Christmas in san Antonio 2022 I spent my second Joyeux Noël holiday in Sainte-Anastasie, a small commune about 60 miles from where I live in Castelnau-le-Lez. As occurs every year, Christmas was held at the home of the parents of my daughter-in-law, Attenderella. They have a beautiful four-story stone house that is able to accommodate the five of us along with Poochi, our dog. Poochi, ready in his Christmas sweater Attenderella’s sister and her husband and their daughter live on the property in a separate home, while her grandparents, ages 91 and 94, stay in a small cottage outside the

Birthday Outing The second morning of my birthday outing, I had arranged to have coffee in my room. The tray was served by a cheerful French woman who thoroughly appreciated my enthusiasm for her service (if not my French). Placed on the tray, besides a generous pot of steaming coffee, were a miniature bouquet of flowers and a croissant. What a lovely way to start the day Totally content with life, I sat out on the deck, enjoying the fresh mountain air, greenery everywhere, sips of coffee, and bites of the buttery croissant. Later, when I joined Expresso and Attenderella

Birthday Outing—Day One How much delicious food can I eat in one 48-hour period? That was the question I evidently tried to answer on the occasion of my 81st-birthday getaway. Expresso, Attenderella, and I traveled two hours north into the Languedoc-Roussillon region (now part of Occitanie), where about a third of France’s wine is produced. The area is home to some of the best food and wine that French chefs put on the table. On the way there, we passed a roundabout with huge sculptures of bronze ants. Expresso stopped to take pictures for me, capturing two of the crawling

visiting lac du crès France has more than twice as many natural and man-made lakes as its northern neighbor Germany. (To be fair, I should also report that Italy dwarfs France with over a thousand lakes.) But numbers don’t really matter. I can visit only one lake at a time visiting lac du crès. Fortunately, one French lake is adjacent to my home in Castelnau-le-Lez. The man-made lake is in the nearby town of Le Crès, a small commune of about nine thousand residents. My new French friends, still thoughtfully helping me adjust to my new life, took me to

On a lovely Saturday morning, my French friends invited me to join them for one of their regular visits to La Cabane, where we could buy fresh produce. The stand is located on a farm about five miles from where I live. I was delighted to go because shopping for locally produced fruits and vegetables on Saturday morning seems to be something of an institution here. A meat truck was parked in the lot in front of La Cabane. I studied the meat but didn’t know Attenderella’s food plan for the week. Consequently, I limited myself to checking out the