Dear Friends of French Affaires! SW France has always held a special place in my heart. My wife and I spent our honeymoon there. We returned for a six-week stint in Carcans in the Medoc the following summer (including a descent to St Jean Pied de Port in the Pyrenees). French Affaires has taken groups…

Dear Friends of French Affaires I am just back from Burgundy and the French Language Immersion trip. This is the alternative site to Aix-en-Provence. At Aix we “live like a local” over a two-week format. The Aix destination has been a perennial French Affaires offering, going back to 2008. Elizabeth had also done a Vanderbilt…

Dear Friends of French Affaires “Discover the sun-drenched vineyards of Provence, where rolling hills meet lavender fields, and every sip of wine tells a story of Mediterranean charm and centuries-old tradition.” I have now returned from 5 days in Provence working alongside Helene Herve for the Provence Vineyards tour planned for 3-9 October 2025. It…

Afterword I want to thank all those who have responded to this series, “A Life Lived Well in France.” It has been a pleasure to hear you share memories of Elizabeth in response to these episodes. She embodied the rare combination of beauty, warmth, intelligence and kindness. And deep Christian faith. Her grave marker reads….

Conclusion I have chosen to limit the episodes for this retelling so most of them fit within a single year. That provides a loose framework though I obviously speak of things prior to this calendar year and after it. I have not wanted to follow a chronological line, but rather to move into different regions…

26. Winter Arrives in Courances Marcel and I would join the local hunters for the season’s start. He is not just a capable dog, but a highly efficient pointer and well-disciplined. We would get light snows from time to time, which made things even more romantic. I can see him by his pile of birds…

25. La Chasse Le Perche is in the Eure-et-Loire Département. It is an ancient name like Berry or Gâtinais, where Courances is located. M. Bourgeois’s Buveurs d’Air (lit, “air/scent drinkers”) is in the small farm village of Thiron-Gardais, a bit under two hours away by car. We have made arrangements with him by phone. Since…

24. Les Buveurs d’Air In the second field trial, I asked that Marcel go last. I was still a bit gun-shy after being first in the field at the Berry event. People wanted him to show his best stuff, as I mentioned, and so were happy to comply. We got to watch all the other…

23. Le Jardin chez nous The FEDEX truck has rung the doorbell, and they are dropping off a dozen big, thin square boxes. Table pliable it says on the outside. Elizabeth is up to something. Her trips to the brocante have yielded lots of goodies, and I have noticed a great deal of—to be sure—very…