C'est fini!

Thirty days and thirty posts (spread over my three blogs.) Technically that parenthetical detail may disqualify me as a NaBloPoMo survivor, but it counts in my book.

Posting daily didn't actually change that much for me here at La France Profonde, but it did give my two other blogs, Cuisine Quotidienne and And So Forth, a boost.

And although I didn't get into the social networking or post-uploading aspect of the event at all, I did make one great blogging buddy who encouraged me and vice versa: Le Laquet of chez le laquet! I suspect we will stay in bloggy touch.

We will now return to our regular programming.

The end is near...

It is November the 28th. I am going to make it through NaBloPoMo.

To manage the daunting task of posting to (one of my three) blogs every day, I even set up an editorial calendar. I can hear your awe from here.

Today's blogging task was noted as "FP Tag from "Je ne regrette rien."

I must admit that when Non, je ne... tagged me or awarded me or whatever her Marie Antoinette eat my cake post was about, I thought it was pretty cool because she has a new banner photo of the Millau viaduct and I had just driven over it about an hour before.

That's all, folks.

Link to my Thanksgiving post

I know to some of my fellow expats, Thanksgiving is a big deal. You either go home for it, or you somehow manage to cook a turkey and all the trimmings during the workweek.

I don't do that. But I did write a Thanksgiving post, and you can find it here.

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An American dream coming true

My daughter is fitting into American high school life to a tee. She got invited to her school's Homecoming dance (above) and was also lucky enough to be invited to a neighboring high school's Homecoming too:


Not to mention Halloween. She has always loved that holiday and our house here in France felt pretty empty that night without her traditional Halloween party. But she was able to participate in a Jack-o-lantern cutting session with a friend, and go to a party afterwards:

BEFORE

AFTER

Notice that only the pumpkin's expression has changed.

My daughter was thrilled to report to me that "Halloween is SUCH a big deal here!"

She's also been in her first high school choir concert. I had forgotten about those choir robes. Doesn't she look serious?

But that mood apparently didn't last too long!

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C'est ma fête!

November the 17th is Sainte Elisabeth day in France, so one could legitimately tell me today "C'est ta fête!" And in fact two people did, and that is one of the first times anyone has bothered to recognize this event.

I also learned today that my husband had no idea when my saint's day was...

I've never really understood these French saint's day "fêtes" anyway. Are they cause for celebration? Gift-giving? Or just saying "Bonne fête?"

(By the way, I of course know when my husband's is....)

Paris: a jumbled view

Today I'm taking advantage of Blogger's time warp to get my daily post up before midnight on Friday the 14th! I sure didn't have much blogging time on that date here in France, as I flew up to Paris for work and was lucky to get home on my scheduled flight.

One-day work trips to Paris are not times when I get to see a lot of the city, but I always take my camera and try to get s shot of something.

This was the view from the 4th floor conference room of the Maison des Universités. Like many views out of the back side of Paris buildings, it was a jumble -- but an ever-fascinating one.

Wordless Wednesday 35

(Photo courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau; click on it to enlarge)

Plowing through NaBloPoMo

I knew that after the election, I would either be full of energy or need a place to bitch, moan, wail, and gnash my teeth for at least a month. (Fortunately, we find ourselves in the former scenario.)

So on November 1st, I thought what better time to sign up for NaBloPoMo?

Since I'm a triple blogger, my goal is to post at least once a day to ONE of my blogs. Once a day to each would be superhuman.

I've made it through the first nine days, and hope to cross the finish line!

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Overwhelmed and overjoyed

My email inboxes are overflowing, my Facebook page is a maze of comments and congratulations, and even my little-used cell phone text message inbox is full.

I'm just savoring every moment, as I know so many of you are.

When the ship comes in

Oh the time will come up
When the winds will stop
And the breeze will cease to be breathin'.
Like the stillness in the wind
'Fore the hurricane begins,
The hour when the ship comes in.

Oh the seas will split
And the ship will hit
And the sands on the shoreline will be shaking.
Then the tide will sound
And the wind will pound
And the morning will be breaking.

Oh the fishes will laugh
As they swim out of the path
And the seagulls they'll be smiling.
And the rocks on the sand
Will proudly stand,
The hour that the ship comes in.

And the words that are used
For to get the ship confused
Will not be understood as they're spoken.
For the chains of the sea
Will have busted in the night
And will be buried at the bottom of the ocean.

A song will lift
As the mainsail shifts
And the boat drifts on to the shoreline.
And the sun will respect
Every face on the deck,
The hour that the ship comes in.

Then the sands will roll
Out a carpet of gold
For your weary toes to be a-touchin'.
And the ship's wise men
Will remind you once again
That the whole wide world is watchin'....

(Extract from "When the ship comes in" by Bob Dylan)

Palin fakes her way through prank phone call from "Sarkozy"

With only a few more days to go in this stressful (for some of us) American presidential campaign, now for some comic relief.

Sarah Palin was the victim of a prank phone call from a Montreal comedy team, Les justiciers masqués, and fell for it hook, line and sinker. (This is true; her campaign has already reacted to the incident, saying "C'est la vie.")

Listen to the hilatious audio here, or on the above site.

Some can consider this questionable journalism, but do I feel sorry for her? With all the unproven garbage she's slinging at Obama? Not one bit!

And I find her inability to pick up on, and react to, the strange tone and content of the conversation pretty frightenin'.

Her answers actually reminded me of the now famous Katie Couric interviews, and I'm not alone in this analysis.

Except this time the questions were utterly ridiculous; Palin doesn't seem to get the difference, blithely blathering away and giggling like a schoolgirl who's been called by her celebrity idol through most of the "interview."

Anyway, enough of that -- time to channel some pro-Obama energy.

This may be my last pre-election political post on La France Profonde. If any of my expat readers want to join in on my virtual election night (morning) chat event, hook up with me on Facebook.

I wish I could go party it up in Toulouse, but I have eight hours of class on Wednesday the 5th! God knows what state I will be in! Coherent enough to teach, I hope...