taking his thyme

my husband is enamored with food writer and cook richard olney, who left iowa to live in paris and eventually settled in provence. steve has written two articles either directly or indirectly about olney, and wishes to write more. he is good friends with the current caretaker of olney’s property, which still exists. over the last two days, steve made a mad run to provence to see the house one more time before we leave, to see his friend marc and drink lots of old wine with him, and to kiss lulu peyraud once on each cheek. lulu was olney’s favorite winemaker, and is currently 102 years old with no end in sight. in the process, steve went on a little walkabout on the hillside above olney’s house, and came home with a very meaningful handful of wild thyme.

wild thyme

sollies-toucas, france