As April is ending, I was wondering how it is going where you are. Here, it has been surprisingly cold. I mean April can be treacherous and go from summery to wintery, but this year the month here has been cold enough so I did not wear a single time a t-shirt. In fact, I have been pretty much wearing my winter clothes. Sometimes it is a bipolar month. Well, not this time, not this year. I don't think it's even been above 15 degrees, and that was at its warmest. You can read more about it here. That said, I am not complaining. Like, not at all. I dread hot weather, so I am glad we had a month of April that did not feel like summer was on its way. There will be plenty of time to sweat. This month has been comfortable for a change.
Monday 29 April 2024
Cold April
Marcher jusqu'au dépanneur
Parfois, quand on est casanier, il faut se motiver pour être actif, mais la plus simple excuse permet de le faire. C'est ce qui est arrivé hier: comme nous avions passé la fin de semaine à l'intérieur jusque là (l'excuse: le temps pluvieux, le retour d'Irlande, le calme après la fin de semaine dernière, j'ai suggéré à petit loup d'aller au dépanneur. Le plus proche est à cinq minutes de marche, mais c'est une station-service sur une rue passante, alorsj'ai suggéré celui à une quinzaine de minutes d'ici. Cela nous a fait un bien immense. Et pour une raison quelconque, Wolfie l'a pris comme une sortie spéciale. J'imagine qu'un dépanneur, pour un enfant, c'est un peu un endroit stimulant, plein de surprises. Même si on n'y vend pas grand-chose.
Sunday 28 April 2024
Tea for the Flying Scotsman
Les olives
Saturday 27 April 2024
A Clockwork Orange and... David Bowie
You know I am a fan of A Clockwork Orange, both film and novel. Iam howevernot a fan of David Bowie. I don't dislike him, I'm just not a fan or anything. I never cared all that much about his music. Well, I learned recently that David Bowie and I have a point in common: we are both fans the film. To the point that he even imitated the Yorkshire accent of Malcolm McDowell. Well, I once spoke nadsat, but I never went as far as trying to mimick McDowell's accent.
Le choeur des enfants dans Carmen
L'opéra Carmen fut mon premier amour opératique, quand j'étais encore tout jeune. Il y a plusieurs raisons pour cela, dont peut-être un peu le choeur des enfants, que je partage ici aujourd'hui. Je me rappelle avoir même songé à faire partie d'un choeur, ou en tout cas d'y avoir rêvé. Le Royal Opera House va présenter Carmen en mai. Je songe à y aller.
The voice of Cate Blanchett (and our world)
A bit of fun news about my favourite actress Cate Blanchett: she is narrating the Netflix docu series Our Living World. You can read a review here, to give you an idea. I started watching it with Wolfie and we are both enjoying it. In fact, I can safely say that Wolfie is fascinated by it, mostly because the images are so perfectly gorgeously lush. It is a nature/wildlife documentary series, but with a twist: it shows how seemingly unrelated phenomenons and actions are interconnected. So it is worth a watch in itself, for its educational value. For its beautiful images too, like I said before. Plus, you have the voice of Cate Blanchett for the narration. If Mother Earth had a voice, it would be hers.
Un smoothie pour la route
Friday 26 April 2024
Another new Pelecanos
Well, I a spoiled as a crime fiction reader. You may remember that, a year ago, I was complaining that George Pelecanos. had not published anything new in a while. Luckily, this year he published Owning Up, a collection of four novellas. That made me happy enough. I bought the book right away to have it on release, then I read it eagerly. I will blog about it again. But my luck did not stop there: I learned yesterday that he will release another novella, titled Buster: A Dog. About a dog named buster, of course, but it's also crime fiction. Knowing of Pelecanos' love of dogs and how they have been featured in his previous works, this story promises to be both original and touching. I am not much of a dog person, although there are a few dogs that I loved, however I pre-ordered the book.
Apprendre à aimer lire?
Je viens de voir un article dans Urbania, que j'ai lu en diagonale. Le titre et la question qu'il pose est Est-ce qu'on peut apprendre à aimer lire? C'est une bonne question et je n'ai pas de réponse claire. Moi, dès que j'ai appris à lire, ou à peu près, j'ai appris à aimer lire, parce que j'ai trouvé des bouquins que j'aimais. Tout simplement. Et,même si je n'avais pas accès à la même quantité de titres, j'ai trouvé assez vite ce qui m'intéressait. J'en ferai peut-être une question existentielle. J'aurais cependant tendance à croire que c'est un peu inné. Mais ça vient aussi de l'environnement, pas tant que dans l'apprentissage: quand on vit dans une maison pleine de livres, on va finir par aimer la lecture.
Thursday 25 April 2024
Thirsty Thursdays
Des cadeaux et des oiseaux
Wednesday 24 April 2024
New Tractor
No, no, we did not buy a new tractor. We never bought an old one to begin with, except toy tractors. But you may remember that Wolfie has been obsessed with tractors, or used to be when he was a toddler. He is not nearly as much anymore, having found new interests and fascinations, but he still likes them. And we still do sometimes a bit of what we call tractor spotting. It's like a conditioned reflex for us: there is a tractor within sight, we notice it. So anyway, yesterday, during the back to school run, I noticed a tractor. A big one, dark green, kind of forest green, which I don't remember seeing before. And, well, that's it really: it struck me that I can still spot new tractors in the neighbourhood.
Le prochain Quais du Polar?
Tuesday 23 April 2024
Wolfism about Saint George's Day
Happy Saint George's Day everyone! I nearly forgot about it. Which is a pretty English thing to do. Nobody cares here about the country's patron saint. Even Wolfie does not care much, if at all, and Saint George's Day. He told me this morning, in a disdainful tone: "Daddy, what's special about Saint George's Day? Why do people celebrate it?" This is a new Wolfism and, while not the Englishest he said, it is pretty close. Because it seems that no true Englishman cares about Saint George's Day.