Seasons

 
Today is the day that all of the grocery store flyers come in the mail. Strange how it’s the same day as in the U.S. Today’s flyers were filled with sales for Rose wine. I commented on this strange phenomenon and was told, “Well, of course, it’s summer.”
Ooohhhh, I thought.... so THAT’S how you can tell. Funny ... I’m still wearing my coat when I go outside. Didn’t know it was summer yet.

I know that we call the months that are almost near the end of the year “autumn” but over here, it’s Beaujolais season. And I guess that the months when kids are not attending school, the months that we call "summer", over here it’s Rose season. Not sure about those other months... I have SO MUCH to learn. 

Thank you Americans

  

Thanks dad

My dad sent me this:

U. S. Passports in France

This one, however, 'says it all,' about what the basic philosophy of our country is all about, and how we are received around the world.

At a French airport, a group of American retired teachers recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, was part of the tour group.

At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on. "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr.Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."

The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible!" barked the officer. "Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France."


The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained.

"Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help Liberate this country, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to."

Happy belated Memorial Day all!

the town at dusk, such a pretty sight

  

What wine to buy?

It’s all good. All the wine is good. We were in the grocery store last week and I saw a promotion for a bottle of wine for 1 euro. I put it in the grocery basket when Paul wasn’t looking because I know he would have told me to put it back... the wine can’t be good if it only cost a euro. My thinking was ... so what ... it’s cheaper than water! It’s at least worth a try! A few days later we drank it and it was good!

But maybe I still don’t know the difference. There are so many choices. Just going to the quickie-mart, one whole wall is filled with wine, and it’s a tough decision. Recently however, I have learned a trick when shopping at the supermarket ... we tend to go late in the day on Saturday ... the crowds have cleared ... and so it’s not so stressful. The trick to buying wine is that I always buy bottle of wine that is one of the few left for a particular kind. My thinking is ... they know better than I do what’s a good wine for the price, right? So if the shelf is cleared out of a particular wine, it is cleared out for a reason ... and so I buy that wine too!

So far, the system has served me well.

What day is this?

 
In France, this is Mother's Day. I think it's a good idea to put it in the four-day weekend. Thursday was Ascention Thursday and Friday was a "bridge day" (a free day when you don't have to work because a real holiday falls on a Thursday or a Tuesday). And Monday is not Memorial Day because they celebrated that sometime in the beginning of May. It's hard to keep track of all this ... in fact, I received an Anniversary card back in April .. a full month early! And Jeff ... you can redeem yourself today - a second chance at Mother's Day! 

one last word about the trip to Brussels

 
At the flea market in Brussels we came across a unique objet d’art we couldn’t pass up. It’s a 2 ft. alligator (crocodile?) cast in bronze. He looks like he has been outside for some time and has a nice green patina. We first spotted him early in the day as we were meandering around the market. We enjoyed checking out all the other junk and watching people haggle over prices and then left to go have some coffee. It was over that cup of cappuccino that I suggested that we might “need” a bronze 2 foot alligator.

We walked back to the market and drove a hard bargain to acquire the newest addition to our family. As is our custom with purchases from strange places, we decided we had to give him a name, and of course it had to be French. Voila ... he was christened Pierre.

We did have a small problem getting him home. He weighs about 5 pounds and it was a long walk back to the hotel, and as we carried him by his tail, we got a lot of strange looks. Then Pierre was about 10 inches too long to fit in our suitcases. I zipped his body inside my suitcase and left the curved tail to stick out ... as you might imagine ... on the train back home ... and through the subway ... even more strange looks! 

Global competition

 On the train from Brugges to Brussels on our recent trip, we were sitting near some young kids. Paul asked how old I thought they were. I couldn’t see them well, and probably couldn’t have told their age exactly, but their behavior was all too familiar. They were behaving like American 7th graders!

We couldn’t help but overhear the lively conversation, typical of middle-schoolers. My take on this is that the two boys were native Flemish-speaking. They had just met a girl whose native language was French. The interesting thing about all of this was how they constantly and seamlessly switched between Flemish, French, and English.

We figured that the boys were doing their best to impress the girl with their French. We supposed that the girl didn’t know Flemish so the boys talked to each other in that language. And maybe to impress her even more, they threw in a few English phrases here and there. It was quite entertaining.

