Posts tagged ‘Election 2024’
Back in Essoyes: October 2024
It’s been a while since I’ve shared my news here, other than news about the endless task of downsizing and redistributing things that appears to be an ongoing feature of my life from here on out (c’est la vie!) so this will be an attempt to share a few highlights of the other parts of my life for those who may be wondering. (I know. It’s a small public. But it matters, to me anyway, and I hope to some of you. 🙂 )
I’m back in Essoyes after six intense (and wonderful) weeks in Minnesota spent catching up with friends, family, and engaging in the task of getting some of those precious artifacts (referred to in my previous post) into the collections of places that will find them interesting and keep them safe for posterity.
Now, after a few weeks here I’m almost settled into something resembling my “normal” routine. It has been an unbelievably beautiful autumn here, warm and mostly sunny with just enough rain to keep the greens green and the crops in the fields next to our home growing.
I have been to Paris twice in the past month, once as a featured author at the American Church in Paris’s annual Bloom Where You’re Planted orientation program for Anglophones new to Paris. (Thanks, Red Wheelbarrow bookstore, for the support!) That trip allowed me to pop over to Lille also for a quick visit with my son Sam before he left for a couple of weeks in New York to do some recording of his songs, play a couple of shows, celebrate the release of his new single, and catch up with his friends too.
I want to say a SUPER BIG THANKS to the friends who came to see me in Minnesota, and even hauled me around a bit, sometimes at great inconvenience to themselves, because I wasn’t able to get to where they were this time. It was so wonderful connecting with these friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
The BIGGEST THANKS OF ALL goes to my wonderful sister and brother-in-law who not only hosted me for most of the time I was in Minnesota, but also carted me around more than any of us had planned, due to the fact that my leg injury was taking its own sweet time to get better. (It’s finally almost normal again, thanks for asking! 🙂 ) My sister was my patient and kind chauffeur on a series of projects I had lined up for my time there, some of them mundane, some of them kind of fun (a visit to the Howard County (Iowa) Historical Society), and some them really fun (Cousins’ Week 🙂 . She and my brother-in-law kept me well nourished with mostly Mexican meals and included me in their social activities–church, wine tastings, book group meetings, trips to the lake. I owe them EVERYTHING for their warm hospitality and their steadfast love. MUCHISSIMAS GRACIAS, HERMANITA Y CUÑADO!!!
Upper left: Cousins week on the banks of the Mississippi; Upper middle: Me and my sis at Rustic Roots Winery in Scandia, Minnesota. Upper right: Visiting the wonderful Howard County (Iowa) Historical Society. Lower left: Me and my sis at the classic old Carnegie Library in Cresco, Iowa. Our grandmother and great-grandmother loved to come here! I gave them a copy of A Long Way From Iowa for their collection. 🙂 Lower right: Me, my sis, and my brother-in-law as I’m heading off to the airport.
Now it is nearly November, and it’s time to hunker down and hope for a good outcome to a very important presidential election back home. I’m grateful to friends back home who have been doing the footwork I can’t do from here–canvassing, phone banking, helping to get out the vote. The Harris/Walz ticket has given me (and so many others) hope that we will have the chance to continue to recover from the disastrous presidency of you-know-who (and I don’t mean Biden!) We’ll see what happens. I’m just hoping that enough Americans will see that “the man behind the curtain” is a fraud, a real fraud (among many other despicable things); and they will vote for someone who cares about democracy, and about all of us. And who is super smart and capable of managing one of the most important, and most difficult jobs in the world.
On this side of the ocean, Democrats Abroad have been working hard for that goal. They will be having an election night “watch” party in Paris, which of course we all hope will be a happy event.
Keep your fingers crossed, your prayers ascending, and your encouragement of your friends and family to vote (and vote wisely!!!!) Remember: it ain’t over til it’s over. (And…being American, I would say it ain’t over even then. That may be when the work really begins…)
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home. You can also read her writing on Substack.
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 