Dear Reader:

I decided, yesterday, to check in on another one of my favorite author’s Laura Bradbury (author of the “Grape series“) whom I discovered by “accident” a few summers ago. There are  four books in her series…each story is a  true incident of falling in love with France and a certain Frenchman, whom she later married. (Then renovating four old French chateau’s while raising three children.)

Sadly, five years ago Laura was diagnosed with a rare liver disease PSC ( Primary Sclerosing Cholargitis.) There was no cure…only a liver transplant to save her life. Finally last March a donor that matched her liver came forward and she had the surgery.

Today Laura is working on her fifth book in the “Grape Series: called “My Grape Paris.” She had hoped for it to be in publication by this past September but to date nothing has appeared. I am praying this doesn’t have anything to do with her health. Her writings are honest, contemplative, and filled with humor…even when fighting for her own life in real life.

Periodically, on her blog, she writes about short, fascinating glimpses of life/culture in France (she is Canadian by birth.) In one of these posts…she included the title picture (on this blog) while telling about the beautiful tradition of opening and closing shutters to welcome in each day and then bid it “good night.” ( The title picture is of one of her renovated rental homes in Burgundy…La Maison des Chaumes.)

Laura describes the tradition of opening and shutting exterior shutters in France this way:

“One of the things I love most about our slower days in France is the routine of opening up the shutters at La Maison des Chaumes in the morning and shutting them again in the evening. 

It gives me a chance to welcome the new day in the morning and to open the windows to fill the house up with crisp, fresh morning air. 

In the evening, closing and locking the shutters refocuses my attention inwards towards my family and our beds. There is nothing like closed shutters that make me feel all snug with Franck and our baby chicks inside our Burgundian nest. 

When our french family and friends come to visit us in Canada they are astounded at how the houses in North America have no shutters. “Don’t you feel unsafe?” they ask. “Don’t you feel exposed?”

I don’t, really, because I grew up without shutters. However, I do suspect this makes me more appreciative of them than the average french person.” 

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I only have shutters on my two front windows in my “Happy Room”...a big reason it is happy. They are only interior, not exterior, but they are wonderful!  (I got one of the last Pre-made plantation shutters from Lowe’s before they did away with their store stock …now plantation shutters have to be special ordered. *Years ago, Paul Sanders came over, installed them, and made them work…since they were a fraction of an inch off. I just love Paul Sanders…so gifted in woodwork!)

I know what Laura Bradbury feels about the ritual of throwing open the shutters to welcome a new day in, to receive the rays of glorious sunshine…thanking God for another day of life. Yesterday was beautiful…warm (80’s) but with a cool breeze and just perfect for flinging open all the windows…letting the fresh air drift in!

And then at night I close the windows, pull the shutters together and feel secure too… turning inward to all that is warm and cozy in my “Happy Room”… taking time to thank God for the beautiful day I just lived.

Jackson and I talked on the phone yesterday and I was telling her about the blog today…she told me that her mother (our beloved Mama Mia) always got up, got dressed, with her earrings on and make-up on before she ever opened any blinds, shades, or shutters.

She said her mother  told her that the only person who can decide how much light or darkness, sunshine or clouds,  will be  allowed into his/her day…is you! It is a choice you must make each and every day. You should never be influenced by anything outside your home…especially the weather. Happiness rests within your heart…no umbrella or coat ever needed.

Mama Mia raised the bedroom blinds first after she dressed to the hilt, then went to the kitchen and raised the shades there… regardless of the weather or season she was dressed for any occasion or opportunity that came her way.

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*My favorite flowers this past summer have been my morning glories…They are not content to just bloom in the morning, but every afternoon and evening…I am finding blooms on the back side of the fence and mixed in with all sorts of other flowers. They have given me beauty with no time restrictions applied…all summer and fall.

And Vickie’s and my ‘co-op’ rose bush is covered in blooms….