Here’s another product I don’t recall seeing in Seattle prior to our living in France. Yes, my French friend Ricard. What I bought in Seattle in the past was Pernod. But, lo and behold, here on the shelf of a Washington State Liquor Store was a bottle of Ricard.

You regular readers will recall my recurrent riddle with repeating the French R with any kind of reassuring realization. This made reiterating rigid words like Ricard a repressive reality for me. One recognition related to our return is my resourcefulness with the English R.

Of the many days in which I reference Ricard on the blog, my favorite comes from October 10. That post is actually a letter to Frédérique, written after Melinda and I had spent the afternoon with the Boudeaus and some of their friends. I was being given French lessons that involved a fair amount of laughing, something that eventually grew into Frédérique saying she was laughing WITH me, not AT me.

Speaking of the Boudeaus, Melinda and I were thrilled to have a Skype session with them today that included carrying my laptop around to show them our house, including Romain’s room. Those Boudeaus, I like them.