Mary Fleming

Too many grains of sandFriday, 8 July William Blake may have been able to see a World in a Grain of Sand, but I need something a little bigger to encapsulate my Paris life, which last Saturday 3 July clocked in at 40 years, close to the Eternity evoked by

Friday, 4 June The last couple of months, we have been attentive observers at an archaeological dig. Or so it has often seemed, since the re-haul of our old house got underway early April. Part One of our renovation project in the Perche transformed a 19th century barn into living

Friday, 22 May Two days ago, I had a Proustian moment. The reverberating memory in my case did not involve a spongy cake; rather, it was conjured by a trip to the Préfecture de Paris. For those of you unfamiliar with Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu (In

Friday, 7 May One recent lockdown evening, I watched the new film version of Rebecca on Netflix. Based on Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel, it's the story of a young woman who becomes the second wife of the wealthy Max de Winter after his first, apparently beloved wife's tragic death.

Friday, 23 April I’ve been thinking about the swallows. As regular readers know, we displaced a large family of them when we began to convert a barn into living space last year out here in the Perche. Before the works started, while we were locked down last April, David

Before - 13 April 2019Friday, 9 April If our house weren’t at the end of the lane, we might have driven right by it. Such were the changes to its outward appearance when we recently returned from a long trip to London. We had been warned. Claire, our green

Moving? Again?Friday, 26 March On Tuesday evening, we walked through the newly opened passage and our hearts fell into our dusty shoes. The long-awaited move into the renovated barn was taking place the next day. Cleared and ready, the space was not. No room for Carl the piano here.

The Fleming-Kotharis and the Arnolfini Friday, 12 March “What if she’s late?” Georgina asked when we were planning a month-long London trip to coincide with the birth of her and Amal’s baby, our grand-daughter. An astute point from the mother-to-be. Humans can land on Mars and engineer

Friday, 19 February It felt like we were preparing for a dangerous, perhaps impossible mission. All week long I was amassing staples – oil, pasta, tins of tuna and tomatoes. Closer to departure, I bought perishables and David stocked up on another essential, wine. When not shopping and packing, I was

Friday, 5 February “By the end of next week,” our green guru Claire said, “it’s going to look like Verdun.” That was in early November last year. The indoor renovation of our property in the Perche had been going on for months, and it was finally, much to David’

Friday, 15 January If you saw the above photo while still deranged with grief over the recent death of your last beloved lost dog, would you have been able to resist saving her from the pound? If you are normally a responsible, rational adult, the answer to the above question

Friday, 1st January For the last weeks, it seems I have been living almost constantly in the dark. I wake and work and walk Tasha before the sun comes up, and often don’t go outside again until the dog’s late afternoon promenade, when the day is well on

Friday, 11 December In the sweet and funny 1993 film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays Phil Connor, a curmudgeonly weatherman sent to small town Punxutawny, Pennsylvania to cover the eponymous event.* A snowstorm retains him in the town and, it turns out, in time: he keeps waking up to the