You remember the chateau in snow, dear readers. No? Here it is again.
The chateau in January, from my apt. window
And here it is in late April.
The green thing is trying to eat the chateau
Now, I will not say when the chateau is prettier; but the weather lately has made not quite everything seem fine, but most things. Fruit trees and magnolias are in bloom everywhere; the forsythia is almost gone, but the tulips and many millions of dandelions (from the French, dent de lion, tooth of the lion) are wonderful. Who cares if the lawn is taken over by lion’s teeth?
I will leave the chateau, if my plans go according to my plans, on Friday evening, heading in an arc to the south and then the southwest of Paris, along the Loire Valley. I rode through part of the valley on a bicycle in the fall of 1971. Funny, what I remember most is the many signs offering free tastes of wine. This time, I am determined to see some of the glorious French chateaux in the valley, e.g. at Blois.
This old chateau, I mean my abode of the last several months, has a particular smell–old stone and young hormones. I do like the smell of most of it, except for the dungeon laundry room, which smells like old dirty wet laundry. Until just now, I had not thought of taking pictures of the interior. Well, I’ve just corrected that.
part of the dining hall as seen from the balcony of the library
So I came here with vast expectations, of teaching, of research, of driving, of social life, of improving my French and German, of seeing many new and familiar things. Many of my expectations have been met or exceeded; it was, for instance, great to teach here. I love my car, as some of you may know. You go somewhere with extravagant ideas of what will be and what will change, and how you will change. You change and you don’t, but maybe you realize that many of the things that come to you are excellent. Maybe you don’t take the rest of life too seriously, except when you forget to dwell on the good stuff. Remember that deep thoughts are free. Anyway, it has been a good several months here. Soon I will move on to new smells.
Karma, karma, karma.
