So French

Everywhere I turn I see French, I hear French spoken and eat French treats...so that is my inspiration for week 36 of Be Still...St. Maarten is part Dutch and part French...I stay on the Dutch side but I love the French side with its's macarons, cafe-a-lait and almond croissants..yes, I know you can buy these lovely items in the States but trust me, they do not taste the same...even here if you buy macarons on the Dutch side you are not getting the real deal...so twice, while I'm here, I go to the French coffee house and get me 6 lovely macarons in a variety of colors...the first time.  After that I get the chocolate...so smooth and rich and the raspberry...so sweet and juicy with a crust like velvet and the cappicino. The only other place that they came close was in France and even then they were not as good as the ones here...It is worth my yearly trek here just for this one treat. Of course getting away from the cold and piles of snow is a good incentive also..

As if that weren't enough, on our first day here, driving up to our condo, we passed a new restaurant called So French...I couldn't believe my eyes...well it didn't take me long to find my way down the hill to that lovely place...just to check it out.  The view of the lagoon across the street is so lovely and romantic...I just had to have a drink and talk to the nice waiters and owners...seems they have only been open 6 months.  The menu is a little pricey but I have heard good things...When it came time to leave...I was so shocked and thrilled, they had comped our bar bill...now how is that for good business practice and of course we made a reservation for this Friday night...table for two by the window on the little porch...Merci

I'll be back when my macarons are gone...

Linking up to Kim Klassen's  Be Still week 36...Summersun pre-set used on all photo's.  Edited in LR...

Photo's taken with Fuji EX-2 mirrorless camera..

One Last Breakfast

Hard to believe it is 14 years today since my Mom died...I miss her everyday but like most of us who have lost someone special, we realize that certain days can trigger a more prominent memory and a deeper sadness...today is like that for me...as is her birthday and I also feel the lose more on Christmas...but breakfast though, that is a sadness all in it's own category...

My Mom and I both belonged to the same weight loss group...TOPS.  I have lost over 100 pounds with them, starting way back in 1982.  Before I even reached my goal my Mom joined with me...she didn't have as much weight to lose but it was good for her also and it gave us a connection. Until the day she died, she was still a member and at all the Tops functions, that I attended, as the biggest loser for the State of Massachusetts in 1983, my Mom was there.

I started a morning group and we held our Tops meetings, on Fridays, at my church. We would weight in, stay for the meeting, and then head to breakfast...it was our one real treat for the week and we did it every Friday...after breakfast we would head off shopping and then I would drop her home at around two in the afternoon. Sometimes it would be just my Mom and me for breakfast but many times we would have a following.  Each declaring Friday breakfast their cheat day..

When my Mom got sick she came to Tops as often as she could and we would still do breakfast but not go shopping anymore...she tired easily and then when she went into rehab after being on a ventilator...we never went to breakfast again...because she never came home.  

On the day she died, we were all with her at the hospital, including my pastor who was also my friend...as we prayed for an easy passing...Anne came over to me and said...how lovely is this that you Mom chose today to pass...I was in shock as to what she might have meant by that...and I expressed that...her answer was..".Cheryl, today is Friday...and it's 1:45...your Mom gave you one more Friday of spending time together.".She was right...I looked at the clock and knew that this last day was my Mom's gift to me...to tell me that we could always have Friday morning breakfast together...

So this breakfast in is memory of my Mom...I know it's not Friday..but I also know she would have loved this French breakfast...yup, when I was a kid she would eat cake for breakfast...my kind of woman...Miss you Mom, everyday but especially on Friday's...

How much does a man live, after all?

Does he live a thousand days, or really only one?

For a week or for several centuries?

How long does a man spend dying?

What does it mean to say "for ever"?

                 Pablo Neruda 

Linking up with Kim Klassen "Be Still" week 35.

This photo was taken with my new Fuji X-E2 Mirrorless Camera...

Winter Tea

THE SNOWMAN

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

"The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens

Linking up to Kim Klassen TT..textured with greyday,

lighten at 16%...Also Be Still wk 34, Spoons..