Boys (link fixed)

Enjoy.

Boys about town

"Hillary equals France"

"Hillary equals France" | Salon

Don't worry, it's really not about Hillary, it's a delicious rant from Bill Maher, about the pathetic excuse for political discourse that dominates in the U.S. It's different here ... and not just because I couldn't read or understand most of it. Here's Maher's conclusion:

France has 20,000 miles of railroads that work. We have the trolley at the mall that takes you from Pottery Barn to the Gap. It has bullet trains. We have bullets. France has public intellectuals. We have Dr. Phil. And France invented sex during the day, the ménage à trois, lingerie and the tongue.

And the French are not fat. Can't we just admit we could learn something from them?

Cool but hotter than normal

German officials said that April was the eighth consecutive month of higher- than-normal temperatures, while the French national weather service observed that April marked the thirteenth straight month of unusually warm conditions.

- IHT

I can't imagine how last August's cold and rainy conditions were higher than normal, but there you have it. We moved here 14 months ago. Coincidence?

Got the travel bug?

United seems to have some nice fares to Europe, though not to Paris. For example, DC-Amsterdam $591 and DC-London $457. If you come to one of those places, we'll try to meet you!

Hey hey holiday

Happy May Day*, Labor Day and Loyalty Day to all our friends and family! The boys and Betsy had today off. To celebrate our lack of work, we slept late, went out for lunch (the non-traditional Lebanese), bought some lily-of-the-valley and other lovely plants, took naps, sorted the winter and summer clothes, had breakfast for dinner, watched the Champions League (go Liverpool!), and generally ignored the perfect spring weather. Now Betsy's doing work and I'm off to do the dishes. Here's your reward for having to work today: pictures of our vacation a couple of weeks ago.

Life at the Beach

*- The ocean distress call mayday is from the french, m'aidez, or, help me! This has nothing to do with the holiday, although the number of french holidays in May is distressing.

Election day

Today is the first round of the French presidential election. Here's a summary of what's happening from the NYT.

We're enjoying a sunny day, and in a while Betsy and I will head to our Sunday wine-tasting. I'll try to post more later, including vacation pictures.

From a recent randonnée

Me.