Printable Calendar: January | Janvier 2013

With this late posting of the January calendar, one of my new year's resolutions already lies broken... but the good news is just as it hit the floor, I resolved to cast it away with all the other tattered new year's promises and instead mark each new day like a new year - a new beginning, a possibility for small and big victories. Let's give ourselves the upper hand this year shall we? Allow for missteps sure, but more importantly be kinder to ourselves in the process. 

Alas here's January's printable calendar, a nod to this positive new anthem; it's January's proclamation to welcome 2013 (Bienvenue!). So along with our fresh new plans and projects, we welcome an increased chance for greater possibilities.

All the best to you every day of 2013 :)

For the calendar, simply download (below), print and cut on the dotted line. Bonne Année!

Download from my file cabinet: January | Janvier 2013 (pdf: 47k)

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Happy Holidays | Joyeuses Fêtes

At the checkout line yesterday my cashier had no pleasantries for me, but instead began speaking by saying how 20% of the students at his daughter's high school were out sick; and that he had to go and visit her teachers to pick up her assignments because she's in advanced placement classes. I mentioned how both my sons and I had/have been under the weather for days now ourselves, how difficult it is to miss just one day of AP classes... and we chatted a bit more until he finished filling my cart, then we warmly wished each other good health and a happy holiday. 

Not two minutes later on the way to my car, an elderly woman walking slowly towards me stopped to remark on all the bags I was carrying, cheered me on my efforts and with a big smile gently patted my shoulder and wished me a wonderful Christmas "ya here"...

These exchanges, short and simple, two within several minutes, were enough to make the world feel right again. Like those pay it forward commercials, but in real life. It felt like someone handed me an umbrella under torrential rain. I wish our exchanges with one another could be more like this, always like this - full of kindness and friendship. Was it the spirit of the season that brought this on, perhaps an after effect to society's recent horrors,... or just the Universe's way of reminding me of humanity's light and our connection to one another. Reminders are good and certainly (so often) necessary...

I hope your holidays are filled with warm personal exchanges and joyful peaceful togetherness with family, friends and our world community... Joyeuses Fêtes & Bonne Année friends :)

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La Mémoire Vive: An Intimate View of France

I can still remember the first time I rode through the narrow roads that wind through the cow peppered hills towards the tiny village of Masmoulineix to visit my husband's grandmother. Passing fields of glimmering sunflowers. Swerving past a rusty Renault that knew the country roads inside and out, driving straight towards us way too fast. Looking up at the cottony clouds that seemed to touch the Earth. Inhaling fresh country air. Hypnotized by magnificently worn down stone houses, one by one by one. So this was the French countryside... may I never wake up! And so I realized that day I was gifted an opportunity I once only dreamt about. It's a memory I return to often, a bunch of vivid stills that play in slow motion. Do you recall formative experiences in a similar way? A Mémoire Vive. Absolutely.

Trips to France that followed have me trying to capture the feeling, the dream, to somehow preserve all the storied moments and richness of French life, history and culture through photographs.

La Mémoire Vive: An Intimate View of France takes you with me - on a stroll through an old village's back streets, on to wide open country roads, to Paris and beyond. It is the first book in what is becoming a series...

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Ribbons & Light | Rubans et Lumière

It's been a blur of golden ribbon and gift wrap as a load of Christmas packages for family and friends were readied and shipped to France this past weekend... completing this annual tradition is an enormous feat in our household, and we celebrated by putting up the tree and finally getting to enjoy the glow of Christmas lumières...

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Printable Calendar: December | Décembre 2012

As temperatures drop and winter looms large, I'm patiently waiting (indoors) for the arrival of gently falling flocons de neige (snowflakes) - the tiny, weightless, magnificent formations that whisper like angels... but can cause a devilish uproar!

For the month of December, here's a calendar for you full of snowflakes, our beautiful yet often mischievous friends. There are two calendars on one page... simply download (below), print and cut on the dotted line. Enjoy + stay warm!

Download from my file cabinet: December | Décembre 2012 (pdf: 45k)

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