14.33 - Breathe, refresh, recover, and restart anew
Do you like to summer {v}? Do you prefer fall? Do these seasons impact your being? This FREE edition includes articles about Getting a French Driving Licence, French photography, WWII heroines & more
Table of Contents:
1. Hereâs how some others see this end of August season⊠with summer about to fall away⊠and as I write a few leaves are dropping in Paris and other northern climbs.
2. New articles in My FrenchLife Magazine â Letâs exploreâŠ
3. Follow us on Instagram â @MaVieFrançaise
4. âThank you for subscribing to âle Bulletinâ newsletterâ Judy MacMahon
Bonjour special subscribers⊠readers, supporters, friends and family
Welcome, whether youâre a new or a long-time subscriber of le Bulletin, Iâm thrilled you are here.
Have you ever found that SUMMER can be tiring?
Iâve recently been excited about life (!)
specifically about SUMMER, along with many other people of courseâŠ
I have been celebrating the seasonal abundance,
enjoying all of the Olympic activities,
oh, and letâs not forget⊠Iâve been trying to understand the Olympic opening ceremony better.
France has been displaying its happy face. France has been smiling. French people have been smiling⊠Donât get me wrong, I love that!
However, occasionally, Iâm reminded that not everyone LOVES Summer.
Some find the full-on nature of summer puts too much pressure on them to perform, to be extravertedâŠ
Some canât bear that.
Some canât bear the heat.
Some even put things on hold until the height of summer has passed.
âI think it's so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary--you're happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.â
â Georgia O'Keeffe
As summer draws quietly to a close, sometimes, taking a pause from the hype, and just breathing quietly can feel like magic!
Do you ever find this?
I find that when summer shows its first signs of an approaching autumnal change:
itâs possible to hear a sigh of relief (mine and others),
a quiet calmness can often be felt tiptoeing politely into my life, and
sometimes I can feel a return to my true self⊠a more introverted me⊠a more grateful me, a more reflective me.
A time that seems to just be! To be without effort!
There is a different energy after summer that I enjoy, and I donât think Iâm alone!
There is so much to look forward to⊠but in a more reflective way. I can feel that the best of fall is coming⊠and Iâm happy when it unveils itself⊠slowly⊠very slowly.
I hope that you enjoy late August, have a wonderful weekend and week ahead.
If you enjoy this edition, please note that we also offer another version of le bulletin for paying subscribers, with an even greater resource of writers⊠>80 amazing writersâproviding a weekly explosion of France⊠Would you like to join them (?) it would mean a lot to me to support my work and youâll delight in the increased immersion depth.
Please consider upgrading to an annual subscription. Merci.
Judy - 24.8.â24
1. Hereâs how some others see this end of August season⊠with summer about to fall away⊠and as I write a few leaves are dropping in Paris and other northern climbs.
Even though the summer holidays are still in full swing for some⊠we all know that autumn/fall is coming. We all know that la rentée (the new year/ the return) is not far away, we all know that change is coming.
Some look forward to it.
Some try to hold on to summer as long as they can.
Which are you?
I for one prefer France, and Paris certainly when summer-mania has dissipated. I prefer the calm, the quiet... I prefer it when France is authentic and with fewer tourists. I prefer it when itâs not so hard to travel off the beaten track.
What about you? What is your preference?
Here are a few snippets providing insight into the lives and preferences of others in France in August.
Câest parti ! - Letâs go
Judy
1 a. Times They Are A-Changing: feeling autumn - Notes from the Potager by JoJo Thompson
âIf I were a bird, I would fly about the Earth seeking the successive autumnsâÂ
- George Eliot
âIs it gentle, or is it sudden? The change of season is subtle, sneaking up at first. That first heavy dew. Leaves tumbling with the apples. The buzz of the wasps seems more urgent as they eke out the sun's warmth and gather, gather. Average temperatures dip. It that a golden hue on the line of trees on the horizon? Layers, remember layers ... nearly time for a beanie. We crave those moments. We relish the gentle drift into Autumn, we Fall into it happilyâ
says JoJo - Notes from the Potager
1 b. P O E M from Feasts and Fables
Apples
(Laurie Lee)
Behold the applesâ rounded worlds: juice-green of July rain, the black polestar of flowers, the rind mapped with its crimson stain.
