Back to Enjoying Living in Antibes

By Jemma:

It’s all about the ants.

I’ve never forgotten the advice from one of my earliest writing teachers. You can go on a glorious picnic – the food, conversation, and the weather all perfection – but you have no story until the ants arrive. They invade your blanket and carpet your food, and despite blue skies and the best of friends, it’s the ants that create the story.

Here’s our problem: We’ve returned to Bellevue, our summertime home in Antibes, and we have no ants.  Okay, a fair few six-legged creatures scurry in their habitual line across the exterior stucco wall, transporting who knows what to who knows where.

The good news is after several years of visiting the French Riviera during the summer months, there were no ants. Owning a maison secondaire (second home) anywhere requires logistics in terms of ongoing maintenance, security, utilities and general upkeep. Add to that equation an older home, renovations, and the Côte d’Azur climate Bellevue has doled up a few surprises over the years. Read The not so Glamorous Côte d’Azur Life of Home Upkeep.

So, this summer when Jemma and family arrived and there was no home repair issue it was a pleasant homecoming.

Continue reading here. A contributor blog post by French Lessons Blog.

Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence – Montagne St. Victoire: Full-day Wine tour from Marseille

Embark on a full-day wine tour from Marseille or its surrounding cities to the captivating Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence, the westernmost vineyards of Provence.

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Jemma Hélène

Jemma was born and raised in the US Midwest. A banker by trade, she slogged away at a Swiss investment bank in the UK and South Africa before moving – for decent spaces of time, anyway – to the South of France. At a similar stage, she also moved to the right side of her brain as a writer. She has published articles in Maclean’s, SuperYacht World, and various travel and university presses.

At this point Jemma lives mostly in Canada, but she spends the whole of every summer in the Côte d’Azur town of Antibes. From this seaside town of ramparts, situated midway between Nice and Cannes, she has penned her blog French Lessons since 2007. Each post captures a snapshot of the remarkable, real life of the French Riviera. “Consider these pages my summertime gift to you,” she tells her readers.

When not engrossed in things French, Jemma is - not in any particular order - writing a book, making music, performing motherly duties, expanding sustainable education in places that have less of it, promoting Canadian writing, and travelling off-the-beaten-track: over 90 countries, and counting.

You can reach Jemma through her blog site at French Lessons.