I didn't need to leave home till late this afternoon. What a blessing. I spent all morning in bed with my cup of tea and the computer writing and editing away. The goal was and is to gather together 50 or so of my strongest pages, re-work, cut and slice, and aim towards what reads and feels like a foodie/frenchie/single mom coping on her own/cultural confusion memoir. Or something in that direction.
As you may have noticed, I'm not a single theme kind of person. I do the personal angst-ridden, life-decision stuff; recipes with a home-maker/kid/organic and provençale twist; raising kids; France vs. US; single woman in her 40s trying to cope; a wee bit of tourism; a few articles about my artisans (so far: the chocolatier, the potter, the goat cheese makers, the hat lady, the vintner, the beekeeper. Still to come: the baker, the pastry-maker, the olive oil mill, the truffle hunter and??? we'll see).
Going back through these, plus what I'd written before blogging is exhilirating, but also confusing. What to include? what to cut? And there I go again beating the dog with a stick... Yes, there are some issues I'm having a long haul with, and I see I'm repeating myself on occasion. Will there be an epiphany? Will I get to the other side? Will I achieve a moment of nirvana and inner peace? Or?
I'm not my own best editor, though I'm enjoying re-working phrases and my word choices. Once I wrote concisely... but I seem to have left that skill back in another life-time. Now, I'm holding too dearly, and need a bit of help with the scalpel.
Can I be funny? should I be? where and when have I been poignant? or struck a chord? What tantalizes? Which recipes have pleased the most? How much Frenchiness to include? How much mid-life crisis/decision stuff? And, should I go back to my personal journal and include anything more intimate? (which no, I'll not put here on the blog).
Once I finished a morning's full of contemplation, reading and typing, I got up off my sore butt and answered Filou's call for a nice long walk by the Rhône. The weather is still quite lovely, though muggy today. It's that inbetween time when I've still summer clothes hanging in my closet, but I'm pulling out the jeans, which are then too hot, but putting shorts on seems somehow wrong.
An hour of yoga nicely capped off my personal time (thank you pod casts off ITunes!) My choice of session today was a level 2/3 by Elsie Escobar http://elsiesyogakula.com, who, once you get past her boppy, babbling in the first couple of minutes of her pod cast, is truly a gifted and pleasant teacher to listen to and follow. I highly recommend her to anyone doing yoga from a somewhat beginner to a fully intermediate level.
With all this personal time, making a lasagna for dinner, urging the kids to talk over what happened Thursday last, reading, cleaning, what-have-you was far easier to manage this evening.
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