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French Chic & Slim
Nouvelles
News and Opinion from Anne Barone to Keep You Chic & Slim — INDEX to Previous Nouvelles
image: Front porch handrails: latest in Anne's campaign to make the property safer.
2024 SCHEDULE: Anne is working on a new book. Nouvelles postings will be sporadic. But usually at least one per week.
|| 6 October 2024
Problems — but Lessons Learned
I wish I could say that things are going better and that the book is finished. Unfortunately, I cannot say that. Problems continue to interrupt book work. But the new handrails for the front porch are finally installed. They look odd with the columns, but the point is safety.
The handrail installation had many problems. Experience is a great teacher and I offer these lessons learned:
1) Pick an installer with experience in handrails.
2) Before you buy the new handrails, confer with your installer. You must use handrails the size and style needed for their particular location.
3) If, as I did, you had been lead to believe that the installer was experienced, and he messes up the job and quits, be prepared to pay a LOT to have another installer correct the initial mistakes and complete the work.
Expensive lessons, but surely costing less than medical treatment for a fall tumbling down the steps.
As for the raccoons, I was having some luck with peppermint oil sprayed in the garage so I ordered a pint bottle only to find that I had ordered mentha arvensis which has almost no odor instead of mentha peperita which is the more common peppermint essential oil whose smell raccoons do not like.
And now in addition to other problems, my washing machine is refusing to fill.
So it goes.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 25 September 2024
Keep Calm — and Persevere
Things have not been going well here at Provence-sur-la-Prairie. Almost everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. And then some of the repairs to fix the things that went wrong themselves went wrong. One of them VERY wrong. As a consequence, the new book that should have been formatted and on the way to the printers is not. And I am struggling to return to the point at which the problems interfered with book work.
But the horribly hot, dry weather has been relieved by a small rain. I am hoping this is a sign that the long siege of things going awry is over. Even, if not, the weather is better.
As for the raccoons, unfortunately, one fell out of the tall cedar trees and died. Currently I seem to be down to one or two of these furry critters. But after they shredded the cover that I keep on my car, I got serious about evicting them from the garage. Peppermint essential oil is expensive in the quantities needed to keep the raccoons out. But so was buying a new car cover. And the six hours I spent cleaning out raccoon mess and filth was exhausting and unpleasant.
In all this, the overriding problem was keeping my stress levels down. Research is finding increasing evidence of the damage stress does to our bodies. So in the past two weeks, there has often been a need for a cup of tea and some distracting reading. Fortunately, recently I have discovered a couple of (almost) forgotten writers of the classic early 20th century mysteries. Helen O'Reilly and Margaret Erskine are providing nice distraction reading. Though I must admit that I can see why these writers, though popular in their time of publication, have not endured as have Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Georgette Heyer, and Ngaio Marsh.
The tree trimmer just finished with loading and taking away a trailer filled with limbs cut away from too-close proximity to electrical power lines. A repairman is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning to repair the problems with the installation of the front porch hand rails. On it goes.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 8 September 2024
Diane Keaton’s First Fashion
First the good and bad news. Two weeks ago I finished the writing of the new book. That’s the good news. The bad news is that when I opened up InDesign, the software program I use for creating the files for the various version of my books: print, Kindle and ePub, I discovered to my horror that in the six years since I had last done a book, I had completely forgotten InDesign. I could not even remember how to place text. GREP. What was GREP? I could remember doing lots of GREP searches for Toujours 2. But I had not the vaguest memory of what I had searched for. The past two weeks I have been giving myself an intensive review course in InDesign.
Diane Keaton’s personal style is, whatever else you say about it, individual and distinctive. Though perhaps it is not one that many women could successfully copy. Nevertheless, after the film Annie Hall came out, a lot of women did.
Now Diane Keaton has published a book about her personal style from birth to current. FASHION FIRST has many photos and minimal text — with a few words from Ralph Lauren. You may have read reviews.
Google Books gives you the 6th thorough the 99th page.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 25 August 2024
Michel Guérard's Cuisine Minceur: The Cuisine of Slimness
This week when I saw the obituary of French chef Michel Guérard in the morning news, I reached to my cookbook shelf for my copy of his 1976 bestselling cookbook. Mine is Cuisine Minceur: The Cuisine of Slimness, the English translation of his La Grande Cuisine Minceur, (The Great Slimming Cuisine).
