the latest

++ The last time I was in the old Le Petit Village, I noticed this Corsican flag waving in the wind… Child Bride’s parents hung it from the top of their apartment building. They aren’t from Corsica by the way, they’re from Marseille, but as every south of France dweller knows, there are some people here who are obsessed with Corsica. Take Papa and his wife for instance; they go there every year on holiday (and then The Husband and I have to sit through what pretty much looks like the same photo slide show each time), have a Corsican sticker on their car, and have even changed their license plate registration number to Corsica (yet they still need a GPS to navigate around the island). And then there’s Brother-in-Law, who has had a large image of a Corsican rebel tattooed across his back (seriously… it’s ridiculous). I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. The whole Corsican thing goes right over my head. Moving on. 
++ Want to know what I did for the 4th? Nothing. A big fat nothing. Well nothing patriotic anyway. See this is what happens… when you live outside of the US, the 4th just kind of creeps up on you because there are no 4th of July decorations at the grocery store, no friends inviting you to BBQs or firework displays at the park, so it just kind of happens. You wake up on the 3rd and go, “uh oh, tomorrow is the 4th and once again I forgot about it.” So when I woke up on the 4th I decided that in celebration, we’d take advantage of pizza night (pizza nights are Thursdays these days… or so we thought), order from our local pizza man van, have some beers and watch The Sopranos (in honor of the late, great James Gandolfini, we’ve been watching The Sopranos from the beginning). Except there was no pizza man, he decided that he’s working Mondays now, not Thursdays… AARRGGHH… why can’t anyone stick to the mothertrucking program around here?!?!?!
++ But you know what? I don’t need no stinkin’ pizza van! I’ve been on a pizza making kick lately (OK, I made two pizzas one night so maybe not a kick per se) and I have to say, making pizza dough with 00 flour instead of regular old flour really makes a difference. The dough is much tastier, much more pizzeria like. 00 flour is the way to go. You heard it here first kids.

++ The derelict building across the street from us (it’s a very thin street, about eight feet wide) is being turned into a hotel. Construction began on the 1st of July and is scheduled to continue for the next two years, which we all know will probably be closer to three. So yeah, that’s fun. 
++ This has nothing to do with anything that is happening in The LPV at the moment but something reminded me of this and I felt like sharing it with you… back in March a woman in Avignon sent her three year old son to school with a t-shirt that had, ‘je suis une bombe‘ written across the front (I am a bomb) and on the back, the kid’s name was written on it, ‘Jihad’, (seriously, I’m not making this up, she named her kid, Jihad) and ‘né le 11 septembre‘ under his name (born September 11th). So this woman had a son born on September 11th, decided to name him Jihad, and then put a t-shirt on him advertising this and sent him to school. Here’s the link to the article [click here], it’s in French. This is one of those things that leaves me completely dumbfounded. Talk amongst yourselves.

++ Remember Brother-in-Law’s new car, the French Love Bug? Well it’s no more. Last weekend it was totalled in an accident with a holidaying camper van. Thank heavens he, Child Bride and La Petite are all OK. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about French Love Bug. RIP French Love Bug.

++ Like French Love Bug, Google Reader has been laid to rest and it did not in fact turn into Blogging Apocalypse which I’m sure many of us thought it would. We’re all here, our blogs are still here, you guys are all here. It’s like December 21st all over again. 
++ And that is the perfect segue for my question… if you were a Google Reader before, how do you stay up to date now? Me, I’ve gone the Bloglovin route. I like it. 

25 responses to “the latest”

  1. Sara, I admit, I actually had to go and READ the link to the article to believe it and then of course, made the mistake of getting caught up in the comments and…well, better leave the rest unsaid!!!

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  2. I'm with Bloglovin' too, but I am having a few issues with it. Sometimes I can't comment on posts at all – I click the comment button, and nada – and sometimes it works fine.Also, have you (or anyone else) figured out a way of seeing who's following you? I have seven followers there but I have no idea who they are. Have a missed something fundamental?Sorry about Brother-in-Law's car. Ouch.

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  3. Corsica, Jihad and the Love Bug…things are a little crazy over there! I'm with feedly because I couldnt figure out the commenting thing with Bloglovin, or how to see the full posts (I could only get truncated in Bloglovin). I'm commenting right now through feedlyt. Seems to work well. Resistance was high when I first started, but like anything it eventually feels normal.