The russet, crab and cottage red burn to the sunâs hot brass, then drop like sweat from every branch and bubble in the grass.
They lie as wanton as they fall, and where they fall and break, the stallion clamps his crunching jaws, the starling stabs his beak.
In each plump gourd the cidery bite of boysâ teeth tears the skin; the waltzing wasp consumes his share, the bent worm enters in.
I, with as easy hunger, take entire my seasonâs dole; welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour, the hollow and the whole. Visit site.
1 c. Itâs Definitely Beginning to Feel like Fall in Paris - by Martine TrĂ©laĂŒn of Do Yoga in Paris - Notes
The leaves are still on the trees in the Palais Royal but itâs definitely beginning to feel like fallâŠ
1 d. AweGust - An Antidote to Seasonal Affective Disorder by Alison Zamora
Summer is a notoriously difficult season for me. While most experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in the winter months, I experience it during the summer months.
July felt, in a word, depleting.
Mentally.
Emotionally.
Activities that used to replenish me didnât hit the same way. My sleep quality declined. I had trouble focusing. I felt like I was constantly under a weighted blanket (and not in a good way).
Every day a slog. Every day these feelings of overwhelm compounding on top of each other.
By the end of the month I was absolutely wiped. out.â wrote Alison.
Which season are you?
Summer, fall, winter, or spring?
Do let me know.
Iâll go first, shall I?
Iâm both spring and autumn. Itâs the change in energy that I love.
Judy
Paris & the Olympics - just a few wordsâŠ
a. Creativity Captured in Paris: Sketching at the Olympics
An article and images of people sketching during the Olympics.
b. Could you have commentated the Paris 2024 opening ceremony? Of course, with the right cheat sheet by VĂ©ronique Savoye - do follow the cliff notes links!
Thank you
for your intelligent coverage of the Olympic Opening Ceremony and your most recent article on the topic. It is excellent!A must-read. Veronique says:
Finding the missing element. As it turns out there were Cliff Notes and great ones too.
If you are in the mood for some homework here is additional information for you:
- Opening Ceremony. Media How-to Guide. French version. Link â
- Opening Ceremony. Media How-to Guide. English version. Link â
Donât forget that the Paris Paralympics commences on 28 August 2024. The torch relay from 25-28 August. Iâm looking forward to this. Are you?
2. New articles in My FrenchLife Magazine â Letâs exploreâŠ
Un grand merci - Thank you to all MyFrenchLifeâą Magazine Contributors!
1.âVie française:
Female Agents Behind Enemy Lines: Part Four - Nancy Wade âread it here
by Kathryn Gauci
2.â Vie française:
Driving Mme Valerie in France âread it here
by Valérie Helmbreck Mascitti
3.â Arts & Culture:
My favorite French photographer: capturing old Paris âread it here
by Jennifer Bragg
â CLICK IMAGE & read all the new articles on MyFrenchLife Magazine â
3. Follow us on Instagram â @MaVieFrançaise
Bursting with news, views and articles, video chats, poetry, introductions to new magazine contributors⊠and more⊠follow us and join in @maviefrancaise ⊠See you there soon, I hope.
Also donât miss the weekly post by member Jennifer Andrewes on her solo pilgrimage to Rome: 2500km.
Here she is after 44 days - a total of 975 km so far! Isnât that amazing?
Have you ever completed such a challenge?
4. âThank you for subscribing to âle Bulletinâ newsletterâ Judy MacMahon
I hope to see you here again soon
Judy MacMahon
Fondatrice
MyFrenchLife.org
You can always email me at info@myfrenchlife.org
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Bonjour Judy. Iâve just returned from leading another tour around La Belle France for a group of North American travelers and finally had a chance to catch up with my Substack reading list.
Thank you so much for featuring my latest story here. I am happy you found it of value!
So many people wondered why commentators had sounded so clueless during the Olympic Gamesâ opening ceremony it seemed like a good idea to investigate further. Happy I did.
I'm spring, autumn and winter. In that order:) But I also struggle with change. Thanks for a great article!!!!