Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. - A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh 2015 We began the year surrounded by cartons, all of our worldly belongings, once again, wrapped in paper and fitted like so many puzzle pieces into brown packing boxes awaiting, once again, ...
A life without love in it is like a heap of ashes upon a deserted hearth, with Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery I pick through the ashes of my childhood, like sifting for gold ...
Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store. - Dr. Seuss The weather is mild, much milder than anyone of us would have expected. Or desired. Breakfast is served in a dim dining room early morning, warmth and light blazing from the fireplace, the old fourteenth century fireplace of limestone and wood, while outside ...
Come, woo me, woo me; for now I am in a holiday humor, and like enough to consent. - William Shakespeare I love the holidays. Halloween comes and goes swathed in orange and black, tiny marzipan jack-o’-lanterns and chocolate skeletons dancing across supermarket shelves and shop windows. Thanksgiving arrives sharp on its heels in a burst ...
The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights. - Giotto di Bondone Forty-two years ago, a young man on the brink of adulthood, a young man just seventeen years old and soon having the heavy responsibility of choosing his future career, of selecting his university, stood in the ...
A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long. - e. e. cummings A day like today. One week after the attacks in Paris, the weather is stormy, the sky a hazy pewter gray, the ...
The calamity that comes is never the one we had prepared ourselves for. - Mark Twain, Letter to Olivia Clemens, August 16, 1896 I woke up at quarter past five, as I usually do, yet with the first hints of a headache and a sore throat, only wanting a hot cup of coffee. I grabbed my phone and ...
My husband gave up all hope of his usual distinguished and discreet passage through the market on Saturday morning as we approached our favorite fruit and vegetable stand. An uncontrollable (or uncontrolled?) squeal of delight escaped my lips as I caught sight of the bounty of newly arrived autumn treats: plump burnt orange pumpkins and ...
Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power. it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits. - Baron Justus von Liebig, 1893 National Chocolate Day. I have never quite understood these national and international food days, the celebration of this foodstuff or that, and the ...
Homegrown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes? Only two things that money can't buy That's true love and homegrown tomatoes. - John Denver, 'Home Grown Tomatoes' Raymonde stands in the lobby of the hotel legs slightly apart, vaguely military, hands clasped behind her back when not stretched out in front of her punctuating her ...
I'm Jamie; welcome to the new Life's a Feast!
I run a hotel in Chinon, France, and write about life, culture, modern day living and food.
My passion is to create vibrant and unique experiences.