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  4. Like Heather, I read the article, although skipped the comments:-) Thought I'd seen everything, but this takes the cake. I'm old-fashioned and have you bookmarked, follow you on Twitter and on Facebook and I rarely miss a post, but always catch up if I have!

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  5. I think it's so funny how everyone was freaking out about google reader going away. I follow in lots of different ways – bloglovin', twitter, facebook, etc. Basically, it depends on the platform that I'm using at any given moment. This morning, I found your post through Facebook 🙂

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  6. I read that article about the kid with the “I'm a bomb” on his shirt. How different it would be if it said “I'm THE bomb.” Now he is just some rockin' kid. Anyway… You always have a way of putting things in a funny way. Your posts always bring a smile!

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  7. it's true about the 4th! and we love the sopranos toooo! (who doesn't, really?) poor james. 😦

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  8. Waitaminnit, where do you get 00 flour around here? I had my last bag trucked in from Italy, but that supply route's down for the moment.

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  9. Ed, look on the packet for Type 45. You can get it in supermarkets pretty easily, it's often the cheapest too. Here's the numbering system.http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/about/types-of-flour/european-flour-numbering-system/Otherwise, hop on the tram to Aube Rouge and walk down to Mondial Market for some 'bread flour' but it's very pricey – over €3 for a packet.

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  10. Sara, I was gobsmacked by that Jihad story, and eve n more so when the complaint against the parents was rejected by the courts because they agreed it was all a jolly joke… Haha…

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  11. I just use blogger.com – all of my blog feeds are on there. I have just linked up to blog lovin though, so we will see how that goes! I can't believe someone would do that to their son – that is shocking!

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  12. I just accomplished another cross-continent move and have not kept up with Things. Google reader issues passed me by without notice..The whole Jihad thing made me slightly sad/sick but then, living in other countries, you get to see/experience how other people in other lands view things in such a different light from our own countries/personal points of view. But it still makes me sad/sick.That auto crash looks terrible and how great that no one was seriously hurt !

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  13. I have read that jihad story too. Sometimes I just can't understand people.Oh no, I am so sorry for the French Love Bug! RIP! But I am glad every human is okay!I have never heard about the fascination with Corsica. That is indeed a bit weird!Have a wonderful weekend, Sara!

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  14. I also did nothing for the 4th. Le sigh. And seriously…that woman is crazy. I just don't even have words. Poor kid!

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  15. It's never boring, is it?! My goodness! Honestly, the most upsetting thing about this post (besides the car accident, of course, and the Jihad thing, what the…????) is the pizza guy. Like, what do you mean, you're only working Mondays? I can't even.

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  16. I'm still getting you on Blogger.com, no changes.”Jihad” has usages in other countries without the same connotations as we in the west. You can find all kinds of different definitions, at, for example, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jihad. So it's possible that the name is not meant as a poke in the eye of the U.S. Hard to say.

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  17. Still reading on Blogger, alto i did sign up for Bloglovin – can't comment on the tablet version, so don't like it much. Also feedly, but haven't really given it a fair try.RIP love bug. It was so cute.

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  18. Considering the fact that little Jihad was born on September 11th and she sent him to school in a t-shirt that said, “I am a bomb”, I'm going to go with the assumption that she was definitely poking in the US's eye.

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  19. NICOLAScomment s,appel se père américain qui a appelé son fils Adolf Hitler et qui s,est rendue au tribunal habillé en nazi .

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  20. Awww…poor car… So sad about James Gandolfini – we are such huge fans

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  21. I'm using feedly now. I like it better than Google Reader.

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  22. Yeah, I guess that would show a certain hostility . . .

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  23. I'm a bloglovin person – I never really used google reader. And I seriously can't believe the whole jihad born on sept 11 thing. Just blows my mind.

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  24. Um…re: news story. REALLY????Re: Corsica :-/Re: the 4th. cough London coughxx

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  25. I think you just captured what makes me hyperventilate going round the very twisty bends with those frigging camper vans. Why would you take one down a tiny road?! Anyway, glad the contents of the Love Bug survived, even if it didn't, poor wee C3 :o(

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