Paris Bound

 

 

Early this morning we headed for Paris

with the truck loaded for the last part of the renovation.

Eight hours on the freeway, quiche, ice cream bars, the radio, French Husband and the handy iphone to blog from. 

 

 

The next trip to Paris will have truck load of furniture... I can hardly wait for that moment!

Brocante finds verses shirt less men, hope you won't be disappointed in the brocante.

French Husband teasingly pushed his bicep up with his other hand? I looked at him as if to say, "What are you doing?"

He can be so goofy at times... I prefer goofy to serious.

 

 

 

Going back and forth from Marseille to Paris, Paris to Marseille as much as we have in these last few weeks gives ample room for reflection. Some trips seem to pass by quickly, and others seem endlessly long.

I have thought about friends, family, people I love, friends I miss... My mom, and dad, Shelley, Annie, Thierry... Willows.

And I have thought about these last twenty five years in France. Much has changed, Paris has changed, I have changed...

I always thought I would go back to Willows one day to live... but as my children create their lives and eventually add roots I find myself standing in the same place as I have stood for years... divided. As they say in France about expats: A foot in each land. Now I feel my heart and soul in two lands as well.

When marrying my husband and moving to France I expected it would be a challenge: The culture, language, distance... but I did not think about the long term consequences of my actions. Love has a way of blooming goodness, making anything sound possible. 

I do not regret following love. But I can say homesickness has never left my side either.

The Paris apartment renovation has stirred the deep pot of memories, the long drive back and forth has given room for such memories to spread out. 

We lived in Paris for the first few years of our married life. Chelsea was conceived in Paris. We have been back many times over the twenty five years... but living in Paris and visiting Paris, even though I live in France is not the same. 

Memories stirred. Happiness bubbling, melancholy standing by my side, a free for all as emotions come to say hi and stick around. 

 

 

Add endless fields of harvest... How could I not think about my family in Willows.

Heart Land.

Farms.

A seed planted.

Our seed planted in Paris years ago, comes to harvest.

I stand on fertile ground, I should rejoice, I am rejoicing... while my other foot makes patterns in the soil.

 

Love as you know has no limits, and where it will take us is on journey to wholeness-

 

 

 

The road ahead.

Paris bound.

Where are you heading?

Comments

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OMG, Corey, your motorway exit sign in the photo
is the next but one from us at Beaune Nord - going up the steep hill with Beaune on your right you can see our village and vineyards from the motorway !!! next trip up try to find 1/2 hour, 1/2 day, 1/2 week to stop off !! xx

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Sorry Beaune is on your left as you go up the hill !! muddled, it's hot

[Marilyn]

Happy travels!
The field of rounds of grain remind me of traveling in the US. Somethings are just the same. Delightful!

[~Kim]

How exciting! I love following your Paris apartment renovation and can't wait to see pics when you add the furniture! Maybe you will post before and after photos? :-)

[French la Vie]

Christine!!! I thought of you! I wondered when you will be in Provence. I would love to stop in and HUG you! We will be going back down in a week or so. If you are around I hope we can meet xxx

[Star]

Oh, my, that second picture! Safe travels :)

[Nancy W.]

Love Yahn's sense of humor! He makes all of us smile and we thank him for that. A foot in each land. Yes, it is very difficult. No matter how much we love where we are, there is always that little touch of longing for our (other) "home". Well, I (try) to tell myself that I am so very lucky to have had a very happy "growing up" time and that has made me into the happy adult I am now. I am not sure that it softens the longing any but it makes me move along...which is the best I can do. Don't forget THIS moment in time. How precious they all are. And what fun!.

[Shelley]

We just purchased a home on Prince Edward Island, Canada...dividing time between Frankford (east of Toronto) and PEI. Dream followed!

[Shelley Noble]

Oh lala. Nice photos of your man, Corey!

[Gail Lannum]

Love the bicep!!

[Becky Farley]

Hi Corey, We are flying to San Francisco tomorrow. We plan on doing lots of hiking, exploring, eating (all those wonderful farmer's markets) and relaxing. One of our planned hikes is through Montgomery Woods Nature Reserve by Ukiah, CA. It is suppose to have magnificent redwoods. I'll blow some kisses towards Willows for you when I'm there.

[Sharon Penney-Morrison]

Your harvested fields look just like the Kansas fields this time of year.
We went to McPherson yesterday, (45 min. drive), and everywhere you looked where the hay bales and the yellow stubble.

[lesley austin]

"I should rejoice, I am rejoicing... while my other foot makes patterns in the soil." I know that feeling so well, Corey, but you express it beautifully...in a way that is very evocative. Thank you.

I send you hope and good wishes for all that you and your family are creating in the world.

[lesley austin]

"I should rejoice, I am rejoicing... while my other foot makes patterns in the soil." I know that feeling so well, Corey, but you express it beautifully...in a way that is very evocative. Thank you.

I send you hope and good wishes for all that you and your family are creating in the world.

