Photo by Trish Hooper

Writing from the Heart...in the Heart of Champagne

 

 

The group has arrived in Essoyes for the first Writing from the Heart workshop.

 

It's Easter Sunday, early this year, and they are greeted with a beautiful, wintry scene.

 

When I awoke this morning the ground was covered with a thick, wet snow, perfect for snowballs.  By noon most of the snow had melted, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and the spring flowers were shining through the snow.

 

It is a dynamic group and geographically diverse, having come from California, Wisconsin, Washington D.C., and Vienna (Austria), with a variety of agendas.  One woman, a short-story writer, is curious to learn whether her father, who served as a doctor in the U.S. Army during the liberation of France in 1944, may have spent time in this very village. Another, a woman who spent many happy years in France in her youth has come here to work on the autobiography she is working on for her grandchildren and for everyone else too; a third wants to find a way to turn her graduate work on the work of Murray Bowen into a "user-friendly" format that will help ordinary people better understand his theories about the functioning of family systems and thereby change their lives for the better.  Another has only been to France once before for a brief visit, and doesn't know what she wants to write. But a voice keeps whispering in her ear that she ought to write something. What courage and imagination she has shown in coming here! How lucky we are to have her...to have them all, really.

 

 

 

 

A rich, full, magical day. The participants have already sunk into the kind of amazed contentment that characterizes life spent at the Hotel des Canotiers. M. et Mme. Chenut and their staff have made them all feel so welcome and so well cared for.  The view from the hotel restaurant overlooking the village and the surrounding hills is stunning no matter what time of day or kind of weather; but last night there was a particularly beautiful sunset. The food is delicious and its presentation a visual delight. And of course there is a rich variety of local champagnes and other fine wines, aperitifs and digestifs to choose from, to complement the cuisine.

 

After petit dejeuner we began the first class by telling each other the stories of how we came to be here and where we hope to go from here. Inspiring words from Anne Lamott, Brenda Ueland, Julia Cameron and others provided a launching pad for our discussions. 

 

The first journal prompt prompted a sharp intake of breath from participants that made me wonder if maybe I was going too fast too deep too soon.  But after only a minute or two there was the wonderful sound of pencils and pens scratching paper, and the industrious clicking of keys on a laptop to fill the room with the sounds of writing.

 

Lunch at Our French Ranch consisted of quiche aux epignards and a taboulleh salad prepared by the local charcuterie.  We were joined for lunch by M. et Mme. Cintrat, friends of our family, and unofficial welcomers to the town; Maurice Goyard, doyen of the village, brought a fine rose to share. And Bernard Pharisien, local historian and author of several books on local celebrities--members of the Renoir family and the Heriot family of Parisian department store fame (and builders of a local chateau) was also an honored guest. After a champagne toast to Franco-American amitie we were off and the room was somehow filled with sparkling conversation, despite the fact that only three people in the room spoke both French and English. A wonderful tribute to the power of human communication and joie de vivre even when linguistic challenges arise.

 

After lunch M. Pharisien told us stories and showed us pictures illustrating the serpentine threads that connect France and America through complicated family histories, good and bad fortune, times of war and peace. We ended up with a visit to the graveyard where we paid our respects to the Renoirs, but also to the Heriots and to Louis Morel, another local artist whose sculpted femme nue has to be one of the most beautiful as well as most unusual graveyard decorations in the world.  (The fully clothed and equally beautiful statue of a World War I soldier that graces the monument to the war dead in the Place de l'Eglise is also by Morel.)

 

While in the graveyard we saw Denis Herbillon, local artist, and his 14-year-old stepdaughter, Adelie, who, giggling and with our permission, took pictures of us from a respectful distance. We enjoyed the novelty of being American tourists in this little village where that is a rare breed.

 

Later in the week we saw what they had been up to; creating unique and wonderful souvenir postcards for each of us. What a kind and wonderful gift!