Never give up

The last few weeks haven’t been easy, and a few nights ago I was super keen for an early night and a comforting distraction. Whilst I am reading an excellent book that would have taken me someplace else, I did what I often do and picked up my phone to scroll my Instagram feed.

“Hai le fette di salame sugli occhi.” – (You have slices of salami on your eyes) 

 

Well, OK, Instagram square. Nice of you to be so direct. Bags, under my eyes? Maybe. But salami? Isn’t that taking things a bit too far? 

 

I see (Catherine nods wisely to her empty bedroom, squinting from under her processed meat), I should have clicked on the ‘10 useful sentences in Italian’ post instead.

 

“Sonno d’accordo con te.” (I agree with you)

 

Ooh, universe, are you listening to me?

 

“Sto scherando.” (I’m joking)

 

Well, why didn’t you say so when you hurled perfectly good aperitivo fare at my face?

 

“Non ne ho idea.” (I have no idea)

 

Ouch. Sono senza parole. (I have no words)

 

That’s not true. I do have words. Lots of them today. Motivational ones. So, please do read on …

 

But what was that first Italian sentence all about? Not salami, I was pretty sure. I checked and this is what I was told.

 

“You don’t see the reality.” “Hai le fette di salame sugli occhi.” I see (I think) the connection.

 

Hang on a minute, though. Yes I do. Life is reality at the moment. I’m stressed, cold and tired and you are toying with me. I’m leaving your perfectly curated ‘learn Italian’ space. I’m away to find something more relaxing, less personal.

As luck would have it, my eyes were drawn to a picture of home, my French home, and I snuggled deeper under my quilt, clicking on the post and subsequent podcast as I did so. Minutes later, I was drifting, carried on the melodic tones of an all-too-familiar Haute-Savoyard accent as Jean Sulpice, Talloire’s very own 2-star Michelin chef, talked. I closed my eyes. 

 

As much as the listening was comfortable, I was surprised by the story. Apparently Monsieur Sulpice, who now runs the kitchen and hotel owned by previous generations of the Bise family in the most beautiful of lakeside locations, did not always have it easy. In fact, in his early days of trying to bring gastronomy to the ski resort of Val Thorens, it was not uncommon for him to have an empty restaurant and be grateful for just one customer in an evening allowing him to fire up his stoves. If not a steady stream of diners, what he did have was a dream, big portions of self-belief and an unwaveringly supportive partner. And, not crumbling, abandoning, or looking for an easier career led Monsieur Sulpice to his first Michelin star.

 

Suddenly, whereas previously he had been met with an all-too-familiar French shrug and a half-hearted but definite, “Non, ce n’est pas possible, Monsieur,” suppliers could be bothered driving up a snowy mountain to deliver produce. Suddenly, instead of battling to recruit staff, he was receiving CVs and able to make choices about who he wanted in his team, and suddenly, he was receiving letters of congratulations from the greats, the hatted and feted French chefs whom he had admired from afar.

 

I could relate. The stars I aim for are not the same and I’ll never be featured in a Michelin guide, but how often in my early authoring days did I bend over backwards to meet, greet and persuade, grateful for every titbit of encouragement and support from my readers? Daily.

 

I drifted to sleep pondering my packaged and tasty take-away. It was clear, logical and simple. 

 

Never give up.

 

I hadn’t. I don’t intend to. I am too curious for that.

Plus, with supporters who give love like this, why would I?

And, once again, with thanks for your ongoing support, here are my books (including Books 1-3 in the 'French at Heart' series)

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase. 

• But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps
• Weaving a French Life: An Australian story
• Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir
• With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s

As a special request, if you are buying a print copy of Love, fear and a return to France, I would be so grateful if you could do so through my friend Kristi's page. Kristi has provided fun, family-centred posts of her life in France in her French Word-A-Day blog for many years now and relies on reader contributions to maintain her wonderful efforts. Should you use the link above on the left sidebar of her blog, Kristi will benefit and it will be at no extra cost to you. 

 

 

Smiley with strong arms

Talloires under the snow

'The review is in Swedish and I've made a quick attempt to find a translation without success.'

'Send me the link,' my husband texted, from five-thousand kilometres away.

'I'd say the listener thinks that you have a nice smile and good arm muscles,' he quipped.

'Ha. I'll take that,' I wrote back, chuckling to myself.

