The Four Women of Begadan

 

I bought my house in Civrac-en-Medoc in 2017 but began to actually live here in 2018. I stayed for 3 months in 2018 and 3 months in 2019. I stayed through the vendange.

When I first came in town I had to establish a routine for my day. I had no scheduler to tell me where to go or no one to tell me what to wear or whom I would meet.

Coffee is the great starter for your day, so I began the 2 KM walk north to Begadan where I discovered Chez Joelle.  It is an episcerie which is like a 7-11 in the USA.  Since I speak limited French, I practiced my request standing outside. The store is only 3 meters wide and 15 meters long and social distancing and masking  make it necessary to be aware of other customers.

«Bonjour Madame, Je voudrais un café et une Choclatine et un Journal”. I must have been close enough to the proper French that they understood me. Whoever was working at the cash register would get me what I asked for. When I was especially feeling confident I would ask for a demi-baguette. I was routine enough that they would start the expresso machine when they saw me at the door.

The store is managed by Joelle, a woman who epitomizes what I was told was common among women in the French working world. She is always perfectly coiffured and dressed very attractively despite the fact that her job requires hauling produce around the store. There is a Dior touch to her style. Her scarf is always attractive.

It should be no surprise because she also runs a beauty salon called L’Indispensible which is entered through a door next to the onions and eggplant. At Christmas time this year I bought five scarfs from her shop to give to other local friends.  They were pleased by my selections.

D’Ange’lique is a quiet reserved attractive woman who deals with me with quiet efficiency.  I always wish when I come to coffee, I could start a conversation. But my French is very inadequate, so I am afraid to try. She is the one who introduced to the third female at Chez Joelle’s. I asked the name of the dog who is often there. She told me LOU LOU ‘s name so I could address the dog directly. I said, “Bonjour Monsieur, Lou Lou.” She corrected me and said, “MADAME Lou Lou.”

Lou Lou is an old basset hound who is always friendly and stands next to my chair as I drink my café and eat my Choclatine. I have had dogs for much of my life so I can tell when she wanted me to feed her.  But I learned never to feed from the table, so I began bringing doggie treats in my pocket. She is not always there when I come but, if she is, she makes it clear what is expected. Sometimes it is spoken in a deep voice.

The last of my Begadan quartet is Susan. Neither Joelle nor d’Angelique have ever spoken in English to me.  I am not sure if they studied English in school but aren’t comfortable in trying their skill on me or if they never had English in school.  But Susan has had some English and every once in a while, she will throw in the word I am looking for.  When making change if, I can’t remember quarante, she will say “40”.

Recently I was interviewed by a reporter from Sud Ouest which is the Bordeaux regional newspaper of SW France. The interview was published on Christmas day.  It is the only day in the nearly 11 months I have been here that I didn’t buy a paper.  The next morning, I went to Chez Joelle looking for yesterday’ s newspaper. The remainders of yesterday are returned when the new papers come. 

Using my Google translator, I explained to Susan what I was looking for.  She broke into a smile and told me she had seen it, since one of the regulars, Jean-Denis had brought it into the store and she had read the story of my coming to Civrac.

I ask if she could ask Jean-Denis to sell me his copy. Today as I came in to get my coffee d’Angelique was reading the story standing at the counter.  When she was finished, she offered it to me.  When I asked “Combien?” she indicated that it was for me to take.

This quartet of Begadan start my day with beauty and humanity and a warm style that sets the tone for the day.  Although the mask changes the interaction, the humanity comes through in these short interactions.

Once I asked Susan what vin blanc I should use in order to cook my mussels.  She pointed me to a little green bottle on the shelf I never would have seen. “La Villageoise Vin Blanc.”  I get my refills there every time. I have never seen it in the huge Carrefour in Lesparre but then, there is no Susan to ask.

  I am hooked on Chez Joelle. It makes me smile even if it rains. The weather here is very much like Seattle, so I feel quite at home.   

8 Dec 2020 Prediction of Trump’s Future

 

For four years I have watched Donald Trump and predicted that the end of his term in office would be the worst in history. I also recognize the problems of prediction of human behavior, but I am writing this so that I can think through what I expect to happen.

