I don't like writing about current events, except when they affect me or my family. None of us were in Nice the other day, so we are all safe and sound. Some family members live in Orlando, but none were out dancing that horrible night. Friends live in Brussels, and luckily, none were injured in the rampage there. Going back to last year, dear friends of ours lost a family member in the Charlie Hebdo attack. Friends of other family members lost their only child at the Bataclan in November; her fiancé, also an only child, also died. A café I go to when I'm near Nation was hit by a suicide bomber in that November 13 attack and luckily he was his only dead victim, but the café did have to close for renovation and I've been back a couple of times. Life goes on, but one does remember that this happened here.
We've gone from the ISIS directed attacks to the ISIS inspired ones. How on earth can the police, military, and intelligence services discover the nut cases that will be inspired to such acts? It's been hard enough to keep track of the fanatics who are known for their affiliation, but the ones who are feeling rejected and in trolling the Internet find the recipe for fame and taking a bunch of victims with them are impossible to find before their switch goes on.
When I should be writing about the very nice visit we had from our nephew, just graduated and off to start his career as a trauma ICU nurse, I'm stuck on the state of the world, in general, and the state of France, in particular. I won't even venture into the state of the United States.
Let me get to that visit. E packed in a lot in a single week: a couple of days roaming Paris, a few days roaming Rome, and a few days with his buddy from high school exchange days in Lyon, before coming back to us for a Fête Nat. early dinner with cousins, including the little cousins. L drove him into Paris when they left our house so he could try to catch the fireworks from Montmartre, but by the time he got there, there were already too many people, he couldn't see anything, and then he started getting text messages asking if he was OK, which tuned him in to the news that there was something going on, so he came back a little earlier than expected. It did put a damper on the end of an otherwise good vacation.
That's about it. I'm spending more of my online time with machine knitting groups. Knitting, whether hand or by machine, has been a good way to divert my attention from the news channels and facebook rants. (Others cook.)
