Day 65. A very pleasant dinner.

The day did not start in a very auspicious way. First, I was not very inspired to work on the chapter on coasts, so writing was painful; second, the day was overcast and a little raining; and third, the sole of one of my shoes detached itself from the leather. Since I have but the one pair of shoes I had to do something about it, so that was my excuse for going out to town to look for some sort of shoe cement. I also looked at work boots in a couple of shops, but I am not spending $200 in a pair of shoes!

I did find the local Home Depot (a branch of the big supermarket chain called Migros), bought the glue, and came home some other way, ready to battle with the troublesome chapter. The house had been closed all day, so I opened a couple of windows to create a chilling but energizing draft.

At about 6 pm Nura came home, after a long day working congress reception in a drafty corridor. The poor thing almost froze as she entered the house, and we had to close all windows on a hurry. I should add that Nura is very “schlimm” (sorry, a joke between Chrissy and I); no, I mean she is very “schmal” or slim, so she gets cold very easily. Here is a photo of Nura and Auréle.

A few minutes later Auréle’s dad came in, looking for his son, and we had a very pleasant conversation in my halting French. Auréle finally came in, and they took off together, so Nura and I decided to cook and have dinner together (pasta with cream and zucchinis and left over picadillo from the previous day). It was a delightful dinner. Nura is very patient and helps me along with my French, so we meandered in friendly conversation over our personal histories (her dad is from Lebanon and her mom from Egypt, so she had a lot of travel stories to tell), politics, and current events in Europe for a good couple of hours. Very enjoyable!