At the time this first of his cookbooks was published, M. Guérard had already been working more than a decade on his version of nouvelle cuisine. Believing from his own experience that “diet food” was tasteless and unappealing, he created a good tasting version to help in weight loss. This slimming version was lower in fat, sugar, and salt than traditional French cuisine. By the time I began eating more like the French, Michel Guérard's slimming cuisine was already influencing chic French women’s cooking and eating.
Michel Guérard obituaries have appeared in many major publications. Link to two below.
The Guardian’s Michel Guérard obituary
French chef who found fame with his bestselling book La Grande Cuisine Minceur, which advocated lighter dishes. This article does not require a subscription for reading.
The obituary that presents details of his slimming cuisine is The New York Time’s Michel Guérard, Who Lowered the Calories in Haute Cuisine, Dies at 91
Appalled by the food options available to those seeking to lose weight, he developed a form of nouvelle cuisine for dieters at a spa in southwestern France.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 11 August 2024
The Shirtdress
First the Raccoon Report, then the fashion. The four baby raccoons have moved out of the garage. Have no idea where they have gone. Though they do come back late at night and eat the food I put out for them. But not happily.
What prompted the change was I accidentally bought a different version of the brand of catfood I had been feeding them. And they do not like it.
In hindsight I wonder if that previous catfood made them hyper. With the new food they are not putting mud in all the water containers. And when I forgot and left my potted gardenia on the back patio one night, they did not dig out the potting soil. (They had previously killed my Gerbera daisy with digging.)
Wherever the raccoons have relocated, I am hoping that it will become permanent.
The Shirtdress
My mother was always a great fan of shirtdresses. She always wore them in solid neutral colors. Always belted. With some kind of beads at the neck. Shirtdresses suited her classic, unfussy personal style.
Alyson Walsh of the That’s Not My Age website is also a fan of this style. You can read her article and see the accompanying photos of various current versions of the shirtdress and accessories.
Why it’s always the summer of the shirtdress
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 5 August 2024
The Always Technique
One important staying slim technique I learned from chic French women was the “Always Technique.” Whatever positive things you do to stay slim, do them always. No rationalizing that you can “skip it just this once.” The reality is that one exception usually leads to more exceptions. This does not produce good results.
The fact that one exception usually leads to more exceptions applies to website postings as well as staying slim. I rationalize that I can skip the weekly Nouvelles posting and catch up a few days later has too often this summer, while I have been working on the new book, led to my forgetting to write a Nouvelles until days later and then I rationalize another date.
Blame the heat. We have reached the way above 100 F. (above 42 C.) stage of August. Blame the baby raccoons. The mother raccoon has deserted them and they are four somewhat befuddled, very hungry little critters here at Provence-sur-la-Prairie. The big problem now is mud. For some reason raccoons tend to put dirt into any water they can find. These four are worse than any other raccoons I have ever dealt with.
These baby raccoons have even found where I tried to hide Tuffy’s outside water dish and filled it with mud as well as the basins of both birdbaths. Now I have to take the basin off the main birdbath and turn it upside down on the ground each night after the birds nest and then go out before daylight the next morning to replace and refill it. Good grief!
As soon as these babies are a little older these raccoons have got to go! And then the garage has to be made critterproof. The new "always technique" will be: never house wildlife.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 21 July 2024
French Mother/Daughter Lunch
Our Chic & Slim Special Correspondent Kat is back in France. She recently emailed about observing three French mothers and their teenage daughters at lunch at a bistro in Trouville. Kat wrote:
We are back in Normandy for ten days, and while visiting Trouville’s wonderful fresh fish market yesterday we decided to have a coffee in one of the many nearby bistros.
It is school holiday time, and no fewer than three ladies were sitting at nearby tables, having lunch with their teenage daughters.
All of them were tucking into large mixed salads, accompanied by large bottles of mineral water. Not a burger or French fry to be seen (though both were on the menu) and no desserts were ordered either.
Needless to say, mothers and daughters were all in good shape - the mothers were actually slimmer than the daughters.
A good example of healthy eating is clearly still being set in France!
No photos, unfortunately, we were seated too close for an unobtrusive snap.
PS: I forgot to mention that none of the mother/daughter diners was on her phone during lunch. They chatted animatedly as they ate. I’m afraid this is rarely the case in the U.K., where phones take pride of place on every table, and are regularly attended to during the meal. Of course, it’s not easy to operate a phone whilst eating a large mixed salad !
