April 2026 Update

I think it has been a relatively quiet month. We’ve been to the Calalou twice – once with Yvonne and Joanne; another time with Penny. We had a delightful luncheon with Natacha & Jonathan at their place. Later, we had espresso with them the day they departed back to the UK. There has also been a splendid Easter luncheon at Penny’s. For Richard & me it was the start of our April nefastus. I sat with Caroline and Carol and across from David the journalist and quite a character. His wife is Mel. Susie was there, Wendy & Leo and others as well. We have also had a lunch at Jessica’s along with Zac, and a lunch with Bron at the creperie. For Richard’s birthday, Dieter & Cindy came late & after dinner had started & I had phoned them. Diana was ill (dizzy) could not come, so we were Paul, Joanne, Penny, Yvonne, Susie, Liliane, Pierre & Catherine. Zac would not accept any money; Jessica did not want to be paid & then returned some of it. Her cuisine was perfectly delicious, & I think it was all a success. On another occasion Penny treated us to dinner at Moissac-Belleview, and after the Bourse des Plantes in Villecroze where we purchased courgettes, tomatoes, pepper, strawberries, etc. we had a luncheon at La Place. At the bourse, we saw Liliane and Bruno and later Claude and Brigit. For more plants, we have since been to Pépinières Flayosc. And today (3 May), we returned to Villecroze for its enormous brocante. We bought a small carpet for our garden room. And finally, at Joanne’s, we celebrated Yvonne’s birthday which had been the previous week. We enjoyed margaritas & a fabulous Mexican meal, one of the best ever, with two delightful women loves.

There has been a family Zoom with Nancy, Coral and Rosie, and then another with Coral, Anna and Nancy. I’ve had calls from Gin, Liliane and Nicole. I have phoned Jim twice and also talked to John in Flagstaff. He cannot walk and is running out of money for his home help. I have also conversed with Chloe. She & Sophie have broken up. And one morning at the marché, we saw Annie Cussak.

Our films at Penny’s have been (1) The Good Boy (Heel). Most strange but captivating. This we saw with Guy, Caroline and Louis; (2) with Carol, Jessica and Wendy, it was Midwinter Break with Leslie Manning & Ciarán Hinds. The acting was impressive, the story moving, and it was a nice visit to Amsterdam; (3) How to make a killing with Glenn Powell. This was okay but I found it to be a bit tedious and not for me particularly engaging. We were with Wendy, Carol, Phil & Macia; (4) The Bride which I did not enjoy in particular and in contrast to both Penny & Phil; and (5) Hail Mary with Ryan Gosling. The film is long, but I enjoyed it with Macia, Phil and Jessica.

With Soteria (on Horacio Quiroga's El Techo), I had the time wrong & joined 45 minutes late.

Medically, we have seen our cardiologist, and both of us were given clean bills of cardiac health. And for our eye check-ups, we saw Didier Medan who was to retire one week later. Richard is okay with his age-related macular degeneration, while my eyes were assessed as surprisingly good (‘Those of a 40-year old’).

We have begun our process of renouncing US citizenship. Chloe joined the initial Zoom with Alex Marino as well since she is allegedly American. I have since been working on our Net Worth Statement for Moody’s. And while we were initially listening to Alex’s online presentation, Bron arrived. That evening with Joanne, we had dinner at Solea.

Much of the first part of the month involved a lengthy cleaning of the house after mice had lived here in our winter absence. Otherwise, I have been reviewing my BBFE before sending the manuscript off to Drew on the 21st. I have since reviewed Freya Aswynn’s Walking with Wodan: An Autobiography. And I am now compiling comments on Liz Hathawy’s Saturn book. While he was here, Bron introduced me to Genius Scan, ChatGPT & Whisper AI. I have

still yet actually to use them or even learn how to use them. Other domestic matters involved dismantling the bedroom dresser that came with the original purchase of the house since the top two drawers would not open. Philippe & Virginie took the dresser away, and ever marvellous Philippe has since returned it repaired and with a new shelving to place on top.

Our April nefastus concluded with the 23rd. We got through it and without alcohol or desserts. In all, we are having a lovely time in paradise along with the realisation that perhaps no one has been as happy as Richard & I have been. And following Beltane, I posted by telluric beliefs on my Pagans page and my Beltane letter to Melania Trump on my Facebook page. The former:

"I call my spiritual path telluric, & it is not related to what magicians refer to as their training by ordeal. Instead, it comprises a relaxed & open sensitivity to the essentially gentle & sometimes syncopated rhythms of nature, whether personified or otherwise. Like other forms of paganism, it is nonetheless rooted in the fundamental and organic elements of nature, but it also incorporates the magical wonderment that dances between imaginal imagination and here-and-now this world awareness(es). This realm of the awesome is perhaps the liminal, but it is also what moves always towards not being confined. Nature itself/herself is what is organically generated. For this reason, though often identified to include rocks, mountains, seas, and so forth, these are not themselves natus but rather what encases, embraces or contains 'that which is born', i.e., nature."

And my Beltane letter to the First Lady:

"Dear Melania,

However else it may all be described now & in the future, you will have the distinction of having had marriage with one of the (most recent at least) disasters in human history. Maybe the catastrophe has to be as extreme as it is because this is what makes the contrast clear enough for the rest of us to advance toward a sane, maturing, geo-centric and collectively mindful global future. Against the currently prevailing shamelessness, let us hope for a positive rebound and do our best to insure its fruition.

Michael York"