Second Lives as Expats in France

Maryl meets three expats, see how they live

Maggie                                             Martine                           Nili               

The shopping, art, personal tours and CannesFilm Festival aside, one of the greatest pleasures I experienced my three weeks in France was making friends with three women….expats to be precise.  In the little village of Collobrieres, I met Maggie from London, Martine from San Francisco (originally from Paris though) and Nili from Iran but then Austria after the Shah was deposed.

These women all started their second lives in different ways but all arrived at fulfillment together in a small community in Provence.  Each story is unique but all took the courage to just get up and move.

Three Women Sculptors - True Artists with Some Engineering Expertise on the Side

Maryl marvels at the magnitude of their sculptures

Nathalie Decoster                                     Carol Friedmann                                    Carolyn Palmer 

So do these three women look like engineers to you?  I had the occasion to experience eye-opening work of two female sculptors on my recent trip to France and a similar encounter with another in our own neck of the woods. Nathalie Decoster who works in Paris sculpts figures in bronze - although she is beginning to work with other materials – that represent man confronting time and nature. Gloria Friedmann, originally from Germany who also works in France, is a sculptor, painter, photographer and videographer who interprets man against nature, culture and humanity. Carolyn Palmer is a New York portrait artist who creates life-size bronze busts and statues. As I walked around and admired their art pieces it occurred to me that these are also engineering feats and that artists need to know some sciences along with their arts. You may remember the media frenzy Lawrence Summers, then President of Harvard, set off when inferring that innate differences between the genders may be the reason so few women scientists make it to the top.  I'm not looking to open up that debate but maybe we're not measuring female aptitude in the right places.  Anyway, just take a look at these sculptures for yourselves and enjoy their magnitude and beauty. 

Should you Eliminate Dairy in your Diet?

Ruth dumps the dairy and get her calcium elsewhere.

In the second half of life, should you dump dairy? One of the sensitivities that can occur as you age is your sensitivity to dairy. I am lactose intolerant, it runs in my family, so this food allergy happened in my forties. You can become intolerant of dairy at any stage, so if you are experiencing gastro intestinal discomfort, you should look to eliminate the culprit. Do two weeks avoiding dairy products and see if your situation improves. I laugh when I think about my daughter’s response to milk. During Hurricane Sandy her refrigerator stopped working, and when she went to pour the soured milk down the drain, it was a solid mass of stench. She has since refused to drink milk because it reminds her of that smell. LOL! She adds hot water to her coffee instead of milk. It works for me too. But you can substitute almond milk, or soy milk if you prefer.

Here's how dairy can do more harm then good:

Joni Mitchell: On Life, Loss and Missing Out on Woodstock

Caryl shares an exclusive playlist from Joni Mitchell's 70th birthday concert

The last time I saw Joni was in Toronto in June of 2013. The occasion that brought her back on stage was a birthday happening. For two nights, performers and musicians came to together in a concert celebrating the legendary singer’s 70th birthday next November. For the past decade, Joni Mitchell has not performed because of health reasons--she has Morgellons Syndrome, a parasitic infestation some doctors claim is delusional--and a voice that with age has been reduced in range.

Joni Mitchell's extraordinary career spans 50 years and mixes together the genres of folk, jazz, blues and a bit of rock and roll. The birthday tribute show that was part of Toronto's Luminato Festival, lasted almost three hours the night I saw it.  Combining familiar and obscure songs chosen by Mitchell herself,  the concert featured performers with reputations ranging from the little known: Liam Titcomb who sang the poignant If  to the famous, Rufus Wainwright who peformed the Yeats poem Slouching Towards Bethelehem acapello reinterpreting it like “a Scottish folksong”. Wainwright told the audience how he didn't grow up with Joni's music.  His mother, the folk singer Kate McGarrigal who died last year, was kind of competitive, he said, and banned the more successful Mitchell's music from the family's home.

GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK – THEN AND NOW

Maryl revives summer days from her past, so welcome in this heat!

Then                                                                              Now

Caryl and I just spent a few days at my house at the Jersey shore mapping out some new ideas for Second Lives Club. I live a few towns north of Asbury Park, where years ago my high school friends and I would take the bus in for a day of sun and sand. That seaside community took a beating from Superstorm Sandy last October just like the rest of the surrounding beaches although Asbury Park’s past has been a bit of a roller coaster ride all along.

Does Meredith Vieira Finally "Have It All"?

Caryl congratulates Meredith on her new job at 60

You've come a long way, baby! MeredithVieira, longtime journalist and sometime game show host, is getting her own syndicated talk show in 2014. For Vieira, who turns 60 this December, the move marks another triumph in a stellar career that began in l975 as a news announcer on a Massachusetts radio station following her graduation from Tufts. In the last decade alone, she's been a co-host of "The View",  Katie Couric's replacement on "Today" (without letting the ratings slide, by the way) and moderator of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Getting her own syndicated show is a little like winning the jackpot on the Millionaire. Vieira will have editorial control as well as financial control (think Oprah!), not to mention her name all over the product. (It's "The Meredith Vieira Show". ) In other words, she's doing this show on her terms.


