Diaporama

First, thanks to my faithful friends and readers, Stuart and Lesley, for their support. It means more to me than I can say!

Now to the events at the Bibliotheque Municipale, also known as the local library. We got there at 8:30 to help Noëlle set up, buy she was so efficient it was already all done. We had a nice time sitting around and talking, although because she had made some cookies and I'd come armed with chocolate chip cookies and chocolate-raisin fudge, it was torture to sit there and smell them without eating any!

We started to get a little concerned that Maggie and we might be the only audience, but just before 9 o'clock, people started to appear. We had two people from Chalabre, but the other five or six folks came from Mirepoix, St. Benoit and Peyrefitte de Razés.

We sat around having cookies and coffee for a bit before JM started his slideshow. He looked at his notes and realized that the last time he gave this particular talk was at UCLA. That made us laugh, as it's very far from Chalabre in so many ways.

Because many of the slides were of U.S. comics from the Forties through the Seventies, it was new material for almost everyone who was there. I think what they saw really surprised them, as it's so different from Franco-Belgian comics.

After the talk, we all sat around for a long time talking about what we'd seen, but also the conversation ranged towards other things. Most of us stayed talking till almost midnight; quite late by local standards! However, we all had such a good time that we're going to schedule another evening next month. This time, it will be a talk on Tintin, which, even for a French audience, has new and interesting aspects to discuss.

JM and I came home very pleased with the way the evening had played out. We met new friends, we had great conversation and our whole commute ran two minutes long on foot! Another successful evening in the Possum Kingdom.

Ciao for now.

Randy

Why the Hatred?

Something upsetting happened the other day. I wound up with some rather nasty “hate” mail in response to one of my early blogs that someone had clearly just read.

I wasn’t going to respond to it, but I have to admit that it has been preying on my mind since it happened. I suppose many of you might think that I’m too sensitive and should just let it go, but I can’t.

The reader made the assumption – wrongly – that JM and I were clearly “rich” to be able to do what we have done in moving here to France. He also (I’m guessing it was a he, but since it was anonymous I have no way of knowing) rather nastily said that people like us couldn’t possible be harmed by the Bush administration and that we shouldn’t bother coming back when things changed.

There were so many things in his short post that I found offensive. First, isn’t someone allowed to make a decision about the well being of their family if they are rich or poor? Why would only a rich person be able to emigrate. Certainly, throughout history, it has been mostly the poor who have left their country of origin in search of a better life. And, why should moving for ANY consideration preclude one from returning someday if that should be their desire?

Clearly, the changes in our country under the current administration have given rise to a great deal of anger and unleashed a flood of hatred and intolerance that we were unaware existed before. I find it truly sad that someone could react to our personal decision to leave in such an ugly way.

Given that we lived in California, clearly a die-hard blue state, it’s not as if our staying would have changed very much. Perhaps we could have moved to Ohio or Florida if we hoped to accomplish anything. But, even then, I don’t think our two voices would have counted for much. As it is, we will still be able to vote in national elections as registered California voters, even living here in the Possum Kingdom (that’s assuming the State of California can get its act together). So, why the hatred and anger? I remain truly puzzled and saddened.

Ciao for now

Randy

A Tasty Treat

I don't know about the rest of you, but we don't really eat out all that often. But, when we do, we tend to go back to the same restaurants because we like them and miss them when we don't eat there.

In particular, because we have to drive half-an-hour at least for a Chinese or Vietnamese meal, we have one in Limoux and one in Carcassonne where we tend to go when we're in either place at mealtimes.

We were in Carcassonne yesterday and had planned to go to the Hanoi, which we adore. But, as we were driving we saw a brasserie that tempted us both and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a mixed experience.

First, there was the "creepy-crawly incident," which was particularly difficult for me as I am terrified of bugs. Totally irrational, of course, but there it is. We actually seem to have brought the horrible beast home with us (in JM's briefcase???) where I was able to both squash it, then throw it into the fireplace. Hopefully he didn't bring any friends...

There was one waitress serving the whole dining room. This was not a restaurant to go to for a fast meal. Even though there wound up being a few empty tables, she eventually had to turn people away because neither she nor the kitchen could cope with any other diners.

But, the food was really good, which does allow you to forget a lot of the other stuff. JM got the menu, because it was ravioli, something I think he is genetically unable to pass up. I ordered from the carte. Unlike a lot of restaurants that we have visited, this place really had an interesting and varied choice of dishes. In fact, it was one of those times where it was difficult to make a choice.

Eventually, however, I chose "oeuf cocotte avec fois gras." I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but it sounded so intriguing I had to try it. And, what a terrific choice it turned out to be! The waitress brought me a large, white soup marmite. Inside was soft-boiled egg, covered in cream with small bits of fois gras floating in it. It looked odd, but smelled great. It came with half-a-dozen bits of toast, which I tore apart and floated in the bowl. It turned out to be perfect, heavenly, fattening comfort food! I forced myself to give JM a taste and he agreed with me. You wouldn't want to eat it everyday, but what a treat it was! When I finished, I put a few pieces of bread in the remains and gave them to Maggie, who also agreed that it was delish!

The funny thing was that I noticed at several other tables where there were couples, the exact same thing had occurred. The women ordered the “oeuf cocotte,” while the men ordered the menu! And, in all cases, we had JUST that and dessert, while the men all had three courses.

I wonder what that was all about? Tomorrow: details on JM's slide show at the local library tonight!


Ciao for now.


Randy

There was an interesting article in today's DEPECHE DU MIDI; this is the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Verdun. They showed a photo of the trenches and gave the following statistic: the battle lasted for ten months. 145,000 German soldiers and 160,000 French soldiers died during those months.

Can you even begin to comprehend those numbers? And that statistic was for a battle at one, single location. During the course of the war, France lost 1,375,000 of its young men. Russia lost 1,700,000 and the United Kingdom lost 703,000. Germany lost 1,773,700 and the Austria-Hungary lost 1,200,000. Of course, there were large numbers in other countries as well, but these were the main players.

Reading this made me angry at those Americans who make fun of France's ability to fight a war. U.S. casualties for World War I were 123,000. Perhaps that puts the various contributions into perspective. Is it any wonder that the face of Europe was totally changed by the war? Ten percent of the active, adult male population was lost. Imagine, if you will, what that would mean today? It's a staggering statistic.

And, for what? Historians agree that "the war to end all wars" was ultimately deemed to be an "arbitrary and unfortunate mistake." Well, isn't that special. Does it remind anyone of anything?

Randy