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Kitties

Tommy seems more comfortable and happy. However, he may be experiencing beginning senility. He frequently seems confused about what's happening and where things are but that happens only about once a week so far.

The two little ones are so cute and goofy. And cuddly, And soft and furry and purry. And Buster still loves his uncle Tommy, follows him like a shadow and often imitates him.

Tommy likes the Halloween pillows. ...as does Buster. At this point Charlie just wants to go back to sleep.
What was that noise?





Rennes

John and I took more pix of the neighborhood and the neighbor kids including lots of nature shots. John takes early morning walks along the canals and into city center. He always takes great pics. He's been visiting with the nutria during his recent walks. He also takes photos of the architecture every time he goes out. There's a great deal of variety with modern and very old ornate buildings. Encountering the kids in our local park is always a pleasant experience. Nice kids, nice park.

An early morning walk along the canal. You can't see it, but there's a nutria
swimming in the picture. 		The spire of Saint-Hélier, a 15th Century church.
Building art in Rennes. The carousel with the Opera House
in the background. 		The older neighborhood in
early morning Rennes.
Early morning on the bridge
over the railroad tracks. 		Many of the streets of Rennes were named after notable citizens. Adolphe Leray was a pioneer in X-ray technology. I like learning about local and French history by investigating these street signs.
Louise Bourgeois.
Anti-war building art. National Theatre of Brittany 300 year old walls surrounding Thabor Park.
A nutria swimming in the canal. Late season cherries in front of
our local grocery store. 		A chasse-roue in need of some paint.
Field trip for little ones
at Oberthur Park. 		The mansion and fallen autumn leaves
at Oberthur Park. 		Autumn





Halloween

I went shopping Halloween night to see what was happening. Last year Halloween activity had picked up quite a bit but that wasn't the case this year. The few costumed young people I encountered are in the photos below. I decorated our windows a bit for Halloween. Less so than last year, though. No one came by. I didn't see any Halloweeners walking around the neighbor either. Last year dozens of families or teens dropped by to say "Hi"or admire our decorations.

The lessened activity may have been related to a nation-wide crackdown on "Devils night" wherein selling fireworks (I didn't know they used fireworks at this time of the year) was disallowed between Oct 29 and Nov 2 and selling booze was disallowed Oct 31 thru Nov1. I read that last year there was "Devil's Night" violence but I didn't read about any for this year. The "Devil's night" violence of last year is not a common thing in France and I don't think there was any in Brittany.

However, prior to Halloween we had many visitors from the neighborhood who came by to view the kitties and the Halloween decorations. That's always fun.

Our little Halloween display. Charlie looking through the window. Window display at the bakery.
At the flower shop. At a small neighborhood store. At the pharmacy.





Politics

France's far right National Rally elects Le Pen's successor. Jordan Bardella is only 27 and has been a protegy of Le Pen for several years. Marine Le Pen is retiring as the President of the party but will still be very influential in its operations.





Medical

I had some medical tests run including my first ever MRI. Wow. That was disturbing. I wasn't claustrophobic but the noise !!





Helpful tips

From our friend Alley: If you ordered something from Amazon in the US and there's an issue you can actually call them. 1-800-201-7575. That number isn't easy to find so write it down and keep it some place safe if you do business with Amazon.