My visit to the south of France started out marvelously --
soon after i boarded the train for Marseille (from Bordeaux),
i fell into a long and lovely conversation with a young lady
from La Bretagne named Emilie.  

We talked and talked, had fun with my digital camera,
she shared the "quiche aux poireax" (quiche with leeks)
which her mother had made [it was delicious!].

We said our goodbyes, but a week later (thanks to the miracle of email)
we were back together enjoying a picnic in one of Les Calanques
(a narrow rocky inlet on the Mediterranean coast).

We ended up spending a lovely several days together
in the charming town of Aix-en-Provence.  

I was blessed by the fact that Emilie's English is far worse
than my French, and she was very generous with her
help to me.  Thank you, Emilie!

Here i am, proudly wearing my Olympique Marseille soccer jersey.
The "OM" is the soccer team of Marseille.  It has a winning history,
including one European Cup.

This is Corinne and her lovely daughter Alyzee.
We spent several lovely days together at Marseille.
It was a great pleasure for me to see the consistent
and intelligent love that she gives to her daughter.
Specifics?!  Ok.

Alyzee, who was generally very well-behaved,
once threw a small wrench to the floor and ordered her
mother to pick it up.  Corinne concisely described
the behavior to her and asked her if that was a
proper way to interact with others.  No, Alyzee conceded.
[This immediate acknowledgement made me realize that
Corinne had given this lesson to her daughter before, and
was now just being consistent in her behavior].
Corinne continued by describing how to ask politely
for what one wants from others (i.e., asking, not demanding,
and saying "please").  Then they acted out this "polite asking",
and all was well, with a small but important lesson [once again] learned.

Corinne is also *not* over-protective, which has allowed
Alyzee to become very competent and coordinated in dealing
with her environment.  For example, she is comfortable and adept
at climbing ladders.  Corinne told me this story:

One evening at a party, Alyzee was climbing a ladder.
Corinne was watching from a distance, knowing that
Alyzee was safely within her limits.  But a man at the party
insisted that any young child on a ladder was dangerous, and
he unilaterally took Alyzee off the ladder, folded the ladder and put it away.

I would not want to be that man's child
   -- you would arrive safely at the age of 18,
      well-protected with very few scrapes on your knees and elbows,
      but also with very little knowledge of the world,
   and neither confidence nor competence in dealing with it.

Alyzee is a very lucky young lady.

This is Sabine and me on the beach of La Ciotat, a lovely
coastal town with a delightful beach and fine restaurants.
Sabine is an intense, compelling, ambitious young lady,
and we spent a few lovely days together.

My faithful reader [and friend i hope] is no doubt thinking
something like "all these women! -- why can't he choose?
why *doesn't* he choose?"

And all i can reply is that *each* is a marvelous splendid
and mysterious world unto herself.  And i find myself loving
them all.  i do this with the greatest of respect for each and all,
feeling very honored by the time and attention they share with me.
And truly blest.  [Thank you]

In Marseille, i played soccer on the fields of the beach of Prado;
cradled by rocky cliffs and the hills of the city, and right next to the
lovely Mediterranean, i felt like i was playing in the stadium of the gods.

An "odd" and delightful thing i noticed in France is
that *every* stairway turns incrementally,
i.e. if a stairway will be turning, then the steps start to
veer in that direction long before the turn is reached.
This makes for gradual turns, and it makes every step unique.

This is in sharp contrast to the stairs in the U.S., where
the steps are as much as possible all identical and rectolinear.
When the turn is reached, a sharp straight-edged turn is done.

On July 24-25, I went "canyoning" with about 15 other members of the Club Actuel,
in the Barbaera canyon in Italy near the French border.  We also explored the spectacularly quaint
town of Ventimiglia.

We jumped (i jumped 6 meters), and rapelled, and swam, and climbed all over all sorts of rocks.
I wish i had photos from the canyon
   -- with all the moss, and the dripping water everywhere,
         it was enchanted...

A curious gender-discrepancy at the laveratory facilities of the campground.  
Notice that the woman is smiling friendlily,
while the man is racing into the distance, leaving a cloud of dust.

One last note -- while in Marseille, i composed a piece of music (strings and piano):

   Suite de Marseille:
      1. L'Emeraude (5:40)  Here is the 5.2 Megabyte MP3 file.
      2. La Rose des Sables (3:16)  Here is the 3.0 Megabyte MP3 file.
      3. Le Corail (3:50)  Here is the 3.4 Megabyte MP3 file.

Rhough-hewn, I like it very much.  
If you only download one movement, i recommend La Rose des Sables.

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