A Fun Day


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Life isn’t just the big things, sometimes it is stopping to enjoy the aquarium in the entrance where you are staying.

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Or maybe it is a framers market in a small town in France where the vendors set up on the side of the road and no one minds.

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Maybe it taking a road out of town, and discovering that the fence alongside the road is made of concrete.

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Maybe it is walking through a cemetery and noting that a number of the graves have reference to a death that took place during World War I. There were over 16 million deaths in WW I, a little over 100,000 of which were Americans. You can not go to any town in France without seeing long lists of deaths in Guerre Mondiale. Armand Delat died in the battle of Verdun. There were over 1,000,000 casualties in this battle of which some 260,000 where killed. We look at the Battle of Gettysburg as being so horrific, yet there weren’t even 260,000 engaged in the battle. Gettysburg lasted 3 days, Verdun nearly a year. In the end neither meant the end of their respective war, and the fighting and deaths raged on. When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.

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It was here, behind Monsieur Magnon’s hotel that the bones of what is known as Cro-Magnon Man were first discovered. Linda stood here, I stood here. Neither of us could put into words the feeling that we had. It is one of those things that just is. And you really do have to be here to understand.

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Guess who is going to be getting a smashed “penny”. Actually a smashed 5 cent piece, in the mail? Grandchildren, that’s who. Makes for a happy grandma, it does.

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We each had duck for lunch today, Linda had a roasted leg and I, grilled breast of duck. It was the dessert that caused the problem. We carefully took photos of our wine, our first course, and main, but then came dessert, and by the time we thought of taking a photo, this was all that was left. Any meal that starts with foie gras and ends with this has to be great, and it certainly was. San Francisco can ban foie gras, there is more than enough for everyone else here in the Dordogne.
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It almost made us homesick, this RV park along the banks of the river that runs through town. Almost, but not quite. We still have Spain, Morocco, Portugal and England to visit. Then we will be heading for home. Until then, there are places to go and things to see.

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Window sill with dinner. A small piece of pate, a small bottle of Bordeaux wine, a small tomato, and a small piece of local cheese. It may not be a “Still Life’ painting, but is certainly what makes Life worth Living.

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