The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons

Went to Barnes and Noble this weekend looking for "The Pillars of Hercules" by Paul Theroix. He is supposed to be a great travel writer and wanted to read a few of his stories and check out his style of writing. The Barnes and Noble near me did not have it and after searching the book aisles came across "The Feasting Season" by Nancy Coons.
It is a delightful book about an American writer, Meg, who works in France writing about frenchculture. Her publisher offers her the chance to write a new book and Meg comes up with the title "Vive L'histoire". She has been infatuated with France's history all her life and visualizes writing the book about the major historical towns in France. The only problem is the photographer who is assigned to work with her. Jean-Jacques, is a a typical french artist who is constantly smoking cigarettes. He has agreed to work on the travel book but has a much different idea about the subject matter. Jean-Jacques prefers to photograph live events and thinks that trying to capture the history of a place is similar to trying to photograph ghosts. As Meg and JJ travel through France, they become intimate friends and find a common ground in the sensual indulgence of french wine and food. The story evolves when their different perspectives about France are superimposed upon each other as they travel throughout France. It was a nice week end read.

Georgia Perennial Plant Association

Last week attended the Georgia Perennial Plant Association and really enjoyed the presentation. The meetings are held in the Atlanta History Center which provides a huge auditorium that can accommodation a good size crowd.

The speaker was William Smith, landscape architect. His first garden was featured in the Victory Garden TV program and he has designed gardens at the Governor's Mansion. His slides documented how he created his various gardens and before and after photos.

Preparation for Trip to Languedoc

I ordered several books in preparation for the trip to Languedoc, books about gardens and wine, but so far the most interesting is "Languedoc Roussillon - The Wines and Winemakers " Paul Strang.


He details every region, the types of wines and the wineries along with background information about the winemakers. Contact information is also provided. This book is providing valuable insight about the regions. So on my trip, when I visit a local village, I can also visit the local wineries while I am there. And see how the make their wines. Perhaps some personal stories from the winemakers.

The gardens in Languedoc consist of the gardens in Nimes and gardens in Albi and Montpellier. Not as many as what are found in Italy. So I think I will be concentrating on the wines of the region.