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Nice car, eh? Melinda & I were waiting for Ella to come out of school and this beauty drove in and then out again. I did not see any kids inside the car, but at least one on the outside whistled as it passed. The car got me thinking about several things, one of them being James Bond (don’t you think Bond drove a car like this?).

It also got me thinking about Melinda’s and my day of transportation. We rode 3 different busses and Line 2 of the tram several times. We went all over town, enjoying ourselves all the while. But it wasn’t until I saw this car that I started thinking more about the style of transportation. I concluded that the Nantes public transportation system has a certain style, yes, but it is far different than this car’s. And I’ll tell you. Throughout our travels today we never once had to look for a parking place. The driver of this car didn’t have that luxury. James Bond didn’t have that luxury.

Now George Jetson…

Oh, it hit 79 degrees today. Now that’s style!

I just checked online and that’s the Fahrenheit conversion. Here in France they refer to this as 25. Whatever you call it (heck, call it a rose for all I care, it would still feel as nice), it’s an incredible feeling. It reminds me of when we arrived last July, although it was even hotter then. But after months of chilly, 77 can feel like 90. Chloe just literally walked in and said, “It’s hot!” She’s brilliant when she wants to be.

I got out my shorts this morning and have been wearing them all day. While Melinda and I were out running errands, I asked her to take my picture in front of the fountain at La Place Royale (I had my picture taken in these shorts there on our first day in Nantes). Melinda was having none of that, though. I guess it’s one thing for me to subject the citizens of Nantes to my white legs. But it’s another thing entirely to put up a photo of them on the Internet. She thinks I need some new shorts, anyway, something more European than this plaid pair I bought at Fred Meyer two or three years ago.

Nonetheless, I did just take this picture of me (but I cropped out the shorts for marital bliss reasons). That’s our pool in the background, beckoning me but not yet ready for swimmers. See the beads of sweat on my forehead. I’m ready! The pool isn’t…

Perhaps I should have titled today’s post, “A Sign From Above,” given the significance (SIGNificance) of the progress made today on our little neighborhood grocery store’s facelift. The poor store has been virtually nameless for something like two months. No more! We now know where we shop, the U Express!

Also, considering the significance (SIGNificance) of the photo and its supposed thousand word value, I thought about posting nothing but a title and this picture. But I’m just a chatty sort of fella so here I am explaining myself.

Say, if a picture is worth a thousand words and the sign in this picture has 5 words, does that makes this picture worth 1005 words? And do duplicates count (or single letters, like “U”)? Do some photos try to up their word count, like kids in schools working on word-count essays?

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “I wish he’d just posted the photo and a title.”

It was cool, clear and crisp at 8 this morning when I took this picture. I had just arrived at the Hippodrome, the Nantes racetrack, and was making my way across the turf track to the inner track used for the trotters. It’s where I do my running three times each week. I looked to my right and a little steam was rising from the grass. In the morning sun, it was quite beautiful. I held out my cell phone/camera, looked into the sun and snapped this picture. I did not bother counting to three.

That’s the grandstand behind me. It’s hard to believe, I know, but nary a person was there to watch me run. It would have been a good day to watch me, too. I set a new time record today for myself (time, that is, in terms of duration, not speed). I ran 6 laps on the inner part of the trotter track in just over 47 minutes. My goal is to make it in 45 minutes by the end of the month.

To be clear, there are actually three tracks here, two grass and one made of a finely crushed pinkish colored rock. That’s the one I run on. And as I said, it’s the same one that’s used for the trotters. By trotters I mean harness racing, horses pulling drivers in little sulkies. No, I’m not pulling a sulky. I said I RUN, not trot.

We went to see Romain’s basketball team play today, a game that if they won would move them up a level into the premier division next year and secure first place in their league this year. As the headline excitedly announces, they won. Today’s photo is of the opposing team’s center after the game, dejectedly still holding the game ball. You might think that a group of young men, many of whom can dunk, would have an easy time of it against a team headed by this center. But that’s where you’d be wrong.

It was an interesting game, to say the least. Romain’s team hustled out for an early lead, only to see the opposition claw back into it. This pattern existed throughout the game, but the final was clearly one-sided, 80-61. Of interest to basketball purists, the referees, one especially, wanted to make sure their presence was known. They whistled fouls to the point of three players on Romain’s team fouling out. I’ve never seen so many 3-in-the-key calls, lane violations on free throws, and ticky-tack hand check fouls called. At one point I quoted something I once heard my brother say, “I think the referees are being paid by the hour.” I tried to think of how to say this in French but only managed it in English and I think only Chloe heard me. But she laughed and a good chuckle is what counts, right?

Oh, I updated our Kind Living blog earlier today with a story I first considered for this blog, a true story from Monday morning.

