Olympia meets Rodez

This year I was responsible for something major -- so major that three weeks later, I am still recovering.

If you are a regular reader, you know that my daughters participated for years in a summer musical comedy program, Kids at Play, based in my hometown of Olympia, Washington.

Last year when one of my daughters spent a year in Olympia, she sang with the chorus associated with the same program, Kids in Koncert.

As lazy as I have been about blogging lately, I can't seem to get up the gumption this morning to tell the long story of how Kids in Koncert and twenty parents and staff members ended up spending a week in Rodez. But they did, and I was the on-site coordinator for this cultural exchange.

It was frankly a huge job and, from what I hear from just about everybody involved, a great success.

Writing this much makes me want to write about the whole experience. But I think I'll take it day by day...

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Wordless Wednesday 87

(Photo courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau)

Online light

My online presence has been very light lately, but I did want to drop in and tell you what I have been up to.

My two worlds are meeting next week -- starting tomorrow -- when the youth choir Kids In Koncert, from my home town of Olympia, Washington, comes to spend a week here in Aveyron.

My youngest daughter sang with this choir during her year in Olympia, and this stay has been three years in the making and planning. I have been the main organizer, but my youngest daughter's high school, Le Lycée François d'Estaing, has done a lot as far as finding host families and helping with the program.

Anyway, the coming week (I'm taking it off work, needless to say) will be crazy but fun.

Just for information, the group will be doing a major concert at L'Eglise Saint Joseph L'Artisan in Onet-le-Château on Friday April 9th at 8:30 pm.

I will return...

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On the road

Although I travel some for my job, it's usually by plane. And my daily life here in Aveyron doesn't leave me much time for hitting the open road.

Driving alone, heading somewhere in France without totally understanding how to get there, listening to MY choice of music at the volume I have chosen...these are rare and wonderful moments for me.

Usually, I have to make them happen. Last week I did. On Tuesday, I had to drive to Toulouse for a meeting that was going to end in the early afternoon. Rather than driving straight back to Rodez, I was able to work out my schedule to make a detour to see a good friend in Canal du Midi territory.

Driving along the freeway past Castelnaudary and Carcassonne in T-shirt weather, I was taken aback to see significant remnants of snow drifts on the side of the road. I knew that it had snowed a week earlier, but here in chilly Aveyron, our snow was long gone.

Even if it was a little crazy to take this detour for one afternoon and one night -- I was back at work the next morning (OK, late morning) -- the dose of sun and good cheer was just what I needed.

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Wordless Wednesday 84

Chez Cécile et Aimé

Friday evening atmosphere at Chez Cécile et Aimé
8 rue Oustry, Rodez/ 05-65-69-57-97

Back when I was writing my cooking blog, I imagined posting about local restaurants, either on Cuisine Quotidienne or here. I even toyed with the idea of trying to write real "restaurant reviews," but since Aveyron is a small place, I didn't want to get anybody's nose out of joint.

The result is a pile of untagged, but categorized, photos of local eateries. Since I don't plan to be writing anything resembling restaurant reviews in the near future, I thought I'd just share some of my favorite local restaurants with you in an informal, non-exhaustive fashion.

A spring "assiette" with smoked salmon, asparagus, and other goodies

There's not a lot on the Web about this funky and creative restaurant/salon de thé which has now been open for seven years in the Rodez town center. I did find a press article about its opening, and can say that the owners, sisters Florence and Isabelle Sabin, have been true to their ideals. Everything is homemade, and the menus change nicely with the seasons.

The restaurant is located in an old house, which is cozy and creatively decorated. You can eat in three rooms, and in the summer, on two different terrasses.

Okay, no one was dining outside on the day I took this picture, but at least it gives you an idea.

Chez Cécile et Aimé features homemade quiches, salads, desserts, and other dishes depending on the season and the inspiration of the chef who has worked for them for five years now. Prices are reasonable and "la maison" is open non-stop from 10:00 am until 6pm, serving late breakfast, lunch and mouth-watering goûters.

For a special dining experience, go on Friday evening -- the only day they are open for dinner. We often do.

Wordless Wednesday 83

Wordless Wednesday 82

Rekindling an old flame

I used to be a newspaper lover. Now I can be one again, thanks to my recent purchase of a Kindle.

