Posts tagged ‘Janet Hulstrand’
A first close encounter with Joan of Arc…
The very first time I was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City I was there in the best of circumstances I can imagine. My boyfriend dropped me off there in the morning; and said he would pick me up sometime in the late afternoon.
Therefore, I was free to explore that amazing museum all by myself with no one else’s conflicting desires to interfere with my wandering through the collections, and no distraction of any kind by anyone else for quite a few hours.
I don’t remember a whole lot about what I did that day. I started by strolling through the antiquities. I probably spent a fair amount of time in the medieval section looking at the richly colorful paintings and sculptures. I think I took a lunch break in the café on the main floor. Then I went upstairs and began wandering through the galleries of European paintings.
When I rounded a corner and saw the painting you see above I stopped, and stood there for a long time. This painting of Joan of Arc at the moment she is being visited by the Archangel Michael and two female saints really spoke to me.
The description on Wikipedia says that this painting shows Joan at the moment that these spirits are “rousing her to fight the English invaders in the Hundred Years War,” and describes it as a moment of “spiritual awakening.”
To me it looks more like a moment of profound fear.
I mean, put yourself in the place of this simple country girl–she was in her early teens, between 13 and 15 years old–when these heavenly apparitions quite suddenly appeared in her parents’ garden and instructed her to undertake an incredibly dangerous mission that everyone, but everyone, was going to think was insane.
Wouldn’t you be afraid?
I have never forgotten this painting and though I haven’t spent all that much time thinking about Joan of Arc in the years since, when I moved to northeastern France, not too far from where she was born and raised, I began to idly think about taking a day trip sometime to see that place.
It was ten years before this idle thought became a reality, last week. I will be writing about that experience soon in the “Adventures in France” part of my Substack.
But for now I thought I would just share this bit of background on my interest in Joan of Arc. I can see already that a wonderfully intriguing “rabbit hole” of discovery awaits me.
It’s an incredible story, it really is. Stay tuned!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer/editor 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. You can also find her writing at Searching for Home.
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.
Adventures in historic preservation…
Here is part of my What I Did on My Summer Vacation “report” this year. More to come later (on nonarchival activities). Stay tuned 🙂
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.
And on another topic entirely, here’s an update on how I dealt with “all that stuff” in my GDSL. 🙂 With big thanks to all who helped me with an enormous task–you know who you are, and I will be eternally grateful to you for your help!
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.
Searching for Home
Part Two: Brooklyn Read on Substack
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.
Places I Have Known…
I have been happily writing this blog on WordPress since 2009, and that is not about to change.
However, I wanted to let my readers know that I have recently also joined another writing platform–it is called Substack–and I will be posting some of my writing there also.
It’s not perfectly clear to me yet which kinds of pieces will be on this blog, and which ones will go on Substack. One of the really interesting–even occasionally exciting–things about writing is that you never know quite where you will go once you pick up the pen, or tap those keys. The words lead you in sometimes surprising directions…
It does seem at least for now that I will be using Substack to post essays related to the creative process that I am engaging in now, as I feel my way into my next memoir.
I hope you will keep following me here as I write about my life in France, and various other topics–but I also hope you’ll visit me on Substack. Here’s the link! Read on Substack
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.
Springtime in Essoyes 2024
We are experiencing the fullness of spring these days. After a very rainy few weeks that was a bit too much of a good thing for the vignerons, and caused the river to be so full that it threatened to flood the center of Essoyes, finally the sun has come out, which is brightening spirits–and at least so far the river has stayed within its banks, pshew!
After all that rain, a little bit of sun has brought about abundant growth. The colza has shot up seemingly overnight (though not really), from knee-length to now over my head, and the fruit trees are in full bloom. How beautiful it all is!
Earlier this week I had the distinct pleasure–and honor–of meeting with a book group in Washington DC, to take questions about my memoir, A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, through the wonders of Zoom. The Women’s Biography book group sponsored by Politics and Prose, my favorite indie bookstore in the US, had chosen my book for their April selection, and wanted to know if I would like to visit their meeting.
I was delighted to do so even though for me that meant getting up at 1:00 in the morning so I could be awake enough to be coherent when I joined them at a little after 7:30 pm their time (and 1:30 am mine!). (Not being a night owl at all there was no way I would have been able to stay awake that long before joining them.) I think they had enjoyed the book (pshew again!) and they asked me such interesting questions and made wonderful comments. They even gave me permission to share a picture of our Zoom meeting so that I could encourage other book groups to do the same.
It is always SO NICE for authors to be able to meet directly with the people who read their books. So if you are reading this post, and you are interested in women’s memoirs, and you belong to a book group who might like to read my book, and have me visit your meeting, please do so! I’d love to have such an opportunity, and I think I have now proved my sincerity and willingness to get up at any hour of the day to meet readers. 🙂
Mother’s Day is coming up soon in both the US and France–and I think the UK and Canada also? And I think A Long Way From Iowa–as a three-generations-of-women fulfilling-the-dream story–is appropriate Mother’s Day reading. I hope some of you will agree.
Until the next post, happy reading (whatever you are reading). And happy spring!
