And this photo I took on holiday last month with my family (Mum, Dad, Alison & Emily) really sums this up for me.
As I was lying on the beach just being still, which I rarely am at that time of day (around 1pm on a Thursday to be exact!), sail boats sailed slowly by, and the view - like a perfect piece of art - just took my breath away.
Everyone grabbed their phones to capture it!
Even this seagull had to stop what he was doing to take a look!
I know I was in a particularly beautiful place that day, and it would have been hard not to stop and take in the beauty, but still, I had to really pause to fully appreciate the moment - that I was sitting by the sea, looking at a spectacular scene in the south of France, with my family around me.
And after that, to make sure I well and truly appreciated where I was, we did the most logical thing I could think of and ordered rosé!
After arriving the previous afternoon to Nice airport, we made the short drive up into the hills to Mougins where we were staying for five days in a beautiful house overlooking a stunning emerald green golf course.
The next morning after our lazy petit dejunier we were swiftly rounded up by my two sun-loving sisters and set off to the beach in Cannes.
We spent the first half of the day soaking up the sun, eating and sipping ice cold rosé. It's perfectly acceptable to drink rosé at any time during the day when you're in France by the way - at least that's what I'm told!
If you happen to be in Cannes and are looking for a beach restaurant with friendly staff and great food I would definitely recommend this one...
When I got home, as I was looking through my photos from the holiday, I had somewhat of a revelation. I concluded that, in my view, the French have 'slow living' down to a tee. Their sometimes nonchalant attitude, casually calm and relaxed yet slightly uninterested, (which might, at times, be interpreted as rude!) could, if you wanted to look at it in a more positive light, be renamed 'the art of slow living'. They're just taking in their surroundings!
"Life moves fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." John Hughes
With the sun high in the sky as we were leaving, I decided that it was definitely one of my all-time favourite days.
I think we could all benefit from a little slow living.
Beautiful photos, so lovely to get to spend time with your family and be the "kid" rather than the "mum" :-)
ReplyDeleteSo true! And so unbelievably nice for a change :-) X x
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