A bientôt!

On Tuesday, we're off to Gay Paree for ten days!  I know it is not a long time, but I also know we will have a terrific time and lots of adventures and make memories for the rest of our lives.  It can be stressful to enter the Unknown (my youngest son is not happy to leave his comfort zone) but you aren't safe anywhere -- you can fall in the bathtub or down your own stairs or be killed in your car on the way to work, and you have to grab the opportunity to enjoy all the wonderful things that the world has to offer.  I have been reading a lot about Paris and there are so many things to see and do that ten days is only scratching the surface.  We will eat, drink and make merry and see the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay and Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter and the Luxembourg Gardens and la Place de la Concorde and Napoleon's Tomb and Versailles and Chartres (quite a lot to manage, I'm afraid).

I've also been reading novels about Paris -- I have found a mystery writer called Cara Black who writes about a detective, Aimee Leduc, who lives and works in Paris.  I must confess that mysteries are my guilty pleasures in the book world and although I don't think the writing in the series -- Murder in the . . . (and then she names a part of Paris, like Pigalle, or Montmartre) can compare to my favourites -- Dorothy L. Sayers or P.D. James -- they still give you a taste of Paris, I think.  I will report back once I'm there and experiencing it for myself.  It's very exciting.

Are you watching the Olympics?  I actually thought I was off the Olympics for good this time.  I saw all the news reports about the Olympic committee moving people out of their villages to build Olympic venues and parking lots and the desperate economic situation in Brazil contrasting with the enormous monetary outlay required to put on the games (that most people agree is never recouped by people after the games) and I really didn't want to watch, but something convinced me to watch one event (I'm not sure what it was, maybe women's soccer) and now I have been sucked right back into the personal stories of the athletes (who really can't be blamed for the excesses of the IOC or the bureaucratic interests that provide the disgusting aspect of the Olympics).  My husband and I used to say that they should always have the summer Olympics in Athens and have permanent venues and athletes' quarters there and the countries who participate would pay to maintain the site (and the winter games could be in Lillehammer, because if you remember the games there, it was really a magical place and Norway is not some big world power and it is a stable place and a nice wintery scene, as long as climate change is contained to 2 degrees -- let's hope for that!)

Anyway, I have watched the races in the pool and been amazed by the great Michael Phelps (and touched by Canadian Penny Oleksiak's look of surprise when she is successful in her races) and, as I said, the women's soccer games (shocked by Hope Solo's remarks after the United States was defeated by Sweden) and the 10,000 metre race last night which, to me, really expresses the agony and ecstasy of athletic competition -- Mo Farah from Great Britain was the favourite, but he ran at the back for the beginning of the race and when he made his move, he fell and appeared to be trampled by the other runners, but he jumped back up and then, took the lead and he and his Kenyan competitor, Paul Tanui, pushed themselves beyond what any of us can imagine, running hard at the end of such a long race and Farah won the gold and Tanui the silver.  I feel so badly for athletes like Ryan Cochrane, who give it their all and then are disappointed with their performance.  He came sixth in his final race, a gruelling 1500 meters in the pool, and he was unhappy about it -- I understand that he wanted to do better, but really sixth in the world is an amazing achievement and I hope as time passes he can realize that he has done what none of the rest of us can ever imagine doing.  He put himself out there, did his best, "left nothing behind" (I think athletes say that when they give it their all) and has achieved greatness.  And all the people who have competed -- Anthony said he read that they should have an ordinary person running or swimming or jumping or whatever next to all the athletes so we could see how amazing they are and how great all their performances are.  It is an extraordinary accomplishment to even go.