Parc Naturel: Vaucluse, Lubéron, Provence
They are an experience every time, even the stews are godsends. My biggest supplier is a lavender farmer in Sault, every year I buy the best quality dried lavender flowers from his lavender fields. The festivities that follow last two days and are a special event, after this harvest festival I need a rest for several days.
After the final separation from my great love Michelé and being alone for more than two years, I have finally found a way to organize my thoughts and in the meantime I have worked out an existence again. With my today's business activity I do not earn any more amounts of millions, I can finance however with the sales and export of my Provence products my in the meantime again somewhat increased life expenditure. As a result of my final move to France, I have received from my pension fund, on balance of all claims, several hundred thousand Swiss francs, therefore I had enough equity capital, so that I can now run my business successfully without bank loans. The volume of incoming orders is quite considerable, I have therefore again founded a company, my business premises office and warehouse in Avignon are extremely modest, moreover, I have hired an additional employee to handle the daily orders and send them to my export customers. Never again I would like to work full time myself, my additional administrative office work in Avignon claims at most fifty percent activity, the rest of the time I would like to spend meaningfully in Provence and especially in the Lubéron Nature Park.
My ashes have still not been blown by the mistral to my beloved villages within the last two years that I have now spent in Provence. I am still alive. These villages and the fascinating landscape in the Lubéron have changed my human nature as a result of my long walks and encounters with the Provençal people.
My former life with my idea of success as power, financial wealth and luxury possessions of all kinds as well as social admiration mean nothing to me anymore. My small Provencal house in Lacoste is paradise in the natural park in the heart of Provence. There is nothing more in this world that I would want in addition, here I have found my happiness and complete satisfaction. I have learned to live with nature, to live here is the perfect fulfillment, every day is marked by a new experience, the corresponding seasons are always fascinating. The freedom, pine scent, red wine under plane trees, and long summer nights are like the fairy tale of a thousand and one nights. Spring often begins early in the year and brings numerous flowers everywhere in the Lubéron, the fruit and almond trees bloom, as well as many wildflowers.
Summer is also the time of lavender flowering. The flowering period of lavender in Provence begins, depending on the region, from mid to late June, but in some locations only in July. It then lasts until August, or sometimes a few flowers can still be found until the beginning of September. In autumn the vines turn colorful after the grape harvest. In winter comes the Mistral, a cold wind from the north blows sometimes for days at high speeds of up to 120 km / h, but then also provides a bright blue sky.
Spring bloom in the Lubéron, almond tree, gorse
During this time I do the necessary renovation work on my house and in the evening I enjoy the fireplace and the smell of my freshly split vines and look forward to dinner accompanied by Provençal wines. Where the sun pampers the landscape, top wines also thrive. The focus of viticulture in the Lubéron is on light rosé wines, followed by red and white wines. With this fascination of pine scents, red wine under plane trees, long summer nights and ever changing seasons, I have never spent a day in solitude.
I always look forward to the visit of my family members and grandchildren who spend their vacations with me in Provence. Nevertheless we spend these days with much joy, laughter and satisfaction as well as visits to small villages and in addition Avignon, Arles, Nimes, Aix en Provence and weekly markets, the respective parting is again a relief, the aperitives as well as the boule games with the Provençal friends in my village café are now possible without time limits.
My hikes through the cedar and oak forests of the Lubéron combined with visits to the beautiful mountain villages in the impressive nature in a varied cultural landscape are now the complete fulfillment in my life.
The thoughts of my great love, of Michelé are still present, never can I, even after this long time of our final separation, remove this love happiness from my thoughts, time heals wounds and other perspectives determine the further life, nevertheless there are still days in deep mourning that I have to spend with an immense pain and longing for Michele.
Entrances decorated with flowers in Provence
3
Foundation stone
The foundation stone for my present chaotic life was certainly laid by my parents in complete ignorance. As the only son (born in 1935), I grew up with two sisters in a highly respected family of factory owners.
My youth was paradise on earth; everything I ever wished for has come to pass, all problems and minor difficulties have been sorted out immediately. I was never held responsible for any failure. My father – unlike me – was fundamentally honest; his supreme laws were moral and ethical principles. In spite of a large villa on a respectable property with a park and a small forest, where my sisters and I were allowed to spend our beautiful youthful years, my father always remained extremely modest, although on the other hand he was also a person of respect, who also enjoyed great popularity among all friends, acquaintances and neighbors. Unfortunately, my father always tried to protect me so as not to endanger the reputation of his family. I never received a beating or any other punishment for any of my youthful pranks, except for one time when, out of convenience, I instructed my childhood friend to look for worms in our garden for my father, who was a passionate fisherman; the slap I received for this still hurts me today.
In addition, I was no longer allowed to move cars on our private property, although I had learned to drive at the age of ten, accompanied by my father, on the dirt roads along his thirty-kilometer trout stream. In fact, these lessons had also led me, on appropriate occasions and in the absence of my parents, to use one of the cars that were always ready to drive in our factory to make excursions at breathtaking speed through our residential area and the surrounding countryside. On several occasions I met the village policeman, who was riding his motorcycle from one locality to the next to quench his enormous thirst.
My father, who was a sociable man and therefore indulged in his beloved card game several times a week in our village, also met the policeman on these occasions. Although he had told him each time about my forbidden excursions, he never had the courage to file criminal charges against me or my family; if only because my father usually paid his not inconsiderable wine bills when he visited the inn. So the policeman had every reason to resign himself to the situation.
This carefree life without responsibility and consequences has shaped my character accordingly. I am in and of myself an intelligent and clever being who is always concerned about his advantage. Conversely, however, I have