The month of June this year brings great changes in France, no curfew, mask-free outdoors, all shops and terraces open, the usual beginning of the summer with the start of the vacation .. all that while the pandemic remains in the background. At least some optimism is back, you can feel it in the air.

I have been doing Magnolia tours, visiting areas with Magnolia trees to follow the flowering stages. On reflection, professionally I should have been a botanist. Some insights come late in life, although I remember to have had such an interest during my pre-academic years. Nothing lost though, other significant choices have shaped my life. One thing has been central to me, from child to senior, the inspiring beauty of nature.

When in the Montredon neighborhood, I visit the equestrian center to see what is happening there. Recently, I noticed preparations for a horse jumping contest and a solo horse training session inside the manège. The latter showed me that riding a horse is one thing but to make the horse do different things can be tough on rider and horse. Sensitivity and patience make things work, as usual.

What about the weather? While the weather has been out of control in parts of France, flooding areas, uprooting trees, damaging crops, it hasn’t been too warm but July might make it so. These days, I am happy to see a clouded sky whereas in the past I detested it. Decarbonising civilisation will make life better, healthier, more enjoyable, yet it takes the planning of a war to get there. We will of course.

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