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Civility
This morning, as I was about to enter the bakery to get my daily baguette, a young boy ran past me and into the shop. He asked for a baguette, handed the clerk a 5 euro bill, took his change and darted...
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Nesting (Nidification)
We have been back in the US for about 18 hours now. We have spent most of that time “nesting” – taking clothing items out of our storage bins and putting them back in the dressers and closets where...
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Summertime and the livin is easy… (George Gershwin)
We have been back in the states for two months now. I have stopped interjecting French words into conversations. (I find that most people just look at me strangely when I say “voila” instead of “see”...
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“I Can’t Stop Smiling” (Love and Theft)
We arrived at our apartment in France last week. A friend from Aix en Provence came to the airport to greet us. Our neighbor had driven from Vaison la Romaine to pick us up and bring us back to our...
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Le Dolium
We celebrated Ellen’s birthday by going to a very nice restaurant in Beaumes de Venise. The village of Beaumes de Venise is located at the edge the Dentelles de Montmirail mountains about 20 km from...
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Purée!
Last week, we invited French friends to dinner. During the conversation, I noted that Marie would say “Purée!” instead of swearing or saying some other mild oath.“Purée” is an example of how food terms...
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Chocolate wars
For the eight years that we have been coming here, Vaison has had one gourmet chocolate shop. There are, of course, chocolates made and sold at some of the bakeries/patisseries and there is the...
View ArticleTravels
I have been reading Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck and it has made me think a lot about traveling. We traveled a lot in May. We entertained neighbors from Lansing at the beginning of the month...
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Health Care in France
I am continually amazed at the French health care system. On Friday morning, Ellen and I walked to the Vaison hospital so that I could have a cyst removed from my eyelid. The operation was the...
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June in Vaison la Romaine
This is the first time we have spent June in France. I am glad we did. The weather is warmer and though we had several severe rain storms at the beginning of the month, it has not rained since - and...
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Nantes and Paris
We went to Nantes to visit a dear friend. (We also got to see a friend who we have not seen since she was in East Lansing in 1980!) Nantes is at the mouth of the Loire River on the western coast of...
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Home again, home again...
We have been back in Lansing almost a month. We have settled in and our house feels like it is ours again. Clothes and objects that we stored so that our house-sitters would have empty closets and...
View ArticleRolling up the sidewalks
We still get questions from friends who ask about the differences that we note between life in Lansing and life in Vaison la Romaine. We still get questions about how long it takes to readjust to one...
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Slow Trains
Years ago, I asked my secretary to do something that was either redundant or not needed which she pointed out to me. I still asked her to do it – whatever it was, only to realize that she was right....
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Robert Burns Night
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!Aboon them a' ye tak your place,Painch, tripe, or thairm:Weel are ye worthy o' a graceAs lang's my arm. Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind...
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Rally round Spring
Ah, the early signs of spring: the almond trees are blooming, asparagus is on sale at the market, the streets are filled with Rally cars. (?)Last weekend was the annual auto rally. It happens at the...
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La Feria de Paques in Arles
We went with American friends to Arles for «La Feria de Paques» (Easter Festival). Ellen read that the festival draws 500,000 people to Arles! There is music, paella, bullfights and wine. We chose to...
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Stepping Out
Now that we are back in France, it is clear what I miss most about France when we are away: steps, baguettes and local groceries. (The list could go on for several more pages, but these three come to...
View ArticleSt. Valentine’s Day Dinner Chez Entre Amis
We decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day by going out for dinner. We went to a new restaurant in the middle of town that is quickly becoming a favorite of ours: Entre Amis (Between Friends). We have...
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Random observations
It has been very chilly here. The daytime temperature going only as high as 50° is bad enough but when the Mistral is blowing it is downright cold. We walked up to the old town yesterday and the wind...
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Compare and contrast « Ob-la-di » with « Ob-la-da-blah-blah-blah»
Every year we come to France, I am struck by the differences between our countries. We have been doing this transcontinental shuffle for ten years (!) now but the contrasts are still striking.There are...
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La Bureaucratie Française
A bureaucracy is “a government administered primarily by bureaus staffed with non-elected officials”.[1]Bureaucracies were established in ancient China, in ancient Egypt, in the Roman empire and have...
View ArticleTravels from France
First of all, it has been a really long time since I have posted my observations. When I finished my text, I couldn’t remember the procedure for creating a post. It took me a few minutes of reflection...
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I Know Where You Are From
Do you remember in the movie Inglorious Basterds when Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) is discovered to be a spy because he orders three beers in a German bar raising his hand and using his index,...
View ArticleMusings
I went to the grocery store in our village yesterday and bought two ribs of stalk of celery. (I had to look up the definition to be sure that I had the terms correct.) I don’t think I have ever bought...
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