Happy Holidays

It's turning out to be another fabulous fall and winter here in Cormatin. After a stellar visit to Austin with a delicious Thanksgiving and an unforgettable 40th birthday, I've returned to stunning sunsets, a bit of snow, and plenty of Christmas spirit.

Life is good.


Happy Holidays everyone!








Surprise pre-birthday bash here in France
Blessed by the presence of so many friends and family at my party, including my cousins Karen, Shauna, and Susan



Emmanuelle's wedding













Amazing cloud formations upon my return home











First Christmas tree in Cormatin!

Wish I had found this earlier...

Even though the shameful WBush era is now going into the garbage can -- good riddance! this older video is still a great laugh.

A very telling Sarah Palin clip

No comment necessary for this one. She digs her own grave by herself...

Clearing things up for the election

This brilliant piece highlighting the hypocrisy of the McCain/Palin campaign was written by Tom Minor. Folks on the fence might want to give it some deep thought.

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.


* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, and you're a maverick.



* Graduate from Harvard law School and be President of the Law Review, and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.


* If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.


* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.



* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.


* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.


OK, much clearer now.

Because we all need a good laugh out loud during these trying times

And this video is just the key to some big belly laughs!!
Thanks to Gene for sharing.
Enjoy!

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

Here's hoping that all this creativity channelled into these videos also gets channelled to the voting booths...

Words of wisdom

from 1798, bringing back to mind the quote that I have probably uttered the most in my life: those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Thanks to CWB for sharing this gem.

A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt... -- Thomas Jefferson

Talk To Your Parents About John McCain

You know these kinds of discussions can sometimes be difficult between parents and children... but this video could help!

Serious arguments for voting Republican

How quickly we forget...

Every election year both political parties in the US start playing fast and loose with the facts. And unfortunately, it seems that most US media outlets are not willing to call them out on their exaggerating and lying.
So, don't forget that you can always turn to www.factcheck.org for a non-partisan run-down on what is the TRUTH. Or, just the facts, presented in an unbiased, straightforward manner.
Why don't our politicians keep in mind the advice the Thompson Twins gave us in the 1980s?

Putting things in perspective...

with humour... some of the first election coverage I've seen that didn't turn my stomach. Thanks for sharing, Dan!

Politics and eat your veggies

So my esteem has risen for Paris Hilton (well, actually, previously I had no esteem whatsoever for her, so on a scale of 1 to 10 she's gone from sub-zero to about a 4) after her snappy comeback to John McCain's pathetic attack ad comparing her to Obama (jealousmuch?) and I think her video is worth watching for a good laugh (although I'm against her plug for tanning! doesn't she know about skin cancer risk???)
I was impressed with her sense of humour and delivery, although disappointed that the folks at funny or die only came up with an overly simplistic energy policy when they could have taken this opportunity to make a truly intelligent point.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

But I'll get off my soapbox and get to more important matters: food.



Featuring a recipe from my garden.

Well, kind of… this zucchini (or courgette for my UK friends) is from my garden (my first ‑ I’m so proud!) but the recipe was inspired by a few I found on the internet, to which I added my own personal touch. I actually came up with this recipe prior to having my very own courgette/ zucchini plant so I had some time to perfect it before my garden began giving birth to such beautiful babies.

What you’ll need:
Round zucchini or hefty long ones (for a main course to feed two people, I usually make 4 of the round or 2 of the long)
Feta (when in stock, I buy the reduced fat version as there is no detectable difference in taste, especially for this recipe)
Already cooked lentils
Pine nuts (optional)
Olive oil
Various curry spices (besides a pre-mixed curry powder, I also throw in some garlic, cumin and ginger, as well as salt and pepper)

Now, I despise following recipes to a T and for a dish like this, don’t think that exact measurements are important. It’s the taste that’s important! So these are just my general guidelines and then you can play with it and make your adjustments as suits your mood or personal preferences. For example, the first time I made this, I wasn’t chez moi so I didn’t have access to much in the way of spice. Instead of going the pseudo-Indian route, I had to go the pseudo-Provençal/ Mediterranean route, using “herbes de Provence” and mixing in some parmesan with the feta to give it a bigger bang. It was also very good, but right now I’m on a curry groove.

