Our hosts return

On August 23, Katia returned from her trip to the USA with her husband Jean-Paul and daughter Roxanne. It was not only terrific to meet the people who had been so generous in letting us use their house, but Jean-Paul and Roxanne speak very little English, so it was useful practice for us to talk to them.

Useful for us, anyway -- for them, it was probably tortuous listening to our pathetic attempts to express all but the simplest thoughts. One thing we were able to provide, at least, was an excuse for Jean-Paul to drag out the giant toybox full of old building stuff (his kids are now too old), which kept Molly and Betsy captivated as seen in the picture.

When we returned from London (see above) Katia (who claims she does not cook) had a tremendous feast waiting for us, featuring Colombo, a delicious lamb curry dish from the French West Indies, and we had another good visit with her and with Christine, who came in for the lunch. Too bad the Internet doesn't yet carry smells or tastes effectively. Also too bad we were too focused on friends and food to retrieve the camera from our bag. But you can imagine it. Mmmmmmm.