Family Visit-Saint Maur

Always a pleasant visit when I am in France is with my cousin Thierry and his wife Joelle. The way the trip worked out I only was able to stay here three nights this time. I am grateful for this time and what makes it extra special is this is the time of the year when they (many French take holiday in August) come home from vacation preparing for work life and cousin was still able to make time to hang out with me. Now to add to this experience adding an extra extra special element is that we had a wonderful family dinner where Marie-Helene came as well as my other cousin Franck, his lady Helen and their two great kids. Also Charlie (Thierry et Joelle son) joined us, very nice!

The dinner along with presentation was fantastic. It was like eating at a fancy restaurant and nice to have some of us together. All aspects of it was good to see and I was happy to be there. Now, my cousin Franck pushed it to be there for he was in the south of France that morning and to my delight not only did he prepare the most delicious cookies I've ever tasted (I am not just saying that because he is my cousin) and plum tart before coming he

baked this mouth watering chocolate lava type cake.....wow! By the way he has been going to Chef school. Over the years he has prepared dishes while spending time together at his parents home.

What happen to the cookies???

During this visit I tried a concoction that Joelle prepares that has Rum, Vanilla Bean, Ginger, and other stuff that sits for a time before it is ready. I didn't think I would care much for it but I was pleasantly surprised. Although she only knows a few words in English she could say "4 is minimum".

The first evening Joelle and Thierry were telling me about a small porcupine that comes at night and eat some cat food that she puts out. Joelle shares the story about this fella or gal which was unknown, she has a name for him?? but I don't remember. The next night we was watching one eating out of the dish but I heard a sound in the bush and guess what another one. In teasing I said what if one is a woman and one a man they may have some babies. These were not their pets they just showed up.

Then on my third night we saw a baby which made me really laugh. After Joelle went to bed and I was hanging out with Thierry and soon after we saw two. Thierry suggested to take a photo so these are the babies. I didn't take any images of the adults.

One of my favorite monuments in Paris is the Bastille. I had to get a shot of it as my cousin Marie-Helene was taking me to the Gare du Nord (train station). When I 20 years old living here this was a guidepost for point of reference.

On this trip I didn't spend any time in Paris other than using it as a transfer point getting on metros to get from one train station to the other. Thinking about it, it's funny to me that on this trip I passed through the city 5 times.