[Nannister]

I know this is off topic but that's how my mind works,it wanders a lot but I wanted to know how your weight lost has been going? You haven't mention anything in a long time and where those great pics of you on Friday? You are cute as a button but I would rethink the glasses. Oh gosh I say it but its been bugging me for along time and I think you have beauty that would be frame better in something else! N:)

[karen]

Bittersweet thoughts.
Maybe the next 25 years in Willows?

[Barbara Snow]

I'm heading back to Italy for a vacation this fall, and hope to retire in France in the next few years. Not Paris, as beautiful as it is, somewhere in the countryside. Wish me luck.
Barb in Minnesota

[Kathy Woods]

Oh Corey,

I know exactly what you mean with a foot in each land. I too have been away from family (22years) and homesickness never leaves me either even though I am happy living in Melbourne Australia. It is always bittersweet.

Kathy

[Debra]

We always seem to be in sync, Corey. I stopped at my local market on my way home tonight, ran into a friend, and this is what we talked about - where are we heading? God, I wish you would give me a little peak down the road.

[Jeannie]

I have lived here long enough that it feels like home - sort of. Even though "birth home" is only 4-5 hours away, it sometimes feels like a different continent. People there have changed, I have changed. Yet, there is that thrill when we drop down off the mountain top and into the valley. Cows, fields, mountains, and sea - I feel the rush of being home again. Home, where the land is green, west = ocean, east = mountains, and the natives speak Snohomish. On the return trip, I feel the same rush as I see the sage brush and tumbleweeds. Am I confused? Yep! I guess where ever the heart is, is home.

[Karen C]

So relieved when you explained it was Yann playing a joke - I was worried he had developed a terrible growth!
All my sons seem to be settling in their home city of Melbourne - but so widespread from the west to the far south east. I think I may have to invest in a Winnebago in my retirement and just travel from one to the other in order to keep contact.
We have been lucky enough to have visited Paris, Dijon & Beaune. So loved the Morvan Forest and its stories.

[Kathie B]

We just got back last week from a trip for a Portuguese conference, so I'll be happy to stay home for a while now. It had been so much work preparing my talk and PowerPoint display, even though it was in English this time -- I was delayed starting work on my presentation due to needing a week's extension on the deadline of another project, so I was still polishing my talk till the day before we left (full-scale panic!) -- that I took along my pillow so during most of the ride en route, I could just tilt back the passenger seat and sleep. Farmboy Husband woke me ca. 15 miles from our exit, so I could navigate us off the Interstate and to the city center (we have a road atlas, plus I'd printed out Google Maps of the streets from the interchange to our hotel). We spent an extra day there resting up on a mini-vacation after the conference ended -- unseasonably cool, not-muggy weather, hooray hooray!!! -- so I was able to stay awake on the entire ride home.

[Kathie B]

Corey, just think how our ancestors must've felt about leaving the Azores for faraway California, across the Atlantic by ship, then across the US by train. Grandpa's parents left him behind in California with another family (as a schoolboy) when they returned to the Azores after a couple of years, and apparently he went back to visit them once in his 20s, but other than that none of my Portuguese ancestors ever saw their families again. Little wonder that Grandpa, when asked, always claimed to have been an orphan, having been abandoned so cruelly. (I found out the rest through research online).

[Kathie B]

Actually, I now recall from a reference an old family letter from the Azores that Grandma's father, the year before he died, had a visit from a cousin from the Azores who was visiting the US.

[Christine Harris]

Beautifully written! I'd love to say I was heading to Paris. Actually we will be in May and I will be looking for an apartment to rent. Know of any?

[Marjorie Sue]

Good question...where am I headed. First of all to the computer before I go to bed to see where/what and with whom Corey is connected each day. I look forward to checking my messages before I go to bed and voila, there you are. I have many wonderful dreams about France because of your blog! (Especially the photos of the workers! Yes, even at my age!).

At 80 thinking about where I'm headed seems ludicrous since I believe I've arrived at my sweet little piece of heaven in the mountains near Yosemite in Calif. I've actually visited every state except Alabama, Main and Vermont in the U.S.. Been to Paris, China, Brazil, India, Sweden as well as Mexico, the Baja, and Canada. I've lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and California and really feel this is my place.

I have a quotation on my bulletin board that says;
"Never lose your place in the world" which I believe means that even though you may live in many different places, the real place you reside is with your soul and the contentment that brings, wherever you may find yourself.

[French la Vie]

Hi Marjorie Sue
"Never lose your place in the world" which I believe means that even though you may live in many different places, the real place you reside is with your soul and the contentment that brings, wherever you may find yourself."
So very true and well said. Thank you for the reminder to keep one's feet well planted in their soul. That is how we find our balance!

[French la Vie]

Hi Christine,
Oh I do, I do, know of one!

