travel – Silver Sage Sisters

Mary Ann

I love everything French! I love the food, the wine, the country, the antiques, the museums, and the language – though I butcher it. I am a Francophile!

I own about 100 books both fiction and nonfiction about living in France. I love the stories where someone leaves their lives and goes to a region of France and make a new life often restoring an old farmhouse and discovering villages full of quirky characters. I have always yearned to do just that. Peter Mayle’s adventures in Provence ignited that desire. I have read every word he ever wrote. Provence seems like heaven on earth.

So, when I did my patio garden over from an ugly, barren concrete slab, I had visions of French sugar plums dancing in my head. This new garden was going to be French. That meant tons of pea gravel. Pea gravel makes everything French. The contractor delivered, and if I closed my eyes, the crunch of the pea gravel underfoot took me to Provence.

Then it was flower, flowers, flowers! I found antique flower boxes that I hung from the garden walls and filled them full of calibrachoa that spilled over the boxes. There was ferns, hostas, hydrangea, coleus, agapanthus, Angelonia, salvia, and moonflowers. I scattered rusting, white wrought-iron furniture and planters around the garden. I recently added a little frog fountain for a water feature. I used wicker outdoor furniture with blue and white provincial fabric cushions for seating. Blue and white pots filled with colorful inpatients. nestled throughout the garden. It is a peaceful oasis in a frenzied world.

A friend of mind called the patio garden Little Provence. It is my outside happy place. From May to nearly November, I sit outside in the morning and enjoy my little piece of France. I read, meditate, pray, do brain games, listen to my Merlin app – I have leaned many bird songs, and hope to see a hummingbird or a butterfly while I sip my morning tea. I sometime hear bees buzzing as they harvested the nectar from the flowers. The cicadas and crickets begin singing their songs as summer ends. If you were in Provence, you would be hearing the cigales, the French word for cicadas.

Beyond the garden fence is a hedgerow of trees. They tower about, and you can see the birds and squirrels flitting around the branches. It has been found that trees give off terpenes that are like pheromones in animals. Each kind of tree gives off a different scent that addresses things like inflammation and mood enhancement for anxiety or depression. It is being studied to see how the trees may help people. The terpenes may be one reason that forest bathing is so popular today.

My Little Provence is my peaceful retreat from the world. All my senses (maybe the terpenes) are enhanced. I enjoy the serenity of the space, and my soul is enriched as I care for myself. It is truly Joie de Vivre which is French for an exuberant enjoyment of life! I wish that for you.

Mary Ann

When you travel to Africa, it gives you a gift. It varies from person to person. The gift reaches deep into your soul. Maybe it is our ancient DNA feeling the deep roots where humans began.

Some people I know had the gift of elephants. Another friend had an experience with rare black rhinos that brings her to tears when she speaks about it. For me the gift was experiences with the great cats. It is funny that a fortune teller once told me that in another lifetime I was a keeper of cats in ancient Egypt. I never gave it much thought. However, cheetah has always been one of my favorite animals. Did I care for them in another life?

Leopards

When people go to Africa, they are told that they need to see the Big Five – Elephants, Cape Buffalos, Rhinos, Lions, and Leopards. For the most part you will see four of the five. The leopard is elusive. It is a solitary animal, nocturnal, and shy. So, when we came across a mother leopard and a baby in the daytime and the father was there as well, it was indeed a gift, a rare gift. Our guides told us that we were extremely lucky.

The leopards were in a gully that had heavy brush and some trees. The mother and cub were lying on a bare spot in front of the brush. It was probably her lair. We were perched in our vans along the gully ridge. Suddenly, the male leopard hoisted an antelope up a tree that was right in front of us. We were having a National Geographic moment. He remained in the tree with his kill looking at us. The mother went into the brush, and you could hear her crunching the bones of something. It was a powerful and chilling sound. We watched them for a long time, until a barrage of vans showed up to view this exceptional experience. There is a grapevine among the guides so news travels fast on the savannah.

Cheetahs

The second big cat experience was at Mount Kenya. We were staying at Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, a resort on the equator in the mountains of Kenya that was once owned by actor Bill Holden. It is beautiful. Prince William proposed to Princess Kate there at a camp above the resort.

Mount Kenya Animal Conservancy is associated with the resort. There is an animal orphanage there. As we toured the compound, there are animals and birds walking around. There was also a cage of three young cheetah. My travel group of 7 talked to the cheetah caregivers and asked questions. The two young men told us to hang around once the park closed so we did, and we got the surprise of a lifetime.

At the end of the day, the cheetahs are feed. We were given permission to go in the small feed cage and pet the young cheetahs. The cheetah could have cared less. They were busy eating. When I went in, I kneeled and touched the body of the young female. I swear I felt an electric shock as I stroked her body. It was like petting a short-haired dog. I was overwhelmed with emotions. If the cheetah turned around and ripped off my face, I don’t think I would have minded. It was just the most incredible experience. Maybe my cat keeper was coming out!

Lions

The last experience was at the Masai Mara National Game Reserve near Narok, Kenya. It blends into the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The Great Migration flows thorough these parks.

As we did game drives, we came across a very big pride of lions of varying ages. They were lolling around on a small mound under some shade trees. We were very close to the group. They were habituated to the vans. I think they think they are another kind of animal. I talked to the teenage lions, and they were quite relaxed. As you spoke to them, they would slowly close their eyes just like your pet cat does when you coo to them. Eye blinking must be a trait of all felines. It was again special to visit with them.

I am so thankful to have had these great cat experiences. Africa gave me unforgettable memories. I hope that all of you will have a chance to go to Africa and see what gift you will receive. It will be magical.