It had been a couple of weeks since the audiobook version of But you are in France, Madame had appeared on listening platforms and I was keen to see if there had been any activity. To my delight, both library borrows and purchases had occurred around the world - including apparently in Sweden. 

Big high fives all around using my strong arms.

In other news, during the week I received the monthly e-bulletin from Talloires, my French village. To say that I was proud of my French home would be an understatement. 

Alongside the expected practical updates such as the arrival of the snow and subsequent snow plough activity, the articles covered 

• the opening of a new centre for the youth of the village, 
• an opportunity to reduce one's fuel costs by opting for a group order (limiting the travel and costs of the fuel trucks, which are then passed on to the consumer), 
• the announcement of a free bus service into Annecy every weekend up until Christmas (reducing congestion and limiting emissions), 
• a local workshop exploring ways to act for the climate, 
• free health checks for individuals aged over 60, 
• the village festival on 15 Dec and village Christmas market featuring local artisans on Dec 9,
• a winter program for parent-children activities at one of the local cafes, 
• dates for contributing to Lake Aid whose purpose is to assist refugees in need, 
• the village cinema program, 
• ski enrolment details for school children plus alternatives to families driving to the mountains to ski (tick, tick again for the environment), 
• an invitation to attend a public meeting to discuss the Annecy climate-pacte objectives,
• details of the annual stand-up-paddle race that attracts competitors from all around the world, 
• &
• tips and eco-labels for environmentally responsible businesses 

We are a small village of approximately 1500 inhabitants in a magical natural setting with diverse winter and summer attractions; a Michelin-starred restaurant; cinema; tennis and boules courts; bakery; newsagent; superette; and multiple hotels, restaurants and cafes, but we are also dynamic and community minded. 

One beaming Talloirienne here.

Catherine's books (including Books 1-3 in her 'French at Heart' series celebrating her French-Australian life) below.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

• But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps
• Weaving a French Life: An Australian story
• Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir
• With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s

As a special request, if you are buying a print copy of Love, fear and a return to France, I would be so grateful if you could do so through my friend Kristi's page. Kristi has provided fun, family-centred posts of her life in France in her French Word-A-Day blog for many years now and relies on reader contributions to maintain her wonderful efforts. Should you use the link above on the left sidebar of her blog, Kristi will benefit and it will be at no extra cost to you. 

Plus, I will be standing by with a big smiley face. 😊 

Yes. Italy.

 

Yes. Italy.

There, I said it. You are my witnesses.

 

Many of you know our story: that of a young Australian family with three school-aged children who went to France for a year, stayed for much longer than that, and brought France forever more into their hearts. There, we learned to live with passion and joy - savouring moments differently; appreciating tastes and sounds more intensely; developing new seasonal routines that somehow embraced flexibility; and resisting, before acknowledging, an unfamiliarity that ultimately became who we were.

 

Then we returned to Australia.

Please don’t be angry or judge me as I know that there is plenty of beauty in Australia too with daily opportunities for fulfilment, and a sweet and generous quality of life, but for me, that largely indefinable thing that fires my senses is elsewhere.

 

To backtrack a little, I went to France as a French speaker, a teacher of French with decades of language study behind me. It was still challenging but at least I had some certainty that I could get by in the language, and that that skill would facilitate my family’s integration.

 

I don’t speak Italian.

I am learning, though, and motivated to make fast progress. It helps that there are similarities both with French grammar and vocabulary. Not so, pronunciation. Will I, am I contorting the French language currently as a result of the incursion of a new sound system into my subconscious? ‘Fraid so. In minor ways. They still make me cringe.

 

My husband’s roots are Italian. He can sound Italian, after all his mother’s voice has been with him his whole life. But he doesn’t speak Italian. He grew up in an era when children of newly arrived Australian immigrants were ‘sheltered’ from the ‘inconvenience’ of having non-English-speaking parents. Mind you, no such restraint was practiced when preparing his pickle and salami school-lunchbox sandwiches. They succeeded in marking his difference just as effectively.

So, why not just return to France? Why Italy?

 

Growth, challenge, desire, anticipation …

 

Growth. I cannot exclaim proudly that we grew linearly as a result of our French living. Frequently, I shrank, struggled and hid, but something beautiful eventually came from periods of incomprehension and darkness.

Challenge. Our family adventure in France was filled with challenges. I expect that this new direction will provide even more but, perhaps obtusely, challenge drives us.

Desire. Does that even need an explanation?

Anticipation. Can we do this again? What awaits? Who will be a part of our journey? Do we know these people yet?