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.
Paris Is Always a Good Idea…
That famous line, attributed to Audrey Hepburn, is actually a line she spoke in the 1954 movie Sabrina. So it is perhaps more accurate to give credit for the sentiment to Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor, and Ernest Lehman, who wrote the screenplay. (Let’s give some credit to screenwriters here! 🙂 ).
In any case, it is a very true statement, at least for me it is. (My most-often stated feeling about Paris is that all things being equal, I am always just a little bit happier when I am there.)
And so I was very lucky–and very happy–to spend a few days there last week. I don’t need much to make me happy when I’m in Paris; it’s enough to just be there, sitting in a café, reading, writing, sipping on a café crème or a vin chaud, surrounded by French conversation. Enjoying the warmth inside, watching the world go by outside the café windows; appreciating the reflection of lights on rainy streets and sidewalks, the occasional colorful umbrella passing by.
But this time I was also lucky to be able to spend time catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and even participate in a special event at the wonderful Red Wheelbarrow, my favorite bookstore in Paris. Penelope Fletcher had asked me to introduce Cathy Yandell, who would be reading from her new book, The French Art of Living Well: Finding Joie de Vivre in the Everyday World, and I was delighted to do so. Cathy is a scholar of French literature (Renaissance poetry to be precise), and professor at Carleton College in Minnesota. Her book is a wonderful blend of stories about her experiences in France over a period of many years as a student, a teacher, a parent of American children in French schools. It also includes appreciation of and really interesting information about French literature, art, music (including contemporary and pop music); and her personal reflections on French ways. Finally it is a cultural guidebook that offers readers great ideas for off-the-beaten-track adventures in France, from thalassotherapy in Royan to the hammam in the Grand Mosque of Paris. (And she doesn’t just tell you you can do these things; she does them and tells you what the experience was like.)
The selections of the book Cathy read that night included a reflection on what Montaigne would have to say about the concept of joie de vivre and a very funny story about how she learned some choice French vocabulary in an episode of (thankfully controlled) road rage between her French “brother” and another French driver on a mountainous road in the south of France.
So. You see what I mean? This book offers intellectual stimulation; valuable information about interesting things to do in France; and it is also just plain fun to read.
Left to right: 1) Penelope Fletcher introducing me; 2) Me introducing Cathy; 3) Cathy Yandell, left, me, right. Photos courtesy of Mark S. McNeil.
I also had the chance while I was there have tea with another author friend, Penelope Rowlands, who curated the wonderful collection of essays, Paris Was Ours. Having tea (or in my case, latte) at Ladurée on the rue Bonaparte is one of those delightfully civilized experiences that momentarily places you in another world altogether. Have you ever seen such a beautiful latte? Stirring the foam felt like an aesthetic crime! At least I captured the artistry before destroying it.
A couple of days later, it was time for me to return to Essoyes. As I waited on the platform for my train to pull into Gare de l’Est this magical vision of what train travel can be glided into the station…and captured everyone’s attention and admiration. You would think that the people on the platform had been transported back to childhood, where a sense of wonder at the beauty of the world shows so openly on the faces of children. We all watched, and dreamed, and appreciated–and who knows? Maybe some of us will be lucky enough to travel on that train one day…
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.
Home again
My US book tour was a 49-day, whirlwind cross-country trip that offered the opportunity to introduce A Long Way From Iowa (AND Demystifying the French) to readers across the country, from Mystic, Connecticut on the East Coast to Seattle on the West.
Also (and equally important for me) it gave me the chance to reconnect with friends and family I hadn’t seen in some cases for more than five years. That was wonderful!
Now I am back in France, back in my quiet little village in Champagne, and I am beginning to reorient to a totally different pace, and a totally different way of life–but it is going to take a while. I’m not ready yet to write about the still-tumbling thoughts I have about the experiences I had on that cross-country journey, and the things I noticed along the way. One day I will be, and this is where you will find my thoughts and reflections about it when that time comes.
In the meantime I need to focus on building the momentum created during the tour, during which I found that every group of people I met with came up with unique and interesting ways of responding to A Long Way From Iowa, and asked such interesting questions about it. It’s wonderfully rewarding to know that people have read it and had it spark thoughts and memories about their own lives, their own families, their own grandmothers and mothers! And I hope that some of the conversations I had with the people who came to my events will encourage others to write their own stories too. It’s a wonderful thing to do.
Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays, is this week. This year I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my sons in Paris. And giving thanks for so many things, too many to name here. Here’s wishing you and yours a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving wherever you are. And all good things in the weeks ahead.
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.
The Long Way From Iowa Book Tour Heads Back to France…
The coast-to-coast book tour for A Long Way From Iowa is now complete. Forty-nine days after the tour began at a library in Mystic, Connecticut, the final event was held last night–with a wonderful book group meeting in the home of a longtime friend, in Seattle.
It’s been a heartwarming, thrilling ride, and I am so grateful for the interest, support, and help I’ve received all along the way from friends, colleagues, family–as well as acquaintances, interested bystanders, and the public.
Stay tuned for the next installment in this adventure–and thanks so much for your interest!
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.
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 