I'm not going to get into the "it's just wrong to read a book on one of those devices" debate; I'll save that for another post.

To me, the biggest advantage of my Kindle so far has been rediscovering the joy of reading the Sunday paper over a cup of coffee.

Of course, the same readers who will argue that a Kindle desecrates books might say the same about a Kindle and newspapers. But I can hear your arguments already, and I think I can shoot them all down.

1.) You live in France and are fluent in French; you should just read the French Sunday paper.

Been there, done that. I even subscribed to La Nouvelle République when we lived in Tours and I could get morning delivery. But I'm not interested in a daily paper anymore -- plus we can't get morning delivery where we live. So the Sunday paper is what I want, and for some reason -- maybe someone can tell me why -- French journaux de dimanche just aren't the same.

2.) Reading a newspaper on a Kindle doesn't compare to touching newsprint

Are you saying this like newsprint is a good thing? I can buy this type of argument for books, but I was never a big fan of unwieldy newspapers and newsprinty fingers to begin with. It's much easier for me to read a paper on the couch with my Kindle than to manage newspaper pages.

3.) It's stupid to pay a buck or two for a newspaper issue when you can read it free on the Internet.

It is rather interesting to be in the position of paying to get LESS information, but that's partly what it's all about for me.

I really can't bear newspaper websites. Besides the overwhelming barrage of information they toss out, they give me way too many extraneous choices.

A glance at today's New York Times already has my head spinning. Should I switch to the global edition? What is Times Reader 2.0? Would my life improve if I tried the New Times Skimmer? And why haven't I gotten around to personalizing my weather?

All that and I haven't even read a headline yet...which I may well never do because there's an intriguing video called "Stepping Out With the U.S. Men's Curling Team." That's worth a look. Should I tweet it? (No.) Use it in class? (Maybe, but it doesn't really fit into my schedule next week.) What would? Should I click over to the BBC?

Oh, and on the right there's something about The New York Times Wine Club. Sounds interesting. Forget the headlines. Maybe I should join the club...or drink a glass of wine...

In other words, I could spend hours on the New York Times website and, well, never really catch up with the news.

As for the price, I'm one of those old-fashioned types who feels newspaper-lovers need to chip in if we want to keep on reading quality journalism.

In conclusion, I think a Kindle is a nice investment for expats in particular, but you should be aware that for some reason, you will not get images with your purchases made outside the USA. But that's not a problem for my image-overloaded brain.

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(Photo courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau)

Amsterdam Five: Holidays must end as you know

Six weeks later, and I am finally finishing my series about our trip to Amsterdam. Our last day actually included some real activity, since our plane for Toulouse didn't leave until 8:15 pm.

After enjoying the hotel buffet breakfast together -- the only time on the trip both girls managed to be up in time to take advantage of it -- we packed our bags, stored them at the hotel, and walked through the brisk cold to the Katten Kabinet, or Cat Cabinet.

I had really been looking forward to what sounded like a deliciously off-beat site: a huge house on the Herengracht dedicated to the memory of a cat.

"The Cat Cabinet was founded in commemoration of the red and frisky Tom Cat John Pierpont Morgan, the life-long companion and buddy of the museum's founder, Bob Meijer," explains the rudimentary website. For information, the cat lived from 1966-1983.

It was a fun and funky visit, but I expected a little more as far as feline-related works of art. We were also disappointed that much of the house was closed off to visitors. Let's just say we were expecting a little more, but definitely enjoyed the opportunity to pet some of the kitty residents that roam freely through the mansion:

Our next stop was another smaller museum, this one exhbiting handbags and purses. After the somewhat underwhelming Kat Kabinet, we weren't sure what to expect from the Tassenmuseum Hendrikj.

Before the visit, we were lured into the lovely coffee shop:

Lovely, cozy coffee shops such as this one were one of our favorite features in Amsterdam:

After our refreshments, we visited the museum which, to our delight, holds an astounding and well-curated collection of bags, wallets and luggage throughout the ages. I don't have any photos to share of this museum, but the website provides a good idea of what is on display.

All good things must come to an end, and after the handbag museum, we realized we were down to a few hours before having to walk back to the hotel and take the taxi to the airport.

