Articles

Damned illness!

How do you get over a helluva cold? I visited Janine in the hospital eight days ago. Maybe I knew I was possibly coming down with something because I didn’t kiss her or her husband hello or good-bye. “I’m not contagious,” she said. “I might be,” I replied. Overtired from my trip back from Ireland , I didn’t have any other symptoms. Two days later, in 4°c/ 40°F weather, Issam came home from the pharmacy, complaining about the bitter cold and coughing customers. “I ran out of there as fast as I could,” he said, and added, “It’s SO cold.” Born in Djibouti , where there are no cold-water pipes, he prefers to heat the apartment to 26°C/78°F, causing perpetual temperature battles between us. “It’s not bitter cold until it is in the negatives, that is Fahrenheit ,” I countered. “If French people wore hats in the winter, they wouldn’t get so sick.” Issam thinks hats are for old people. It was my turn to go to the pharmacy, head properly covered. Nobody was coughing there, and I wen...
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WICE: Like a phoenix rising from the ashes

WICE: Like a phoenix rising from ashes…. It was June, 2022, and the Board of Directors called a meeting to inform members that since nobody wanted to become President, and the organization was in such bad shape, they would cease to exist… How could WICE, an educational association, close its doors after more than 40 years of serving Paris’ English-speaking community? Unless… unless somebody stepped up to the plate. Miracle of miracles, somebody did. His name is Rick Jones. A former military officer and recent member of WICE, he and his wife put out feelers to see if they would accept his candidature. They did! This article tries to clarify the history of WICE, its strengths, its weaknesses, and where Rick and his team, after saving the association, are going next. History The continuing education organization was founded in 1978 to serve Anglophone trailing spouses. (Originally called Women’s Institute for Continuing Education, it used just the acronym a few years later.) ...
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Brant Rock Beach

  BRANT ROCK BEACH  When I think of Brant Rock Beach, I time travel fifty years. It is located south of Boston, on the bay side of Cape Cod. Nesting Brant gulls inspire its name.  During my childhood, my grandparents would often take my siblings, cousins and I there for a marvelous summer afternoon or even a whole day. We’d leave their house in Pembroke, Massachusetts, assigning the role of house security agent to Tinkerbell, their yippy Yorkshire terrier. Tinker expressed her disagreement with this role as we piled into two cars. “Yip, yip, yip!” Ten people filled the “yellow bird”, a big yellow Chrysler, and a nickname less blue Pontiac. Off we’d go. Twenty minutes or so later, the swamps outside the window announced the arrival of salty waters. Beach-related businesses, such as scuba shops and kite stores, dotted the routes and we asked if we could stop for ice cream. “Certainly not now, maybe at the end of the day,” was Nana’s response. In the parking lot, we’d ...
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