Au Revoir France

Well it is the night before I leave for Calais.  All things are packed, the car is full of petrol, oil, water, tyres all checked.  We've said our goodbyes to most people, places and memorable spots.  Lucy has been to the Vets for her flea/tick preparation so we're ready for pet passport control.  I have written 6 pages of reflection on these last 5 months and what it has been to me.  I suddenly realised half way through that I have never been away like this before.  Never travelled when I was younger and lived in a different country.  This was my mini gap year.  I am blessed and very privileged to do this and I have learnt so much about myself and about my purpose.

Leaving friends, Lynn and Tony, who have been so lovely, I decided that I was going to paint them a picture.  It suddenly dawned on me what I wanted to draw.  Lucy spends 50% of her time over at their house, she's in love with Sandy, the cute rescue dog, although you'd never can tell as she bosses him around.   So as both LandT run an association over here called La Porte Ouverte (Open Door) they really live by that too.  So I finally gave them the painting and they were chuffed to bits!!  They're going to make it into a greeting card and sell it for charity in Open Door.  I'm really delighted.  I have  my first greeting card design!

Anyway tomorrow Lucy and I have about 600 kms to Calais where we're staying over night in a doggy friendly place.  Then through tunnel and back to Blighty.  I'll carry on creating, writing and producing! 

au revoir et à bientot xx

One week and counting

In just 1 week I will be packing my car and heading off, dog in passenger seat (with seat belt on, I might add) to Calais.  Driving about 600 kms from Civray in the Poitou-Charentes region of France to Calais.  We're staying over night in a hotel, me and mutt sharing a room, that will be fun, I know it, she's such a great bedtime companion!!  Then, it's off to Pet Passport Control for the check of her microchip, flea/tick preparation by the Vet and signed passport - this is going to be a real experience.  We're loving it!  

My entire time in France has been an adventure from the moment I arrived in December.  I jumped and here I find myself in the land of the romance language.  I feel I've got to grips with the lingo quite well.

Yesterday, I went for a walk down by the river with the infamous Jack Russell, and as she was doing her 'thang' and exploring the waters' edge, we spied a fisherman.  He seemed very chatty - obviously, we're talking, french chatty here.   We shake hands, he says "Bonjour, comment-allez-vous?", "Oui bon, et vous? I replied.   Bless him, he was bright red, looked like a bottle of red wine (a bit too much I might add) and he smelt like a bottle of red too.  However for the next 5 minutes or so, we stood, and we talked.  Me in my cute french.  I asked if he fished there often (can you believe that chat up line).  He asked if I had a husband? Maybe he had someone for me?  He noticed my bright orange car and asked what it was?  We talked, we communicated and I felt good that I could understand him and he understood me. 

I asked him - vous comprendez moi?  "oui, tres bon, c'est d'accord".  

I left, on my way to the supermarche, feeling quite good.  After 5 months, I held a conversation with a drunken fisherman.  I'm chuffed.  It makes me proud..

I shall miss the space, the landscape, the fields of green and the lack of speed bumps.  I've had nearly 7 weeks of solitude and I'm now looking for interaction and my friends.  My time here has been really productive, wonderful, learning, growing, developing, and after the year of 2009, that's a good thing.  I'm blessed and very grateful for grabbing this opportunity when it arose - some of it may have gone a bit pear shaped however I'm going to remember every ounce of it and breathe deeply as I get in my car to head off up the N10 to Calais.  Who'd have thought I'd be driving all that way on my own.  Well, not exactly on my own, I have an excellent map reader - albeit the furry 4 legged variety - but they know where they're going. xx

To have an Art Studio or not, that is the question.

My art studio at the moment is a collection of boxes, shoeboxes, plastic containers and an old cardboard box that sits tucked in a corner in the lounge.  I always thought that I would need a studio (even a desk!) for me to begin to sketch, paint, mess, moodle, wax.  Little did I know that actually when I have my stuff out and near me, it inspires me to just start musing with it all.  As it's all near me, there's no excuse not to.  I can sit and look at the colour of paints, pick up my sketch book and begin to just let the lines flow.

All this time, I have been waiting for my studio but I have realised that the studio is within and I can take it anywhere.  I came here to France never realising that this would be something I would learn.

Learning.  This whole l'adventure en france has been about learning.  Learning to adapt, to live smaller than small, to appreciate what I have and who I have in my life, to get in touch with my inner creative muse that loves playing with colour.

Tomorrow, a new phase begins as Will leaves to return to the UK and I remain here for 6 weeks with Lucy.  It's a time to stay focused and plan my time.  To return in May with paintings, writing, proposals and hopefully self published.  I'm going to make an agreement with myself to do just this.

Spring has sprung : )