It was about 4pm, the perfect time to eat a lunch/dinner/whatever in the city. We were lucky enough to stumble upon the Get toGether restaurant, a rather chic eatery connected to The Albus Grand Hotel:

Gazing in from the street, we couldn't quite believe the reasonable prices on the lunch menu. This light meal was perhaps the closest we got to typically Dutch restaurant food: delicious soups and sandwiches at a price that seemed unbelievable for a European capital.

For example, I savored the "creamy spinach soup with goat’s cheese and pieces of smoked chicken," a meal in itself, for only 4,50 euros.

I don't really want to go into detail about what followed: the last-minute souvenir shopping, the taxi trip to the airport, Starbucks in Schipol.

All of that went well, but it's not what I will recall years from now.

"Holidays must end as you know/All is memory taken home with me" (Nathalie Merchant)

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Don't be afraid of 1st grade!

I took this photo a few Septembers back, and never got up the gumption to blog about it. After all, I am a teacher in France, even if I'm not part of the Education Nationale, and I don't want this blog to become a platform for ragging on the French school system.

But s'il vous please -- can you believe the theme of this magazine? "The first magazine to [help you] succeed in [the equivalent of] 1st grade"?

Among the colorful, eye-catching, pitches on this magazine's promotional poster was "Même pas peur!" -- "Not even afraid!" -- as if shaking in their little bottes would be the natural state of a French first grader (who has normally already been through three or four years of free public pre-school.)

I don't know if CP Champions is still in print, but I rather hope not.

WE did it!

As I mentioned several times over the last month, I don't know what possessed me to do NaBloPoMo this January. There was a theme -- "best" -- which I thought might be fun to write about, but I don't think I ever even used the word.

But I did carry on. My conclusions are:

1.) It is probably good for anyone who wants to keep blogging to do NaBloPoMo once a year. It does get a certain momentum going, even if post quality can suffer.

2.) I don't think I would ever want to make La France Profonde a daily blog, but after a 31-day string of posts, getting back to posting twice a week seems feasible, if not straight out easy.

3. NaBloPoMo is best done with a few others. Of course one can find myriad "others" by going to the official site, but I was lucky enough to have two contacts just fall into place: longtime blogging (and now Facebook) buddy tut-tut from Inside the Shell, and Claudine from Good Things, whom I had run into in comments columns. Both of these ladies commented on every single post of mine, no matter how lame, and I did the same...not that THEY wrote any lame posts, of course!

The "best" thing about NaBloPoMo in my book is finishing it! Cheers!

Amsterdam Five: Day Three

Monday December 28th was the most glorious of our days in Amsterdam weatherwise. It was sunny from dawn on, and with no biting wind.

Of course the sun rises late up there -- well past 9am at the time we were in the city -- so we had a hard time getting a move on in the morning -- I'm an early riser and found myself sleeping in until 9:15 through the whole trip. I don't think all four of us got moving until past 11, but Thierry went out earlier to take some photos in our "neighborhood," including the one above.

Well, now you know our main destination for the day. After a nice walk through neighborhoods we hadn't seen yet, a snack of waffles, and a short stroll through Vondelpark, we got to the Van Gogh museum... and almost decided to put off our visit until the next day. The lines appeared dreadfully long, and we feared a crowd inside.

We decided to see how the line was moving and, surprisingly, got in after only a 20-minute wait. And I'm not so sure where all of the people ended up going, because the exhibit halls were hardly packed:

Some of the crowd was in the gift shop, where my husband was tempted by these volumes, which represented the exhibition that was on at the time about Van Gogh's letters. Fortunately, I convinced my spouse that the 6-volume set would be a bit heavy in our suitcases.

After a leisurely visit in the museum, which I had already seen once but didn't remember that well, we walked around the Hoofstraat area, where many of Amsterdam's luxury shops are located.


We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that I would highly recommend: the Ristorante Saturnino. It's clearly a popular joint, and the waiters started all contacts by speaking Italian, which was a fun touch. Prices were reasonable, the atmosphere was jolly, and the upscale pasta and pizza absolutely delicious.

I'm starting to regret not taking pictures of our food...

(All photos except #2 courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau)

Now you're nowhere to be found

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down...

(From For a dancer by Jackson Browne; painting Chose sans nom by Pierre Soulages)

I must have thought you'd always be around

I'm spending the evening cyber-managing communication about the death of a very close high school friend. This is not the post I wanted to write tonight.