Saturday, December 31, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR/ BON REVEILLON TO EVERYONE!

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year! I hope it will be wonderful for us all. I hope it will be full of good health, love, peace and prosperity for all. Blessings from France, Lisa

Thursday, December 22, 2011

A Morning in France



I took a walk this morning through the countryside where we are staying with friends. After almost 2 weeks in France without working out in my usual fashion I was in dire need of some real movement, real exercise. Have you ever started doing something for one reason and then half way through found yourself doing it for another?
I couldn’t take my eyes off the first ruined farmhouse I passed. I wished I had access to it just to see the inside and imagine the lives of the people who had lived there when it was new and lived in and perhaps even loved.
The Little Bridge
I passed over a railroad on a little old bridge only big enough for one car to pass over at a time. I looked closely at the railroad ties because the rails looked different. Sure enough, here they use rectangle blocks of cement that create a “zipper” look. They don’t use full tarred ties like we do in the states (saves majorly on trees).  Zipper tracks. On my right three sheep in the field stopped grazing and stared at me as I passed down the other side. I felt as if they were the neighborhood gossips and wondered what this strange woman was doing in their part of the world.
On my left was a garden, obviously well-loved at one point and now only barely maintained. The big trees that had once lined the cement path cutting down the middle of the garden were gone, only their stumps left to show they had existed.  It was a sad garden. It seemed to miss its original caretaker.
I walked down a little paved road which turned into a limestone track with a line of verdure down the middle. I followed it through a forest colored brown and black with winter and dead leaves. Only a touch of evergreen ivy climbing over ground and trees alike alleviates the gray. Though quiet and bare I still heard birds twittering away. The forest may be on hold but the life in it is still strong and happy. As soon as I saw buildings I turned around and saw a touch of leftover autumn color before I retraced my steps back to the “main” road. This time I remembered I was exercising and pushed my feet faster. By now I was hot and peeled off layers tying them around my waist. The sky was gray with clouds, but refreshing, energizing, and maybe it wasn’t just because I am in France. I guess life is the same everywhere; the comings and goings of people and their work.  Gardens still need tending, roofs still need mending and the mysteries of the ones who live behind the shutters of that really beautiful house over there are still mysterious no matter what country I come from. So I walked fast, took in the gentle country around me and breathed deep, happy to be alive and exploring. Obviously I needed to touch the earth.  What I hadn’t counted on was the chance to remember that there are those who have walked here before me, and not just for the exercise.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Airports and Service Men

(Orignally written Dec. 9th, 2011) We’ve just finished eating lunch in Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport food court at Concourse E. We’re waiting for our flight which won’t be available until after four. It’s almost two thirty. There are servicemen mixed liberally into the crowds of folks streaming by, flying to different destinations all over the world but all dressed like they’re going to the Middle East. Military uniforms always tell you what war, what époque they are from. The ones worn right now don’t look like the ones in the Gulf War.
Listening to all the different sounds surrounding me; overhead announcements, an automatic piano playing the Carpenters “Close To You” right now, voices murmuring high and low, laughter, and now and then above it all the easy chatter/banter of three servicemen sitting here with me on their own laptops, checking out whatever they are checking out while waiting to fly to Kuwait. What a way to spend Christmas. Their names are Thompson, Whetstone and Hughes. They all look fit and ready as if well rested. I wonder how they’ll look coming back. They range in age from I’d say early thirties to young twenties. They said they feel lucky to not be going to Afghanistan, unlike the soldier we passed in the hall on the way here. When I thanked that soldier for his service and wished him a Merry Christmas he said he wasn’t sure what kind of Christmas he would have in Afghanistan. I felt for him and his family. He was very young. I hope he comes home safe and sound to the ones he loves and who love him.
On the other hand, I have to be happy I’m going to France for Christmas. My first French Christmas ever, my husband’s first one since he married me (28 years ago!). I wonder how it will be? In laws, seeing my daughter and all the wonderful friends we have there, that part I know I will love, but I’ve never had a Christmas in another country before. I’m looking forward to experiencing the ‘local’ customs, like, I’ve been told, oysters and champagne on Christmas Eve. I’ll skip the oysters but enjoy the champagne, and I’ll be sure to raise a toast to all these servicemen around me wherever they will be on that day. Big thank you's to Thompson, Whetstone and Hughes for letting me take their photo and permission to post it on my blog! I wish all three of you (and the other one too!) the best of the season and thank you again for your service to our country. Come home safely!

Monday, December 05, 2011

Welcome to My World: Writing and Blogging


Whenever I can’t seem to work on my current “Work In Progress,” I come here to this blog to write something that, even though it might be smaller in word count, fills the need to cuddle/play/experiment with words and express myself. Having said that, last week was one of the best work weeks I’ve had in quite awhile. By work I mean positive movement forward on my current WIP. One of the things I love the most about writing is how fast the time goes when the work is going well (and they say we haven’t invented transporters yet). Can’t say I love it when I hit a wall but when that wall comes down and crashes at my feet, what a feeling of completion, even if the work isn’t completed. I feel I’ve accomplished something important and that helps, so says my husband, my overall view of life. He loves it when I have good work days.
Today I checked on the progress of my third giveaway on my blog and found that in asking the question “Do you like this blog?” I have four “no’s” out of 20 responses. Luckily all the others said yes. I would like to ask the bloggers - who did sign up for the giveaway even though they don’t like my blog - what about my blog do they not like? Please feel free to answer if you ever come back to check on the giveaway. Your response got me to thinking. The last post I made was a rant, and I was in full swing I will admit. Maybe you didn’t agree with my rant. I mean, who likes being called a liar? I did call myself one as well to be fair. But I waited a full week before I posted that rant because I don’t usually publicize my opinions when I’m concerned about offending someone. I did decide to post it because I felt it was important in the scheme of life to be as honest as one can be about the things one feels strongly about.
Now maybe you that don’t like my blog didn’t even read that post and could care less. You just didn’t like the blog. The old saying, “can’t please everyone all the time” comes to mind and I’ve always had an uneasy time with that (lack of self confidence blah blah). So, I’m sorry to you who answered “no” on liking my blog. I’m sure you will find many other blogs out there that you will/do like and so I wish you only the best.
I want to thank all of you who answered yes! Certainly don’t want you to feel left out of the conversation. I appreciate that you do like the blog and hope you will come back soon and/or follow/subscribe. I have a few blogs I subscribe to (wish I had time to follow more), and one of them really knows how to draw a follower in; he has a great sense of humor. I love reading Brown Road Chronicles. I’m trying to learn from him but I don’t have his style so it’s hard to see how to apply what he does to my own. But that’s what I love about blogs. They are as different as the folks who write them and I appreciate that diversity. So thank you again for liking my blog. I do my best to write things of interest to me and hopefully you, and not just of writing. Because if I get started writing about writing, I’ll become very linear and perhaps bore even you right out of reading this blog.