And what an advantage to grow up speaking three different languages! 

spring has sprung

  

the sounds of warmer weather

 
It is now “open the window” weather. Mornings are quite chilly but it warms up during the day and we can keep the windows open. I had forgotten about all the outdoor sounds that I used to hear last summer. I once wrote a blog about the new and different sounds coming from outside my kitchen window. When I wrote that blog and Paul read it, he remarked, “but you left out the best sound of all ... the coo coo clock!” I had indeed forgotten to mention the sound of the clock but then I didn’t bother to go back and add it to the list of unusual sounds. We really didn’t know who owned a coo coo clock, or where exactly the sound was coming from, but over time, it became familiar and comforting.

The cold of winter was soon upon us and we started keeping the windows shut tight. We kept out the cold but we also kept out the sounds. One night, we were having dinner with our neighbor, Marie-Christiene. Amid the lively conversation of the evening, coming from a back room, I heard it… coo coo... coo coo ... coo coo ... My eyes met Paul’s as we both said to M-C, “Ah ha, it is YOUR clock that we have been hearing all this time!” We all had a good laugh and we enjoyed hearing the familiar sound again that night as we shared a very nice dinner at her place.

So ... yesterday ... I was in my kitchen fixing dinner ... the windows were open ... and there it was again ... coo coo ... coo coo ... the sound of Marie-Christiene’s clock. 

Tisane

 
A herbal tea, tisane, or ptisan is a herbal infusion other than that made with real (white, yellow, black, oolong, or green) tea (Camellia sinensis). Tisanes can be made with fresh or dried flowers, leaves, seeds or roots; generally by pouring boiling water over the plant parts and letting them steep for a few minutes. Seeds and roots are often boiled on a stove for a few minutes. The tisane is then strained, sweetened if so desired, and served. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisane


A term used frequently in Europe referring to popular herbal infusions, such as chamomile flowers, etc., which are commonly taken as a beverage or for mildly medicinal effects. http://www.planetbotanic.ca/glossary.htm

When visiting our French friends who live just outside of town in the suburbs, they offer us a choice of coffee or tisane after dinner. If we choose tisane, she brings a French press to the table that is filled with big dried leaves. She then pours in some boiling water, the leaves get reconstituted, and it looks like we will soon be drinking something made from yard waste.

I was always fascinated by this and finally asked what we were drinking. She answered “verveine”. She showed me her “stash” of dried leaves in a basket that she kept in her kitchen. This French couple is what I would call “children of the 60’s” (as we are). They grow this stuff in their yard. And they have spent much of their life down in Provence, a part of France known for it’s laid back lifestyle. Armelle shops at the “biologique” market. I think that means organic.

So one day while Paul and I were out shopping, we stumbled upon a bag of verveine and we bought it so that we could “try this at home, folks.” It was then that we started researching to find out exactly what we would be drinking.

Upon further investigation ... verveine is simply Verbena! Oh yeah, I think my mom grew that in her garden. She may have even given me some plants which I would have quickly killed. But I don’t think she ever did more than enter them in a flower show.

So...

thanks to the internet, I found this:

verbena, common name for some members of the Verbenaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and trees (often climbing forms) of warmer regions of the world. Well-known wild and cultivated members of the family include species of the shrubby Lantana and of Verbena; many species of both are native to the United States. Many cultivated verbenas (herbs or shrubs) have fragrant blossoms and leaves that are sometimes used as condiments or for distillation of oils or for tea, as are those of the similar lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora) of tropical America and Africa. Wild American species are more frequently called vervains. The European vervain (V. officinalis), now naturalized in the United States, was sacred to the Greeks, Romans, and Druids and is associated in Christian tradition with the Crucifixion.
Answers.com

It’s pretty good stuff. 

verbena

verbena 

The Graduate

  

the Basilica

  

Baccalaureate Mass

  

Jack was there too!

  

Trailer park Trash

 
During a previous housing shortage at the college, they broght in some trailers to help fill the need for rooms. Four adjacent trailers had all girls in them so the girls formed a 'soroity' of sorts and lovingly named themselves Kappa Kappa Trash. 

The trip in a nutshell

We traveled to DC. It seemed to take forever because I mistakenly scheduled our flight from Paris at 9:55 am. Since we couldn’t take the train to Paris early enough on the day of the flight, we had to take the TGV the night before. So… we left our apartment around 2:00 in the afternoon on Monday and arrived in DC around 4:00 on Tuesday. I think I calculated that it was about 30 hours of travel time. We were pretty exhausted but found a second wind to have a great dinner with Jeffrey.

