When you walk around do you look where you are walking?
In France you learn to look down.
Not only for the bombs the dogs leave,
but to steady your footing on 500year old walkways.
We were setting off for 4 days in the mountains,
when we could not understand why it smelled like there was a dog bomb in the car.
Miss 6 had been bombed.
Her new hiking boot,
you know the ones with all the grooves for good grip and solid footing,
had a fresh one imbedded.
Merde....
My job was to find a way to not take this unpleasantness with us.
Resourceful as any mother is, i worked it out.
Not a great memory. Now shared with you.
Our journey is intricate, coloured with all the wonderful as well as, some challenges.
The trick is to live in the moment.
I have found by being in the moment and seeking out ordinary beauty,
i cope with all sorts of situations much better.
The flowers here are mostly gone. All the public spaces have been cleared.
To find some remaining blooms reminds me the northern hemisphere is going into winter.
It might be time to return home.
They really look after the animal people in this country.
Stone is enduring. While everything else has an impermanence to it.
There are no more strawberries left at the markets.
It is one of the nice things here that everything has a season.
We went to a country MacDo (pronounced doe), as they call it here.
We ordered these ...... Royal with cheese.
Then had the whole Pulp Fiction conversation about said burger.
Classic for anyone who was in their 20's in the '90's.
It was on tv this week, of course,
and French husband said much of the dialogue does not translate.
We missed the Royale conversation.
Its the little differences.
As we meander through the the differences, we have slowed down.
There is no hurry.
There is life to observe, beauty to invest in and moments to savour.
Their old is my new.
We just don't have the same way of looking at things.
I love this cup it reminds me of hydrangea flowers.
I am in love with the wild flowers and weeds on the roadsides.
But when i look up,
the differences in the kinds of details capture my imagination.
Who lives here?
The glass above the doorway in the chapel in Lourdes.
Crowds poured through the doors in both directions.
I did not see anyone look up.
Did anyone but me see this gorgeous archway?
The colour in these window is totally divine.
Each one a little bit different from its neighbour.
And finally i saw this.
Who is she?
What a great name for a character in a book.
Oh, she is the main character in a book.
Another name for Mother Mary, the mystical rose.
I did not know this. I love that i do now.
sparkle twirl into the details of your life
and may you notice a mystical rose or someone in your life.....
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