Author: Andy Smallman

Both taken on the boat as we slowly moved up & down the Erdre. As you might guess, we were talking about you both…

You wouldn’t think that I’d be that interested in photos taken on the Titantic, but this one caught my eye for some reason and I decided I should share it. Somehow, the people in the picture just look so… familiar.

I wonder what became of them. Did they make it to a lifeboat? Assuming so, what were their lives like afterward?

Perhaps they developed close friends with people from different countries, say the United States and France, and maybe one summer night in a city, say Nantes (which is in France), they went for a little boat ride. And suppose on that boat ride they spent time with their husbands and another couple, and that they sipped wine and munched on cheese and saucisson and other tasty things. Suppose that afterwards they went to a favorite restaurant along a river for dinner, and they chatted late into the night.

I can just imagine a little friendly argument breaking out over how to pay for the dinner!

I’ve gone for a 50 minute run and sat by the pool.

Oh, I’ve gone in the pool.

Oh, I’ve had a beer, too. I can’t believe I almost forgot about that.

It’s not even 6pm yet so there is still plenty more to do. Like riding a boat along the Erdre with Melinda, Frédérique, Laurent, Christine, and Bernard. There will likely be a glass or two of wine involved, and a couple of tasty treats.

In other words, it’s a tough day here in Nantes.

After Melinda and I went shopping at Beaulieu today (she found a dress to wear to Manon’s party on Saturday), we went over to Christine’s to pick up Melinda’s phone, which she’d accidentally left there last night.

To get there from Beaulieu, we rode Ligne 4 to Ligne 1, and then reconnected with Ligne 2. You might not recall, but I proposed to Ligne 2 when we lived in Nantes. And I’m pretty sure that it accepted my proposal (my tram French isn’t that great and it’s the best French I’ve got!!).

Anyway, we are due to get married soon, I think. Melinda is fine with this.

These two pictures are from our ride on Ligne 2 today.

So I’ve been texting with Chloe for the better part of the last hour. She’s home alone, not feeling well at all. Ella is off babysitting. And Melinda & I have been enjoying an aperitif with Romain.

Poor girl. I think she’s lonely.

Anyway, she said she couldn’t figure out the photo in the last entry. So to Chloe and others I present this photo, designed to give it away.

By the way, this is the place I call Bellevue Square.

The word on the street (communicated via text message with Ella) is that Chloe is not feeling well.

A temperature of 102! No fun! She’s trying to compete with Seattle’s record-setting heat, I guess.

So as Chloe is at home not well, I present her this little photo test. It comes with two questions:

#1) Where was this picture taken?
#2) What do I call this place?

Don’t tell Chloe that I altered this photo to make it look strange. She might think it’s her fever.

So after this incredibly interesting tour of La Maison Radieuse with Bernard & Christine (and Claire!!), we got to go into one of the actual apartments in the building. A colleague of Bernard’s lives there and so we went in for a little tour / glass of wine / taste of cheese. His name is Manu and he turned out to be very interesting.

Not only is he an artist (he showed us the studio space he shares with others and their various silk screening projects), he has great taste in music.

As cool as his apartment is, the first thing I noticed was his copy of Swordfishtrombones, the absolute classic Tom Waits record from 1983. Not only that, it was on vinyl. Not only that, Manu has a turntable.

Not only that, he put the vinyl copy of Swordfishtrombones on the turntable. Not only that, he played it. Music came out of these wooden boxes.

I pronounced it good.

Manu and I speak the same language. The language of Tom Waits.