2023    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Fougères - Sept   
2022    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2021    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2020    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2019    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2018    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2017    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2016    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2015                                                                               Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   


The most recent entries are at the top of this page. Earlier entries follow in reverse chronological order.

30.08.2016

Lazy afternoon
As in other large cities, many buildings in downtown Boston have a bottom floor that is a shop and floors above that are either apartments or offices. Often the design and/or colors of the bottom story differs greatly from th upper stories. We took Ric to his office in a building with such a design and color variation -- the botom story is dark-dark green and the upper floors are brick which are peach or natural colored.

All (and I mean ALL) afternoon Tammy, Miles and I played the board strategy game Firefly which is based on the TV series of the same name. The TV series is a geek cult classic created by Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and others). John introduced me to the TV series and we saw the movie together. Miles set up the game, which is a really good thing because I doubt I'd have the patience for that. The game strategies became more understandable as we played but my best strategies were often not obvious until the opportunity had passed. Miles is great with tech specs and he lives up to his role of son of Geeks. In San Diego circa 1999-2003 John and I used to hold game nights, invite friends over and play board games. Ric and Tammy were regulars. Miles wasn't born yet. In Eugene I had a ton of board games. My friends there, mostly from the Center for Inquiry, would join us for game nights.

Flying Home
My flight from Boston was 30 minutes late taking off so I got to Frankfurt 30 minutes later than originally scheduled. For 30 minutes in Frankfort I stood in a line with hundreds of other people waiting to go through customs. Then there was a security breach so we all waited in a very crowded space outside of the security check area. Then for another 30 minutes we worked our way through the line to the security check stations. When I arrived at the security station they told me my flight had been canceled and I needed to go back to the Lufthansa desk and reschedule my flight. I eventually asked for the airline to just do what needed to be done to get me home and they did. Later I recalled that France very recently passed a law that requires airlines that fly in France to compensate passengers and provide services such as a free phone call, food and lodging. Also compensation for up to €600 may be applicable depending on the circumstances. A large part of my problem was an inability to connect to airport WiFi (probably because I was so tired) and a non-working cell phone. After I arrived home I saw that Lufthansa had sent me an email telling me about my newly scheduled flight. They provided the info I needed and when I did not receive it they took care of me at the airport in Frankfort and the flights were all pleasant. So I continue to highly recommend Lufthansa.

Ric's office building.

29.08.2016

Boston is a lovely and interesting city. It's amazing on so many levels. It's pretty, modern and historically old. The city's architecture is so diverse often having just one block with 5 or more architectural styles varying not just in side by side construction but also vertically with one building having several styles one atop another. It is visually interesting -- often stunning. The images below show several of the architectural styles Boston offers, but there are many others. The city seems new, although it is very old (for America). It's clean, has good food, beautiful waters, great public transit and close proximity to other cool cities. I should have visited (at least) decades ago. Boston-Cambridge is also home to Boston University, Harvard and MIT.

This afternoon we went downtown to a toy store named after the children's book "Make Way for Ducklings". I had never heard of the book so I asked the guy - what's with all the ducks? He told me about the official storybook of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. John has 4 children so he was aware of the book. The Make Way for Ducklings store celebrates the characters of Make Way for Ducklings book and other internationally-recognized authors with local Boston ties. If you visit Boston you should drop by the Faneuil Hall Marketplace to see it. The Hall is very cool itself. There are also Make Way for Ducklings Statues in the Boston Public Garden. So cute. The Public Garden also has swan boat rides for tourists. Miles takes sailing lessons on the Charles River near the swan boat rides.

Tammy took me on one of the Freedom Trail walks with a Colonial costumed (and in character) tour guide. We got a history lesson about Colonial leaders in Boston and saw some sites during our 'Walk Through History Tour'. The actor/tour guide was very funny and the information was obscure and gossipy. Well, a lot of the information was important historical facts too. If you are interested in American History Boston is THE place to be.

The number of statues in and around Boston is enormous. During the colonial history tour we walked past a bunch of statues memorializing the Irish who immigrated to Boston during their potato famine. Those statues weren't part of the tour, of course but I took a few photos and looked stuff up online later. When I first saw the statues I nearly cried - for the impoverished Irish people and what they suffeed but also for the people of Boston who established the memorials and bluntly stated that Boston did not do enough at that time and must never again allow that kind of suffering to take place in their city. The memorials will activate, if not agitate, your empathy, I'm sure. Click the next link to see more images of the memorial statues and read about Boston's Irish Famine Memorials. Most of the statues in Boston are bronze or copper. In Nice the statues are most often marble but there are a lot of bronze statues too.

