On Cakes and Conversations
Podcast episode #1-the Art of Lost Living
When the winter days begin to lengthen and February offers some sunshine and warm afternoons, Tamsin and I make a plan to launch the podcast this week, as if it is a very normal country thing to do. Stymied by some sound technology but rescued by some wiser friends, we settled down to talk about how we both ended up here in Southwest France. After an Instagram discovery, it turned out we lived just minutes apart, pursuing our own creative journeys in different stages of our lives.
Tamsin is in her late 40s, and I am in my early 70s; She is a yoga instructor and ‘business’ coach, and I have taught cooking and butchery for 30 years. We are English and American, and we both love our crazy upside-down global lives in rural France. During the Pandemic, we both reached out to the world with online classes and videos. Tamsin continues to teach yoga online here. And offers intuitive coaching sessions through Unfolding Conversations; you can find more information here. I have decided to retire from traditional teaching in person and online and concentrate on writing a few books. We both write on our Substack newsletters as Unfolding Conversations with Tamsin Jardinier and The Camont Journals for me. We both live with a menagerie of animals and share our affection for them as an extended pack.
Often when Tamsin and I meet for conversations about business (she’s my coach, too!), dogs, and French life, we stop and have a coffee or tea. And, of course, we share a sweet penchant for cake. And so on these quieter winter days, it’s easy to bake a cake or little muffins, financiers or madeleines as we plot a few new adventures in our French lives.
We call it the Art of Lost Living. Things that got lost as we became too busy with our lives- writing a letter, planting flowers, calling a friend, giving a gift. Slowing down just one notch, like downshifting gears in my beat-up old 2001 VW Passat, allows for a bit more time to see the edges of the road, those chicory blue wildflowers, the rabbit waiting to jump, a wild plum tree in snowy bloom, not just the road.
The Art of Lost Living could be the romantic way of saying like in the “old days,” but it really means looking at now, this modern life with a bit more understanding of the beauty and grace of moving slowly through a day. I used to race around the southwest of France at breakneck speed, gathering medieval villages, stone chateaux, and Michelin-starred restaurants like a tourist version of Monopoly. Now, some weeks, I barely make it off of Planet Camont- stretching my days like the turtle, creeping blade by blade across the Lost Orchard. It means taking the time to take the time: to bake a cake, repaint the front door, call on a neighbor, or stack the wood closer for the winter fires.
Welcome to our little world. Les Dames du Paradis is a peek into French country life, gardening, giving, cooking, creative conversations, and all the small bits that allow us to take a deep breath and share a collective le sigh. Launch date this Friday- February 10!
Are you a Dame? Or Monsieur?
If you have your AirPods in while walking the dogs (Tamsin) or you are listening on your phone speaker while doing dishes (Kate’s preferred podcast mode), you might feel like you are alone in your thoughts. But we think that we are stronger when brought together—on a chat, a phone call, over a cup of tea, and preferably with cake. Just as the initial cloistered isolation of rural Gascony must have frightened the 20 young noble women who the “Evil Archbishop” pirated to fill the coffers of the Convent du Paravis, they eventually gathered strength and in numbers and ruled over a rich yet monastic life in the forgotten French countryside. The Les Dames du Paravis convent became the most important center of culture and learning in all of southwest France.
A thousand years later, we join together and sit at a kitchen table with cake and tea. We share our French days, reaching out to a global audience from the gentler wilds of still-quiet Gascony. These are the things we talk about:
Intergenerational chats about growing—not just older, but deeper.
Inspired readings that resonate with us, and we share the best of these.
Mentoring, asking for and receiving help and encouragement. It’s not just an age thing.
Taking time—to work, to create, to be quiet, to play.
The Pack: our loving dogs that bring us together just as Lucien, Edie, and Chica became a furred family.
Food! We always talk about food. Kate has taught Classic Gascon cooking for over 30 years in her charming 18th-century Kitchen at Camont. Tamsin is an accomplished Ayurvedic cook and feeds her retreat guests great, local food.
Creativity. What has always been a leitmotif in both our lives, both Kate and Tamsin have just returned to their early creative loves—pottery, and painting. Kate has transformed her cooking school into a Creative Retreat for writers, artists, photographers, cooks, and other creatives. The applications of these residents provide much fuel for the creative fire as we discuss what Originality is. Authenticity? and Daily Practice?
Join us every other weekend as we share our thoughts, interview our creative neighbors and friends, and rummage around the quiet countryside for everyday French inspiration. And Cake! and we’ll be posting the cake recipes as we post the episodes. let us know what your favorite treats are.
Can't wait!!!
Looking forward to listening to all that wisdom and fun stuff