It’s been an exciting week in Essoyes…
Most of the time my life here is pretty quiet, and that is a large part of the reason I love it so much. In Essoyes I have found a place where peaceful solitude, and the ability to concentrate on my work is fairly easy to achieve.
But last week was different….
Continue Reading October 17, 2018 at 11:03 am Leave a comment
Here comes autumn…
Almost immediately after the big trucks hauling grapes had stopped making their several-times-a-day runs from the vineyards to the pressoir in Essoyes during the vendange, they were replaced by big trucks hauling loads of wood out of the forest…
Report from Essoyes: Les Vendanges 2018
“It’s been a good year!!” my friend Béthsabée announced, when I stopped by to say hello and ask how the vendange was going this year. “It’s been a very good year,” she added. “It’s the kind of year we’ve been waiting for for 10 years….”
Back Home in Essoyes…
“…I had never really thought about whether or not I had a sacred place before being asked this question; but indeed Essoyes is the one place in this world where over the past couple of years I have felt my soul settling into its most appropriate spot. And there is a deep contentment that goes along with having found that place at last…”
Wending My Way Through Wisconsin…
…before it fades from my memory I want to tell you about my road trip that began by crossing the St. Croix River into Wisconsin at Prescott, and heading to my cousin Brenda’s home near Ellsworth…
A Peek into the Heartland (Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, 2018)
“Can you pick up some drums on your way out here?” my cousin emailed me. “I was planning to do a quick run in and out to get them, but since you’re coming this way anyway…”
Vive la France! Allez les Bleus!
I must confess, I don’t really get why people get so excited about this kind of thing. But I understand joy, and I love it.
Vive la France, Allez les Bleus!!!
Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who divides her time between the U.S. and France. She leads writing workshops in Essoyes, a village in the Champagne region, and teaches “Paris: A Literary Adventure” for the City University of New York each summer.
Spring AT LAST!!!!
…I think I can (cautiously) announce that spring is finally here. At least in Essoyes, and all over France…
Spring Coming Soon (we hope…)
The days are suddenly beginning to be quite a bit longer, and thank goodness for that!…
Interview with Our Forestière (Bilingual post)
The latest in a series of interviews I am doing with the people of Essoyes, asking them questions about their lives, their work, and their relationship with the past, present, and future of this place….
Continue Reading February 21, 2018 at 5:53 pm Leave a comment
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 