“I found my bébé !”

It’s snowing! It’s winter, it’s cold and it’s absolutely beautiful. Walking these sodden tracks, skirting puddles and treading through sloppy mud and animal dung, our faces are red and blue and blowing steam as we puff up white fairyland hills. Snow is magic, though now it is fading away and giving over to a soft drizzly rain.

Yesterday we were walking the same road listening to bells and gentle woofs of dogs as we came out of the woods and into the open valley. There on the road and through the fields were some of the sheep we had seen a week ago traversing the streets of our little village. Here they were munching the fresh green grass in the vines and had already done a wonderful mow and fertilisation of nearly the whole valley. Amongst them and carefully guarded by the dogs, were all the little babies, brand new, umbilical cords still wet, gambling over the big clods of frozen earth. We spoke to the shepherd who asked us if we had seen a baby lamb in the woods, she had been lost for a few hours. He told us he had come down from Normandy with his sheep. He looked so at peace and one with it all, softly directing the big gruff, shaggy sheep dogs. We told him we hadn’t seen the baby lamb, but today as we walked back into the village he pulled up alongside us in his four wheel drive, a big happy beam on his face as he showed us his little lost lamb cuddled up with one of the dogs in the front seat. “Yes, I am a good MOtherrr,” he said, “I found my bébé!”  So lovely! Made us so happy!

Family have been a long way from us this last year and in their place there has been just us and the peaceful solace of creating our art. Sometimes in-between lockdowns we have shared marvellous moments of friendship with people from this lovely village. It makes you truly value all your relationships with others. It has certainly been an awakening year. There has been plenty of time to think about our world and to want to put it back in balance with nature, to recognise all of life as sentient, to have respect for our universe . That is what we love about being here in Correns. We love the people who care about the bees and the farmers who don’t put horrible pesticides into the earth, but bring in the sheep and the horses to mow the grass and eat the bugs and leave behind their manure. We love it that this is an organic village caring about the earth and that there are musicians here who bring light and joy into every day lives, playing in the streets and the old chateau and in the artists’ studios. The river, too, is clean and guarded against pollution, no big factories to contaminate its beautiful source. It’s a special place, and we are blessed to be here, reminded daily by this community to care about our place on the earth.

The ancient walled garden with its Apiary. These walls were also surrounded by terraced gardens filled with flowers for the bees. We buy local honey from Apiarist Arnaud Rocheux.

Miqueu, Baltazar and Raphaël playing in front of our Épicerie to help attract some business over Christmas.

Our pristine river, L’Argens