Summer, at last

Summer has arrived. We've had some tremendous thunderstorms and a few days of really hot sun.

Yesterday, the STC France board held its annual planning meeting in our yard. For me, the whole STC thing is slowly leaving my system. I'm still on the board and will volunteer -- at least until next year's conference -- but after that, I'll let go completely. I think it was a good meeting although we left with lots of unfinished business. Next year's conference planning is well under way and we decided to have just one big meeting before that, a career day in October. Must remember that it should not conflict with WICE's Money Matters for Women conference.

Last year, in October, I think, Francine was starting a new painting and I fell in love with it and said I wanted to buy it for Paul's birthday (end of Dec.). We look at it and see a casbah. She finished the painting, but since it was one of a new series, she held on to it for the gallery exhibit. But then she got caught up in Anne Le Musical (just ended its successful run) and never quite completed the series. So, at last, she decided to have Paul's picture framed, let me buy it and I will lend it back to her whenever the exhibit happens. Anyway, the framing is absolutely perfect and the painting is beautiful. It's opposite the couch and as the light goes down at the end of the day, the blues become gray and the white stands out even more. (No, I'm not putting a picture of it up, for now.)

I'm trying to find time and patience to scan old photos, but it's boring, so I always manage to find something else to do.

On Facebook, I've been enjoying Dick's pictures of Anja's and his trip in the Rockies with the Model T.

Last weekend we all (Emma, Anne, Louis, Gwen, Paul and I) went down to Toulon for Paul's mother's birthday. She's 100 years old. Claire, Geoff and Charlotte came in from England. It was a great little family reunion. Claire, Geoff and Charlotte stayed the whole week, in fact, in the annex at Pierre and Gillette's. Pierre and Gillette came up to Verrières on Sunday for their annual check-ups and to be here when Nadine and the kids arrived from China. I got to see them all in Verrières on Friday, when I went to have lunch with my friend from KDS, Pascale.
Pascale has gotten a raw deal from KDS and the whole thing just makes me sick. Most of my KDS friends are now ex-KDS and from what I hear, the whole atmosphere has changed. I'm glad, again, that I left when I did. Even if I felt pressured into coming to the decision to leave and realized, too late, that it was a form of harrassment, I was in no condition to stay and fight.

A walk along the Canal de l'Ourcq

vf sous le trait à la fin du texte en anglais

Daniel and Simone led an Ile de France walk along the Canal de l'Ourcq near Meaux. I think most Anglophone readers think of French mustard (the other mustard city is Dijon) and cheese (Brie de Meaux) when they hear of Meaux. It's has archeological remnants that go back to the gallo-roman times (late Roman Empire). It was occupied by the Vikings in the 9th century and was a major city in the Middle Ages as part of Champagne. The cathedral is a Gothic cathedral started in the 12th century and there are still other buildings around the cathedral from that period. The city was a major prize in the Hundred Years War and was occupied by the English for a short time. So, when you get off the train to find the canal, you do a little sight-seeing, too.

As we walked through the town, one of the Americans among us remarked on the beautiful Bossuet gardens. (Did I mention that Bossuet was the Bishop of Meaux in the 17th century and has a street, gardens, buildings, etc. named after him, so you can't not know that Meaux is very proud of him?) Back to the gardens - they are not very big, but they are impecable, and the remark was that the French take great pride in their public gardens and spend the money to maintain them. That led to some discussion of public spending, public servants and taxes. My own feeling is that the French do not enjoy paying high taxes, but they do understand and appreciate public service, including beautiful gardens.

I met Ann again. Our first walk together was last year at Provins, but I guess, since she and her husband went on the long hike and Paul and I stayed in the town to sight-see, we didn't talk much. We did partner up on a later walk in the fall - the stragglers. And we straggled last Wednesday, too. And here comes the "small world" story: Ann and her husband do not live in Paris; they are here on a temporary assignment. They live near Alexandria, VA. So, I reminisced that I had an aunt and uncle and cousins who had lived near Alexandria, in Hollin Hills, for a long, long time. BINGO. Ann has lived in Hollin Hills for the past 45 years and knew Hal and Bobbie! She says it hasn't changed much. The swimming pool is the same. The woods have grown and some of the trees are so tall, they allow more sun to get through for new growth - more flowers. But many of the people are the same. Children of the original owners have come back. And it's still a politically liberal community.

It was a very hot and sunny day last Wednesday. I guess it was a bit over-ambitious of me to think I could handle a 16-17 km. walk on a hot day just four weeks after the operation. I had to give up after about 12 km. Fortunately, we were near the intersection of the canal with a road and just down the road was a garage for agricultural equipment. The owner of the garage kindly drove me to the train station in Meaux and I had just enough time to get myself some more water (I'd already drunk all that I had started out with) before the train back to Paris arrived.