Some of the architecture in Boston resembles French architecture, such as Trinity and some other churches. The red brick buildings are primarily Colonial architecture. There is also plenty of modern architecture in Boston. I passed by several modern architecture buildings in Boston but I didn't get good photos. I found some public domain photos which I've included among the images below.

Old State House	Faneuil Hall	Mixed Architecture Styles
Flat Iron style	Ray and Maria Stata Center MIT	Liberty Mutual Build & Christian Science Church
Row Houses Apartment Building	Modern Style	Red Brick Barn Style Building
Old North Church	Anthenaeum Boston Public Library	Detail of Anthenaeum Boston Public Library
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Great Dome	Make Way for Ducklings Boston Public Garden	Swan Boats at Boston Public Garden
Our Colonial History Tour Guide	Charles Sumner Statue	Paul Revere's Gravesite
Irish Famine Memorial - The Great Hunger	Irish Famine Memorial - Never Again Should People Starve in a World of Plenty	Irish Famine Memorial Plaque
Irish Famine Memorial

28.08.2016

We spent all our time in New York on Manhattan Island except for a very brief foray into New Jersey for a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There are so many things to see and do in New York many trips would be needed to see a decent amount of the city. It's a happening place. We didn't go to Central Park or Harlem or the Garment District or Rockefeller Center or Hell's Kitchen (where Daredevil lives) or Greenwich Village but they were all very close to where we stayed. Walking distance on a cool day. We passed by the Empire State Building and visited Grand Central Station, 5th Avenue, 42nd street, MOMA, Broadway and other parts of the Theater District, Times Square and more. Along the way I picked up the (Village) Voice. We stopped in one of the neighborhood bars, ate New York pastrami sandwiches and window-shopped some trendy boutiques -- all fun, but even in Manhattan, the heart (and soul?) of New York City, most everything seemed a bit gritty.

Grand Central Station
Tammy and Ric went to a bagel place while Miles and I walked along 5th Avenue to Grand Central Station. Every block was packed with shops and almost every block had a "going out of business sale." You probably should avoid those stores. I wanted to buy a couple of T-shirts and PJ style pants with a New York theme and the guy tried to sell me $500 worth of stuff all the while telling me, "You'll love this. I give it to you." Grand Central Terminal (aka Grand Central Station) is grand, inside and out. It's huge, I tell ya! And ornate. And filled with stores, restaurants, bars and a central market. And an Apple store. Our rendezvous point in the terminal was the Apple store. My friends Ric, Tammy and Miles are apple groupies/evangelists.

Musical
We saw the musical 'Jersey Boys' in the August Wilson Theater on 52nd Street. We had very good seats - center and only 5 rows back - but the seats were narrow and the guy next to me was man-spacing me half-way out of my seat. That was largely because he was tall and had to splay his legs wide because there was little space between our row and the one in front of us. So - not a luxury experience. Fortunately he moved to another row during intermission. The performance was professional and entertaining. Miles nearly fell out of his seat laughing because of all the cursing (they were Jersey boys, after all). We sang Frankie Valli songs all the way home. And the next day too. It was a happy adventure.

Times Square
After the musical we walked through Times Square. It wasn't completely dark yet so the lighting effect was not full-on, but it was enough. Times Square is in the Theater District in Midtown Manhattan at Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. My impression was of a collection of stores and giant billboards, interesting primarily for its flashiness. The space available for cramming in New Year revelers is big, but I wouldn't want to be there for those festivities.

Entrance into Grand Central Station	Grand Central Station Clock	Location of Apple Store in Grand Central Station

27.08.2016

MoMath Museum
On our way to the the statue of Liberty and Ellis Island we passed by MoMath, the National Museum of Mathematics. How very cool is that? An entire museum devoted to MATH!!! We perused some literature and went into the gift store but we didn't have time to see the museum. I got a hat, a couple of magnets, some Alice in Wonderland shaped notecards and an illustration that resembled a spider web (for my Halloween party). Ric very kindly picked up the tab while I was still shopping. Sneaky Ric. (Thank you! And thank all of you for your kindness, generosity and wonderful humor!) We didn't take any photos while at MoMath, but here's a link to some Google images of the museum.

