We are still in the Upper Luberon but not so far away as to not be deeply saddened by the utter devastation created by the typhoon in the Philippines and beyond. Please see the following if you would like to help:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/how-to-help-philippines-typhoon-victims/?smid=pl-share
I have scrapped the rest of this weeks posts as they would be inappropriate in the shadows of such a tragedy. We are sending our Very Best out to the other side of the world and to all that have been touched by this disaster.
My thanks to Vickie Lester at Beguiling Hollywood for the link.
You are right…we all need a wake up call but I meant ,that especially people in the 3rd world countries need to learn to assume responsibility and speak up. As you know I live in a country where people let things slide and believe that somebody will rescue them if necessary. Self-reliance is the key word.
This can't happen in the English language…doesn't it?
I must admit it is an embarrassment what I have written. Let's believe it was a clerical mistake
Daaayyyvid!!! *exasperated sigh*
What a lovely thing to say, Joy. Merci.
I share your worries that money might not go to the right places. We have seen firsthand in our travels that can be the case. But I actually think that it is the world that needs education and a wakeup, Mumbai. It makes me sad to say it but there seems to be many wakeup calls going unheeded here…
Oh, "Mumbai"…..my partner is French. The first time I greeted his mother in France (this was at the reception for an art opening she'd arranged for me at a major classical music festival in Tours, where she sits on the Board of Directors), I made a mistake…….by virtue of a single vowel's misplacement.
Without becoming too specific?……She kissed me on both cheeks (this in front of a crowd of people at the reception), and I said (in French) "You are such a ________".
The term I inadvertantly used is a complete gutter-slang term for a prostitute who performs a particular act for/on her customers.
Suffice it to say that I called my mother-in-law (a professor of 17th century literature) a "cocksucker", in front of fifty or so refined and important guests……but the term I used is worse (and far more specific, to to speak) than even that one. The French seem to have an amazingly categorzied and specific slang-vocabulary for an astoundingly wide variety of sexual acts. What a surprise…..
Having now entirely brought-down the tone of Miss. Heather's blog, Ishould perhaps sign off now,
Best Wishes to all of us,
David Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com