The purring epigram

I'm all about the shenanigans.

They say the human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hands of men. I agree and find myself longing for such a place, a place of quiet and natural chaos, where i can belong and yet peacefully know and accept that we’re not much at all.

Life at its core is for me extremely interior, no single word gives it meaning. My grandfather whom I cherished would call me ‘the ineffable one’. I was never sure, as a child, what he meant. I think I’m slowly beginning to understand.

Catching up

I’ve just finished Dead Souls by Gogol and have begun reading short stories by Marcel Aymé. I find myself wishing I had read them sooner. How it took me so long to finally open some of these books is simply ridiculous. I’ve decided to put up a list of authors I’m planning to get intimate with sooner rather than later. No more pondering what to tackle next, it’ ll all be here:

- George Saunders (why him? This NYT article is the culprit)

- Ursula Le Guin (recommended by a friend & by W. Ellis)

- Nelson Algren (an intriguing non-conformist novelist)

- Betty Smith (specifically A Tree grows in Brooklyn)

- The Greats (Sinclair Lewis, H. James, Faulkner, Mann)

- Bertrand Russell (I’ve only read Mysticism and Logic )

- Fruttero & Lucentini (their writing is perfection to me)

- Patti Smith (curious about Just Kids, I love that woman)

- Business secrets of the Pharaohs by Mark Corrigan ?

I’ve been visiting my family in the South of France this past week. My parents live in an old stone house surrounded by ancient olive trees. There is honey from our beehives, fresh figs, almonds, prunes and of course black olives straight off the branch.

My son is having a blast, he scooped out the pumpkin I bought for him in the nearby market and found some mushrooms in the garden. I have been taking care of a few horses and eating just about every kind of cheese I can get my hands on. Life is swell.

Tonight is the mid-autumn moon harvest festival (Tết Trung Thu) and children all over Vietnam come out at night with their lanterns and chant songs. Dragons roam the streets and drums can be heard all over the city. 
 Tonight my son became a tiger and joined in. Here he is holding up his lantern,  right after I told him he could have ice-cream for supper. Pure joy.

Tonight is the mid-autumn moon harvest festival (Tết Trung Thu) and children all over Vietnam come out at night with their lanterns and chant songs. Dragons roam the streets and drums can be heard all over the city. 

Tonight my son became a tiger and joined in. Here he is holding up his lantern,  right after I told him he could have ice-cream for supper. Pure joy.

- Finally! We have finished moving into our new apartment.
- We’re planning a Montreal vacation in 2 weeks. We’ll probably freeze our butts off but what can I say,  we sort of miss it.
- I, the frenchie, am waiting for the election results from France. With a little luck we might rid ourselves of that awful asshat Mister Sarkozy. Fingers crossed!

- Finally! We have finished moving into our new apartment.

- We’re planning a Montreal vacation in 2 weeks. We’ll probably freeze our butts off but what can I say,  we sort of miss it.

- I, the frenchie, am waiting for the election results from France. With a little luck we might rid ourselves of that awful asshat Mister Sarkozy. Fingers crossed!

(via maudelynn)

And we’re back.

After a week at sea in Quy Nhon and an overdose on soft-shell crabs, the family and I airplaned back to the busy, noisy, frantic city we now call home.

Hello Saigon! Hello 2012!

Then we realised tonight didn’t mean anything to anyone but us really, the Vietnamese won’t be celebrating a new year until January 23rd (which starts the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dragon). Guess we’ll have the real party three weeks from now huh. Oh well,

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU GUYS OUT THERE WHO CELEBRATE !

Have fun, drink loads and kiss a lot.

Cheers.

There will be days like this

On my way to the market the other day, as I was crossing the big park in front of our home, I saw an unusual scene. Sitting on a stone park bench was a young  man in a bright orange robe and an elderly lady in a grey veil. As I walked closer and passed, this is what i saw: a buddhist monk and a catholic nun sharing a gigantic bowl of Phở noodle soup.

Only in Vietnam guys, only in Vietnam.

        From the moment I first started living here in Vietnam, I’ve been loving how never a day passed by without me walking around groups of men staring and commenting intense games of Chinese chess (Xiàngqí 象棋). Crouched and all hunched up  in a circle on the sidewalk, setting up games while waiting for the bus, or in a small corner of a café, waiting religiously for a new opponant, midday iced-coffee in hand, anticipation in their eyes.

At all hours, and in any place, a tournament takes place. People come and go, take a look and comment the play, grab a smoke and just hang out, intrigued by  the outcome; who will win the battle? Would it not be wiser to move the elephant before the cannon?

I have been trying to learn how to play Xiàngqí this past week and I have to say it is not easy at all! I hope i’ ll get better at this soon, just so i can follow the moves.