Awry July clouds approachingFriday, 17 July Every July my husband David and I have the same exchange. He says: “Summer is now here. Paris will calm down and empty out.” And I reply: “No it won’t. Not until August. July is one big traffic jam.” Unfortunately I am always right. The
Finding the Thread Friday, 3 July This morning I woke up at 5 to mild panic: I am supposed to write a blog today and I do not have a single idea. After a few minutes tossing and still not even a hint of a plan, I got up, made my coffee, and
Renovating Mind and Matter Friday, 19 June Our third major renovation project in six years is now underway. After Berlin 2014-15 and Paris 2017-18, it’s the Perche 2020-21. Or so we hope. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from experience, it’s pay no attention to predicted time frames. Neither of
The Taming of Tasha? The Wild One amid the wild flowersFriday, 29 May On our walk [https://mf.ghost.io/the-miracle-drug/] through the Perche countryside this morning, it occurred to me that Tasha the dog has some striking similarities to Voltaire’s Candide. For those of you who have not read the eponymous novel
From Confinement to Confusion Friday, 15 May When it comes to French history, I should know better than to rely on the internet. I should know to go straight to my friend Diane A-C. Last entry [https://mf.ghost.io/confinement-part-iv/] I sketched the history of the May 1st labour holiday in France but
Confinement, Part IV Friday, 1st May It’s May Day, a day to celebrate spring and labour. With nature and work much on my mind this 46th day of our confinement, it’s a timely holiday. Happy spring from my flower bedThe earliest known observation of the day goes back to the 2nd
Confinement, Part III Life under a Super MoonFriday, 17 April When we still had our Berlin life [https://mf.ghost.io/den-17-juni-le-18-juin/], I wrote about my husband David’s sixth sense, his inner GPS [https://mf.ghost.io/reincarnation/]. At the time I believed this gift was limited to his ability to home
Confinement, Part II Friday, 3 April “More bubble baths,” I said last December, adding to the list of my resolutions for 2020. I had just walked out of a Neal’s Yard shop in London, where I was stocking up on their heavenly Seaweed & Arnica Foaming Bath ("A restorative bath to
On the Early Days of Confinement Friday, 20 March Today it is hard to imagine that two weeks ago, when I last sat down to write this blog, my husband David had just flown to the US for a 10-day family visit. That he was planning to come back and immediately get on another plane to
Greek Lessons Friday, 6 March Sometimes I ask myself what it is about Paris that I love so much. Near the top of a long list is the fact that so many of her buildings and monuments were here hundreds of years before I was born and, barring human folly, natural disaster
The Miracle Drug Creative skyFriday, 21 February We are nearing the end of a week here in the Perche. The days have developed a gentle rhythm, starting at 6, if I am lucky enough to sleep that long. I waste no time getting dressed as our bedroom above the barn, with little heat
Lessons in Fear Management Friday, 31 January Today is a sad day, not because the sodden weather has merged Paris rooftop and sky into one lump of grey or because it’s too warm by 10°C/20°F for the end of January, but because come midnight the United Kingdom will forsake the
Inward and Onward Friday, 10 January Think back, look forward. That is what January is for, especially one marking the beginning of a new decade. How do my musings from a year ago [https://mf.ghost.io/the-joys-of-january/], for example, appear now? What might these 2020s hold? Out with a bang: sunrise 31
Plus ça change Friday, 13 December Some words and expressions capture a concept so aptly they are untranslatable. Often that's because the meaning conveys a quality firmly grounded in the native culture. Gemütlich for example captures the homey cosiness that Germans need to get through winter, while plus ça change, used
Touring Friday, 29 November They say that just before you die, your whole life passes before you. That has just happened to me but, as of this writing, I am still very much alive. Though still recovering, from a 10-day whirlwind book tour of the US for my novel The Art
Angst Management Friday, 8 November Next Monday I leave on a US book tour for my novel The Art of Regret and it’s fair to say I’m a little anxious. I will be doing six cities—San Francisco, Boston, Wayne, PA, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Chicago—in 12 days. The
A Novel Look at Paris, II Friday, 25 October The long, unusual walk [https://mf.ghost.io/a-novel-look-at-paris/] I took two weeks ago in anticipation of The Art of Regret's publication* got me thinking about shorter, more pedestrian walks, ones made so frequently you can almost stop noticing all that is going on around
A Novel Look at Paris Wig shop, rue des Poissionniers Friday, 11 October The other day I took an unusual and instructive walk. It's actually a walk I have been thinking about taking since I revisited the Basilique de Saint Denis in 2015 [https://mf.ghost.io/ode-to-a-friend/] because it relates to a
The Spice of Life Friday, 27 September How odd that a trip to the Indian quarter of Paris should make me feel I am really home, that our Berlin life [https://mf.ghost.io/the-best-of-it/] is really over. La Chapelle, as the quartier indien is known, stretches from the Gares du Nord and de
Our Nature Friday, 30 August Summer is winding down. At least I think it is. This past week in Paris the thermometer has climbed to a dog-day [https://mf.ghost.io/dog-days/] 34°C (93°F). But there are also crispy brown leaves piling up on the streets, as if we were
Whose House Is This? Friday, 16 August 2019 Our new house in the Perche may be situated at the end of a track. Our nearest neighbours may be at an invisible distance. But that does not mean we are alone. The habitable space of our property is in two parts. On the left side
Carl H Hintze on the Move Friday, 26 July Some of us humans are happier living away from our homeland. We feel more comfortable where we are less quantifiable, less easily classified. I have recently discovered that this may also be true for pianos. If I was a bit concerned about Tasha the dog’s adjustment
Tasha, a Franco-German Dog in the Perche Getting the lay of the land Friday, 12 July While thinking about how to approach the first entry of this re-christened Paris-Perche Diary, I returned to the beginning, to the first blog I ever wrote in the Paris-Berlin Diary. One paragraph long, it was entitled Back to Berlin [https://mf.
Den 17.Juni und/et le 18 Juin Straße des 17.Juni: "Der Rufer"(The Caller), statue commemorating the uprising; the Victory Column in the background Friday, 21 June Our move from Berlin back to France last week was so aptly timed, so ripe with symbolism, you'd be forgiven for suspecting the dates were
The Best of It Friday, 7 June During our three-week Berlin stint in May, I drew up two lists, one with the preparations for the move mid-June and the other a personal catalogue of what I wanted to get done during this final stretch as a resident of Berlin. Here in Paris this last