16.21 - France as it Happens: New Arrivals, Fond Farewells, Fresh Stories
FRANCE AS IT HAPPENS — A new contributor arrives, a beloved one is remembered, and three writers take us from a Mediterranean ridge to a reliquary of dreams to a Paris terrace at dusk.
Today at a Glance: Your FREE weekly newsletter
Bonjour mes ami(e)s !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today. Bienvenue !
A New Chapter for MyFrenchLife™ Magazine Contributors
In this newsletter, you’ll find these wonderful fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché,
Don’t miss the PAID subscriber edition of le Bulletin in your inbox: “16.21.a - France as It Contradicts, France as It Moves Us- It’s not too late to upgrade & read it←
À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy - 30.5.2026
1. A New Chapter for MyFrenchLife™ Magazine Contributors - check out these profiles
Profile #6 - Pamela Clapp
To Find THE LIST of MyFrenchLife™ Magazine CONTRIBUTORS:
[https://myfrenchlife.org/p/contributors-myfrenchlife-zine ]TO FIND Pamela’s WORK:
[https://www.myfrenchlife.org/t/pamela-clapp ]
Pamela in MyFrenchLife™ Magazine: Can be found here
CONNECT WITH PAMELA CLAPP - With Love from Paris→
2. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine: new articles
“There are many talented Contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes.
We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Judy
In Memorium: Suzanne Vidal Grosso
It is with deep sadness that I share news of the passing of beloved writer, photographer, beautiful person, and Contributor to MyFrenchLife™️ - MaVieFrancaise®, Suzanne Grosso Vidal.
There are some people whose presence lingers long after the conversation ends — warm, curious, generous souls, often with ever-present smiles, who make the world feel both larger and more intimate at the same time. Suzanne Grosso Vidal was one of those rare people.
Through her writing and photography, Suzanne invited us into her life in the South of France with honesty, humour, and deep humanity. She had a gift for noticing beauty in ordinary moments — a café conversation, a village street, the cadence of another language — and for reminding us that life is richest when lived with openness, wonder, and even more so when with friends and family.
What was evident was Suzanne herself: thoughtful, funny, warm-hearted, and deeply alive to the world around her. Whether writing about France, culture, family, or the small absurdities of daily life, she made readers feel like friends sitting across the table from her or walking beside her.
On France, after 30 years, Suzanne said: “Living in France is like living in a museum. No matter where you go, there is a story to tell.”
On identity: “I think I’m not serious enough to be French.”
She wrote that living abroad had “allowed me to grow,” and in sharing her reflections so generously, she helped many others grow too.
Suzanne will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered.
«Avec tout mon respect et ma profonde gratitude, Suzanne»
Judy MacMahon
Introducing new Contributor, Debra Fioritto
I’m a travel and food writer with a long-running love affair with France. “
On my Substack, A Love Affair with France, I share what I find on the ground — the wine villages and market towns, the family-run bistros, the conversations with vintners and shopkeepers that change how you see a place. “
I’m drawn to the slow pleasures of returning somewhere often enough to know it well, and to the small, ordinary moments that make a region feel like itself. I write for readers who want to discover France alongside me — and I’d love to have you along.”
Debra
Please help me introduce Debra as a new Contributor team member and enjoy reading her wonderful first article→
a) A Love Affair with Bandol
by Debra Fioritto — A Love Affair with France
You come for the wine. You come back for the place. One perfect day in France’s most quietly addictive appellation
The road up to Château Pibarnon is one lane wide and climbs through the hills above the Mediterranean. “
The first time you drive it, you worry about meeting someone coming down. We did, about halfway up — a truck came around a bend and managed to pull just enough off the road that we could squeeze past on our way to the top. The gate at the summit was open. We pulled in alongside a long golden-stone mas and got out. Lemon trees framed the door to the tasting room, the fruit heavy enough to pick. But before going in, we walked to the edge of the ridge because below us the restanques — the dry-stone terraces — fell away in the shape of a bowl, ringed in green, with a glimpse of the sea gleaming past the lip. “
It’s the kind of view that makes you forget why you came...”, writes Debra Fioritto
b) Temple of the Imagined
by Patricia Russo
A Visit to the Musée Gustave Moreau in Paris
There are places in Paris where time doesn’t exist, where a staircase becomes a spiral of the soul, where the walls don’t just hold paintings, they hold visions. Today’s post is about one of my very favorite places in Paris. The Musée Gustave Moreau is not just a museum; it’s a reliquary of dreams.
The Hidden Chapel of Symbolism
Tucked away in the 9th arrondissement, on a quiet street of understated façades, is the former home and studio of Gustave Moreau (1826–1898), the French Symbolist painter who believed…” writes Patricia Russo.
c) A glass, a chair, a parking space – the city that lives outdoors
by Marie Gundersen
19 years ago, I visited Paris for the first time. A trip that was going to change my life – I just didn’t know it yet. The beauty swept me off my feet: the monuments, the parks, the architecture. But what made an even stronger impression were the terraces. I remember walking up the stairs from a metro station, seeing the lights and all the people talking, reading, and eating. That scene has stayed with me. Since then, I’ve spent hundreds of hours at Parisian terraces, and now, it feels like coming home.”
Speaking of homes, Paris is a city of small apartments, many of them without balconies. The street is where life happens. Local authorities have long understood this, and consistently worked to accommodate it. A recent example is their decision to grant thousands of businesses a temporary permit for additional outdoor seating…” writes Marie Gundersen.
d) She Chose Life
by Judy MacMahon
Monique Lévi-Strauss turned 100 this year. You probably know the name. I suggest that you don’t know the woman.
It was a Thursday in 1950, at the Musée de l’Homme. Lunch was ending. Claude Lévi-Strauss — anthropologist, rising star of French intellectual life, the man who would go on to reshape how the world thought about myth and kinship and the structures hidden inside everything — turned to his trilingual translator and asked: Vous êtes libre à déjeuner jeudi prochain? [Are you free for lunch next Thursday?]”
She said yes.”
Et tous les autres jeudis? [And all other Thursdays]…”
e) Why Does France Feel So Paradoxical? (Spoiler: It’s Not Just France)
by Judy MacMahon
Every country contradicts itself. France philosophises about it, America ignores it, Australia jokes about it. Guess which approach makes you seem most hypocritical?
I need to admit something. I love paradoxes. Always have.”
This particular one goes back quite a few years. I was on my way to a function, running a little late, not entirely sure of the address. I was walking with a younger French friend — we always covered a myriad of topics when we were together, and even rushing, the conversation never became superficial. That was simply how it was with her.”
At that moment, she turned to me and explained, with complete sincerity, that France is the most egalitarian country in Europe. We were standing outside Sciences Po at the time, watching students who’d been groomed for elite education since they were twelve years old file past in their tastefully expensive casual wear…”
3. Merci mille fois
“Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’, the newsletter of MyFrenchLife™ Magazine.”
Judy MacMahon
Merci mille fois d’être ici, mes ami(e)s. Thanks for being here.
A new voice joins us. A beloved one is carried forward. And three writers remind us why we come here — for the ridge above the sea, the staircase that holds visions, the terrace where Paris comes alive. This is France, witnessed.
And that, perhaps, is FRANCE AS IT HAPPENS this week
À bientôt,
Judy
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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