Merci to Kat for sharing her observation of this French mother/daughter lunch.
|| 14 July 2024
Bastille Day 2024
Today is Bastille Day in France. Things are reported to be somewhat different from the usual celebration. The parade has apparently been shortened to accommodate some of the venues set up for the upcoming Paris Olympics. And, of course, there is the political turmoil set in motion by the recent snap election called by President Macron.
Raccoons
The raccoons are still with me. Thursday morning the raccoons signaled I had not put out a sufficient amount of food the night before. They were still hungry. And they were sufficiently hungry that they did not scurry away when I came out with my camera.
Notice: Website down from midnight 17 July to about 4 AM 18 July Central US time.
My web host has informed me that the server on which I have the website is “coming to the end of its life.” Technicians will be transferring annebarone.com to a new server.
So if you try to access the website around 17-18 July and find it down, it will only be temporary.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 5 July 2024
Power Outages and Raccoon Ransacking
We were struggling through what we thought was the last of a succession of days of extreme heat. Then, about 7 PM last night the electricity failed. Happy 4th of July. Fortunately electricity was restored an hour and a quarter later. And I was pleased that sitting with one my rechargeable fans blowing directly I was reasonably cool during the outage despite the high temperature outside. My first real test of these rechargeable fans I bought. (They also will recharge a cellphone from their battery.)
One advantage of living someplace where the weather is often uncomfortable as I do, is that, when you do have some reasonably pleasant weather, you think you are in Paradise. So today I am enjoying the cool, rainy weather after the long session of extreme heat days.
As for the mother and four baby raccoons, they ransacked my garage again. More broken flower pots, a demolished watering can. How they knocked over a heavy stepladder I will never understand. But since I gave them a good scolding they have seemed quite contrite. As soon as they take themselves off as they invariably do, I will try to have something built that will keep them out of the garage. So far none of the little critters has managed to slip into the house again.
I am happy to report I had a most pleasant 80th birthday, but I missed my deadline for finishing the new book. But I am close. Now back to work.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 27 June 2024
Anouk Aimée and Françoise Hardy
We have recently lost two of the chic French women of the era that inspired me in my Chic & Slim techniques. The French actress Anouk Aimée was known for her “enigmatic beauty” as well as her sultry pout, and her signature dark eyeliner. Anouk Aimée passed away on 18 June at the age of 92.
Never a fan of French popular music, I did not remember singer, songwriter, actress, fashion muse Françoise Hardy as well. And I was sorry to learn that her last years were plagued by serious ill health. She died 11 June at the age of 80. A quick internet search will lead you to obituaries of the two French women in several publications.
Here at Provence-sur-la-Prairie we are experiencing days of Excessive Heat and Heat Advisories. We were 103 F. yesterday. Tomorrow we are forecast for 105. Next Tuesday it is to be 107 F. (42 C.) I thought I was pacing myself well with both the work on the book and the outdoor work in the garden. But apparently I did not factor in the heat as strongly as I should have. About four days ago both my body and brain went on strike and sent out a demand for rest. I am doing better, but I still have little energy. My. brain resists doing any acceptable quality writing. On the eve of 80, I am having to admit that age does make a difference in recovery. It does take longer.
Whatever your age, take care in excessive heat. Wear proper clothing and be sure to stay hydrated. Remember sunscreen.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 14 June 2024
Adventures With Baby Raccoons
There are four, not three, baby raccoons, I have discovered since my last Nouvelles. On Tuesday night, when my attention was lagging from fatigue, two of the baby raccoons managed to zip through the open door into the house and into my office where they curled up on the rug in front of the printer stand. At my immediate attempt to put them back outside, they made it clear that it was wet outside and turning chilly. They MUCH preferred to stay inside.
When prodding with a soft-bristled broom got them out of the office, they dashed for the kitchen and wedged themselves behind the refrigerator. Their new position required the microwave stand and the refrigerator be moved before I finally herded the two furry little critters outside the door.
Unfortunately when we are tired, we frequently miss opportunities because our brain is too fatigued to recognize them. So it was not until the next morning, that I realized that I had been wanting to take a photo of the baby raccoons and here they had been nice enough to come inside and pose in a well-lighted spot not one foot from my camera. (Hint, hint, Ms. Barone.)