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
We took a cruise boat to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island today. Our cruise tickets included self-guided audio tours of Ellis Island and the grounds of the Liberty Island and the outside of the Statue of Liberty. The Crown and Pedestal tours were sold out. During summer and holiday seasons, crown tickets are often reserved up to six months in advance.

At Ellis Island, in addition to all the impressive history of American immigration, is a collection of 33 small sculptures by Dennis Ratner. The sculptures represent people who became immigrants in America. Ratner also sculpted the eight large bronzes, symbolic of the immigrants, which now stand outside the Statue of Liberty near the "Wall of Remembrance". He also sculpted the bronze statues of the five founders of the Statue of Liberty, which stand on the grounds of the Statue of Liberty Island. Those founders are: Frederic Auguste Bartholdi - French sculpture designed the Statue of Liberty, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel - designed the iron skeleton for the Statue of Liberty, Edouard Rene de Laboulaye - conceived the idea of the Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus - American poet who wrote "give me your tired, your poor..." and Joseph Pulitzer - publisher of 'The New York World' conducted a crusade for the Statue Pedestal Fund. John's grandparents and great-grandparents arrived at Ellis Island from Hungary in 1910.

The circumstances of early American immigrants resembles those of refugees currently coming to France and other European countries. On Liberty Island is Statue of Liberty National Monument in all her gigantic glory with a lovely view of the New York City skyline. "The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World" was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The robed female figure represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of Freedom. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was designated as a National Monument in 1924.

View of Statue of Liberty from ferry	Statue of Liberty aerial view	Statue of Liberty from the ferry and from back
Liberty hand under construction	Torch in Madison Square Park	Liberty Island
Ellis Island in foreground	Tammy, Ric and Miles on Ellis Island	Ellis Island Immigrant Paintings 1
Ellis Island Immigrant Paintings 2	Ellis Island Immigrant Paintings 3	Ellis Island Immigrant Paintings 4
Ratner Statuettes 3	Ratner Statuettes 4	Ratner Statuettes 5

26.08.2016

The Boston Museum of Science, on the banks of the Charles River, is fascinating. The exhibits are engaging (lots of hands-on exhibits) and thorough. There's a planetarium, OMNI movies, intriguing permanent exhibits about the human experience, lightning, an audio-kinetic sculpture, animals, plants and more. I liked the lightening and math exhibits the best. In the math exhibit area there were some hanging signs one of which is a quote by Goethe, "Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: Whatever you say to them they translate into their own language and forthwith it is something entirely different." Made me smile.

In addition to the Boston Museum of Science there are about 40 other museums in Boston. Click here for a list of some of them. Some museums not included in that list are Harvard Museum of Natural History, The Sports Museum, Harvard Mineralogical Museum, The Boston Museum, Francis Russell Hart Nautical Museum (Nautical Art), Semitic Museum (Near East Archeology), West End (neighborhood) Museum, Warren Anatomical Museum (housed within Harvard Medical School's Countway Library of Medicine), The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, MIT Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (international art) ... and others.

Good News! I got my French insurance coverage card. I have been covered since 1 July but with the name error, et. al., I was just recently issued my card. Yay! I am a card carrying health-insured Frenchie resident now. I have to renew 1 July 2017.

More Good News! My letter to the Editor of the New York Times International about the burkini bans was published today. My letter is the last one.

Even More Good News! Today France's top administrative court overturned the burkini ban in one French town.
France's top administrative court has overturned a town burkini ban amid shock and anger worldwide after some Muslim women were ordered to remove body-concealing garments on French Riviera beaches. The ruling by the Council of State Friday specifically concerns a ban in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet, but the binding decision is expected to set a legal precedent for all the 30 or so French resort municipalities that have issued similar decrees. Lawyers for two human rights groups challenged the legality of the ban to the top court, saying the orders infringe basic freedoms and that mayors have overstepped their powers by telling women what to wear on beaches. Mayors had cited concern about public order after deadly Islamic extremist attacks this summer, and many officials have argued that burkinis oppress women.

Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, told reporters that the decision should set a precedent, and that other mayors should conform to it. He also said women who have already received fines can protest them based on Friday's decision.

Mathematical Models exhibit 1 at the Boston Museum of Science	Mathematical Models exhibit 2 at the Boston Museum of Science	Electricity exhibit 1 at the Boston Museum of Science
Electricity exhibit 2 at the Boston Museum of Science	Electricity exhibit 3 at the Boston Museum of Science	Miles and a plasma ball
Mobius strip	Charles River outside the Science Museum	Ruth's French health insurance card

25.08.2016

Tammy took me shopping for Halloween jammies and decorations today. I only got flat decorations so they will fit in my suitcase but they are unique and cute including "chalkboard" black cats, spiders and bats on halloween-colored clothes pins which I will be using as name tags. I am one happy camper.

Miles turned 13 today. We had a little party - just the 4 of us - and Miles got a ton of geeky presents including 2 drones (one big and one mini). Miles ran it into the ceiling a few times before Ric fixed the drift and made a few other mods and everything worked great after that. Miles also got a couple of interesting books ('Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe and Religions Visual Reference Guides) and an expansion pack for his strategy board game Firefly We had Mexican food (I love Mexican food) and a Cookies and Cream ice cream cake from J P (Jamaica Plain) Licks that was dreamy creamy. Mmmmmmmm.

Firefly table top game	A present for Miles	Another present for Miles

24.08.2016

Boston
There are a lot of old red-brick buildings here with high pointed roofs. Old architecture but so unlike Nice which has very old statues, arches, curves and carvings everywhere.

You definitely should visit this web page about the Freedom Trail to see some of the varied architecture, statues and memorials along the trail as well as read about its history.

Today we went to Harvard and wandered around the campus (I took pics). The science building was very cool. Harvard's architecture is diverse and very pretty. We also wandered through a nearby graveyard of people who died in mid 1600s to early 1600s. Tammy said that, even though this was a graveyard for rich people, she had been very surprised when she first went there that so many people were in their 70s, 80s or 90s when they died. Tammy said there are graveyards every few blocks in Boston-Cambridge. (There's even a 'Haunted Boston' tour of the historical graveyards). More than half of the gravestones we saw had a skull with wings. I looked up the iconography:
The winged skull most often means a dead person’s journey is not over; after they’ve shed their physical form, they are flying away to another realm. In the United States, the ‘death’s head’ was initially a non-religious symbol simply used to denote a buried corpse, as the Puritans didn’t believe in using religious symbols on graves. The particular style of the death’s head motif on older graves acted as a calling card for the carver.

The iconography web page linked above has many of the same winged skull images, although they are of a different graveyard. The graveyard we visited is "The Old Burial Ground".

Tomorrow we're going on a hop-on, hop-off Old Town trolley tour where we get on and off at any of the history-filled stops, including "the Historic North End, North Station, Boston's Historic Ballpark, Boston Convention & Exposition Center, and the Seaport District. Explore the Paul Revere House, the Old North Church, and Copp’s Hill Burying Grounds in the North End. See our Historic Ballpark, the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball still in use. Check out the impressive architecture of the Boston Convention Center and the Institute of Contemporary Art".

We're heading to New York Saturday morning. Miles has been to New York a couple of times but never made it to the Statue of Liberty so we'll do that and other touristy things. We have tickets for the Broadway musical 'Jersey Boys' for Sunday afternoon. Next week we're going to tour one of the Freedom trails. We are going to tour with costumed guides (Oooh! Pirates and Patriots!!! Oooh! a 'Historic Pub Crawl!! ) but you can also self tour using these maps.

Our good friends Miles and Tammy	Gravestone from the 1600's	The Old Burial Ground
Gates of Harvard Yard	Harvard's Memorial Hall Tower	Harvard's Massachusetts Hall

23.08.2016 evening

I arrived in Boston and spent more than 90 mintes slogging through 3 (or 4? I lost count) checkpoints in customs. They were horribly understaffed. It was worse than French airports when they are on strike! Seriously. On the way to Ric and Tammy's house (in Belmont) last night I saw one large building with the red brick and very high roof and inside there was a very modern style. I could see inside because the front of the building was almost all glass. Interesting. Since moving to Europe John and I have both become more aware of different types of architecture.