On a practical level, our Italian experience cannot be a duplicate of our French one. I have no easy European access as I did then. Brexit took that privilege away from me. So, amongst other constraints, we have time limitations. Plus, our children are no longer living with us, so we will not have the regularity of a school year and the immediacy of a school family to lean on. Plus, we don’t know where in Italy. A random opening of the Lonely Planet guidebook led us to Annecy. What will decide our destination this time?

 

There, I have put it out there. You are all my witnesses.

 

After all, if not soon, when?

Catherine's books (including her books celebrating her French-Australian life) below.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

Merci mille fois

But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps

Weaving a French Life: An Australian story

Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir

With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s

Love, fear and motherhood

Stormy days. Stormy nights 

‘I need help,’ the text message read.

We had chatted on the phone not long before and my daughter’s weary voice had clearly conveyed the pain that she was in and the effort that walking the few steps in the heat uphill to her room in Corfu would require. Signing off, she had promised that she would remain where she was until she felt that she had the necessary strength to do so safely.

 

Her ordeal had started several nights before.

“Perhaps the effects of partying too hard?” her boat captain had suggested.

“I don’t drink, so that is not it.”

“Sun stroke?”

“No. I take precautions against the heat.”

 

In her disorientation and needing full-time access to a bathroom, she had cut short her sailing trip, forgone a pre-paid bed in a hostel and booked a room in a guesthouse, not realising that it was on the other side of the island.

 

Still, there, she had no support, no easy access to medical help and the sliding door on her balcony, which adjoined that of other apartments, did not lock, giving her an additional preoccupation as a single, female traveller.

 

Receiving the above text message from her not long after our call came as no surprise. The content however punched with the full force of being seventeen thousand kilometres from her side.

“I’ll ring reception for you,” I said, simultaneously wondering how I was going to manage that conversation with my non-existent Greek and Googling to see if there was a local ambulance service.

 

“Take little sips of water and check in with us every fifteen minutes,” my husband texted independently, aware that dehydration could sneak up insidiously.

 

I got no response at reception, there was neither local doctor or chemist available and any chance of getting an ambulance on the island was slim.

 

Assistance finally came hours later in the form of an observant cleaning lady.

 

It was hard, so hard, to be on the other side of the world, feel my daughter’s distress and be unable to help.

 

But would I want to curtail her wanderings in order to minimise the likelihood of such events?

 

No.

 

Did I consider jumping on the next flight to Greece?

 

Yes.

 

Does this make me want to continue encouraging my children to seek adventure?

 

Yes again, as I believe in their desire to travel and their openness to encounters and rejoice in the beauty of their discoveries.

 

PS I’m nonetheless extremely relieved that she is now on the mend. 

Back to the beginning

Catherine's books (including her books celebrating her French-Australian life) below.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

Merci mille fois

But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps

Weaving a French Life: An Australian story

Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir

With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s

Dancing in the dining room

We bought our French village house (Le Cormoran) the year after we returned to Australia from our family’s first French adventure - about which I wrote in ‘But you are in France, Madame.’ It was a heart decision, of that there is no doubt, based on the belief that our French journey was meant to continue. At the time, my passion was such that I brushed aside the implications of inheritance rules, tax declarations, mortgage repayments, changeable home owner obligations and the not insignificant 17000 km separating us from our French home, and flung myself into a new future.

 

To complicate matters (and to help with the above-mentioned mortgage), we decided to share our home with travellers. Easy? No. Rewarding? Yes. Alongside weekly summer and winter rentals, we have introduced families to our village who have gone on to become permanent Talloiriens; we have welcomed back guests several years running; we have facilitated long-service leave opportunities for couples to ‘live French’ and we have witnessed the joy of multi-generational groups sharing our home.

 

With permission, I am sharing with you some of the email and photos that I received from recent guests, Alan and Heidi:

 

 … the house, the location, and the environment are just the perfect antidote to the stresses of life. Staying in Le Cormoran gave us the authentic feel of life in the heart of a French village. We loved the ambience of the house, a classic French townhouse that allows you to step out of the front door and onto Rue André Theuriet, while at the same time providing a peaceful haven both on the first floor living area and on the rear terrace with its private garden and amazing views of the Dents de Lanfon. The house itself was just what we had wanted: authentically French, with its thick walls, shuttered windows and tiled floors, tastefully furnished, and with cosy attic bedrooms (along with the ground floor bedroom). We slept in the main bedroom on the top/attic floor. This presented us with the daily reward of opening the shutters and looking down Rue André Theuriet and seeing the bottom of the lake, the mountains beyond, and the occasional hot air balloon drifting above the lake. The heating in the house in the cool early spring and the hot water supply in the ground floor shower room made for very comfortable living. We loved the easy access to the lake - just a short walk out of the garage with paddleboard under the arm. Breakfast was invariably al fresco on the terrace. We spent our evenings, when not out and about, with an evening meal and a glass or two of wine at the dining table, catching up on Netflix or – wait for it – dancing in the dining room.

