Le lundi 17 juin 2013

The days are passing so quickly, it’s a challenge to stay current, dear Readers.

Here is a brief review of the last five days:

The weather remains perfect though it is heating up a little.

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of reconnecting with Weiwei, a Chinese friend from my previous time in Nice. She has stayed here the last two years and in one year will complete her degree in Statistics. Next she wants to do a business degree, either here or in China. For a young woman of 22 years, she has had many experiences of life. We walked a bit and enjoyed Italian ice cream, walked some more, and then had coffee at the Café Lyonnaise near the train station.

I got home just before 6 PM. Mariette was not home. I doubted that I had remembered correctly the times for the evening schedule. I was sure that I had missed her because I saw that the aluminum foil for the quiche she had made earlier was on the counter. So I decided to warm-up my voice. Things went better this time around than they had a few days ago.

About 6:35 Mariette arrived home and we prepared to walk to Valeria’s new house. She has a garden. We would have an apertif with her there and then go to a free dramatic performance at the old Roman arena. Mariette’s quiche went along.

We enjoyed a lovely evening in the Valeria’s garden even though the mosquitoes were biting – I only count 6, so that’s not too bad. The supper under the lemon tree was lovely. The theater piece was interesting. It was created in the style of a Greek tragedy and progressed through time with songs of love – I guess ultimately saying that we still strive to find love despite the challenges. The setting of the old Roman arena was charming as was the bat that swooped low over the heads of the crowd. The theatre troupe did a fine job overall.

On Sunday, I went to church at my usual time and did a little shopping for Thea’s birthday. Later in the afternoon, I went to see a French movie called Demi-Soeur. This was a wonderful film about an older woman who was specially-abled and taken care of by her mother all her life. When her mother dies, she is taken to a retirement home, but the home as a rule that there can be no pets, not even her pet turtle. Ultimately she finds her half-brother that she didn’t know she had. They have an adventuresome few days together. It was a darling film and relatively simple to understand the action even though I could not catch all of the words.

Monday was much warmer. I tried calling Vesna to see if she was home, and could only leave a message. So after doing a load of laundry, I decided to take a walk to Florian Confisserie at the port. This is a good long walk, but adding the very warm day, it was tiring. On the way back I stopped for a latte. Lattes here are quite a bit smaller than Starbucks. Though I understand that Starbucks is in the vicinity and is all the rage with the young folks.

In a short turn, that brings us to the present. With another warm day ahead, and lots of wind, it will be a good day to get outside again.