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Falling in love again

20th December 2008 by Helena 11 Comments  

Sainte CecileHow could I ever have left him? Or is it her? Actually I always think of Sainte Cecile as feminine, I suppose Cecile is. And as for selling up…..what a stupid, mad, cruel and short-termist notion.

I can’t tell you how nice it is to be home. There is something deeply satisfying about it. I feel grounded, happy, content, like donning an apron and making fresh pasta.

The children are like, well, kids in a sweet shop. They are exstatic. Around every corner is a toy they missed or a tree they climbed. Every few minutes they tell me how happy they are to be home. Irritated as they are by the mess left after all the summer rentals. Bea is most idignant over her trampoline. The cover has been broken. Olivia suggets we make the tenants pay for it and then we will be rich enough to stay here for ever.

It’s a nice thought, but actually I am not unhappy with our two homes. If we can keep things ticking along. In seven years there will be no mortgage to pay here and we can look forward to watching our grandchildren play on the swings just as our children have done.

As Rupert says; Sainte Cecile is part of us. Selling it would really be the maddest thing to do and I am sure we would regret it for ever. I have fallen head over heels in love again, and not just with all my shoes (although the reunion has been extremely emotional) but just with HOME. The slight bend in the road before you get to the house, the roaring fire, Max (who is looking great, fatter and younger than when we left), the Olive trees in the garden, the sound of the source. All that’s missing is my dog. He moved in with Madame Fontenon up the road. Maybe today he will pay us a visit and complete the perfect homecoming.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: France, Sainte Cecile, blog --> Tagged With: again, falling

11 thoughts on Falling in love again

  • Anne - Music and Markets says:
    20th December 2008 at 2:09 pm

    What a lovely post – I can just picture your family enjoying Sainte Cecile. Have a wonderful holiday!

  • snusmormor says:
    20th December 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians and most definitely a girl! She was a virgin and a martyr as well and is celebrated much in the Trastevere part of Rome. She is said to have praised God by singing to him. I knew you would come to your senses once you met her again!

  • Patricia Rodriguez says:
    20th December 2008 at 8:58 pm

    You sound like the old Helena…oh dear I said the O word, sorry!…like the before-moving-to the-desert Helena. I love seeing you happy again!

    Happy Holidays…and please post a picture of those shoes! I am forced to wear snow boots for three more months…

  • mimi says:
    21st December 2008 at 2:20 am

    Ah, Helena, so good to see you happy again! Nothing like a homecoming to bring you back up out of the doldrums. I’d love a picture of you with the shoes too! mimi

  • helena says:
    21st December 2008 at 5:51 am

    Hello ladies
    I have no camera sadly, but I can give you a run down of a few of them…LK Bennet Pink Satin six-inch heels, Fendi vintage (courtesy of aunt), UGG boots (which I am living in), Tod’s green sandals – all (bar the UGGs) will come back to Abu Dhabi with me, along with designer handbags sorely missed.
    Hx

  • Rosemary says:
    22nd December 2008 at 8:30 am

    Hi H

    I cannot tell you how wonderful this reading this post has been – this is so what I wanted to hear from you but I was worried you had been totally seduced by the sunshine of AD.

    Sometimes you have to come back to go forward don’t you. How long will you be here ? Enjoy and have a wonderful time I am so glad you have found her again

    Much love and a wonderful christmas LA xxxxx

  • helena says:
    22nd December 2008 at 9:51 am

    Thank you Lead Angel, we will be here until Jan 1st. I have just seen Wolfie so my life is complete!
    Hx

  • Oliver says:
    22nd December 2008 at 11:49 am

    C’est si bon

  • sharyn g says:
    23rd December 2008 at 4:09 am

    Happy Birthday to you! I also have a December (21) birthday although I have a “few” years on you. We should write about the horrors of a late December birthday. Did you ever have an actual birthday party? I didn’t. Too close to Christmas. Then there are the combined birthday/Christmas gifts. Hope you had a good one!

  • helena says:
    23rd December 2008 at 7:19 am

    I hear you Sharyn – the amount of combined presents I have had…dreadful. My mother is the only one who makes an effort for both. One of the first things I did when I decided to have children of my own was make sure they were born far away from December. Bea happened a little earlier than we expected so she is October but the others are June and July. I have often considered having an ‘official’ birthday, like the queen. In fact when I get back to Abu Dhabi I am having a spa day with girlfriends to celebrate.
    Hx

  • Pamela says:
    2nd January 2009 at 5:19 am

    I can see why you love the house, I was just looking at the house on the rental site for this summer. I am traveling to Paris and London with my four kids. I am re-reading your “All You Need to Be Impossibly French “. I just ran out and bought new underpants and bras!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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