Preheat the oven to around 180°C. Cut the tops off the round zucchini or halve the long ones lengthwise. Scoop out the flesh to around a quarter of an inch from the skin (finally a use for that melon baller I bought years ago and never touched!!). Drizzle a little olive oil on the zucchini shells. Salt, pepper. Stick them in the oven for around 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan and cook the flesh until its tender. I add some curry to this while it’s cooking. I then mix a package of feta (there’s a standard size here in France but I couldn’t tell you how many grams or ounces it is…) with a package of pre-cooked lentils (the vacuum packed ones sold in the veggie section of most French grocery stores) in a separate bowl. I spice this up to taste. If I have the time, I do things properly and let the zucchini flesh cool before incorporating it into the lentil/feta mix. Have I mentioned that you should be toasting the pine nuts about now too? When they’re done, mix them in with the feta/lentils/zucchini flesh. Scoop this unfortunately rather unattractive-looking mixture into the zucchini shells and put it back in the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes with a sprinkle of pine nuts on top. Serve straight to the table. I find that the end result – a very easy, tasty, low-fat and extremely healthy (as well as filling!) meal ‑ goes equally well with white or red or rosé.
Bon appétit !

Important article from Time magazine

Given all the hub-bub about offshore drilling and insane gas prices, I think it's important to keep things in perspective, and it seems to me that this article from June does a good job of laying out some key facts. I have added emphasis to parts I consider especially interesting. For some reason, I couldn't reproduce the article as is to Blogger (although Time provides the service for numerous other blog sites...) so I just copied and pasted it in, which I hope is not violating any copyright rules (if it is, I hope my friend Siva will correct me gently on it. ;)

By the way, have you all registered to vote?


"Will More Drilling Mean Cheaper Gas?"
Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2008 By BRYAN WALSH

On Wednesday morning President George W. Bush urged Congress to overturn a 26-year ban on offshore oil drilling in the U.S. and open a part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to petroleum exploration. Flanked by the secretaries of Energy and the Interior, Bush also proposed streamlining the construction process for new oil refineries, and explained that these moves would "take pressure off gas prices over time by expanding the amount of American-made oil and gasoline." Coming a day after Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain made a similar appeal to enhance domestic oil exploration, Bush was sending an unsubtle election-year message to the American public: I care about the economic toll of $4-a-gallon gas, and Democrats in Congress, who have opposed such an expansion, don't.

But there's a flaw in that logic: even if tomorrow we opened up every square mile of the outer continental shelf to offshore rigs, even if we drilled the entire state of Alaska and pulled new refineries out of thin air, the impact on gas prices would be minimal and delayed at best. A 2004 study by the government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that drilling in ANWR would trim the price of gas by 3.5 cents a gallon by 2027. (If oil prices continue to skyrocket, the savings would be greater, but not by much.) Opening up offshore areas to oil exploration — currently all coastal areas save a section of the Gulf of Mexico are off-limits, thanks to a congressional ban enacted in 1982 and supplemented by an executive order from the first President Bush — might cut the price of gas by 3 to 4 cents a gallon at most, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. And the relief at the pump, such as it is, wouldn't be immediate — it would take several years, at least, for the oil to begin to flow, which is time enough for increased demand from China, India and the rest of the world to outpace those relatively meager savings. "Right now the price of oil is set on the global market," says Kevin Lindemer, executive managing director of the energy markets group for the research firm Global Insight. President Bush's move "would not have an impact."

The reason is simple: the U.S. has an estimated 3% of global petroleum reserves but consumes 24% of the world's oil. Offshore territories and public lands like ANWR that don't allow drilling may contain up to 75 billion barrels of oil, according to the EIA. That may sound like a lot, but it's not enough to make a significant difference in a world where global oil demand is expected to rise 30% by 2030, to nearly 120 million barrels a day. At best, greatly expanding domestic drilling might eventually lower the proportion of oil the U.S. imports — currently about 60% of its total supply — but petroleum is a global commodity, and the world market would soak up any additional American production. "This is a drop in the bucket," says Gernot Wagner, an economist with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Still, with Americans hurting at the pump, it may be difficult for environmentalists and other opponents of increased domestic drilling to resist the push for more oil, whatever the cost. As recently as his 2000 presidential run, McCain had been against offshore drilling, but he changed that position Tuesday, arguing that individual states should decide for themselves. (He remains against drilling ANWR, however, pointing out that "we called it a 'refuge' for a reason.' ") The Republican Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist — considered a possible vice-presidential candidate — also flip-flopped, backing McCain's position. Though Democratic Senator Barack Obama and most of his party are against the proposed expansion, McCain and his supporters may have the public on their side: a recent Gallup poll found that 57% of Americans believe we should open up new territories to drilling. "It could help in the long term," says Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University. Still, he acknowledges that even expanded drilling is unlikely to bring prices down much.