So the photo above is the spot on the rug where the two baby raccoons settled themselves and the red object on the right is my camera. But instead of my baby raccoons in the image, I have had to insert duplicates of a Wikimedia photo courtesy of the photographer BS Thurner Hof to show you where they were.
Additionally, the four babies have reached the rambunctious age. They have ransacked my garage. Twice. But I found a website that lists 14 scents that raccoons don’t like and I have several of them on hand. Garlic. Peppermint. Epsom Salts. The rains have stopped and the nights are warm. I shall see if any of the suggested scents encourage the baby raccoon quartet to play outside en plein air.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 31 May 2024
Rain and Raccoons
The more-than-usual rainfall the past several weeks has made Provence-sur-la-Prairie more Provence-dans-le-Marais (swamp). Perhaps all this damp has made my brain soggy. Since I seem to be stuck on a part of the book on which I am now working, I will leave the difficulties to my subconscious for the moment and write a short Nouvelles.
The raccoon had been eating increasingly large suppers so I was not surprised when night before last she brought three babies to the food dish. They are beyond cute: three masked furry balls in perpetual motion. I have not had the courage to look in my garage. The last time there were three baby raccoons in my garage, they ransacked the place.
In the previous Nouvelles titled Dealing With Challenges of Illness I shared with you Synthia’s account of dealing with challenges following her surgery for a carcinoma on her lower eyelid. I was pleased to have an update from Synthia. She wrote:
Thankfully, my recovery is going well. My surgeons will do cosmetic for minor tweaks when all is healed. I cannot believe how much the eye has improved but still is going to take awhile. I am thankful that very large sunglasses are so in style!
As always. I am enjoying re reading all of your Chic and Slim books. Your insights still make me laugh out loud!
Our continued best wishes to Synthia. And my reminder to you as summer approaches of the importance of wearing sunscreen, especially on your face.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
|| 19 May 2024
Dealing With Challenges of Illness
A stormy spring here at Provence-sur-la-Prairie. My life has revolved around severe thunderstorms, tornado watches, and working on the new book.
Several weeks ago I reported (along with reminding you about using sunscreen) that one of my brothers had surgery for a VERY LARGE squamous cell carcinoma on his neck. Seeing it, my other brother thought he should see a doctor about about a growth that had appeared below his ear. A biopsy revealed that it also was a squamous cell carcinoma, but fortunately other brother’s carcinoma was benign.
In the meantime I received an email from Synthia, telling me about her recent experience with a carcinoma, this a merkel cell carcinoma on her lower eyelid. You may remember Synthia from her report from Paris several years ago.
Synthia reports that her medical treatment has been first rate. But her recovery has presented new challenges, including those for staying slim. There are good lessons in Synthia’s story. Particularly about how to deal with any sort of illness that limits your ability to exercise — especially if friends and neighbors are bringing you cookies and other sweet treats when you must confine yourself to sedentary activities. Synthia wrote:
My goodness Anne it has been some time. I hope you are well and just wanted to say hello and catch up.
I have been fortunate enough the last decade to travel often. I first discovered you before my France 2012 trip and you made my trip perfect! I had been to Europe as a college student, but now as an adult woman, I had to brush up on etiquette. Since that time, I was able to take my daughters to France and other locations (son and husband too!)
A few years ago i developed a cyst under my eye. After 4 years, I finally had a clear diagnosis and it was Merkel Cell Carcinoma. I just had my 3rd surgery at UCSF this past week. This is no joke and the recovery is not fast. THANKFULLLY, i have a plastic surgeon on my team who is over seeing the plastic surgery. That is the most terrifying as my eye surgeon had to re build my ENTIRE lower lid! You wrote about skin cancer several months ago and wanted to share my story,
What comes next is learning how to deal with this as it is healing. I prefer to keep my eye covered with a patch—most people think i have had cataract surgery. I feel uncomfortable showing the eye and it is very interesting—some say show it with pride! you are a cancer survivor! But I feel it is rude to make people look at it too—I am vain that way.
Anyhow, i have been getting so many beautiful flowers, cookies, treats the past few months. Now I need to re read all your books as I am not able to exercise like I used to. So...it comes down to discipline which is challenging when you are only able to read and watch tv! But I will do it! I don’t want to have my eye heal and then have to be worried about my weight.
Thank you for all you have done and continue to do!
Sincerely, Synthia
Merci to Synthia for sharing her story and insights about dealing with the challenges of her medical experience. And our very best wishes for her speedy recovery.