Sunday, July 03, 2016

Dreaming of France -- Lavender


Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

This week, I'm also linking up with Paris in July, a  yearly meme hosted by a couple of bloggers who also love France.

Every day, my Fitbit urges me to walk 250 steps each hour for nine hours in a row. Nevermind that I might have already reached my 10,000 step goal. It wants me moving every hour from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. I've figured out that if I walk out my back door, down the alley, turn left and walk around the block to my front door, that's about 250 steps.
As I made that circuit the other day, I felt a nostalgia, a warm feeling. I couldn't figure out why. I made the walk a couple more times before I realized that it was the smell of lavender wafting to my nose as I passed a large lavender bush on the corner. I stopped to watch the deep purple stems covered with fat bees that buzzed fiercely. They were drawn by the scent too.

I envy my neighbor's lovely lavender bush, but I know that next year at this time, I will be inundated by the smell because I'll be living in southern France.
I wonder if the lavender fields are awash in bees busily gathering pollen to create their lavender honey.
Will I grow tired of the scent? I don't think so.
I have to admit that the smell of diesel fuel reminds me of Paris. My second trip to France, acting as an au pair, I got lost in the bus system, wandering the city with a 3-year-old and 4-year-old girl. We finally got on the correct bus, headed in the correct direction, but the smell of diesel fuel always takes me right back there.
Is there something that reminds you of France -- a smell, a sound, a sight, a taste?

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your name and a link to your blog on Mr. Linky below. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.




8 comments:

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Lucky you! Living in France next year...wow. Will you get tired of the smell of lavender? I think not.

Mel u said...

Wonderful meme. I just did a response to it spotlighting Mavis Gallant and Iréne Nemirovsky. Both of their lives and writing ng careers centered on Paris but neither was French by birth

http://rereadinglives.blogspot.com/2016/07/blog-post_4.html

Anonymous said...

Yes, the lavender fields buzz with bees and that's where we get lavender honey!
The you're-in-France triggers for me are the particular taste and smell of café au lait, which isn't like what you get at Starbucks; the sight of the very small cars, especially 2CVs; the smells of cooking at noon--it used to make me wild with hunger when I would go pick up my child from school at lunchtime--many people go home for lunch because they get 2 hours.

Sim Carter said...

I have to skip this week's Dreaming of France, I got lost in your new book! I stayed up late last night reading it, and can't say how much I'm enjoying it. Another 50 pages to go so I know that next week's Dreaming of France will be my thoughts on Paris Runaway. Then I'll be asking you to play our game of If your book was a movie, if you're up for it.

Oh Fitbit! that little guy is really intent on getting me back in shape! I'm loving my long morning walk which is sadly sans lavender but because of the area of L.A. that I'm near, full of other interesting things to see a the art museum, the La Brea tar pits, the farmer's market and very interesting old houses that date back to the 1930's. That's old for L.A.!

Taking photos on my walk is making it a bit more fun, I try to post a picture everyday on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/simcarter28/

Are you on Instagram? Would love to see you there:)

Paulita said...

Deb, I know. I still can't believe that it will really happen.
Mel, Thanks for joining in. You always find such interesting books on France.
Francetaste, (Someday I'll have to learn your actual name), I can't wait to experience lavender in Provence. I'm usually there in the spring or the fall, so no lavender or sunflowers so far.
Sim, I'm following you now on Instagram -- runningfan63.
I'm so happy that you're enjoying my book and I'll definitely start a post about who would play each of the characters in my book.

Tamara said...

Thanks for linking in with Paris in July again. Love reading your posts of life in France, and I'm dreaming of lavender in Provence now... I'll look forward to following you this July.

Esme said...

does mama know you were lost with les enfants. I cannot imagine being lost with little children and just walking and walking.

Paulita said...

Esme, The girls' mother was back in Connecticut. We'd flown to France with the girls' father and he was at a medical conference. He merely gave me the address for their great-grandmother and set me free with his little girls. What a trek. Those poor little girls.

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