the Quercy

The roads of Quercy are really pretty. Quercy is an historical region in the south west of France surrounding the city of Cahors, where the Malbec originates from.



At this time of the year, flowers are barely blooming in the bright green fields. You can see completely white cherry trees at almost every corner.
You can't drive for very long without entering a village where all the buildings are made of stone.
This one is called Parisot:

In addition to the stone walls, some features are almost always founds in towns of Quercy. A statue of a local Saint or of the Virgin Mary,

A market "hall": here are 2 examples, the first in Puylargarde, the second in Parisot. You can see on the first picture holes in the wall. They were used to measure grain.



And a castle or fortified building, here in Puylagarde


and St Projet (called the castle of Queen Margot because she spent a night there).


In villages, houses are tightly clustered together. It is also true out of villages. "Hameaux" are small clusters of homes in the countryside, usually a few farms grouped together. These are often not farms anymore, but have become secondary homes for city people in need of fresh air,or even primary homes for folks from England or the Netherlands.
My chocolate provider's house is one of them.

Tipically, the living room is actually the kitchen, with a large fire place.


Here is his British neighbor:

A perfect place to rest and recover...

Ashes to ashes

In 1986, a nuclear plant in what is now Ukraine blew up. Tchernobyl - probably sounds familiar... The explosion released a big radioactive cloud that spread south and west across Europe. Luckily, it stopped right at the borders of France. Non, non!! It did not enter the country!
Believe it or not, this was the official message sent to us by our government. Needless to say, the cloud did not really "understand" where these borders exactly were, and traveled above at least half the country. Consequences were much milder than the ones the victims living in the vicinity of the plant had to endure. However, an increase in some pathologies such as thyroid cancer was quite significant afterwards.

Today another cloud has come to our skies, dismissing the borders (clouds do that), this one full of ashes from, please, repeat after me: Eyjafjallajokull.
Planes stuck on the grounds, passengers stranded all across northern Europe... Ironically, this happens during Easter school break, and train strikes.
Anyway, these ashes are a huge threat to plane engines - if I got it right - as they get in them and with the moisture in the air at these elevations, plus perhaps the heat in the engine, can form some sort of cement that can jam them.
Luckily, these ashes are absolutely not dangerous for our health. As the cloud is coming over our heads, we can hear repeated reassuring messages from our leaders and we all feel better.
However, in the back of my head, the name of Tchernobyl creeps back as I try to understand how small particles (invisible?) that can be sulfate, nitrate, ammonia, sodium chloride won't get in our lungs, and if they do, won't do any harm.


Looking up to the north - north west tonight, the skies look still pretty clear here. Unless what I think is the dusk creeping on us is actually something else...

I'm going to get a BIG magnet!

On yesterday's CNN.com website:
Can morality be changed magnetically?
That's quite interesting... and so are the readers' comments!

Beyond raising quite a few interesting questions (which might very well inspire Francis H Woods to finally get back to some writing...) such as whether Big Brother has now new powers unleashed by science, or does this give a new meaning to life, our minds and how does that fit in religious stuff, this article brings up the issue of power abuse in research labs: how many, out of the 20 undergraduates really wanted to have their brain activity interrupted?


Jesse J. March 31st, 2010 15:49 ET
But, Sweetheart! I didn't mean to have that affair! It's just that I got too close to all those refrigerator magnets in the kitchen, and..........and..................I just couldn't help myself!

The price is right

Remembering the good old days, I met my friend Chouchou in one of my favorite areas in the city. Just to walk around, do some shopping and stop for a drink.
Counting calories, I chose to have a Perrier (8oz) with a slice of lemon. 5.50 euros.
Yep. A litte bit of water and a tiny piece of lemon.
Same price as his beer...

Empty days

I thought having that much vacation time would be the opportunity to do all the things I never have time to do...
But somehow there's ALWAYS something that needs to be done and that is not fun.
Today was applying for a new passport, and it took pretty much all day.
How can I catch up the wasted time now?

So much for starting my half-marathon training...

That knee just looks too bad. so dumb.

Clogs are great for airport security check

but they suck when it comes to running.
I flew back from the US on Monday-Tuesday. The last plane was delayed and took off from JFK at 5:35am instead of 12:35am. Yikes. 7 hours spent in terminal 4 when all the stores are closed is not that much fun.
Oh well. Next thing I know is my bag did not make it to the last plane despite the 7h layover. Don't ask me how this is possible!
So now, Wednesday, 8pm local time, I still have only the clothes I came with - and the clogs. Actually, I borrowed socks because mine were not dry from the overnight handwashing of my garments.
I had planed to get a new passeport (**biometric** fancy!), but when I showed up at the local passport office, about 50000 people (I barely exaggerate, I swear) were already waiting. They weren't issuing tickets anymore. So I left... and went to buy a clarinet!
Yay! I decided that last week after buying a mandolin for Oggy. I found a store right there, got in and said: give me a clarinet! I know nothing about this instrument, I don't know what I need!
The lady told me to come back later to meet the clarinet teacher. He would give me a quick lesson and help me try the instrument. Great.
Only problem was: I got home, decided to take a quick nap (8h time change, you know...) and got up late for my appointment. I ran to the subway with my clogs and crashed on the stairs pretty badly. My knee is about 2 times bigger than this morning.
I have a clarinet though, and manage to get a few OK sounds out of it. I will see the guy again when mine is adjusted and ready to go. Hopefully I can hop to the store tomorrow (and to the passport place...)