Ten Years Ago Today

We were racing home to Paris from Avignon to await the arrival of my sister's first child. In the Avignon train station we met three identical girl midgets from Trochu, Alberta--or at least that's where they SAID they were from, but the very same sister has a friend who grew up in Trochu, a thriving metropolis of about 30 people, and HAD NEVER HEARD OF THE IDENTICAL MIDGET TRIPLETS. And I believe that is something that would, you know, kind of get around. All we saw of them were three sturdy backpacks moving as of their own accord, like something from a Walt Disney movie. "Absinthe," was the first thing that sprang to mind. "There was absinthe in the pistou." (Why do I dislike the word "piss" but quite enjoy both "pistachio" and "pistou"?) So anyway--no, wait, the other thing that was weird about that day was that while the boys were tasting wine at some chauvinist wine-tasting place, we girls were banished, despite our superior palates, to a local park where we sat bitterly on a bench and watched a man kissing his pet goose. We watched for at least 15 minutes, then retreated to a local zinc and swilled hootch. It took a bit of getting over, the goose necking.

Sorry.

Okay, NOW so anyway, we got to Paris despite complicated train trouble that took us to Belgium, turned the key in the complicated medieval latch and picked up the phone on the last ring.

Happy birthday, Winona!