Last week was the end of summer, and the begining of fall, a season I never liked… So, to make a smooth transition between the seasons, we decided to spend some time “in the South”, Provence and Côte d’Azur. We had a great weather for most of our stay, sunny and warm…

We spent two days in Provence (le Luberon), visiting a small village called Lourmarin. It is such a wonderful place, with narrow streets, old houses, a castel, and “the light of the South”. Here are some photos taken there:

On our way toward Saint Raphaël, we stopped by a very special garden/museum, where plants used as vegetable dyes are grown. We learned a lot!

We then visited Thoronet abbey: such a beautiful and quiet place…

On arriving to Saint Raphaël, we had our first dinner near a small harbour called Santa Lucia:

On our way back home, we stopped by Villeneuve les Avignon to visit another abbey:

It was time to go back home and find the rain and the cold of the North!

We enjoyed our visit to the South, and are looking forward to another visit, maybe in the Spring…

During the trip, each time we visited a church I looked for a Saint Antoine statue and lighted a candle. As you might be aware now if you read my previous posts, if I am still around those days it is because I had the chance to be hospitalized in the Dept of Hematology in the Saint Antoine Hospital in Paris. All the people there worked hard to save my life, and in particular my fantastic graft doctor. They were helped by my family and my stem cells donor, so I had the chance to have a second life. I love them all!

Yesterday was my yearly visit to Saint Antoine Hospital. I met with my fantastic graft doctor. She discussed with me the results from my last blood analysis: perfect!

After I catched the Covid a short while ago, I asked her if I was still seen as “at risk”. She told me that after more than 3 years since being grafted, I am no more considered of “as risk”. Better, because I have the immune system of my young stem cells donor, I can be seen as being less at risk than people of the same age as me: a chimera with a young immune system in a crappy old body :-)!

5 years ago, I started my vaccination campaign. The time has now come to have the booster for the pneumococcal vaccine…

We are almost entering in the Fall, the season I like the less… I like the colors of this season, but hate the shorter day light… I don’t have many flowers in my garden, but still a few vegetables are growing, like cuncumbers, zucchinis,…

September is the begining of the “academic year”, even for retired people ! I started again my “artistic life”, working with glass… I followed what I started last june, working on fusing. I made new knife olders.

Today was my first class of modeling. I worked on the project I started before the summer. It is not finish yet, but I like it!

Anyway, it is great to be able to enjoy life! Thank you people at Saint Antoine Hematology Dpt, and in particular my kind graft doctor, my anonymous stem cells donor, and my family and friends! I love you all!

One of my dreams is that, one day, my anonymous stem cells donor will read my blog…