August 2025 Update

August could be my favourite month. This one seemed to have been particularly busy and full. I may have seen four Perseids though one was bigger and may have actually been an unrelated meteor.

We enjoyed having Natacha & Jonathan using the pool on occasion. We had dinner at their place on the 2nd and then after in the église it was a concert with the Trio Kazé: Tristan Roche, clarinet; Alejandro Costa Martu, cello; & Miharu Ogura, piano. The programme was Louise Farrenc’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello & Piano; the last movement of Dusapin’s Trio Rombach; and Brahms’ Trio for Clarinet, Cello & Piano.

Two days later it was a delicious soupe de pistou dinner at Jessica’s with Tilly, Joanne, Penny, Peter & Alex. The next day at France Service, it was our appointment for our cartes vitals with Lydia. Natacha accompanied us and was a perfect help. But with Mercury retrograde at the time, I don’t know if anything will work out. The rest of the month has been various appointments with Nadine at the bank (one of which I forgot and a second I only remembered a half-hour late) to open Richard a bank account so he can procure a RIB in connection with the health card application. This account opening is still ongoing.

Marie-Laure arrived on Wednesday the 6th. For cinema night, it was the Materialists which I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed, though Gin saw it later in London and, not knowing that I had already seen it, told me not to bother. On another evening, it was Rumours. Penny thought it was dreadful. Richard liked it. I agree with Penny but still enjoyed the film, and Cate Blanchett was superb. Our final movie for the month was Winter’s Bone with Jennifer Lawerence. Richard & I had already seen it, & it is not exactly an uplifting film but still a good one.

On the 8th, Tilly, Iris and Edith came by at 11:30 for coffee. That night Joanne prepared a fabulous Japanese meal for Marie-Laure, Richard & me with negroni for Richard & me. It lasted way, way into the night – well until after midnight. We managed somehow to have crossed a line with our houseguest which has left us saddened and puzzled. The next day Jamie arrived – formerly a gal & now a guy. Richard behaved and softened his anti-transgender attitude. Jamie was completely relaxed and open and the perfect ambassador. That night, after being seated at the table at La Table, Maya asked under what name had I made the reservation. Eventually I realised it had been made at Solea. We were a bit late, but it was a fine meal as always. Penny came for drinks and stayed for one of our 5:2 meals the evening before Marie-Laure and Jamie departed on the 12th. The next day we and Penny had lunch at Philippe’s in Brignoles. It was lovely and both he & Virginie are terribly sweet. Quiche lorraine & risottos. Had a beer & a taste of wine and a large cappuccino noisette. Penny behaved very well. We raced back afterwards to avoid the rain tempest which did not occur, but the next day there was a huge wind storm. Rain was finally on the 20th which always happens at some point when the town is having its fête.

Besides earlier a phone call from Gin and a Zoom with Rosie, Saskia phoned apologising for not having been in contact. Pauliene is now 100½. She fell & wounded her back, and Saskia has been completely engaged with her care.

Gin, Rix, Chloe and Sophie arrived with Reggie on Friday, the 15th. The next evening with just the mothers and Penny we dinned at La Table with Guy & Caroline joining us at the end. On the 19th, Dr. Loreau did not have Richard’s scan results. Penny subsequently got them from the Notre Dame Clinique before I discovered a copy chez nous. Richard seems to be okay. With Ben and Gin, we Zoomed with Charlotte of Forsters on the 21st in connection with the

preparation of my will – one more labyrinthine undertaking. James & Eamonn arrived the next day, and with Joanne and Yvonne coming that evening for Chloe’s delicious lamb dinner that we enjoyed having on the plaatje. Gin left on the 23rd; the rest of the Rixies the next day. The evening before Rix, Chloe & Sophie departed, we had dinner at Solea with Penny, Caroline & Guy. We were 10 in all. It was expensive but fun. With James & Eamonn we did the lake tour at one point. They left on the 28th. The night before, we four were invited to a soupe de pistou dinner at Penny’s with Guy & Caroline. It was a very English

occasion. That day was the end of August’s dies feriae. For the Volturnalia, on the 27th we went to the Roman Bridge swimming area with James & Eamonn as we had on the Portunalia (the 17th) with Chloe & Sophie.

This month we have also enjoyed Cyrul’s margaritas at the Calalou on the 6th (with whom I do not remember), the 13th (just Richard & me) and the 27th (with Eamonn, James and Joanne). Romain let me know that our salt machine was no longer functioning for the pool, and of course everyone is on holiday for the month of July. However, after a couple of weeks, it began to work again.

There has been another Shakespeare Soteria: As You Like It, Pericles, Romeo & Julliet & two sonnets. Further, I am getting through Cometan/Brandon’s dissertation for the impending viva. I have read Daniel Immerwahr’s New Yorker ‘A Critic at Large’ article “Tariff Men: President Trump’s McKinley fixation and the demise of liberal internationalism.” Otherwise, I am reading and enjoying Julian Barnes' Keeping an Eye Open: Essays on Art (2015). So far, I

have enjoyed his coverage of Géricault, Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, Degas, Redon, Bonnard, Vuillard, Vallotton, Braque, Magritte and Oldenburg. Barnes is a wonderfully engaging author.

For the last Saturday of the month, Richard and I had negroni & the vapouriser before dinner on the plaatje. Then it was Manny Tejeda y Moreno’s presentation on a Cherry Hill Seminary Zoom. This was interesting, scary, & I also had some trouble keeping awake. The next day I learned through the news that we will no longer be able to vote in American elections. The Oval Office occupant is cancelling absentee voting from abroad. The next day, late afternoon Lorna, Liliane and Marius came by, and then it was the Soteria.

And on the first of September, we had a lot of rain. At the end of the day it was our family Zoom with Coral, Nancy, Anna (Roger made an appearance) and Roseanne. All in all, I could complain about a lot of things globally, politically, American, Zionist and Ukrainian among others. But Richard and I continue to be grateful for how we are and where we are however precarious it may all be.

And here is my most recent sonnet:

I have a love I can both touch and hold,

And, yes, this earthly course ephemeral be

Yet is a cosmic kiss forever told

With daily smile for now as treasure’s glee.

And *you* who long ago did set my trek,

Now gone within my memory alone

Yet found in dreams as finally friends' domain

To make an anguish to away have flown.

But will humanity its best attain

And be the lovéd child of mother earth

Instead of ceding decimation’s stain? -

For there’s a music more for which to birth!

By two I’ve come that wonder most to know

For all to dance our song through vertigo.

Sonnet #324

Ante diem decimus Idum Augustus 2025