14.37 - Did Autumn Sneak up on You?
In this FREE edition of le Bulletin newsletter you'll find lovely articles from France about places, literature, nature, seasons and warm inviting kitchens. C'est parti ! Let's head to France together
Bonjour subscribers: all of you… readers, supporters, friends, and family
Welcome, whether you’re a new or a long-time subscriber of le Bulletin, I’m thrilled you are here reading, experiencing, learning, and interacting.
I hope you enjoy this newsletter & have a wonderful weekend and week ahead… In this weekly free le Bulletin I always try to be generous… to give, give, give… so much so that you have an enormous variety of quality Francophile reading material to discover and read each weekend.
Today I’m introducing writers to you, most of whom live in France, and most of whom are season-observant and season-sensitive
If you enjoy this edition, please note that there is another version of le bulletin for paying subscribers (14.37.a), with an even greater resource of writers… >80 amazing writers—providing a weekly explosion of France in your inbox… Please consider upgrading to an annual subscription to access it.
Judy - 21.9.’24
1. Did Autumn Sneak up on You?
Surely not… was my initial reaction...
The more time I spend in France and with others who live in and write about France the closer I continue to feel to nature. I‘ve recently written about the astonishing natural beauty of France and The sought-after rhythm of life in France. and it’s true, isn’t it…?
It’s hard to miss the joys of a rural French life.
It’s hard not to invite nature into your life even if you don’t live rurally.
How I live with nature with small daily reminders
My home is always bursting with signs and memories of nature: bird nests found on the ground after a big storm and converted into a sculpture by some talented person…
Beautiful fine silver birch tree branches arching over hand-made unusual pottery objects bought directly from the artist on one of my trips.
Bunches of colourful autumn leaves, bottle brushes, and a very tall sculpture of exotic sticks tied together.
These are all dried but still alive to me.
Then there is, of course, my potager… ha!… but it is tiny and all in pots…
some hanging,
some climbing,
and others crowding around my kitchen door:
herbs and vegetables and some are there just for their beautiful colour.
All of these little gems give me joy
They all calm me
They all keep me connected to nature
even though I don’t live in a rural environment.
B.r.e.a.t.h.e.
Judy
How could autumn sneak up on me given there are so many hints… so many warnings, surely I’d have noticed???
But… it seems that autumn can sneak up on us, in different ways: Sometimes it tiptoes, and other times it arrives like an unwanted harsh reality causing us to wonder “how did that happen???”
Today I’d like to share with you how others write about the transition and the signs of autumn they notice, experience, and even celebrate, sometimes subtle, sometimes not!
Some celebrate the seasonal change in their art, others in their cooking, and of course others in their writing and poetry… some just in their soul… I hope you enjoy this le Bulletin newsletter!
a) — The quiet ebb & flow of autumn days… [Note only]
Emily, a published author and a delight to read, has a wonderful substack full of stories, dishes and recipes. She lives between Bordeaux and Cornwall. You’ll find her Substack Shore to Shore here.
b) — The life-changing magic of writing Haiku — [Note & article to read]
Beth Kempton’s note about autumn and writing haiku caught my eye…and it became essential that I read her article ← you can too
This is a wonderful article from Beth that encapsulates my feelings about seasonal change and about autumn exactly. You can read it in full here←
“When I find myself too caught up in regrets about the past or worries about the future, I like to write haiku. One of the most popular forms of poetry in the world, haiku differ from a lot of poetry by being focused on what is happening in the outer world, rather than what is going on in your inner world. It can be refreshing to put all of your attention to what you can sense around you and write it down.
When we write a haiku we see something ordinary anew, and write it. We abandon our self to participate in the world - seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting – noticing. This is not the territory of metaphor and simile, it is that of the natural world observed with such exactness that is shakes us awake. It does not describe a feeling, but often elicits one in the reader with its exquisite attention to life unfolding. A haiku does not speak of loneliness, it tells of a crow on a bare branch at dusk in autumn.
A haiku is a doorway to beauty, a tool for slowing down and shrinking your attention to the vastness of the moment in front of you. When you begin to see the world through haiku eyes, you notice inspiration everywhere, and recognise the preciousness and fragility of life.
A haiku is a heartbeat-sized poem. In writing one, we capture a moment. In reading one, we enter that moment.”
c) - The flavor of the hedgerow — [Note & article to read]
Lovely autumnal thoughts from Burgundy to share. And charming little video snippets to take us there… come with me…
Wild roses, the scrambling, shrubby flowers, are rich in myth & folklore, music to my ears. I might have overlooked them had it not been for my children's Montanan grandmother, who taught me to identify the five-petaled flower growing in thorny shrubs around the prairies near riverbeds. After the snow melted in the spring, we'd collect tiny pink buds and string with thread to make "necklaces" for my little daughter and aromatic ornaments around the house. Those sweet memories are folded deeply into my heart.”
d) — a Private Chef who harks from the UK. [Note only]
Although not writing from France I enjoy Will’s sensitive seasonal observations.
