Zoot alors - encore

mainly sunny, warm, temps 25

An absolutely splendid morning. Glorious. A golden day, calm and fragrant, and the gardens and lawn never looked better. Our lawn is actually - of you look closely - clover. Which is why if Wayne doesn't cut it fairly often, you don't have to look too closely. It's covered in white flowers. And after a rain, if it gets very hot, the whole place smells of sweet clover.

The geese have gone! 30 of them at last count. The poop was legend. People could have written epic poems about it.

They all left yesterday - but somehow one get left behind. I went out to the pond in a rain shower, taking some bread, to keep it company. it was honking and wailing. God, it broke my heart. So I sat there, getting soaked, and honked back. But after a while I suspected far from comforting this poor lost one, I was just upsetting it. so I stopped. And went home. And prayed that in the morning it would be gone or the others would have returned.

And sure enough this morning four had returned. Then, while Michael and I worked on the porch, we heard a great honking and they all rose up together. And left. Phew.

Did editing this morning. Some sections a little rough. Some I find unexpectedly moving. Very strange when I'm moved by my own writing. As though someone else had written it.

Then had the pre-interview in french at 2pm to decide if my french was good enough to do a TV interview in August to promote the french version of Still Life _ En plein coeur. Marie-Josee phoned and we talked. Well, she talked and I bumbled along - then, to my surprise, at the end she said my french was fine.

Now - she either has a very high tolerance for idiocy, or she was drunk. Or perhaps she hates her host and wants to inflict a moron on her. But she seemed to believe it would be fine. I have just under a month to brush up. Very frustrating to have complex thoughts and only simple words to express them.

I must say, though - I'm delighted.

Must run down to Vermont to do some mailing before the post office closes. Speak to you tomorrow! Hope you're enjoying the summer!