Wednesday was a day for visiting Jeff’s school, his dorm room, and his work lab. He took me shopping to Target to get some goodies. I bought quite a few brownie mixes and other things that I can’t find in France. I also bought myself an iPod!! They have them in France, but taxes are pretty high there, and also… I was afraid I would have to operate it in French. I had brought my laptop with me on this trip so Jeff helped me schedule podcasts and load up the iPod. Jeff got another nice meal on that night too!

More of the same on Thursday, and it was dinner with Katherine as Jeff was helping a friend move out of the dorm. On Friday, the graduation activities began. We first attended a ceremony/reception by the Architecture department for those students in the Architecture honor society. It was very nice – champagne and all! Following that event, we went to the student center for the Honors Convocation. All graduating seniors who were members of an Honor Society or had some kind of honor were invited for recognition. After that, there was a President’s reception (probably with more food, but we passed on it). Then there was a Baccalaureate Mass at the big giant basilica on campus. That was a pretty ‘wow’ deal. The sermon reviewed all that had happened in the four years that the students were at CUA. It was post 9/11 and parents were jittery about students going to DC to college. Then there were the sniper shootings in the DC area, etc. etc. The sermon was inspiring.

After the mass, students who were entering the military were recognized. Then those students who were entering a volunteer program after graduation were also recognized. Kate’s roommate was one who was recognized – she will be doing a year of service in the Bronx. After the Mass, we went to the prom. Just kidding. It was a dinner dance. Very nice but I was falling asleep in my soup. Jet lag was setting in and the activities never gave me much time for rest…. so we went home early…. but then Paul had to meet Jack at the airport at 12:30.

It was the first time all of our family was gathered together since Christmas 2005. Saturday morning was the actual graduation ceremony. Wolf Blitzer was the guest speaker and frankly, his speech sucked. He talked about the war, politics, and other really irrelevant stuff for a graduation commencement ceremony.

After the general ceremony, the Architecture school had the real deal where students get their diplomas from the dean of the school. (In theory… that is.) Kate really didn’t get her diploma because she had not paid a $130.00 library fine for losing a book back in her Freshman year. I was pretty aggravated that the school did not IN ANY WAY notify us or her before graduation day. In fact, they had never notified us in the last 3 ½ years. So, Paul had to go “purchase” her diploma at the library. I thought it was rather ‘good’ of them to be open on Graduation day.

Following the diploma/library fine ceremony, we gathered with Kate’s roommates and their parents at the trailer park where they lived. The girls were hosting a nice reception for their guests. That night, our family had dinner out.

On Sunday we went to the airport with Jack, dropped him off for his flight, and then went on to catch our flight back to France. It was a wonderful, very full week!

friends

  

graduation day before the festivities

  

faculty procession

  

with the dean, receiving her fine notice

  

What does a CUA diploma look like?

 
Four years at college and she earned a library fine! When I asked to see the diploma, I was told... "ummmm.... there's no diploma in the envelope..."

A slip of paper said:

Congratulations on your academic achievements leading to your participation in today’s Commencement Exercises. Please accept our warmest wishes on the completion of your degree and for continued success in all your future endeavors. WE ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO ISSUE YOUR DIPLOMA DUE TO THE REQUEST OF THE OFFICES CHECKED BELOW.

The John K. Mullen of Denver Library.


Seems the library fine was for a book that was lost in her FRESHMAN YEAR! 

another update on the beau-frere

Forbes magazine has this article.

Celebration

  

on US soil

We are currently on the other side of the pond. It is graduation time! Tonight we are having dinner with Jeff. Hopefully I can report on the blog in real time.

May in Europe

  

Get your blood boiling today

May is a month of holidays for the French. May 1 was labor day. No work on that day. One week later on May 8, V-E Day, is another holiday. And then again on May 25, it is the Ascension of Christ (although nobody goes to church). The holiday is always on a Thursday so here in France, the next day - Friday the 26th is also a day off from work.

We went out for drinks the other night with our 3 American friends and their guests who were visiting them from the US. The subject of holidays came up and as we were discussing the May 8th holiday, V-E Day. One of the guests said, “Ah yes, the Thank the Americans, the British and the Russians Day”. Our American friend married to a French woman argued back. “Oh no, not the French of today! They don’t think the Americans helped them much. In fact, my wife said her professors taught her that by the time the Americans showed up in the war, it was almost over anyway”.

Oh my... Where could we go with that one?? Would we be living in France right now, or Germany instead?

on the Grand Place

  

trip to beautiful Brussels

  

strange things for sale at the flea market