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Click to read the Laidback Gardener’s article, Love Lies Bleeding: The Oh-So Edible Annual!
Sharing something a little different today– an excellent blog post from the Laidback Gardener about one of my favourite garden plants Love Lies Bleeding (it also inspired the title of my book). Give it a read if you want to learn more about this beautiful edible (and wildlife friendly) plant…
Cheers,
Aspasía S. Bissas
One of my longtime dreams was to visit the lavender fields of Provence. In my mind, nothing could be more romantic; it was like a fairytale you could experience, something magical. And in 2015 I was lucky enough to finally be able to go. With surreal blue skies, cypress trees, castles, hills, Roman structures (some still in use so they can’t be called ruins), and, of course, lavender fields, Provence really is magical. When I was there my guide (Elodie of Provence Authentic) told me the fields are disappearing as farmers replace them with more profitable grapevines, which would be like Paris taking down the Eiffel tower to put up highrises. If you ever have a chance to visit the Luberon, the region where these fields were located, take it– while the lavender, and so much of the magic, is still there.
By the way, the smell was incredible. Forget whatever you think lavender smells like– there’s nothing like an entire sun-warmed field of these flowers.
In the next photo, you can just make out a castle on the hill in the background. Apparently it once belonged to the Marquis de Sade. When I was there it was owned by designer Pierre Cardin, who was raising money to restore it. I wonder how that went…
Some local wildlife…
Have you visited any lavender fields, in France or anywhere else? Share in the comments…
Want to read more about France? Download my FREE story Tooth & Claw, set in early 1900s Marseille, and inspired by actual events (there aren’t any lavender fields, but there are vampires.)
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Further Reading
Note: All photos in this post are © Aspasía S. Bissas. They were originally shared on my other blog Whimsy Bower (click to see more photos there).
Cheers,
Aspasía S. Bissas
It’s been a while since we last put something together, but Peter Wyn Mosey and I are back with a new poetry collaboration. Here’s my piece:
There are whispers that crash
like screams;
You used to understand that
before you disappeared
into someone else’s tattered dreams.
And there are screams that come out
as silence;
I had to learn that
when your absence started feeling like violence.
There’s too much of you left
to let me break free;
Woven, twisted,
tangled through my thoughts;
I’m echoes held together by memory.
Read Peter’s response piece here and let him know what you think (make sure to follow his blog too!)
Cheers,
Aspasía S. Bissas
The Orem Public Library put out a good list of anti-racist books on their blog: https://justbrowsingopl.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/antiracist-reading-list/
The New York Institute of Technology has a great list of resources that you can start using right now: https://libguides.nyit.edu/c.php?g=666045&p=4761364
And for more of a Canadian-specific focus, the University of Toronto offers this list: https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/anti-black-racism-reading-list
Keep reading…
Aspasía S. Bissas
The Finest Example shared one of my photos. Click to give it a like: https://thefinestexample.home.blog/2020/05/23/serenity-of-the-skyline/
Cheers,
Aspasía S. Bissas