…Three! Yes, three. If you look closely at my lips, you can tell that’s what I was saying when I snapped this picture today. Melinda looks ready, but I don’t, which is kind of funny when you know I’m the one counting and taking the picture. But I’ve taken so many pictures in France where I think everyone is ready, only to have someone complain that they weren’t, that I’ve taken to counting and snapping the picture on three. Problem is, when I’m in the picture and counting to three, and snapping on three, I get this result. I know, it’s all so complicated. Or at least I’m just making it out that way.

I could simplify things, perhaps. Keep my 1, 2, 3 thing going and snap a half beat later or something. But then I wonder if it truly would simplify things. What if Melinda or one of the girls looked away in that half beat, thinking I had snapped on three. I guess I’ll have to stay up late again trying to figure it all out.

Who knew counting to three could be so hard!?

Christine, who has been learning all about our Kind Living launch in her every-other-day workouts with Melinda, suggested she and Bernard come over tonight with a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Today’s photo commemorates the toast and acknowledges Kind Living, something we’ve literally put hours and hours into getting started (don’t worry, it’s all been fun). Go take a look at our website, designed by Melinda. And especially go read the first entry on our Kind Living blog (spoiler alert – it’s about Melinda and me).

Now regarding that fish reference in the title, April Fool’s Day in France is called Le Poisson d’Avril (yup, The Fish of April). Apparently, the schoolyard joke here is to tape paper fish to people’s backs. And rumor has it that the whole concept of pulling pranks originated in France so this is the real deal stuff. Still, I think the PSCS staff pulled off a pretty good April Fool’s prank today. Jimmy Carter. Girls basketball team. Multibillionaire. Funny stuff.

I found this in the frozen food section at Leclerc yesterday and couldn’t resist trying it. To be honest, it’s sitting on the counter right now, just as you see it in this picture, thawing. You see, I’ve REALLY been missing sushi lately. There are several Japanese/sushi restaurants in Nantes, but Melinda has been hesitant to go in to those that look the most promising. We tried a “Blue C Sushi”-like restaurant in the mall I refer to as Bellevue Square, but the fish wasn’t very good (on the other hand, the conveyor belt system there is pretty darn slick, involving magnets or something that makes the plates magically revolve). And I bought an offer on Groupon for sushi at another lunch-oriented shop and we weren’t impressed by the food there, either. I think this goes a long way to explaining Melinda’s hesitancy.

And anyway, am I in France to eat sushi? Just what am I thinking?

But sushi sounds so good. So much so that I bought frozen sushi. In a box. From the freezer section. Of a huge grocery store chain. I’m about to eat it. If I don’t post tomorrow, assume the worst. Food poisoning.

Speaking of tomorrow, if I survive the sushi, Melinda and I will be launching our Kind Living project. The newsletter goes out around 10am Nantes times (that’s 1am in Seattle – the rest of you time-zoned people can do your own math). To make sure you receive it, you can sign up here. Note, if you’ve been in a recent kindness class, you’re already signed up.

Back last summer, when we first arrived in France and wanted to make homemade tacos or burritos or anything that might sound remotely Mexican, we had to get creative with spices and get lucky finding tortillas. As an example, when Romain came to visit us when we were in Pornichet last July, the Mexican food stars aligned and I put together a fine taco dinner. He seemed to really enjoy it (or was just being his usual polite self). But I’m thinking he started talking up that Mexican meal. You see, soon thereafter I started seeing “Old El Paso” brand Mexican food kits on the shelves in the large grocery stores. And by “on the shelves,” I mean a single package tucked away somewhere on a bottom shelf. But, hey, it was progress. Now just look at today’s photo, taken about two hours ago at Leclerc! The Old El Paso offerings have spread from the bottom shelf to the top as well as out wide. Mexican food has made it to France (or at least the quick-to-fix store-bought variety for lazy chefs)! Old El Paso even made it to a coveted end aisle display. And of great significance, the brand is now being stocked at our small neighborhood grocery store, the U Express.

Yeah, that’s right. I’m taking the credit (maybe giving a little to Romain).

The work on which I’ve been reporting about our neighborhood grocery store’s exterior remodel continues. On February 15th I referred to this work as a “facelift.” We had no idea how significant of a facelift it would be, nor how long the facelift would take to complete. On February 22nd I talked about the glass-enclosed entrance that had been added. In today’s photo you can see the fancy panels that have been added to either side of the entrance, attached to the vertical posts to which I made reference on March 13th. Melinda suggested this morning that the panels and the posts combine to form a kind of nature scene, something like trees. The posts are trunks and the panels imply leaves. I can see that, but I doubt that you can from this photo. I suggest trusting Melinda, though. She’s pretty sharp when it comes to things like this. In fact, she spotted the installation of some kind of decorative lighting behind the panels. I’ll be sure to get a photo of that and tell you all about it once it’s activated.

I know. Yawn, yawn, yawn. But, hey, it’s interesting to us!