Donald’s personality is built around narcissism and is defended by total denial of reality. He continues, 30 days after the election, his massive denial of the results in November. My explanation of that behavior rests on my belief that everything he does is meant to further his own personal well-being. He is using the myth of a fraudulent election as a way of continuing to keep his fundraising operation running at full tilt. He has no serious belief that he can overturn the election but what he can do is raise enough money to isolate himself from feeling the impact of his defeat. The PACS to which he is sending the money is simply a ruse to pile up cash to protect himself from the ultimate reality that he knows will come. A careful reading of the paper every day reveals that the wolves in the judicial system are circling him and his family. His children are being questioned and he knows what is coming. In the past he's always been able to protect himself by bringing lawsuits and attacking his accusers. This time he recognizes his vulnerabilities.

Don’t be surprised if he resigns from office on January 15^th and President Pence then pardons him after he pardons all his family of Federal Criminal crimes. He will have raised all the money he can and now he can leave.

 

He is now going to become hunted man by all of those who have been outraged in the past. I fully expect him to run the fundraising machine right up to and including inauguration. Despite his best efforts to create trouble in the United States House of Representatives when the Electoral College meets, he will be faced with the fact that Joe Biden has won this election. One can only guess what his enablers in the House and Senate will do at that point. This would be a sideshow as the legislative branch of the Republican Party tries to extract itself from the hole that they have been digging during the last four years. More about that later.

 

If is he free from Federal criminal convictions Donald is still exposed to civil suits, both at the federal and local level.  He is also exposed to local criminal charges. If you simply Google “countries without a extradition treaty to the US” you find there are many places that he could go to get away from the US court system. Top on the list of course is Russia. He could take up residency with Edward Snowden in avoiding American law. Other options might be Saudi Arabia or Mongolia or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Any one of a dozen African countries would be a possibility except perhaps they will remember what he called them when referring to their status in the world.

 

From this position outside the United States he could continue to run all his businesses unless of course United States government froze his assets. We know from his son's mouth, the fact that most of his financing has come from Russia in the past. We know that he is 400 million dollars in debt, and we have no idea who his debtors are. Leaving the United States may free him from the rule of law in the US, but it is unclear to me what his plan is for evading the tsunami of debt that is coming toward him.

 

Consider his options: he could start a  TV program on Russian television and make a lot of money, undermining our Democratic system from abroad with his endless lies and insinuations. Usually a president can count on those he helped when he was in office to help him when he is outside office but once he leaves the United States he makes it much more difficult for his old friends to send him money.

One source you must not forget is the value of intelligence about our security apparatus. Saudi Arabia is a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the US.  Giving away or selling intelligence is treason punishable by death.  Joe Biden should remove Donald and Jareds’ security clearance by executive order by 1PM on inauguration day.

 

Never forget that money is the main and only source of Trump's feeling of self-worth. His use of the presidency as a cash making machine has been the most egregious in the history of our country. Many of the people who have left the office, have enriched themselves immensely once out of the office, but very few of them have tried to continue to raise money during the entire time they were in public service and on the public payroll.

He reminds me of George Washington Plunkitt who was in the state Legislature of New York around the turn of the 19th century. New York was beginning many infrastructure projects in the 1890’s and Mr Plunkett was in real estate had a sand and gravel yard which fit nicely into the paving contracts for the city. He made himself a fair piece of change which someone challenged. His reply was, “I seen my opportunities and I took him”. Donald Trump raise this philosophy to the zenith in the politics of this country.

Donald’s legacy to this country will be profound. He has used the corporate communication systems as a bullhorn for the destruction of democracy. The leadership in the Corporations of industry dedicated to communication has been feckless almost to a person in standing up to the endless lies and misrepresentations and destruction that he has made in the public's belief in democracy. The Washington Post counted his lies, but they continue to give him publicity. What is freedom of the press all about? That issue will have to be discussed. An even larger question is the part played by the so called “Tech platforms”. They, on a daily, basis amplified the lies and misrepresentation by the president.

 

The second legacy the president will have is the COVID-19 epidemic and its disastrous aftermaths. Much of this is as a direct result of the president's desire related to money to perpetuate the myth that we can go on having a raging economy in the midst of a raging epidemic. He was told by reputable people who knew this was not possible, but he went ahead and did it anyway because he had to keep the image of someone who had made America great again. To admit that nature had defeated him was not within his psychological capabilities. His father told him you must never be a loser and by God he was not going to be a loser to a virus. The losers in this battle for a vaccination will be the less able in the developed and undeveloped world.

 At this moment nearly 300,000 people have died in this country, in part, because he refused to follow any advice of a positive nature. Even at the end when a vaccine is within grasp he denied the request to buy a significant number of vaccination doses from one company because he had invested in another company and he wanted them to get the first shot with the American people.  As the vaccine rolls out, he will try to take credit for being the savior of the world because he shut off immigration from China and financed the Pharmaceutical industry in producing vaccines. This story isn't over because there is no plan in the United States for successfully distributing the vaccination doses nationwide that has any rational basis to it. The ugliness of crony capitalism will certainly rear its head in the month of January as the vaccinations are spread across the country.