What else has been going on? Well, Louis turned 26. We celebrated his birthday with the Lebelles home from China on vacation. That's always a treat - well two treats: celebrating a birthday and seeing Pierre-Frédéric, Nadine and the kids. They look and sound great. They've got a busy couple of weeks of vacation, visiting family in the east and the south of France.

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Mercredi, il y avait une randonné le long du Canal de l'Ourcq autour de Meaux. Le cathédral est impressionant, mais je suis devenue un peu indifférente à l'architecture gothique. Et il n'y a pas de beaux vitraux. Il y a, bien sûr, la statue de Bossuet, l'évèque de Meaux à la fin du 17è siècle. Ils sont très fier de Bossuet à Meaux et on trouve son nom partout: rue, jardins, bâtiments, .... Les jardins sont impeccablement entretenus, ce qui a enclenché une discussion sur le service public vu par les américains et les français. (Nous étions sept: quatre français, deux américains et moi, un peu des deux). Mon sentiment est que les français n'aiment pas particulièrement payer des impôts mais ils reconnaissent et apprécient à quoi cela sert: les services publics, y compris les beaux jardins.

J'ai rencontré une autre marcheuse, Ann. Ce n'était pas notre première randonnée ensemble et comme nous ralentissons au bout d'un moment, nous nous retrouvons en queue ensemble. Et voilà - le moment "que le monde est petit !"Ann et son mari sont à Paris pour quelques mois seulement ; ils habitent dans la banlieue virginienne de Washington, DC. Alors, j'ai raconté que j'avais de la famille (tante, oncle et cousins) qui avaient habitaient un certain temps, eux aussi, près de Alexandria, à Hollin Hills précisément. BINGO. C'est justement là où ils habitent depuis 45 ans et ils ont connus Hal et Bobbie Williams ! (Harold était le frère de mon père.) Ah, que le monde est petit !

Il faisait très chaud mercredi et j'ai du sur-estimé mes capacités pour faire une marche de 16-17 km. J'ai du abandonné le groupe au bout de 12 km. environ. Nous étions heureusement près d'un pont où une route passait sur le canal. Un petit distance plus loin sur cette route ce trouvait un garage de matériel agricole et la propriétaire m'a très gentilement conduite à la gare de Meaux. J'ai eu tout juste le temps de prendre une bouteille d'eau avant l'arrivée du train pour Paris. J'avais bien bu pendant la marche, mais ce n'était pas assez, je présume. Le temps d'arriver à Paris, j'allais beaucoup mieux, déjà.

Quoi d'autre ? C'était l'anniversaire de Louis - 26 ans. Nous avons fêté son anniversaire au restaurant avec les Lebelles de Verrières, de retour de Chine pour les vacances. Ca fait toujours plaisir - 2 fois: fêter l'anniversaire et voir Pierre-Frédéric, Nadine et les enfants. Ils ont l'aire très en forme et ils ont quelques semaines de vacances bien remplies à rendre visites à la famille dans l'est et dans le sud.

So when is summer? - C'est quand, l'été ?

Le soleil brille. Le ciel est bleu. Mais il fait un froid de canard. Bon, peut-être pas si froid, mais quand même -- on n'est pas à la montagne et c'est bien le mois de juillet!
J'ai ma réservation pour aller aux U.S. au mois d'août - du 6 au 15. Ensuite, c'est les cousins qui arrivent chez nous à la fin du mois.
Le temps passe trop vite. Je me demande quand on va pouvoir aller dans les Pyrénées. Jean-Yves nous suggère d'attendre qu'il soit à la retraite, vers le mi-octobre. Pourquoi pas ? L'arrière saison est normalement très belle.

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This is France. More specifically, this is Paris. And as usual, I'm wondering whether summer will ever get here! Oh, it looks nice enough - today. The sun is out and the sky is blue, but it's cold. Well, chilly.
Where has the summer gone. It's already the second half of July! In just a few weeks, I'm going to the States (Aug. 6 - 15) and then, we've got the Pickars coming at the end of the month. Looking forward to their visit.
We wanted to go down to Pau to visit the Lebelles and the Josephs, but the earliest we can manage it is in September (after the 9th) and Jean-Yves suggests we wait until he's retired - towards mid-October. Well, why not? The weather is generally beautiful in early fall.

The dog days of summer?

"The dog days of summer" - those hot, muggy days when you just want lie down and do nothing. Well, I'm waiting. This has been the chilliest summer in a long time. And it hasn't been muggy - it just keeps raining.

Today looks like it might be nice - the sky is blue and the clouds are the fluffy cotton kind. But it's really chilly for mid-August. This is back-to-school weather, more like mid-September. It's great tourist weather, though.

On the bright side, we haven't had to water the lawn all summer. Even if summer rain is not as effective a melting snow, the water tables have gone up a little. They are already starting the grape harvest and are predicting a good year for wine. When it's not raining, it's excellent walking weather - you don't get all hot and sweaty.

In a couple of weeks Claire and I will be in California for a wedding. So far, it looks like bright sunshine and warm temperatures in store.