May 2010, a fairly rotten month

I haven't felt like writing much this month. First, the weather turned cold, so May felt more like March. Then, Paul's mother died. People look at me strangely when I talk of my mother-in-law. I had no complaints. She was wonderful. She was fun, she loved to travel and loved our telling of our trips when she no longer was able to go anywhere. She loved movies and we kept her in supply with DVD's and Anne's telling her of all the latest films. She and Edouard were ever so generous, helping us get our start with our first apartment and more. I hope we can continue to help our own children as much. She died on May 17. She would have been 101 on June 20.
Paul and I drove down to Six-Fours for the funeral on Friday and were joined by Louis, who cut short a visit to Gwen's brother's, and Anne, on her way home from the Cannes Film Festival. It was an intimate funeral -- mostly family and some neighbors of Pierre and Gillette. Anne-Valérie came with Laure-Hélène and Alexandre came with his whole family. Charlette, Yves, and Roger were there, of course. And Danièle and Michelle. Isabelle, Marie-Claude's daughter, came, too. We know that the ones who couldn't come would have wanted to be there, but it's just not always possible. It was a very nice ceremony in the chapel in le Brusc village of Six-Fours, almost walking distance from the Lebelle's. She was buried in the crypt at the Courrens cemetery alongside Edouard.
As usual with funerals, the day ended pleasantly with the reminiscing. I took Louis and Anne back to the station so they could catch their trains and by the time I got back to the house, Laure-Hélène and Valentine were in the pool and the adults were sitting around telling Marguerite stories. The weather in Six-Fours was beautiful and stayed that way. It even worked its way up to Paris, where it stayed sunny and hot until Thursday, when a storm came through and broke the spell. Now, it's gray and chilly again.
Our summer plans are starting to come together. We've got Jon and Tobi coming to pick up Eric (from a school exchange program) at the end of June. Then, we're going to England in mid-July. The Pickars are coming at the end of July......

Overseas Americans Week (OAW) Got Some Press

It started before OAW got under way with an article in the Wall Street Journal:
Time ran an article during the week: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1983238,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
Then came an article in the Sunday New York Times that was also in Monday's International Herald Tribune: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/us/26expat.html?emc=eta1
Most of the quotes are from the ACA, which is like AARO and organized the week with AARO and the Federation of American Women's Clubs. ACA is based in Switzerland and its members are mostly there, where the problems of being American are most pressing.
And online PR at Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20100415/bs_prweb/prweb3868654_1
Joe Wilson, (R, SC) has brought the banking issue to the floor of the house and Carolyn Maloney (D, NY)
Andy Coyne has found some YouTube videos of Congressman Wilson speaking on the issue to the House and to Fox News. I watched and felt that he did not seem very enthusiastic nor articulate, but that's just my feeling.

In other news, Claire is ready to go back to work. Geoff took his exam in April and is enjoying some time to relax before cracking the books for the next one. Emma is taking a long weekend in Paris with a friend -- okay, she hasn't traveled far, but it's still vacation mode, hotel and all. I've got lots and lots of filing to do. I just spent more time than it was worth to print some new labels for the files.