23.08.2016

I'm heading to Boston now. John is staying in Nice taking care of the kitties and our paperwork for our residency renewal. Today is Tammy's birthday. I'll give her a cool scarf I picked up in Paris. Paris - that sounds so romantic, doesn't it? We were there twice this year and have friends who regularly go there. Living in Europe has the benefit of frequent, easy and inexpensive travel. That's one of the things I love about being in Nice. The day after tomorrow is Miles' birthday. Miles is Tammy's (and Ric's) almost 13 year old son (OH NO!!! A TEENAGER!!!). Time goes by so fast now. Faster and faster each year. When I last saw Miles he was so little. He was 5 or 6. Lots of changes.

Lufthansa's economy seats are very comfortable except the leg from Nice to Frankfurt was cold and I'm wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt. The temp in both Nice and Frankfort is 30° C, so I can't complain much about the cold aircraft. The second leg was very nice for economy. And the food was great -- I almost thought it was French. While I'm in Boston I'm going to get some Halloween pajama pants and probably some other Halloween stuff. I LOVE Halloween. The party at my place will be Saturday October 29 and, of course, I want all of you to attend. I will send out "formal" invites in September (via email). Costumes are encouraged but not required. Shared treats or drinks are also encouraged but not required. Along with the invite I'll send links to some recipes for Halloween goodies, Halloween jokes, Halloween history and Halloween stories.

22.08.2016

Burkinis on the Riviera
I wrote a letter to the New York Times International about the burkini bans. It will be published today (Thursday). I've written a ton of stuff about France's burkini ban on Facebook. Lots of background and some arguments back and forth. If you are interested you can read about it on my Facebook home page.

Just search for the word 'burkini' to find those posts. We live in the second most conservative region of France (Alsac Lorraine in the north is first). These are the two areas of France where many of the La Pen family and their cohorts are strongest. The National Front would have taken several regional seats last November if the Socialists had not pulled their candidates and asked their voters to support the Republican candidates. The Republicans now hold seven regional seats and the Socialists hold five. This is an map of the results of the 2015 regional elections (the Socialists are red, the Republicans are blue, yellow is for Corsica’s regionalists). This is a map of the regions with their names.

The anti-immigrant anti-Islam anti-dark-skinned-peoples groups do everything they can to make life difficult for groups they don't like. I'm an atheist, a woman, a liberal and I've had lots of experience with right-wing Christians beating up on me (some literally). I think religion is a sad situation for many reasons but when women are raised to be modest you don't force them to wear revealing clothing whatever their religion or non-religion. Have you seen a "burkini"? Some Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and other or non religious women wear them for modesty while swimming in public. Some are like a Yoga outfit with short sleeves and pants to the knees. I'd rather wear one of those than a one piece swimsuit (never mind a bikini).
Some come with bathing caps (the suits are lycra).
Some resemble snorkeling or diving suits
Some resemble a regular burka but without the veil, with a short overdress and with long pants.

18.08.2016

Bugs and cats
A couple of months ago, to keep out flies and the few mosquitoes we had back then, I attached netting over the doors to the outside and the windows we want to have open. It helped a lot in dealing with the weather to have a cool breeze from the open windows and doors open and not to worry about bugs. So far no birds have tried to enter the house, so that's a relief. Now the kitties go on the balconies pushing through the netting (the kind with the magnets that close two panels) or sit at the doorway to the balcony and fall asleep. Tommy does that a lot. John told me yesterday that he'd gotten over his concerns that the kitties would try to do a flying squirrel act chasing birds. All was at peace with nature it seemed. But today Tommy lunged at a pigeon sitting near the kitchen window. Fortunately John was in the kitchen and he pried Tommy off the window sill. I'm sure now that I'll need to do some quick MacGyvering to find a way for us to stay cool with adequate air flow throughout the house while also staying 'cool' about our kitties looking for adventure.

17.08.2016

Weather
We weren't prepared for the heat and humidity when it hit Nice in late June. In the beginning we limited going out in mid-day, made better use of our fans and bought a portable A/C. We also carry gel ice packs and plenty of cold water with us when we do go out mid-day. We've been doing well since we implemented those changes. Since we opted not to have a car our trips are often in buses without A/C. Sometimes the bus has A/C but more often it doesn't. Before we made the decision to move here I checked out the climate including average temps and rainfall. I gave no thought to humidity. The humidity here is definitely a killjoy.

