Marcia Francois's Blog

It’s possibly because we’re at the end of summer (but it’s still hot so not quite autumn yet) but I’m tired of thinking about and planning food. Although I do like reading about food, especially since I just finished Stanley Tucci’s memoir, Taste, today.

I was in Cape Town this week for work and a very lovely and concerned colleague asked me, “what are the children and Dion going to eat?”

I said, “they’re all old enough to figure it out...

I briefly considered pushing through and writing this on Friday so that it could actually still be February but decided to give myself grace instead and use my usual time on a Sunday.

February indeed lived up to its short month status – blink and it was over. However, here in Johannesburg, we had a deliciously COLD week, so cold I needed boots and jackets and scarves! All utterly lovely.

I am already, as I sit here in jeans and flip-flops, longing for real winter. But never fear, it ...

A few years ago I put “watch more TV” on my goals list. Most people would probably not need to do this but I am so hardwired to work first, play later that entire weeks would go by before I’d do anything fun.

“Watch more TV” worked so well that last year I put “Listen to more music” on my list. I subscribed to Spotify Premium and I was set. This worked really well too because the bar was very, very low (I only listened to classical music while writing blogs or a newsletter and certainly never f...

Hi friends

Happy Valentine’s weekend to you. I’ll write about mine next weekend because what we’re doing is one of the things on my #25in2025 list.

A confession – I have a hot mug of tea, it’s drizzling outside and I really had to think hard about whether I wanted to write or go read my book.

I am also a girl who loves a streak and so I am here for my #write25in2025.

I must also tell you… for the next 3 days the high will be… 19 C (65F) which is delightfully chilly but I don’t have wi...

Hello from a cloudy but still hot (31C) Johannesburg where the thunder is rumbling and threatening (very welcome) rain

Last year I received a gorgeous (truly gorgeous) diary as a gift and it was perfect for many months until it wasn’t.

You see, I am and have been a weekly planner for a great many years and this was a daily planner.

I made it work because I don’t like to waste and I truly enjoyed it until...

Hello everyone and welcome to February!

My friend sent me a message this morning that said “happy 2025” because she decided that her 2025 is only starting today. I love it!

I love the idea of a gentle easing in to the year but alas, that has not been the case. Kids going back to school and having to get up early again (!), work, exercise, all of it. Routines are lovely when you’re in them, but when you’ve had two months off, it’s hard to create those habits again. More on this later.

I remember...

Sunday rituals

There is nothing quite like that feeling on a Sunday night when I’ve already packed my lunch for the next day. When I don’t procrastinate and just do it, I feel virtuous and accomplished. This week was a good week in that I’ve already packed my lunch bag for Tuesday because I’m working from home tomorrow.

I also like to choose my clothes for my office days; on my work from home days, I’m almost always in jeans and a plain coloured t-shirt. This week, I’ll be in shorts because it i...

I guess that’s the end of the lovely stretch of overcast days and rainy weather we enjoyed over the last two weeks.

I always say that the only thing hot and sunny weather is good for is drying clothes! So of course, I did two loads of laundry today. Do you love or loathe doing laundry? (I like the “having done” part of laundry but my favourite part is smelling the clean laundry from the machine and then, at the end, folding it. I don’t like putting it away; t...

Guess what? I started a Substack!

That is one of my 25 in 2025 goals, by the way, and no better way to get things done than just to do them. I’m such an ESTJ!

I hope you’ll go over there and read the list, and subscribe.

(I don’t know fully what I’m doing yet but jumping in feet first – this is also how I started blogging in 2006)

Every year I usually trust the process and it works. My word will come to me in whichever way.

One year (2014 going into 2015) I thought my word would be tend and once I’d gone through the process, it ended up being enough.

This year (2024) I was listening to Ann Voskamp’s The Greatest Gift and on one of the days, she read two sentences within about 5 minutes that jumped out and grabbed me. The word “grace” was core in both of them and I thought, “ah, that’s what I want for next year”.

I then s...