The French Escape

Fellow author and France lover, Suzie Tullett, is preparing for her latest book, French Escape, to be released.
So she allowed me to do a guest blog explaining how I had escaped to France. You'll find my guest blog here with a picture of me twirling around in the darkened streets of our village.

Take a look at Suzie's blog and consider leaving a comment and ordering some of her novels.
You'll find her at Suzie Tullett
Her novel The French Escape will be released September 20

Earl's Blog

Earl has started a blog if you want a different perspective of our life in France.
So far, he has written about our decision to move to France and about his attempt to watch the Super Bowl.
Earlier today, he mentioned that he had no comments yet.
I did explain that in order to get people to comment on his blog, he would probably need to visit other blogs and comment on them, but if you're curious, take a look at Earl's blog: Dispatches from France. 

Dreaming of France -- Cats and Postcards

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Inspired by a couple of blogs that I read today, I'm posting pictures of postcards from France with cats. It's kind of a tradition for us, since about 1998 to send home postcards with pictures of cats that look like our cats.
I was reminded of that tradition today when Corey from Tongue in Cheek first talked about pictures on her refrigerator. Then I visited Virginia at Paris Through My Lens and she had a picture of cat lounging on the walk in front of a building with gorgeous green shutters. At Paris and Beyond, Genie had an fluffy orange cat sauntering along the sidewalk.  And then Anne in Oxfordshire writes frequently about her postcard collection. They all came together and I decided to write about some postcards from France with cats, and those postcards are currently stuck on my refrigerator.

Our last cat, the one we got when Grace was a 1-year-old, was totally black like this cat. When traveling in Paris with my friend Michelle, I sent this postcard home to Earl and the kids. I joked that they had left the door open so Buddy had escaped and traveled to Paris.

The next time Earl and I traveled to France, we went to Provence and sent this postcard home to the kids. Again, a black cat that was anxious to get from Ohio to France. 

We never seem to have any trouble finding postcards of cats in different French locations.

 
When Grace traveled to France, she sent home a postcard with cats too.
Does your family have a France tradition?

My Book as a Movie

Sim at Chapter 1 - Take 1 loves to write about books that are turned into movies. She read my book, The Summer of France, recently and asked me to write a guest blog post casting the characters in my book.
I hope you'll take a look and tell me what you think.
Here's my guest blog post on Chapter 1 - Take 1.
I told Sim that I thought she should do this every week. She could talk to an author, or even people who aren't authors could imagine which actors would play characters in the books they are reading.

First Chapter, Tuesday Teaser -- A Surrey State of Affairs

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I picked up A Surrey State of Affairs by Ceri Radford yesterday as I accompanied my husband to a walk-in clinic to find out if he damaged his eye when he got a cleaning chemical in it. The book immediately caught my attention because I had just been talking to my mom about helping her start a blog. You'll see. Here's the intro:

I suppose that this, my inaugural "blog," represents at least one new element to the New Year. If my son, Rupert, is to be believed, it may be read anywhere from Milton Keynes to Mauritius. This would certainly be a marked expansion from the usual audience for my reflections, which consists mostly of Darcy, my Eclectus parrot. He is a magnificent specimen who has been a great source of comfort since the children left home, but his attention span is not unwavering. Occasionally, he punctuates my stories  -- on Natalia, the housekeeper's, blunders, or Miss Hughes, the bell ringer's, bunions -- by breaking open a Brazil nut with a resonant crack.. At that point I usually try calling my daughter, Sophie, or Rupert, who suggested last time that I might like to tell the World Wide Web all about it, rather than him. He is such a thoughtful boy.

 Also this week is Teaser Tuesdays.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!
Open to a random page of your current read and share a teaser sentence from somewhere on that page.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.
Here's mine from page 14:

My attempt to discipline Natalia has backfired. Yesterday, Jeffrey came home from work and headed upstairs toward his study. I followed him so that I could tell him all about the latest Aga malfunction on the stairway. He opened the door to his study and we were both greeted by the unsettling sight of Natalia cleaning the room in her underwear, which was scant, back, and dotted with little shiny red hearts.

This woman is kind of bumbling, oblivious and definitely loveable.

Paris Blog -- Paris in July

Since the emphasis is on Paris in July this month, thanks to the meme from Thyme for Tea and Bookbath , I thought I should introduce you to another French blog that I enjoy. And if you are actually going to Paris, you can buy her book to guide you through the back streets.
Linda writes the blog Frenchless in France, although I don't know whether she actually speaks French and is just kidding about being Frenchless. She is from Texas. She married a Frenchman and lives in Paris. She used to have a house in Provence for the summers, but they've sold it now and are building a house in Brittany, I think. Anyway, it's along the sea.
Linda takes great photos around Paris and she knows about all kinds of secret places that people should visit.
When my daughter Grace, 19, was in Paris, Linda met her in Montmartre for the day and showed her this glorious reflection of stained glass windows.

As a matter of fact, I had to edit Linda's hand out of the photo because she was taking pictures too.

Grace was traveling alone and was intimidate visiting Montmartre the first time because some overly brazen guys grabbed her arm. The next time she ventured to Montmartre, she met Linda there. 

Linda has even written an ebook, a tour to Paris, that anyone could download to their iPhone and take along on their travels. I can't find the link to it right now, but it's called Secrets of a Paris Tour Guide  by Linda Mathieu.

Linda's blog is definitely an American in Paris blog worth visiting. Here's another photo that Grace took while traveling with Linda in Paris.

Isn't this a glorious shot from Sacre Coeur?

Paying It Forward

Part of receiving The Versatile Blogger Award from Suzie Tullett is naming other blogs that should receive the award.

The criteria stated 15 blogs, but that's a lot. I don't read 15 other blogs regularly -- maybe I need to expand.
And a lot of blogs don't accept awards. So that's fine. If I nominate you and you don't accept awards then just ignore me (or leave a comment if you want).
If you do accept awards, then please accept The Versatile Blogger Award and write a post about seven random things your readers don't know about you.
Since I'm a Francophile and a writer, many of the blogs I read focus on those topics.
Frenchless in France by Linda Mathieu makes me feel like I'm in Paris with her. She's the author of a Kindele book, Secrets of a Paris Tour Guide.

du Jour by Delana is living my dream. She's a Minnesota gal who moved to southern France and writes about her adventures there. She also runs a business called Provence Rugs.

My friend Sheila writes Life's Many Colors. She's the healthiest person I know and also writes about the trials of raising children, homeschooling, art projects and rehabbing her bungalow.

My daughter Grace started a blog called Life Allons-y when she went to college and then spent fall semester in France.

Artist Sally Tharpes Rowles writes Between Here and There and spends summers in France.

Diane writes Bibliophile by the Sea reviewing books and discovering great authors.

Tongue in Cheek by Corey is all about an American woman who married a Frenchman and loves antiques. I love her photos and her American gaffes.

Book Pregnant is a new blog about some authors whose first books are getting ready to be published. They provide me lots of info about what will someday happen when I get a book deal.

At Home With Books by Alyce is, you guessed it, about reading and books. She also does a Saturday Snapshot meme once a week that draws lots of readers and great pictures.

Lucia writes On My Way 2 Work & Other Stuff. She takes gorgeous pictures of sunrises and shares my love for foreign countries.

I know this isn't 15, but these are some blogs that I enjoy and that I wanted to offer the Versatile Blogger Award.