Category Archives: The Land

Mass at Mas Saint-Jean

June 26 is the name day of Saint Jean to which the tiny chapel in Mas St. Jean is dedicated. Every year, once a year, on Saint Jean’s day, the chapel is opened up, dusted off, and a mass is … Continue reading

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Cerises Chez Jaques

June is Cherry month in La Creuse… for a few precious weeks the trees throughout the countryside are filled with beautiful pink blossoms. Then, almost all at once the cherries are ripe- and then are gone. For a few days … Continue reading

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Le Poil et la Plume

Inspiration of the Day: A friend, inspired by my new feathered companions, recently loaned me a book written by Annie Dupery- a Parisian actress relocated to la Creuse… In Le Poil et la Plume she describes eloquently her reasons for relocating to this … Continue reading

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Les Ternes (Pionnat): Or, five MORE reasons I love spring in the Creuse (edit)

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Spring in Les Verrines…

It’s definitely spring! In La Creuse, that usually means a lot of gray, rainy days… But there’s a good bit of sunshine mixed in and when the sun shines, even for a brief moment, it’s amazing. The color of green … Continue reading

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First Things First

Lena Ready for Action

Although this post is titled ‘First Things First’ it’s important to note that we had already done quite a lot of work to make it to this point! This was already our third trip to the ‘new’ house- twice last year, just CLEANING, killing the ivy growing up the walls, cutting down the mess of vines and brambles in the yard. This time around we had already been back for over a month- Once again cutting down all the mess that had grown up while we were gone, making our weekly trips to the Déchèterie with loads of trash, stripping the old yellow wallpaper from the walls and doing drywall, and various other projects.

But- First things first, we needed a toilet! We also needed a shower… So I set about to build a Dry Composting Toilet system and an outdoor solar shower. Of course, the ol’ bucket system just wouldn’t cut it. I wanted something that would not only be functional, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective, but also something that would look nice and pass even the most discriminating of tastes. I broke out the woodworking kit and got to work building a toilet that one might even describe as… beautiful? Continue reading

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Postcard from Le Mas St. Jean

Postcard from In Front of La Chapelle du Mont St. Jean with the Renault Continue reading

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July Postcards

Sunflowers in La Creuse
Sunflowers in La Creuse Continue reading

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Spring in La Creuse

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One Year in Le Vignaud

One year has passed since I drove from Germany in a rickety old Renault truck, bound for my tiny village in France. It had been a wonderful ride- I have made life-long friends, followed a longstanding dream, overcome many obstacles, and fallen to others. But through all the cold, the rain, the sunshine, the good food, the up and the downs I wouldn’t trade a day of the last year for anything else. Continue reading

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