 

There is a more powerful impact to his legacy then either of the other things which are self-evident. The most powerful impact of Donald trump's four years in the White House is on the moral upbringing of our children. Our children have been witness to a president who has proven that if you have enough power or will or obstinacy you can get away with anything. It doesn't take a child psychiatrist like me to make clear that if you're a parent and trying to teacher a child to tell the truth that you will have no response when the child says,” but the president lies and he gets away with it. why can't I?”

 

California city mayors and the governor have recently gotten their comeuppance. They put out orders for people to wear masks, wash their hands, socially distance and stay at home. They then walked down to the airport and got on planes and flew halfway across the continent in direct contradiction of their own orders. Raising children by the standard of “do what I say! Not what I do!” leads to very disastrous results. If you don't lead by example you create in a child a cognitive dissonance in relationship to how they should behave. “My parent gets away with it so why can't I.” None of us are so perfect or so pure as not to have fallen victim to our own weaknesses but to have the president of the United States for four years blow off all the rules and norms and standards of our society while paying no price whatsoever will have a long term effect on the morality and sense of the common good in this society.

 

You already have the United States Senate led by Mitch McConnell refusing to negotiate a piece of legislation that would protect families from hunger and eviction from their houses. It's particularly ironic that it is occurring at Christmas time. McConnell's comment was, “Where did you get the idea that I cared?” That's the temperature of the United States Congress for the next four years. Remember he was the one that said, “My number one objective is to prevent Barack Obama from getting a second term.”

 

Although he hasn't said it yet I have no doubt that Mitch has set his objective for the next four years:“ I intend to prevent Kamala Harris from having any chance whatsoever to be the next president of the United States .” Just as he spent eight years undermining Barack Obama's attempts at climate change prevention and health care expansion, I expect him to in a myriad of ways undermine any attempt by Joe Biden and especially his vice president to accomplish anything.

 

Each night when I go to bed, I pray the God will elect two senators in Georgia who will change the balance in the US Senate. In any case this is going to be a very tough two years. Most people have forgotten that this is the time in 2011 that the Republicans won control of statehouses and therefore the redistricting process of 2010. This led to the most awesome abuse is that we've seen in gerrymandering on a large scale. I expect the same to be put in motion in 2021 to be brought out in public in the election of 2022. The Democratic house as a slim majority and I expect you will see a very tumultuous fight in 2012.

 

Meanwhile Donald Trump will be sitting in Moscow undermining democracy which might inevitably lead to an autocracy. The destruction of the Weimar Republic in Germany preceded Hitler. The French Revolution ended with a dysfunctional democracy, followed  by Napoleon.

All this brings to mind the story about Benjamin Franklin coming out of the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1789. He met a woman who said, “Mr Franklin, what kind of a government do we have? A monarchy or a republic.” He responded, “We have a Republic if we can keep it.”  The emphasis was on “IF”.

  

New Neighbors in France 17 Decembre 2020

 

When I came to France on the 1st of February 2020 I had no idea that I was about to become a long term resident of my little village Civrac-en-Medoc.

The epidemic hit this area in March when president Macron announced the confinement in order to control the epidemic. I had packed for a trip of two months and thought it would return to the United States for at the beginning of April. The old joke that the way to make God laugh is to make a plan came into play. I planned God laughed and here I am almost 10 months later.

Rural communities are slow to take in newcomers. I had visited my home here in 2017 2018 and 2019 for various periods of one to three months. Getting to know people is not easy especially when you speak French as poorly as I do.

My next door neighbors Paolo and Celine and Salome’ have always been friendly although only Salome’ speaks English. But there's a saying that good fences make good neighbors.

Celine has a spa in her home and has many women who come to improve their appearances. Celine has a swimming pool in her backyard that as the year goes on, is increasingly shaded by trees growing on my side of the fence between our yards. Several years ago, she came to me and helped me to understand the trees in my yard were shading her swimming pool and asked if she could have someone come and trim my trees. She hired someone and I paid him to bring my trees down to an acceptable level.  I'm convinced that this is the beginning of our real friendship.

