THE HERMIT

I have been more or less completely alone in my house this week and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed my own company, and this week I've had time to reflect a little on "aloneness." It's not the first time I've reflected on this - far from it - a few years ago I reached a point where I felt that everyone wanted a piece of me, and that was not a pleasant feeling. I was beginning to lose myself to other people's needs and requirements in that hectic merry-go-round we call Life, and I decided that the only way to deal with it was to spend some time alone, and to do that I had get away physically. The people around me accepted this, and now they are quite used to Big Mama sometimes disappearing away from her duties into a few days of self-imposed recluse. 

Relaxing on my terrace in France

I usually go to my house in France, underneath the Pyrenees - my second home during the last eleven years. I love it there! I love being there with family and friends too, but that hermit situation is incomparable. I might be there for a week and not talk to anyone - well, some words with my neighbours and the shopkeepers and a bar waiter or two - but I don't go out for meals, I cook for myself every evening. 

Duck breast with pureed cauliflower

My friends are amazed that I can be bothered to cook these kind of meals for myself, but that's just it! It's all about slow living, enjoyment and pure pleasure. It's about collecting myself again, about recharging my batteries and taking control of my own life. Part of that for me is cooking with those superb French ingredients. Part of it is reading the books I want when I want to, catching up on films that my husband doesn't necessarily like, but it's also doing chores around the house, repairing things, planting flowers, painting walls. 

From the road outside our house we can see this little chapel - Chapelle de Saint Martin - though we are further away than from where this photo was taken. http://masdencoste.com/Places_to_see/St_Martin_de_Camelas/st_martin_de_camelas.html It used to be a hermitage and it dates back to 1259. The Pyrenees are scattered with these little hermitages, now chapels, and the French government, helped by private donations, has made a huge effort to restore them. Visiting this lovely chapel is a frequent excursion for us, and here are Sophie and I on an outing in early March a couple of years ago.

Whenever I feel overloaded and worn out with those everyday duties, the noise, the work - life in the fast lane - I shout to my family "I want to be a hermit!! I want to live in total recluse with only books for company! I want to walk around in the Pyrenees and visit farms to ask for food! I want to wear rags!" They burst out laughing and roll around the floor. "Yeah yeah - try going without Facebook for a day or two, Mum - then you can start thinking of being a hermit!"....

Hmmm.... there's a shop in Perpignan that sells hermit-things. I think I'll check it out next time I'm there.