My work follows the seasons of the year very closely, I adopt a very natural, ingredient-led approach to food, paying close attention to the rhythms of nature. I like to cook simple food using the very best ingredients, inspired by both old-fashioned ways and thoroughly modern techniques. I cook food that with a little encouragement you can easily replicate in your home for your people.” says Will Cooper
Will makes vinegar, forage, preserve, smoke and ferment and am guardian of two honeybee colonies. His UK based Substack is here.
e) Storing Things Up by of La Bonne Vie [Note and article to read]
Celebrating successful pickling…summer produce to enjoy in winter.
…But, somehow, we’ve managed to make and can bread and butter pickles, tomato sauce, salsa and, tonight, it’s pickled jalapeños. Without planning to, we’ve squeezed in the work around our daily comings and goings. When I saw the pickling cucumbers at the market, I just bought them. My sister-in-law gave us excess tomatoes from her garden for the batch of sauce; our friend, Brad, offered us free tomato picking in his country garden for the batch of salsa. And when the jalapeños appeared at the market, I bought a half peck…”
f) Une Bonne Maison by Eleonore [Note only]
This place is for you if you love the French art of living, the countryside, setting beautiful tables for entertaining, old houses, quaint villages, good local produce, French savoir-faire…
I am a Parisian, but I spend as much time as possible in the countryside near Chantilly in our maison de famille, where I find inspiration. Une Bonne Maison was launched because I wanted to share with you what I love about France, from an authentic point of view.
You will find here rustic, country-style decor and seasonal settings resulting from my imagination, as well as a glimpse of my Parisian life.
Having lived in Anglo-Saxon countries, I’ve been influenced by their approach to interior design and the art of gardening, and you’ll no doubt find some of that influence here.” she writes.
Merci mille fois
Thank you to all of the writers and photographers I have featured above. Your observational skills and photographic and writing talent are impressive. Thank you for drawing us into your life.
2. New articles in My FrenchLife Magazine — Let’s explore & read…
Did you know there are >3000 articles in MyFrenchLife Magazine, where savvy francophiles love to immerse themselves and indulge?
Here are the most recently published articles:
Arts & Culture:
1.→ Lance Sportif Mèzoise: Haïku
by Monique Eurich
Sur le Lance Sportif - On Joyful Sports - Poème-par-jour Projet
Arts & Culture:
2.→ All About French Literature
by Keith Van Sickle←
French literature: France is a famously literary country. The country’s authors have won more Nobel Prizes in Literature than any other, and the French read more books than anyone else—a whopping 17 per year!”
Vie Francaise:
3.→ A Fleur by any Other Name
by Valérie Helmbreck Mascitti←
The importance of your name in France: Why it is wise to keep all the documents that confirm our identity in see-thru plastic pocket folders in files that we carry with us to any and all official meetings”
↓ CLICK IMAGE & read all the new articles on MyFrenchLife Magazine ↓
3. Follow us on Instagram → @MaVieFrançaise
Each day, each week offers something fresh!
Bursting with news, views and articles, video chats, poetry, introductions to new magazine contributors… and more… follow us and join in @maviefrancaise … See you there soon, I hope.
Regular Pilgrimage Report:
The only constant at the moment is the weekly post by Jennifer Andrewes on her solo pilgrimage - Via Francigena - to Rome: 2500km watch out for it…
Here she is after 74 days… having crossed the St Bernard Pass, (the third highest) from Switzerland to Italy, then on to the university town of Pavia… and onward toward Roma.
A total of ~1628km so far!
Do you have any questions for Jennifer Andrewes?
Jennifer is enjoying the gelati not that she’s in Italy and asks which is your favourite flavour?
4. “Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’ newsletter” Judy MacMahon
I hope to see you here again soon
Judy MacMahon
Fondatrice
MyFrenchLife.org
You can always email me at info@myfrenchlife.org
Here’s how you can stay in touch & personalise your le Bulletin experience:
If you like this le Bulletin newsletter of MyFrenchLife.org Magazine? Please forward it or Share it with a friend. Surprise them and help us grow.
Loved a story? Disliked it? Drop me a note or just write to say ‘bonjour’.
Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up to get le Bulletin newsletter weekly.
If you’d like to be sure you GET or NOT GET posts/emails about our French Book Club, you can personalise your account. toggle ON or OFF.
And… finally, you can immerse yourself in the archive of le Bulletin Newsletter here & the MyFrenchLife Magazine archive of >3000 articles
'le Bulletin' is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Thank you very much for the mention.
I don’t live in France, though I go every single year, but I grew up within a francophone house and country. Thanks for the mention! Or should I say, “Grand Merci!”