This year the tree trimming occurred in April and ever since then I have had a wonderful surprise at my front door at your irregular intervals. It seems that's just when I am feeling lonely or forgotten in Civrac, Celine’s smiling face appears at my door with a luscious dessert in her hands: Creme brulee’, chocolate mousse, confiture melon. The other morning she appeared with a piece of nut bread at breakfast time. Sometimes she sends Salome with the dessert. These are special treats because Salome’ can talk to me in English for a minute or two. I often return the dish by giving it to Paolo when he is out cleaning his car or sweeping the street or trimming the vines.

Paolo is a friend who keeps an eye on my house. His house, yard. plants     and curbs are perfect. One day he told my friend Guy who speaks both French and English that I needed to get the English ivy off the side of my house since it appeared to be invading under the tile roof. Guy told me and we proceeded to get someone to go up and take all the ivy off the wall and out from under the tiles on the roof.

Finding English speaking friends is much more difficult. I'm sure that Celine and Paolo would be closer friends if I could speak French. Ever so slowly I'm learning to speak French but until I do, this limits my friendships. I came in February I had two English speaking friends that I had left in 2017 and had carried on a friendship since. Guy is involved in the wine industry and Corinne runs a bed and breakfast in her family Chateau in St Yzans. I can't remember now how I found out about the Cafe Polyglotte that was held in the City Hall once a month. This is a gathering of people who speak a variety of languages and once a month gather together to find somebody to talk to in their own language. I went once in February, the first and only time it has met since I arrived here, and it was there that I met Anne Marie Kwiatkowski who has become My biggest access point to meeting people who speak English. At her dinner table I have met her family and their significant others as well as her daughter Laura is a teacher in Montpelier and Boris her son. Her most important contribution to my life has been her husband, Edmond who has been my ever present handyman who solved all kinds of household problems for which I was unprepared, especially in a French situation. He has fixed or taken me to stores to get fixed things that troubled me in my life. I seriously called him my Polish magician because he fixed the motor on my back window screen that has been broken for three years. He took me downtown to his multimedia store where I diagnose the problem with my computer screen monitor and we got a new cord for ten euros and fixed it. He diagnosed my plant problems in the backyard as Limaces which is the equivalent of slugs in Seattle. He found the workmen to come and fix my oven which had not been working for three years and tonight I will grill some salmon in it for the first time since I bought the house.

Beside being a thorough repair man, he is a former city councilman in Civrac so he knows everyone although he was not born here.  When I needed a letter from the mayor attesting to my residence in Civrac he brought Beatrice over and introduced her to me and she quickly wrote the necessary letter. I live around the corner from the Mayor’s office so we greet each other often with a wave and a Bonjour and ca va.

When I needed a tall ladder to change a smoke detector, I asked Edmond if he had one. He said no but said,” give me a few minutes”. I really don't know where he went but I suspect he went over to the city gar age and came back with a ladder that reached all the way to my 12 foot ceiling. He Insisted on climbing the ladder and changing the smoke detector making it clear but I was too old to be up on ladders.

Anne Marie had invited me to Christmas dinner, but I declined because Corrinne had already asked for me to come to their family. She told me her sister who works in the pharmacy that will give us all a COVID19 test the day before dinner.  Anne Marie told me she would go to Christmas mass with me.

Anne Marie invited me to News Years day lunch because curfew means you are supposed to be home at 8 PM.

All of this leads up to today when I was sitting at my table having breakfast, I heard a knock on the door. Sometimes it's the mailman or Edmond coming for a visit or Celine bring me a goodie but today when I answered the door there stood Isabella and Friedrich. When I answered the door, they handed me a red bag and said, “Bon Fete’.” Isabella is the mayor’s assistant and Friedrich is a member of the city council. They explained it was a gift for Bon Fete’ from the mayor and the city council.   It felt very special to be remembered at Christmas.  I don’t know how many others   got gift bags. It was filled with little jars of pate’ and herbs and bottles of olive oil and vinegar.  There was a bottle of Bordeaux white wine and some chocolate candy. If you think that is the end forget it. The next knock at the door was a tall Danish winemaker, Merete Larsen whom I met at Anne Marie’s table. She had invited me and I accepted her invitation to watch the process of vendange(Harvest) at her Winery, Chateau D’Escurac.

When the vendange was over she suggested we could have dinner in the future.  The other day came an email suggesting we have coffee. I responded and she said she would contact me this week.  Today she appeared with a baguette and a croissant for my breakfast and suggested she would come back at 5 PM for tea.  I said I was Zooming to the USA at 5.  She said, “I’ll see you at 6PM.” 

All these people live in a village of 660 people.  Rural France has been warm and kind to me this Christmas away from home. Don’t believe anyone who says you can’t make friends in France.