Many Catholic countries-at least Catholic in times past-have shrines in many places, often outside villages or, as I often see, built outside chateaux. I imagine them being built with a prayer that the lives of those inside the chateau will be blessed. In any case, I am always on the outlook for them.

 This one is Mary. The shrine is right outside of the main entry gates of a chateau a short walk behind our house. It is hard to see anymore as vegetation has grown up around it. The chateau itself is starting to crumble in places although people do still live there. I’d love to have a tour inside, being the noisy person that I am.

 We pass this shrine every time we head down to the “big city” of Pertruis for groceries or just to la Tour d’Aigues to the pharmacy or for bread. I’ve always looked at it and wondered at its history. To the right and into the trees a little is another chateau. This shrine is built of honey colored stone that looks wonderful as the sun is setting, as it is in this photo. They shrine was getting in bad repair and overgrown with bushes but one day the bushes were all cleared away and a man started working on the low wall around it.

 And here is what is inside. Not a statue but a painting of Saint Joseph. I wonder why he was picked as the saint? He’s holding what looks like lillies, a sign of purity often seen with Mary. The chateau is called Pradine and it is near Grambois as seen in the writing. Another mystery from times past.

 I love daffodils and I love iris as well as the grenet that blooms in yellow when Spring arrives but I have to say that the red poppy brings me the most joy. Something about red flowers growing wild in a field just gives me a lift of spirits. I learned what they looked like when first sprouting from the ground and didn’t pull them up in my vigil to get rid of weeds so now I have them blooming all over my yard as well.

We went out Sunday to get a few things at the market in Ansouis and saw this profusion of poppies along the road and in the distance.

 A closeup

 This glass of rose looks a little poppy like against the blue sky. I love rose too-a great thing to drink cold on a hot day.

St Roch

 Here is an excerpt on a posting I wrote last year. It is once again time for the Ice Saints and, just in case, I am waiting to plant my vegetable garden until their dates pass.

A near-by town called Manosque has a festival for St. Pancrace. I had never heard of him, as usual, and did a little web search. He was a Roman matyr who was killed for his Christian beliefs when he was fourteen. He has become a saint for young people but is also known as the Ice Saint along with two other saints, Mamert and Servais. They each have the dates May 11th, 12th and 13th, or they did in the past. The Catholic church took them off the roster as I guess they were considered a little too pagan. It doesn’t stop celebrations of them, of course. They are called the Ice Saints because these three dates are known to be Spring days when temperatures often plummet and anyone who does planting never plants a thing until these dates are past which makes me worried about my little vegetable garden. Apparantly, the earth passes through some cosmic dust at this time every year and affects the sun, and thus the weather changes sometimes. Stuff like this amazes me. I love learning new information from centuries past that still affect us today. So, I plan to make a trip to Manosque for that festival and also to Grambois, a very nearby perched village which, I found out, considers Saint Pancrace their patron saint, not only a guide to planting but they also feel that he protected them from the plague in the 1700’s. There is a little part of the church there devoted to him. I am hoping to find the church open and take a photo of his bust there.

St Pancrace-a golden haired youth

 At last the sun is out, even though it is accompanied with some wind, and it is so nice to see some blue skies again. I had a glass jar out on my window sill and it filled to the brim twice in three days of rain. That’s alot of rain.

We went from this…

 To this. I don’t know why more isn’t written about this bush in Provence, along with lavander and sunflowers, as they are quite spectacular and the fragrance is divine, rather like honeysuckle.

 Poppies are also happy to see the sun.

I saw a photo of just half a flower on a blog somewhere and thought I would try it too.

 Is there anything more dramatic that dark clouds and sunshine? All it needed was a rainbow.

 I learned quite some time ago that most of the things that you worry about never occur. At the wedding of my oldest son, I was a wreck sure that my ex would insult me, that my ex father in law would embarrass me or that something horrible would happen. Of course, not one of those things occured. I used all of that energy worrying about something not only in the future but that didn’t occur. What I did, I discovered on the flight home, was totally block my emotions. I didn’t feel one feeling. I was protecting myself, I think.

Salt from Provence

 Anyway, as reported before, I have been stressing already about having thirty or so French relatives of Maurice’s here in August. What was I going to feed them, what would go wrong, would my cooking make them ill, would opinions of America go down in flames, you name it. But my whole attitude has changed since I went to a party with some of these French relatives. There was no china or glasses, everything was plastic and disposible. And the food comparisons I worried about?  Not one thing was served that was home made. It was all store bought food, ready made. Plus, one of the nice ladies said that I wasn’t to go to alot of trouble. They did want anything too chichi (is that how you spell it?).That when they arrived we would all go shopping together and buy everything. Isn’t that nice? That would be great but, really, I do want to do some cooking. I’m from Texas–I have to make some barbeque. I find that I like having company and I like cooking. I just have to not let myself get stressed out beforehand.

 Now the main stress is finding gites for them to stay in. August is a huge month for traveling for the French and we just checked two nearby gites and they are fully booked. This could be a big problem. We are looking for inexpensive places which adds to it.

View from our back porch

 We are back in Provence for the summer although I will still be doing posts here and there on Paris. As you might imagine, the differences are many in comparing Paris and Provence. Paris is very stimulating and full of energy and, of course, so beautiful, but Provence is famous for a reason. There is beauty here, nature abounding, fabulous light and a whole different way of life. I have to say that I feel serene here, especially sitting on our porch at our house looking at the view that goes on forever and not hearing a sound but an occasional bird, bees buzzing and sometimes a neighbor doing work outside. We can hear cars approaching miles before we can see them.

A sign of summer to come: poppies in Provence

 Of course, there is always something to ruin tranquility. Maurice pulled back the cover of the pook and there was no water in it. We have some sort of mysterious leak and getting someone out to find out what the problem is is almost impossible as this is the prime time to be building pools. We have insurance but that doesn’t speed things up. I am trying to visualize a positive outcome and believing that it will be something simple and inexpensive to fix and that it won’t require digging up the deck we installed last summer. It is also very cool right now so I can’t sit outside without some winter gear. We got alot of rain last night and today-a good thing for our plants. Happy to be back in our house.

Good vibes being sent out into the universe