C

[French la Vie]

Hi Kathie

All four of my Grandparents came from the Azores. My Grandmother often talked about her voyage over... she was 14. Though she was lucky to go back and visit... her mother died before she returned.

x

[French la Vie]

Hi Nannister,
I have gained a few back, I haven't paid attention in Paris, that is my downfall not paying attention! As for my glasses you are right. But I do not wear them because I think they look the best, I wear them because I like them. I bought them in China, and the memories are too good to give them up.

[Patti Lloyd]

Last week American husband said he had a meeting in Willows, so I asked to tag along. As it turned out, the meeting was in Orland, but that is close enough to Willows to follow the road and visit the store your Mom works at finally! What a darling little woman she is, bubbling with welcoming words. I could see your roots so clearly in her little frame, her strong hands and her boundless energy. I told her that her daughter sure sang her praises on her blog..and her reply was a wave of the hand and "pffft!" She went out of her way to oblige us(my bff and I) and sent us to a couple other shops in town as well. Next best thing to Brocante! I will travel many roads if they lead to old, shabby items that have a story to tell.

[XiijnTEXAS FRANCOPHILE]

Oh that must be hard.......though you r heart is with you. How about 6 mos. in willows, and six mos. in France?

[Nikki Maxwell]

I have just spent a glorious month with my family in San Diego and now back in Australia (my adopted home as I actually hail from Scotland). I very much miss my friends and family in Scotland as well but those closest to my heart live in California. Saying goodbye sucks every time. You never get used to it, in fact it gets harder every time. It has been my choice to live here and to set down roots and my kids are true Blue Australians...but my family overseas are never far from my mind - and always in my heart. I very much get it Corey.

[Andrea]

Born in and lived in NYC but was "exiled" to Connecticut because of my former husband's job. When we divorced (insert sad face here), I chose to stay in CT so that my daughter would be able to see and have a relationship with her dad. Family and friends were in NY and I never stopped shuttling back and forth to stay connected to family. Remarried a CT guy and still shuttling. My daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren live in Brooklyn. All those trips to NY and 4 years at NYU made Sarah love it as I do. They are looking for a house about a mile from the hospital where I was born. Full circle it seems. This weekend, I will be in the city for a "Waltzer Girls Lunch" where my surviving aunts (90s) will meet the latest additions to the family including Coco Ruby (my granddaughter)and Lexi Grace, my cousin's first grandchild and Aunt Sylvia's great-grandchild. As a friend and I like to say, I am looking so forward to this event, my chin is jutting way out in front of my face.

[Nannister]

understood and I hope I didn't hurt your feelings. sometimes my words just fly out and I realize later it may come out unkindly which was not my intent. you always bring a smile to my lips or a laugh and a tear sometimes but I always enjoy your blog, thanks for sharing N

[Peggy Braswell]

certainly understand one foot in S.CA one foot, one in NW Florida(where I grew up)Loved the photos. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

[La Contessa]

I love reading these comments!
I always thought we too would go back to Italy but the BOYS are here and hopefully they too will have families and babies so WHY would we be over there!??Good to know we have friends in both places and hopefully are healthy enough to go back and fourth!YOU KNOW where I'm headed once the brocante truck unloads!!!!!!!!Loving all your POSTS about the remodel...........very impressive these men are on a MISSION!

[jeanie]

What a poignant, lovely post. I know I get a big clump in my heart when I think of leaving all those I love behind. I so admire what you did -- but then, when you love someone, you're not alone!

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We aren't leaving here until 19th, so if you have a moment to stop then my phone is 06.30.74.11.55....:)

[Kiki]

sigh....
do I know what you talk about!!! Hero Husband often said: Je suis complètement déraciné (I'm totally uprooted). When in Switzerland, his heart is still but his home is in France - and I have adopted the view: My home is where my HH is (which, of course, poses plenty of other follow-up problems, like: HH works in Switzerland, so IS our house nr Paris really also our home??? It's a can of worms and there is no reply.
I yearn for the Lac Léman (Lake Geneva, or as we prefer to call it Lake Leman!!!) and am in paradise when I'm near or on said lake - but in no way am I totally unhappy here in the Parisian heat and drama!!!

Let me assure you it's FAR better to visit Paris - Paris is not a kind city to its habitants - although there are more things going on than you wd ever have time and energy to visit BUT it's not a peaceful place. So you chose unknowingly wisely; come to Paris often, as a visitor, for a short break, for seing things, exhibitions, meeting friends, go to wonderful eateries, take croisières on the Seine etc etc - and then go back home to your quiet and nostalgic place where you can breathe and take your time.

Much love
Kiki

[Kiki]

Christine; if you're willing to take the direct fast train - you might rent at our place, it's 35' from the heart of Paris, train stop 3' on foot from here. Beautifully calm, charming 1920's house, large garden - write to me, send me your email address.... :)

[Kiki]

oh zut alors.... :)
have been reading from the bottom to top, hence only see your mail now.... maybe you can take it off the blog? (the one to Christine.... although the offer stands)
K