Posts tagged ‘France’
Essoyes à la Belle Epoque…a magnificent success!
“As part of the department-wide Year of Renoir, the village of Essoyes hosted a weekend-long return to the year 1900—to celebrate and showcase what Essoyes was like in the height of the period when Renoir and his family would come to the village, to paysanner (enjoy the countryside)…”
A very special spring in Essoyes
“Springtime is always a busy time in agricultural communities, and this year is no different in southern Champagne, as local farmers tend to their crops–primarily wheat, rapeseed, and of course grapes for champagne…”
Back in Essoyes again…
First of all, how nice to be welcomed back after long weeks away! The Facebook message from my friend Desirée expressed enthusiasm that I was back in France again, and added, “…at 6:30 pm there is a short film in the community hall that the Maison Pour Tous and the kids put together. You are welcome to join us…”
A Peek Ahead at the Year of Renoir
“This year is the Year of Renoir not just in Essoyes, but throughout l’Aube, the département in which Essoyes is located, in the Champagne region of France…”
Continue Reading January 15, 2017 at 11:08 am Leave a comment
November in Essoyes
“Every year in our little village the names of each of the men whose names are carved on the memorial is read, followed by a “Mort pour la France!” shouted by a member of the sapeurs pompiers (firefighters). It takes a while to read all those names, which gives the people paying tribute to their sacrifice time to think about what it really means…”
Continue Reading November 16, 2016 at 1:03 pm Leave a comment
August in Essoyes
…some people leave to go to the South of France on vacation, and others come here to vacation, mostly from Paris, but also from Belgium and other places. You can tell the tourists from the townspeople (or the summer people) by the little maps they clutch in their hands as they walk the streets, following the trail of Renoir in Essoyes…
Bastille Day in Essoyes
Bastille Day did not end peacefully in France this year, but it did begin that way, at least in “my” little village of Essoyes…
Summertime in Essoyes
The fields of colza and wheat are continuing to ripen, and all along the edges of the fields, the streets of the town, pushing up through the stones in the cemetery, the wildflowers continue in their subtle, determined progression through the season…
Springtime in Essoyes
…the vines on the surrounding hills are slowly beginning to turn green, and the forested hills, which were a kind of brownish gray in early spring, have already done so…
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 