Though offshore drilling conjures up fears of catastrophic spills, the petroleum industry rightly argues that safety measures have improved considerably in recent years. A 2003 report by the National Research Council found that only 1% of the oil that polluted U.S. waters came from petroleum operations, like the offshore drilling platforms that run in the Gulf of Mexico — which also weathered Hurricane Katrina without massive spills. If it can be done in an environmentally friendly fashion — and with oil companies themselves footing the bill — opening up some new territory to drilling might be worth it. The reality is that our economy will run on petroleum for the foreseeable future, and that while investing in alternatives is the only way to secure truly low-cost energy over the long term, we'll still need oil for decades more. But any attempt to increase supply must be coupled with even heavier investment in energy efficiency and other methods to decrease oil demand — an approach that, to his credit, McCain has said will be a key part of his energy policy (although in the Senate he has skipped or voted against every fuel efficiency bill since 1990, according to the League of Conservation Voters). In any case, Bush's plan is unlikely to be realized — the Democratic-controlled Congress remains against it, and Bush can't open up the new territory on his own.

Even as Democrats and Republicans squabble over a relatively small amount of petroleum, we're missing out on the opportunity to truly break our addiction to crude. This week the Senate again failed to renew the tax credit for renewable energies like solar and wind; the credit, which expires at the end of the year, is key to the healthy growth of low-carbon alternatives. Without it, "the industry will simply stop," says Santiago Seage, CEO of the Spanish company Abengoa Solar. With energy demand skyrocketing, we'll need more oil, and alternatives like solar, and demand-side measures like toughened auto fuel efficiency standards or tax incentives for Americans to purchase less wasteful cars. We'll have to include action on global warming, like the recently defeated Warner-Lieberman carbon cap and trade bill. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that under the bill, U.S. petroleum consumption would have dropped by nearly half by 2030 — savings far in excess of the amount of oil we could ever pull from Alaska or the coasts. "We can't drill our way out of this and we can't conserve our way out either," says Bullock. "We need both." Fair enough. But the sad truth is that neither drilling nor conservation will have an immediate effect on rising gas prices, even if they do have an immediate impact on the presidential race.

A very warm house

Well, it seems like a year since I posted anything here but it’s actually only been a month and a half… a month and a half explained by preparations for my Bastille day weekend housewarming party. On Saturday July 12, around 40 adults and 5 children joined me in my backyard for locally produced crémant (the champagne of Burgundy), cold cuts, salads and barbecued duck breast (this is France after all!) and various types of sausages, washed down with some local red wine. The last party-goers left around 5 am, with lots of people returning Sunday and Monday to eat leftovers that seemed to go on for days and days. I think it is safe to say that everyone had a good time. Reminiscent of my Champ de Mars picnics, folks had come from all over (besides the locals and the Parisians, some friends came from Alsace and others from Haute Savoie). It was wonderful, but 5 days later I’m still worn out from both the preparations and festivities…

We were incredibly lucky with the weather, as storms had been forecast all weekend long. Saturday was partly cloudy and not as hot as usual, and the rain held off until 1:32 am, at which point the crowd was small enough to fit on my covered terrace. The sun came back in its southern Burgundy splendour on Monday and hasn’t left us since.

Many thanks to all who came and those who gave of their muscle and time to help before and after with prep and clean-up, and the generous souls who brought lovely gifts!! My house and I are much the better for it!! Special mention for my boyfriend Jan, who not only was a tremendous help and fabulous co-host, but who also remained energetic and cheerful throughout the stress leading up to (and during) the big day.

There will be a separate photo album to follow once I gather all the pics together.

Rat rides Cat rides Dog

Corny, but charming and true...