One other weather-related problem in Nice is mosquitoes (called mossies here). When we arrived here at the beginning of October last year we suffered from mosquito bites for a few days until we got some mosquito-repellent plug-ins. The plug-ins are were very effective last October and last month but not as much now. We changed brands so that may be part of the reason. Although the mosquito season lasts for 7 months we don't have mosquitos all the time during that period. We didn't use the plug-ins after October last year until early July of this year. And we've only had serious problems recently. The mosquitoes are most active at dawn and at dusk so I pay attention to keeping my doors and windows closed at those times. Strong fans help some too but only when they are blowing directly at us.

I've always been a mosquito magnet I have all of the (risk factors) for being their prey except I'm not male. , John got more bites than I did this mosquito season. Fortunately he doesn't have the allergies to the mosquito saliva proteins I have. Previously I had been careful not to move to areas that have a mosquito problem, but I didn't think to research mosquitos before we moved here. I think because of my infatuation with Nice. I love Nice.

Before we moved to Eugene, Oregon John told me that a town in Southern Oregon (Paisley) has a mosquito festival every year. That almost stopped me from moving to Oregon, but we discovered that Eugene did not have a mosquito problem, so I was OK.

Recently I discovered that before the 2003 heat wave in Europe there wasn't a large mosquito problem along the Riviera. There were almost no air-conditioners here either. Now there is a significant problem with mosquitoes for several months out of the year. About 12 weeks ago, at the end of April, a tiger mosquito watch was issued for 30 departments (similar to counties) including ours (Alps-Marintime) which will be lifted at the end of November. It's an annual warning set up in 2006, during a zika epidemic in French territories in the Caribbean and northeastern South America (French Antilles, Guyana and Martinique). The tiger mosquito also carry dengue fever, yellow fever and chikungunya virus and has been linked causally to Guillain-Barre Syndrome in Brazil.

John and I suffered mosquito bites in late June, July and August and in October last year. I have no idea if any were tiger mosquitoes. I managed to squash two mosquitoes which were not tiger mosquitoes. Over the past three years in France, the rate of mosquitos colonization, particularly in the south of the country, has accelerated, with 30 depafrtments across France now asked to monitor the spread of the tiger mosquito. I know the danger of mosquito-born virus infections here is very low with only five reported Zika infections in all of France. Since Brazil is hosting the 2016 International Olympics, you've probably heard that in Brazil there are a million cases of Zika virus infections which could be spread world-wide by Olympic spectators. Currently there are over 1,000 Zika virus cases in the U.S, almost all were contacted while traveling. A few people living in Florida contracted the virus from local mosquitoes. Miami is actually considered a hotspot for the virus. That's probably more than you wanted to know about mosquitoes, but if you want more info here are a few links.

The virus in France
This map shows Zika outbreaks in 2016
CDC info on Areas with Zika
ECDC info on areas with Zika

Sundries
Back to school here is called "the Return" (sounds like a scary movie). Of course ads are everywhere just like in the states. The ads advertise soldes (sales) but they are not the 50-90% off sales that occur during the national Soldes in January and June.

Local News
The local newspaper, Nice Matin, is still covering the truck attack on the Prom during Bastille Day festivities. Today they published some moving poems.

Nice-Matin is also covering the burquini legalities. More coastal towns have enacted bans. France has 11 national holidays. Six are Christian holidays and there is nothing to suggest that will change any time soon. This article explains Laïcité, the strict form of secularism in France. The only problem I see is that they are only strict about Muslim women's attire. Christians are allowed their religious attire. Wearing crosses in public and on the beaches is not banned anywhere in France but Muslim attire is considered to be disruptive.

More than half of the national holidays in France are Christian. France has 40,000 Christian churches. The entire city of Lourdes is a public display of Christianity. The anti-burkini politicians of France must be telling bald-faced lies about the importance of enforcing secularism because they can't possibly be that obtuse.

Below are some other related articles:
Sisco (near the capital of Corsica) banned the burkini. Muslim attire UPDATE: As of 23 Aug at least 9 French towns have banned the burkini.
5 Reasons to wear a burkini and not just to annoy the French.
Religions in France

This is a great article about the history of France's banning of veils, headscarves and now Burkinis. It reads, in part: "the ban and accompanying declarations are in fact only the latest manifestation of French anxiety about Muslims — an anxiety often played out on women’s bodies, especially in regard to their clothing."