And for cyclists, Alan offers some superb options:

I cycled extensively, and would strongly recommend your house to any keen cyclists. Having a Category 1 climb (the Col de la Forclaz) on the exit from the village was a treat and of course you can try out both sides. I could not quite decide which was the more severe. And there is much more within easy reach. My personal favourite is any ride that goes beyond the Col de Leschaux into the Massif des Bauges. While the lake, with all of its many viewpoints, is naturally the most spectacular feature of the region, for me the Massif des Bauges pushes it close. The road from Leschaux to Bellecombe-en-Bauges has some great views once you emerge from the trees. Other favourties include the Col de la Croix Fry, the tarte myrtle at the Col des Aravis (Restaurant les Rhodos), Le Bon Wagon bike café on the bike path at Duingt, and of course Le Semnoz.  My top tip for cycling visitors who choose the circular route around La Tournette (Talloires - Faverges – Saint- Ferreol – Col du Marais – Thones – Alex – Bluffy – and home) is to take the back road back to Bluffy from Thones. So many cyclists trudge up the main road from Thones past Alex and up the hill, but there is a fabulous backroad from Thones via Thuy (Route de Thuy) through La Balme-de-Thuy and Dingy-Saint-Clair. There is then another backroad up to the Col de Bluffy. It avoids all of the traffic. Best coffee stop in Thones? Mountains Coffee Thones, 4 Rue Blanche. Lovely people.

Not forgetting the drawcard which is the lake:

Of course, the lake is the big feature. We took Heidi’s paddleboard to Talloires and it got plenty of use – usually from “Heidi’s launch point” down the lane (Chemin de Quoex). You quickly learn that the wind always blows down the lake, so paddling down the lake first gives you quite a tough trip back. By the end of our stay, we were swimming each morning before breakfast. The water had been cold on our arrival (we had wetsuits, but didn’t use them) but by early June it was perfect.

And some practical tips for getting around:

Surprisingly, we did not make many visits into Annecy. Most of our visits were to show guests the sights or, on one occasion, to meet some friends who were camping on the other side of the lake. We cycled in a couple of times on our own bikes, but also made use of the Velonecy e-bikes. The first 30 minutes are free, and the cost rises to just €1.50 for up to an hour, although you get severely stung if you keep the bike for over an hour. But one hour is easily enough to get into Annecy. The other method of getting into Annecy is the bus – Ligne 60. Again, for a bargain €1.50 each way, you can get in and back with no hassle. We drove in a couple of times but parking is either costly or difficult and, of course, there is traffic. I certainly would avoid driving into Annecy on a Saturday or Sunday in July or August (or June, or May, for that matter).

As for supermarkets, we tried the new Carrefour at Sevrier and the Intermarche in Annecy, but settled on Carrefour at Thones as the preferred option.

... and eating out in the village:

We did not push the boat out and visit Jean Sulpice (the Michelin-starred restaurant), but we did have a very nice meal (sorry, that is understating it – a fantastic meal) at Le Cottage Bise. It is from previous stays in Le Cottage Bise that we came to know all about Talloires and why we were so delighted to find your house available to rent. We also dined a few times at the Café de la Place. Several early evenings were spent with a beer/gin and tonic on the veranda at the Beau Site Hotel across the road, again taking in views of the lake as the sun began to disappear. It is a very good spot, and the hotel looks pretty good too.

The day after we left, I started to miss my daily visits to Le Fournil de mon Père.

And this is why, despite the challenges, we continue to offer our French home for your holidays. 

Tempted? 

For bookings, either send me an email at cb222@me.com or visit one of the major advertising platforms, VRBO or AirBnB.

Look forward to helping your dream of a French holiday become a reality.

Catherine's books (including her books celebrating her French-Australian life) below.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

Merci mille fois

But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps

Weaving a French Life: An Australian story

Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir

With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s