, along with the hawthorn flower and the blossom from the peach trees, but every thing has been delayed by about 3 weeks due to the exceptionally harsh winter and the recent bout of bad weather. This time last year every where you looked you would see Wisteria, and Lilac in full bloom, this year the buds started to show just as I was leaving.
We explored the little towns nearby where I admired the ancient medieval architecture; France seems to retain so much more of its historic built environment than we do. We preserve grand houses, but France seems to have more of the humble traditional buildings left intact. On one of our excursions we visited a local trade/ craft exhibition where I spied this tiny rose quartz Buddha. He was pretty expensive for what he is, 22 Euros, but I bought him anyway because I fell in love with him.
We had some sunshine, I even managed to get a bit of a tan, but some days were spent on the sofa beside the log fire with a good book. These days I only seem to get the chance to read while on holiday, it was a real treat to have uninterrupted peace, no phone, no doorbell, no anything, just glorious isolation and peace. I picked up a book at the airport that I’m still ploughing my way through, it’s a fascinating, enlightening, thought provoking  book that should be compulsory reading for any student of international politics/ economics. Yep it’s more of a a ‘serious’ read than your typical holiday reading, in fact I’ve not picked up a book like this since I left Uni. The book in question is ‘When China Rules the World’; by Martin Jacques, published penguin, ISBN 978-0-140-27604-6. Most reviews seem intent on dismissing his ideas, personally I found the whole argument interesting and in places pretty convincing. At times its a bit repetitive but its easy to understand, you don't need to sit with the dictionary to read it and its full of ideas I've never thought about before. If any one is up for a political read please give this one a go and let me know what you make of it. I would be interested.
On the nicer days I did some drawing and painting, but not as much as I planned. I painted the tiny building opposite their house that they presently used as a garage. This one little painting that should have taken a couple of hours ended up taking three or four days. I would go out, set up my painting stuff, and just as I was getting into the swing of things, down would come the rain and off indoors I would go until the following day when the whole process would start all over again. I eventually finished it by taking a photo of the building and painting from that on the kitchen table.
So … briefly….. that was my holiday, the rest of the weekend will be spend doing all the normal ‘just back from holiday’ things, catching up with laundry, check the garden, contact the kids etc etc. Hopefully I’ll also spend a little time catching up here, and then on Monday it’s back to work I go.

Tags: france

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delete reply catherinearmant wrote on Jun 15, edited on Jun 15 Rural France is a good place to be in, ... eh ?! Kind of my Dream too. Smile. Take care, dear Loretta.

delete reply catherinearmant wrote on Jun 15 It is simply super, and lovely, ... !

delete reply hotclaws wrote on Apr 24 Sounds wonderful and I'd have bought the buddha too.

delete reply djdx wrote on Apr 22 That does sound like a very good holiday with many fun things going on.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 21 hedgewitch9 said So pleased you had a good break, you deserve it! LOVE the pics and paintings, and the buddha is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing :)) thanks Emma..............nice to see you about again

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Apr 21 So pleased you had a good break, you deserve it! LOVE the pics and paintings, and the buddha is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing :))

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Apr 21 back to read and look at your lovely pics and painting. your holiday looks and sounds like heaven on earth. thanks for sharing it with us. of course, you know i love the rose quartz Buddha. ; )

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 21 bernardv said (wonderful paintings by the way).........:) thank you, and you are right, for me it is the perfect holiday. Don't suppose you have read the book 'When China Takes over the World? I would really like to fine some one else who's read it and can give their opinion.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Apr 21 forgetmenot525 said Frank..............have you by any chance come across that book?? No I haven't. It seems that when I moved from a house to an apartment, items that I had packed to keep were donated to charity by mistake. That's the only explanation that I can see to explain why I'm missing some things from the move.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Apr 21 forgetmenot525 said Hi Nemo.............and thanks.............no frogs yet but tadpoles in plenty...........I've been reading that it takes longer for them to grow into frogs if the weather is cold so guess we could have a bit of a wait for that. good news :)

delete reply bernardv wrote on Apr 21 Alright, I'm officially envious. That sounds like the perfect holiday. Ja, my german ladyfriend told me almost ten years ago that if you want to do well in the future the first thing you need to do is learn mandarin. It seems that she was right. (wonderful paintings by the way).........:)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 21 nemo4sun said now that is how you do a holiday Hi Nemo.............and thanks.............no frogs yet but tadpoles in plenty...........I've been reading that it takes longer for them to grow into frogs if the weather is cold so guess we could have a bit of a wait for that.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 21 greenwytch said almost on my way out to the Farmer's Market......but i just wanted to say welcome back! i'll return to this blog later tonight. HUGS Thanks Debs.............hope you enjoyed the farmers market, there was one at the trade exhibition we went to.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Apr 21 I figured he was that small or even a little smaller. I have a rose quartz squirrel about that size, and actually a whole menagerie of small mineral animals - just something that appeals to me.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 21 brendainmad said People, especially my students, look at me in a funny way when I say we all should be learning Chinese I think you have a very valid point Brenda, its a really interesting book.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 21 Bennett, the Buddha is only about 2 inches tall, he is very small but i couldn't resist. Frank..............have you by any chance come across that book??

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 21 Hi and thanks..............glad to report frogspawn all hatched into happy little tadpoles, they are plentiful, free swimming and look healthy. Taxi driver must have thought I was nuts because, after yawning non stop in the taxi, first thing I did once out of his door, wasn't go indoors and head for bed, but was trek across the sodden garden to check on the pond

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Apr 21 Welcome back. I always envy anyone who gets to enjoy time in rural France. I still miss it, all these years later. I love that it hasn't changed.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Apr 21 What a lovely picture of the morning mist!! Happy to have you back, the weather is so odd. Here, after a very mild March, April is being cool and we are even having freezes. France was delayed by 3 weeks in blooming - we were advanced by 3 weeks, then everything seems to be now on hold. That Buddha was worth every penny!! I mean Euro. About $30 for US dollars - I would have spent it. And yes, how are the frogs?

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Apr 21 welcome home!!! how glorious ~ everything from your words to your photos to your art now that is how you do a holiday how are the frogs? :)

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Apr 21 almost on my way out to the Farmer's Market......but i just wanted to say welcome back! i'll return to this blog later tonight. HUGS

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Apr 21 People, especially my students, look at me in a funny way when I say we all should be learning Chinese. I spend a lot more time reading now that I have a kindle and a lot less time on the computer. I've joined a kindle 'book club' on facebook and have lots of free books. The print in most normal books is hard on my eyes. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed your holidays. We almost always have bad weather in Spain at Easter and this one was no exception. I love your photos and your other art work. Welcome back.