
The Scent of Days at My Grandmother’s
My shop bears the gentle name Marguerite , echo of a woman small in stature, immense in heart. She taught me to love things that don’t shine, the silences that speak, the gestures that remain.
Marguerite moved through the seasons like one walks through morning dew: courage at her fingertips, humility in her soles. Her hands sank into the soil, her gaze followed faith like a beam of light. As a young girl, she worked the land, and the aches buried in her bones told that story for years.
Each Sunday, she went to mass, elegant in her simplicity, with a steady and peaceful step. Her shawl neatly folded, her jewelry discreet, she walked as one honors a ritual with the grace of those who know the value of silence.
She spoke to me of old customs, like passing down a song whose words warm the soul.
As a child, I crossed the village proud as a rooster, between the two bell towers that rang for communions, to reach the house with half-open shutters, where silence smelled sweet with tenderness.
Nights under the eiderdown were expeditions — flattened like a crêpe beneath a sea of duvet, and under the bed, a secret world: dried linden flowers, dog-eared books, forgotten healing plants, a voiceless violin… an inventory of dreams.
In her bedroom, treasures slept in gentle disarray: jewels with timid sparkle, elegant hats, silent dresses. The scent of coffee drifted like a whisper, while my grandfather shaved slowly, facing the barber’s mirror, and the grandfather clock beat the heart of happy days.
Wednesdays were sacred, the Aronde carried the whole family to homes full of life. Sometimes to couturiers, where fabric hummed beneath the needles, sometimes to my grandfather’s friends, in modest workshops or hushed parlors, where warmth arrived without noise. I, curious, listened to silence embroider its secrets.
It was in those outings, between steaming coffee and handshakes, that I learned to recognize beauty in what cannot be explained.
Today, my mother watches over this memory as one tends a fragile flame , and I, through this shop, make Marguerite’s memories dance, among chosen objects, whispered phrases, and glimmers of the past.
In every detail, there’s a breath of her: her light, her modesty, her tenderness.
Marguerite is all that , and so much more. A hand-stitched story still blooming in the drawers of the heart.
Transmission is the hope that our actions endure , and the faith that love is sanctified through sharing.