mes carnets de voyage

A few days ago I finished reading a book called A Baguette a Day that takes place in the village of St. Antonin Noble Val. Described as one of the most picturesque villages in the southwest, I added it to my list of must-visit. I had already seen the Helen Mirren...

the light begins in us

Perhaps it does not begin. Perhaps it is always. Perhaps it takes a lifetime to open our eyes, to learn to see what has forever shimmered in front of us the luminous line of the map in the dark the vigil flame in the house of the heartthe love so searing we cannot...

december frost

Sometimes from sorrow, for no reason, you sing. For no reason, you accept the way of being lost, cutting loose from all else and electing a world where you go where you want to. Arbitrary, a sound comes, a reminder that a steady center is holding all else. If you...

living history

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” Anaīs Nin Last week a dear friend, someone I’ve known for over forty years, came for an all too brief visit,...

penumbra

Utterance Sitting over words Very late I have heard a kind of whispered sighing Not far Like a night wind in pines or like the sea in the dark The echo of everything that has ever Been spoken Still spinning its one syllable Between the earth and silence W.S. Merwin It...

portrait of provence: part two

“I am now in the land of wine, oil and sunshine.  What more can one ask of heaven?” Thomas Jefferson – Provence, 1787 Terrasse, Café le Soir, Arles Door, Vaison la Romaine Notre Dame des Anges, L’Isle sur la Sorgue 7,000 Petunias,  Vieux Chemin...