Duncan Soup – A Dish of Duncan Discourse

>Our good friends Sophie and Cyril got married last weekend. The wedding was fun and the bride and groom seemed to have a blast. We left earlier than usual for a French wedding (3 am as opposed to 6 am), because both of us were exhausted.

The next day we had a leisurely lunch with my in-laws before going mushroom hunting (no, not those kinds of mushrooms). The season hasn’t been good this year for Cèpes or Girolles, so we didn’t find any. However, wild blackberries were abundant and we definitely picked our share. The two baskets of berries were used to make a blackberry crumble and blackberry muffins (Yummy!), before being placed in the freezer for another day.

Theo had good time exploring the countryside with his Papy and collecting straw, wood and bricks for school (he is “studying” the Three Little Pigs and is doing a hands-on case study).

>After several weekends of limited quality family time, Anne-Laure, Theo and I decided to have a picnic in Parc de la Tête d’Or. The weather was perfect (around 70° F) and the food was better (Quiche, ratatouille, salad and chips…I know, real men don’t eat quiche, but this is France…you take what you can get). Theo spent the majority of the time on his bike chasing the wind and I spent my time winded chasing the bike. We all relaxed on the grass while eating, but during dessert, Theo thought my space was better served as a table.

OK, there weren’t any Teddy Bears (though we did see some real ones).

>I was in Antwerp, Belgium last week for the ICEF/EAIE conferences. Both went extremely well and I made several new contacts, as well as saw old ones.

Antwerp is a beautiful city, even if I didn’t have as much time to look around as I wanted. The old city is stunning with a massive cathedral that houses several large-scale Rubens paintings. City Hall and its square is great as well.

This weekend, I’m off to Annecy/Chamonix with the Atlantis students…in the rain. Yeah.

>Heeding Chuck’s advice, Theo was off to school today…his very first day! He did great and didn’t complain about going. There are other kids in the class that he knows from daycare and the volunteer work he did in the Philippines last summer (OK, just checking if you’re paying attention). His teacher is really nice and very attentive to the children. Theo LOVED it! In fact, he didn’t want to leave when we picked him up.

How long will it last?

>Anne-Laure and I had a really good time at Olga and Stéphane’s wedding in Kiev. The caviar was spread, the vodka flowed and the crowd danced. I haven’t had time to process all the pictures, but here is one of my favorites of Olga leaving her parents home after Stéphane “bought” her (A Ukrainian tradition).

The rest of the trip went well, though Yalta was a little bit of a disappointment…though not as much as a disappointment as having my wallet lifted while riding the subway on the last day…bastards.

I’ll post the other pictures once I’ve processed the RAW files.

до свидания (do svi-dan-niye)!