Having total control is pretty much the holy grail of the 21st century. Plus, doing it your own way is usually a precursor to "having it all." And, like most working women and mothers and battle-tested feminists, Vieira knows full well how hard a road it has been to get here.  In a statement announcing her new gig in the "New York Times" last week, Vieira said she wanted the show to embody what she called the “three H’s”: heat, heart and humor. “And speaking of the heart, I want to thank my husband, Richard, and kids, Ben, Gabe and Lily, for strongly encouraging me to take this incredible opportunity,” she said, and added, “or else they really just want to get me out of the house.” 

Think back to 1980s whenVieira, pregnant with her first child at 36, hit another jackpot by reaching the pinnacle of tv journalism. Perhaps you've forgotten Vieira was a correspondent for the most prestigious and influential show on the air then and even now: "Sixty Minutes". What happened next is an ugly but not atypical story from that era.

Shopping in Provence, France

Maryl returns from France with a new dress, perfume, face cream and hairstyle

I mourn the days when shopping in France, in all of Europe for that matter, meant being able to afford high fashion for less or at least sans the VAT (value added tax).  Then came the Euro, a rapidly changing global economy, outlet stores, Loehmann’s and Century 21 here in the US and the bargains weren’t so great anymore.  But there’s still something to be said about wearing “an original” and being able to say “I got it in France”.  Here’s how I did it.

Paying Tribute: Nelson Mandela

Caryl recalls her recent trip to South Africa and the ex-president who inspired her 

President Obama and his family arrived in South Africa today but he won’t be seeing Nelson Mandela, who remains critically ill in a hospital in Pretoria. Mandela is one of Obama’s heroes as well as mine. I made it to South Africa last December, part of my Hillary Clinton-like tour of the continent—10  planes in 11 days. (It's a lot of ground to cover!) Madiba, as he is called by those who love him, was also in the hospital then with a lung infection. There was much speculation at the time as there is now that the end might be near for the 94-year-old statesman and revolutionary who helped end apartheid in South Africa.

Whole Foods Are Naturally Healthy And Low Calorie.

Ruth loses weight by subtracting the salt and adding some spice.

 Photoshopping this picture doesn't make the donut healthy!

When I wanted to lose 20 lbs, I tried some tricks on myself that turned out was just the right thing to do to lose weight. I switched to salads and since then have added greens to every meal I eat. I try to eat and get my enzymes kicking in each time I lift my fork. Fresh uncooked foods start your enzyme juices revving up and that kicks up your metabolism. Your body is hot wired to eat food off the tree, bush or from the ground. When you feed it what it recognizes, it knows how to process it. When you feed it something it doesn’t recognize, it often stores it as fat. For example, a donut is stored as fat because it isn’t recognizable as a whole food. Eat whole foods to maintain your health and keep your body weight in check.  And here's how to season your food to tantalize yet temper its consumption.

Upgrade your travel experience without flying first class

Maryl discovers local tour guides that can personalize your next trip.

Laurence Minard-Amalou, of Provence Exclusive

Leave the tour groups behind and your travel books at home and hire a personal tour guide for your next vacation or adventure. Slogging along with a pack of camera laden tourists and straining to listen to the leader with the silly hat or pinwheel isn’t ideal. You can try the guide book route if you’re good at reading and walking at the same time. If not, consider hiring a personal tour guide for your next trip to an unknown or foreign location.

HOW I FINALLY MADE IT TO CANNES AND IT WASN'T A DREAM

A Short Film and A Red Carpet Screening are Maryl's Ticket to the Cannes Film Festival

Susan, Exec. Director-Eurica and Maryl

When I was starting out in the film and video business, one of my first productions was selected for a women’s festival at the Mercer Arts Center in New York. I was excited but still a novice and just wanted to make videos. Years after one of my documentaries was entered as a possible Academy Award nominee. That’s what you dream about when you’re in this industry….an Oscar or a screening at Cannes. Sometimes you get there much later and not the way you thought.

The Rainbow After the Rain

Hillary Clinton Suits Up 

It's been raining forever it seems. It rained last week, it rained Memorial Day weekend, and now it's raining again. But we can't let the weather dampen our spirits. This rainbow of Hillary Clinton's pantsuits has been circling the web all this week (originating from Reddit) leaving smiles in its wake. Do you have a favorite? I'm loving the gray one (second from the right) but maybe it's been gray so long outside, I've just acclimatized.