A Melange of Thoughts

Sometimes it becomes necessary to lump. This post is just that. Bits and bobs, but not enough of anything for a post. Get the idea?

• First up is Smokey. Several of you responded to my suggestion for a new name in a new homeland---names with dignity, humor, history. Well, my friends, I hate to disappoint ya'll, but Smokey is going to stay "old Smokey" for its remaining days. Here's the rationale: through no brilliant maneuvers on our part, Smokey somehow gets to retain its Utah license plates while living in France full-time. I am not going to question our insurance agent M. Nelkin why. I'm all for the don't ask-don't tell policy---it's alot cheaper. So, as long as Smokey is a US citizen, it probably needs to keep its good old boy US name. But, I may use one of those proposed names for the next time I go in for a Visa, so your efforts won't be wasted.

• The other night we heard something we have yet to hear in Leran---a North American accent! And I'm almost embarrassed to say, it was like music to my ears (there, I said it anyway). But it was only partly North American, it was Canadian. Harry and Di have arrived from Calgary. Today I got to thinking that I don't even know who the Canadian Prime Minister is.....DO YOU? The entire world knows "W", but Canada is barely a blip on the radar. The answer is..................Stephen Harper....ring a bell???

• I had decided to make a photo CD of the Leran Fete pictures and take them to the Mairie's office. Maybe I had an ulterior motive to somehow get my name in front of the Maire, so that when the time comes to approach him regarding our rooftop terrace he will remember. Chantal, the Maire's assistant, seemed surprised and very pleased, and trotted off into his office with the photo CD. On my way out, our neighbor Jean-Pierre cornered me and asked if he could take a photo of Doug and I for an article he was writing on "Americans Come Home" about the influx of English-speakers in Leran. Or, at least that's what I surmised from our conversation. He wants to know more about Utah, the Mormons, the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Speedway. Not sure where his article is being published.

• Growing up in the midwest I witnessed some superior lightning and thunderstorm displays. But Sunday night's was the top. We lost power several times and the cracks were fiercesome. Coming from the single-digit humidity of Moab, we feel like we are in the swampland of Florida at times. And just when things were beginning to dry out. Stone walls retain damp, and the gully-washer was apparently just running in our back door. And now we were told that Leran is built over several springs, one of which is thermal in origin. During a brief interlude between deluges, we trekked to the bar to see who was around, and left the windows open to air the place out. A few minutes after we returned, a kitty-cat bounded down the stairs and jumped out the window from which it must have gained entry. I'm still seeing cat tracks around today, so I'm not sure how many other animals we are unknowingly harboring at this point.

• When I picked up the Recycling Manual at the Mairie's Office, I never imagined it would be so confusing. They gave me my sac jaune and sac noir, but exactly what goes where and when is still not processing. What I can say is that recycling is done religiously here and people do not question it. They just do it. And the cost of trying to create a household from nothing has really nudged me in the direction of trying to reuse any and all of the recycling products that I can. I am cutting off the tops of plastic milk jugs to use the lower portions for plastic containers; I save all tin cans for holding things. Some things here are extremely expensive that we go into "sticker shock" when we see the price: a small package of phillips head screws might cost the equivalent of $8-10 here, so we parcel them out judiciously. The moral of that story is for anyone contemplating visiting us....please smuggle in phillips head screws in various sizes in your luggage. Stones are cheap, no need to smuggle them in.