Topless on the Beach

        In France (my favorite place in the world) the women go topless. The men wear Speedos. Sometimes, visually, it's a scary place.

This is a photo from one of the towns I visited in France, on a trip
I took several years ago.

To celebrate the travel you might be doing this summer or later this year, I'm giving away a copy of Not Your Mother's Book...On Travel. Included in this anthology is my story "Half Right," and the tale answers the question everyone across the country has been asking (while they try to gouge out their mind's eye):

Did Sioux go topless when she was in France?

To get your name in the drawing, all you have to do is become a follower. If you're already a follower, all you have to do is leave a comment. (For you busy writers, to minimize the time you're spending away from the short story/article/novel you're working on, just say "Yo," or "Hey," or if you're a fan of the Lumineers, you can leave "Hey Ho" as a comment.)

Good luck--for all those who are brave enough to be willing to read these stories. (As an added bonus, there is a hilarious story about cruising by a fellow WWWP, Linda O'Connell. No, she's not a cruising cougar on the prowl in this story...at least not in this story. ;) I will draw a name on the last day of June...

 

 

Relaxing and Recharging

       Two weeks ago I went on a writing retreat to Conception, Missouri. The setting was Conception Abbey. Beautiful grounds, some sharp "editors" who gave great feedback, and no distractions. (No television, limited internet, and sketchy cell phone service.)

       The peace I felt reminded me of the tranquility that France brings me. It is a country that's lured me three times so far. I plan on returning someday with my daughter and granddaughter.

        Here are some pictures I took on my most recent trip, which was several years ago.

They say that if you can ski in the Pyrenees, you can
ski anywhere...Needless to say, due to my gawkiness, I
did not ski on any of my trips to France.
 

Architecture that is four or five or six centuries old is wonderful to explore. When I was in France,
I had to explore the possibility of going topless on the beach. Did I keep my swimsuit top on, or did
I embrace their customs with gusto and go sans top? You will have to buy Not Your Mother's Book...On Travel,
by the Publishing Syndicate, to find out...

 

 

This is a shop in the Basque region, an area that spans both France
and Spain. They have a distinctive culture--this shop, for example,
has strings of dried peppers hanging on the front exterior wall.

 

 

Okay, I know this is not indicative of what the scenery is like in France,
but it was one of the coolest sand sculptures I've ever seen.

 Everyone needs some time periods when they can relax and slow things down. Quiet times are especially needed if you're an artist (or a parent of young children, or if you have a stressful job or if...well, we all need serenity--NOW).

 

What do you do to relax? Or, where do you go (either mentally or physically)?

 

 

 

A Slower Pace

       While reading Joanne DeMaio's guest post , I was reminded that photographs can breathe life into a blog.  If you're in a blogging rut, on the brink of catching cabin fever (and your family is not in the mood to reenact Stephen King's The Shining) include a photograph and let the image inspire...

        After I read it, I thought about all my photos from my last trip to France.  (Don't!  Don't run away!  I do not have three carousels full of slides to show you. I promise!)

         Three times I've gone. Three different love affairs. (Okay, so I am just imagining that I was successful in my stalking, and only in my dreams did I find Johnny Depp. Let me hold onto this fantasy for just another few moments.)  Each trip found me deeper in love with with the countryside and the people.

         What was Paris like?  The only glimpses I've seen of Paris is what can be seen at the airport, before catching a smaller plane and heading to Toulouse or Pau.  Some Many Most would say that it's a crime to travel to a country more than once and bypass such a famous city , that Paris is a city that should not be missed.  What can I say?  The France I love is slow-paced, it's full of rolling hills and gorgeous mountains, it offers food that is meant to be enjoyed as well as warm, funny people.

         In other words, the France I love is the rural France...The France in the midst of fields of sunflowers and hay and vineyards...The France nestled at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains...That's my France.

This is my sister's sister-in-law.
This unassuming vegetable dish was delicious,
but very rustic.

          What keeps me coming back?  I could say the bread. (True!).  I could say the out-of-this-world cheese. (True! So true!)  But what pulls me the most is the people's determination to enjoy life.

           Lunch at home takes two hours. There is freshly-baked bread to cut.  Several times during the meal. There are separate courses---some fresh fruit, then the entree, some salad, and then some cheeses to choose from. 

          Dinner takes three or four hours. The food is eaten leisurely, and whether it is at the noon or the evening meal, conversation and jokes and water and wine flow liberally. 

The Pyrenees Mountains

          Their love of life is evident everywhere. Flowers dripping out of flowerboxes. The tables outside restaurants and cafes, full of people drinking beer and wine as they savor their conversation.  Salad dressings made from scratch for the about-to-be-eaten salad.  Their fondness of open markets and walking places and little specialty shops, instead of huge department stores.




the outside wall of an ordinary home, made
more beautiful with flowers


       So, if you have had snow dumped on you and you're still stuck in the house, savor the slower pace today.  And if you are able to get out and about, try to enjoy the smaller pleasures of life. Celebrate and revel in the little things!   

France...A Small Digression

For my next post, I will write about how cool data can be (yes, that phrase dates me; I could have called data "groovy" but I resisted). However, I wanted to explain the photo. Southern France. At foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. After eating a casserole of potatoes, cheese, cream and onion (and of course, wine) we continued down the path toward the circle of mountains.

The southern part of France is my favorite spot on Earth. The habit of savoring every taste, every conversation, every experience...it's relaxing and delightful. Last summer I stayed for a few weeks near Pau, and the memories are still vivid a year later.

Okay, back to data. Enough of "off road" thoughts. I have been reading about data, and studying how to make decisions that are informed because of data; I found a couple of articles I'd like you to check out.

One is found at www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7041

The other is www.microsoft.com/education/ThoughtLeadersDDDM.mspx

During this last month of my summer break, I am going to be working on mapping out my classroom and my thinking, so the students can take ownership of their data. I also want the data to work for me, with a minimum of extra time and a maximum of results. If anyone has any ideas to help me out, please add your comment. Teaching----in a room, alone with just the teacher and the students---is a private endeavor. When others (like you) are welcomed into a colleague's classroom (via your comments and suggestions), powerful collaboration is inevitable. And all of a sudden, I feel rejuvenated and jazzed about the work I do...

Have a great evening!