HAPPY May Day from France | EUROtoday

Good morning

I Hope that you simply and you might be nicely.

It’s been a Lovely Sunny Week the place I’m within the North of France and we had the First of Three National Holidays in May. They all Fall on Thursday and Many folks Take Friday Off Too – Called do the bridge – ‘Doing a Bridge,’ Making It A Long Weekend Off Work! So it has been even quieter Than Usual within the village, and its often Pretty Quiet Anyway!

Last Thursday’s Holiday was 1st May Day: Labour Day and the Festival of Muguet – The Festival of the Lily of the Valley. It’s conventional to present lily of the valley flowers to your mates and family members, a customized began in 1561 by King Charles IX of France who gave them to the women of the brief – the flowers have been Said to Bring Good Luck. This Time of the Year, Florist Shops and Supermarkets Are Full of Little Bouquets and Pots of those Delicately seized bell-like blossoms.

I Popped to my Neighbour Claudette’s House With a Jar of Lily of the Valley Flowers to Put on Her Kitchen Table. Now Into Her Nineties, and Despite a Couple of Recent Falls Which Worried All of Us within the Village, She’s usually As Sprinky As Ever, Pottering About in Her Garden, Feeding Her Chicken, Making Oil-Thick Coffee for Anyone Who Visits (or a Thimbleful of Walnut Wine IF It’s Time), and sheep to share tales of days passed by.

“My old man uses to bring me some of these flowers” ​​she Said Wistfully. Her Husband Passed Away Many Years Ago, But She Always Says that although he’s no lengthy the place he was, he’s in all places that she is.

“In Days Gone by” She Began, and I Settled Down for A Tale of Life within the village as that is How She Always Starts. “It was Wasn a National Holiday once I was certain, that solely occurred within the Forties. My household have been farmers and this time of the yr we have been busy working. My mother would make Big Bowls of Stew for when my papa Came Home from the FIELD.

At Lot has modified since Those Days. But the Air Smells the Same-Of Apple and Cherry Blossom, Grass Growing and Trees Spluting, and the Sky is identical Beautiful Blue… “She paused as somebody Knocked at Her Door. It was Thierry the Farmer with His Grandson Who Looks Like the Milky Bar Kid with His White-Blond Hair and Round Glas. Was Parked within the Road Outside, on the way in which to work, that they had busht in a bunch of the valley for the village’s favorite sensible ladies, and a pot of stew that thierry’s spouse ready.

In the final couple of Weeks the way in which we’ve got Paris, Saint-Germaine-en-Laye (Near Paris) and Next Week i am off to Nice, Vence, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Aix-en-Provence. I Travel Solo and Go EveryWhere by Train and Though the Odd Late or Cancelled Train is typically not enjoyable, however by and enormous, it is a great way to journey round france. Come with me by way of Instagram Where i am going to share pictures and movies as i am going!

Wising you an excellent weekend wherever you might be,
Kisses from France
Janine
Editor

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Janine Marsh is creator of my good life in France: in Pursuit of the Rural Dream, My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and nonetheless France: Living the Dream in Rural France All Available AS Ebook, Print & Audio, On Amazon Everywhere & All Good Bookshops Online. Her newest e book How to be French – is a celebration of the french life-style and artwork of residing.

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