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Guilloteau: The Creamy Cheeses from the French Countryside
Dear Frenchly readers
I am writing with some bittersweet news: As of today, this will be my last Le Weekend for the summer months. I have a new book that is now due in September, a paperback coming out next week, kids getting out of school for the summer, a camping trip, a birthday that is semi-significant (don’t ask). The bottom line is this: I am finding that I am spread too thinly. I need to give this new book (which takes place in France, my friends) my all (as best I can, after giving my kids my all first). And one way to do that is to let something go…for now. Also, summer is a very French time to take a break.
I have been writing these Le Weekends–and loving every single minute of it–each week, almost without fail, no matter what was happening in my life, come sickness or holidays, since the second week of September of 2021. I even thought I could make it happen the day after major surgery last fall; thank God Cat put the kibosh on that idea.
So much writing, so many journeys into many metaphoric and real corners of France and, then, flowering outwards to the world with France as my portkey. I can’t believe all that has happened in the world, the things we’ve handled together, the amazing celestial events (who saw the aurora borealis last week?), and terrible injustices that have hurt to write about, too.
All of those Le Weekends get published on our website. And, over the next few days, I will be making sure that they are all there. Looking back, I am so thrilled to see what are not perfect pieces of writing, per se, and certainly not perfect punctuation or even grammar, but more meaningfully, that I showed up, week after week, and I cared. I cared about the ideas, interviews, history, art, movies, music, fashion, food, farming, and politics. More than that, and this is why I am writing this today, is to tell you this: What I really cared about was YOU. I wanted to give you something every Friday, something that would be like a seedpod you could take and scatter through your weekend.
There is a book I read to my kids when they were younger. We still talk about it a lot in this house. It’s called Miss Rumphius. In it, Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, scatters lupine seeds all over the world because her grandfather told her when she was young that she must “do something to make the world more beautiful.” It was such a simple thing she did, planting purple, blue, pink, and the rarer yellow lupines everywhere; yet so incredibly powerful and lasting.
I can’t possibly claim that scattering my thoughts across these Friday letters is as beautiful as scattering lupine seeds. But I can tell you I tried. And, more than that, you were the reason I sat down after making my kids’ lunches every Friday morning, giving them a kiss and watching them head off to school, a second coffee in my hand, and said to myself, “Well, where can I begin?”
In the meantime, you all gave me something, too: Just by being out there to write to. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned and how much I have fallen more and more in love with France and the French language and culture. Sharing that love has been a huge gift in my life. And your letters and thoughts and just incredible generosity with me has meant so much; guided me, even. Thank you.
Now, what I hope is that come September I will hand my book in, wash some beach sand from in-between my toes, and get right back into the saddle. In the meantime, I will love reading Cat as the weeks go by. By the way, she’s on her way to France for two weeks of research for us, and I think it’s going to be the trip of a lifetime–Menton, the Camargue, the Loire valley. I wish I was going with her!
I also hope you all will drop me a line! I will still have my email [email protected]….and I can be found on Instagram, here. I have a feeling I won’t be too far away, even during this break. You may see me pop up here and there.
À cuisiner, boire, regarder et lire ce weekend:
Just recently, I have really loved reading some of the truly excellent pieces coming in, especially Cat’s piece on the beautiful new cookbook, Le Sud, which I hope someone who might be reading this gets me for my birthday; Andrea Meyer’s interview with Gad Elmaleh; Kate Christensen’s Buckwheat Crêpes; and Keith Van Sickle’s list of great beaches in Marseille. I am sold on Marseille, guys.
We’ve had, over the years, book reviews by Debra Spark (one of my favorite pieces, ever, was a piece of hers about an art space where Modigliani and Soutine once fraternized) and hilarious essays about expat life from Karen Karbo. I can’t believe how much you can find on our website–writing about France that is rich and so thoughtful.
Which reminds me, I need to mention that one of our writers, Peter Nichols, just published a thriller that takes place in Maine called Granite Harbor. Page turner!
Stay in touch, scatter seeds this summer. I am here, on the other end of the line, I promise. A friend of Frenchly’s is a friend of mine. And I’ll see you in a few months, with new stories and new things I’ve learned about France and French culture, either from my friend Google, or perhaps, if I am lucky, some firsthand experience. In the meantime, maybe you are one of the lucky ones getting ready for the Olympics by dancing in the Louvre. If not, we will all see Paris on our screens come July. Go France!
À bientôt,
Caitlin.
PS: If you like these Le Weekends, please forward them. Frenchly is growing and improving and we want as many people to know about our writers and interesting subjects as possible!
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