En mai, fais ce qu'il te plait

There’s been so much going on here in Horn Morning that I actually forgot I had a blog for a while…
The biggest news of the past month of course being the adoption of “Pinkie” (obviously, not my choice of name but you can’t traumatise a 7-year old French dog by changing her name at this point!)
Here’s a brief catch-up in images.


One of my oldest friends, Lisa B., got married!!
Félicitations!

I got a new welcome mat and Pinkie got a scarf from "Gramma"






Pinkie started making the rounds with her favourite vet, Jan (pronounced Yan)

Happiness is a warm dog

Food for thought

I can't remember who it was who said "Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it."

Media I love

Living overseas, I am blocked from watching videos on numerous sites based in the US. An annoying message pops up while the video is trying to load that says “Sorry this content is not available in your area”. I will not even begin to try to understand why… but it is very frustrating and incomprehensible to my logic. It keeps me from seeing news clips, movie trailers, etc.
A site that *never* does this is YouTube, and I totally dig it. Finding old music from my childhood, watching excerpts of my favourite films, keeping up with hilarious incidents like the Sarah Silverman/Jimmy Kimmel “feud”, I can spend hours and hours here.
Another site that does not block us “foreigners” is Ellen Degeneres’ TV show site. I LOVE Ellen. If I were a lesbian, she would be my dream girl. As I am a flaming heterosexual, she is my dream best friend. I have never seen anyone so funny in my entire life. Her show never fails to make me laugh out loud. I think she is a comic genius. I worship and adore her. She even manages to make me like people I think I hate (such as when she had Jenna Bush call up GW at the White House). I admire her intelligence and subtlety. Watch how she handles this total nutcase who is actually an elected politician, a representative from Oklahoma, which should scare every American on the planet “more than terrorism, more than Islam” to quote this total wackjob.

American Humour

Although everyone often jokes that I am more French than the French, I know that deeep-down, I will always be American when it comes to my sense of humour. This video cracks me up and I can't get enough of it, but I doubt that most of my French friends would get it...
The Jimmy Kimmel/Ben Affleck response is also funny, but not as much as this original zinger.

Winter in southern Burgundy

In the past month, we’ve had three (3) days of less-than perfect weather. Otherwise, it’s been week after of week of brilliant blue skies propped up by the massive branches of centuries-old trees that are still gorgeous even without their leaves and awe-inspiring landscapes that still move me to tears (not an exaggeration) even though I’ve been here for almost a year now…

Numerous people had warned me against the winter season, the dreary cold, the boredom for lack of cultural stimulation, desolate scenery, etc. I’ve had none of it. This winter has been one of the happiest I’ve had in years, and would have been perfect if only Sheba were still here…

Now that I’ve made it through the first winter, I’ve decided to give up the apartment in Paris after April or May (so if you’ve been thinking about coming for a visit and wanted to spend some time in the big city for free, better buy your tickets asap!) I’m experiencing some financial uncertainty and job precarity (you might have heard of the €5bn problem at my main client, Société Générale?) so I can no longer afford to keep paying rent on an apartment I never use. (And if you know of anyone who needs a French to English translator, please speak up! I’m desperate for work and feeling like Dustin Hoffman’s character in The Graduate:
I’m a little worried about my future…)

Other than that, I haven’t updated the blog recently because I didn’t have the words to express exactly how I’ve been feeling here, in my house and new region. But luckily for us all, some people do have the right words and one of my all-time favourite poems (thank you Michael S for introducing me to it almost 20 years ago) sums up my newfound bliss perfectly, so I’d like to share it with you, along with some images from the past couple of weeks. You could change “Rochester, Minnesota” to “Cormatin, France” to get the picture. Enjoy!

A Blessing
by James Wright

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.

Expresso doses of wisdom, coolness or fun

My cousin Shauna turned me on to this website, which sends a tasty daily snack of a newsletter that I really enjoy. It often whets my appetite for more, but mostly it's the perfect little nugget that gives your day a boost. Although it might just be a chick thing...

One of my recent favourites: http://bethree.com/2007/12/31/every-time-you-open-a-door-you-close-one/

Check it out!

After reading the following article

I might change the name of my blog to "A Migrant Worker Life"...

http://www.gadling.com/2007/12/29/how-is-an-expat-different-from-a-migrant-worker/

Meanwhile, an image from New Year's Day in the park that runs behind my house.

Happy 2008!!