Health insurance
I received a letter stating that my name has been corrected on my Vitale Carte and I received my application and sent it in but I haven't received my card yet. Soon, though. Then I'll be a card carrying universal health care customer. Woo Hoo.

Curious about health insurance coverage in France? Changes were made in Jan 2016 to the automatic health insurance renewal each year Protection Universelle Maladie (PUMA)

The Couverture Universelle Maladie (CMU), which formerly protected those not covered through employment/business based schemes, has been abolished. PUMA now grants an automatic and continuous right to health care in France to those who are legally resident in the country, without the need for any administrative formalities on a change in circumstances. Every French resident is entitled to state health care which covers 70% of your costs. "Top up" insurance, if you have it, will pay half of that remaining 30%.

U.S. Healthcare is a Global Outlier, and Not in a Good Way This graph represents the sad state of USA healthcare.

Healthcare is really inexpensive here in France. John's recent doctor visit was 23 Euros. John paid in cash and the doctor swiped his new Carte Vitale. In five days 15.10 euro was automatically deposited in our French checking account. So without 'top-up' health cover the visit only cost 7.9 euros.

Language
We use a variety of tools to compensate for our French language inadequacies. As I mentioned several weeks ago we use a translate app on our phone which, if you're connected to the web, will provide voice translations both ways. I use it for brief text translations. It also has a feature for using your camera to take a picture of text that the app translates. At home we use Google translate online to translate emails or web pages. Recently I started using OCR software to translation physical documents. I scan the documents and then use an OCR app. Many scanners come with the software but I use one of the top 5 free apps to convert an image or PDF to text and then I paste that into Google translate. Windows One Note is supposed to have that ability but I haven't found the options which are described so I just downloaded Free OCR and used that. It works great including translating all the accent marks. I haven't tried it in any languages other than French and English, but I'm sure I will someday soon, as so many items here are in languages other than English and a few are also not in French.

Renewing Residency Visa
We are now in the process of renewing our residency permits and visitor visas (I'm amazed that we've been here almost a year!). The process is similar to what we did in the states except that we're doing it in France in French. We made a trip to CADAM at the end of July and they told us to come back at the beginning of September, so after I get back from Boston we'll head over to CADAM. John is gathering paperwork, setting aside funds, making more copies, and researching the differences from our initial application. This web page has a flow chart in French of steps required to renew your visitors visa. Our initial VISA applications in the USA were in English. From now on all our renewals and applications will be in French.

Unlike the states where you would pay each governmental office for services that you may need, in France it seems that payment is made by purchasing stamps at either tobacco shops, the post office or public financial centers. The stamps are then taken to whichever governmental department you are dealing with. It's convenient for them because they don't each have to deal with cash or accounting. John bought some stamps to pay for our residency permits at the local Centre Des Finances Publiques, so we are pretty much set for renewing our residency. Woo Hoo for John!

CADAM (Conseil Départemental des Alpes-Maritimes) where we renew our visas and residency permits	Centre Des Finances Publiques where we buy our stamps to pay for our residency permits.	Stamps we purchased to pay for our permits.
John's Carte Vitale

05.08.2016

Winds and Weather
Today the winds are very strong and dry and hot like it was in July. I read that these kinds of winds are called baby mistral winds. There was a high wind alert for Nice and the Riviera until 4 PM tomorrow (6 Aug). The alert said,"Although rather usual in this region, locally or potentially dangerous phenomena are expected (such as local winds, summer thunderstorms, rising streams or high waves). Be aware and pay attention to the latest weather updates, especially if you carry out activities exposed to weather or close to a stream or shoreline." When these type of winds occur they are short-lived and the humidity is very low. Even though the temps are high the weather is not oppressive.

04.08.2016

Crosswords
Several of my friends in Eugene, Oregon like to do NY Times crossword puzzlzs every week and a few of them also know French. My friend, Betty is taking French classes again, so I sent her some of the puzzle books that are popular in France. They are called Mots fléchés. You can find them online by searching Google or using the links below:
Fortissimots and Grilles de Mots.
You can also find other types of puzzles from the links above.