June 27, 2022 - Bayeux, France

Today is my last day in Bayeux, France.  I’ve loved this little town.  The people have been gracious and welcoming even when I have completely butchered trying to say some phrases or words in French.  

It’s definitely difficult to be here in France without my sister, Joy, but so many of you reached out to me on Facebook with words of comfort and support and I really appreciated it.  Today’s post will include a photo dump of just wonderful little spots where I took pictures.  It will include some wonderful pictures I took during my walk along the Aure, the river that flows through Bayeux, and the reason why people began settling here 2,000 years ago.

This afternoon I took a long walk along the river, Aure.

In the picture below, there is a baby bird sunning him/herself on the stone while Mom/Dad bird watches from the nest.  Can you see the parent?  Zoom in and under the round clay pipes, you’ll see a red crest just above the beak.

Can you see the male and female Mallards?

Here I came across a Weeping Willow Tree and this is where the full force of missing my sister hit me.  We used to play under and climb the Weeping Willow Trees at my Aunt Marie’s farm.  She’s also gone, a long time ago now.  I miss them both.

Psalm 137:1-4

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.  On the willows there we hung up our harps.  For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”  How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

Grief is a captor and tormentor at times requiring us to hold fast to that which is gone.  It is a foreign land of unexpected pain at a particular sound or smell.  It is a reminder that there will be no new memories made with them and that only the old ones remain.  But here in a foreign land, the river Aure and a weeping willow tree allowed me to grieve once more the loved ones I have lost - my Aunt Marie and my sister Joy.

Emotionally, it was a rough day.  Psalm 30:5 “…weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

I’m leaving Bayeux in the morning for a place I have longed to visit for MANY years - Mont St Michel.  And there’s a story behind this, too.  I’ll share that tomorrow.