Lunch out...two days in a row!

6/21/2016

Bonjour mes amis!

Okay, so yesterday I kind of teased you with another story to get you to come back today.  Sorry about that.  I just felt I had given you enough to read yesterday, and maybe I needed to save some material for another day.

Yesterday, I was telling you that we had a code word for letting Dr. J's Colleague know that all was okay with our dinner with a stranger.  He suggested we use, "Texas Madeleines" as the code word.  Where did he get that, you ask?  Well, it's somewhat of an inside joke, but I'm going to let you in on the inside...

It's a whole story, of course!
First of all, take a look at what we bought at the Atelier St. Michel bakery store the other weekend...

Well, the one on the right is the one we bought, and the one on the left is a normal sized Madeleine we typically eat.  I love Madeleines, especially for breakfast.  Dr. J insisted that we buy one of these huge ones, and then he sent the following picture to our children and said that I wouldn't share and that it was "no fair"!

Really, he doesn't remember clearly, but HE wanted to buy the huge Madeleine.  I would happily benefit, of course!  Anyway, I guess he told his Colleagues about the purchase and perhaps showed them the above photo.  Somehow I guess this turned into a fun code word for our safety!  Yes, the huge Madeleine was certainly Texas size for us Texans.  Clever!

But, the joke goes one step further.  We were to text Dr. J's Colleague by 10:00 PM to let him know if we were okay, but it was 10:10 when Dr. J texted the following message...

"The Texas Madeleines are fine."

When we returned home that evening, we noticed the following text message...

"Perfect! But that's too late!  I have already called 911...But nobody answered.  Maybe police is on strike?!?"

If you don't know, France is generally having many strikes during the month of June, and we've had our share since we've been here.  How funny that Dr. J's Colleague used this to humor us with our late text message! LOL!!!

On to my topic for today...

I've been trying to see my friends here as much as possible.  My friend, Eva, has been so kind and we have had a number of last minute gatherings.  One day, she texted me around noon to ask if I'd like to go to lunch with the guys.  We finally had a sunny day, and it was perfect to have lunch outside.  Unfortunately, I didn't take the camera, and I didn't photograph any food.  Dr. J, on the other hand, grabbed his phone and took the following photo at the end of our lunch!  So like a guy, right?

This beetle WAS huge though!  We never see bugs this big in France.  Apparently they are not uncommon in the country, but it was very weird to see it near our lunch table outside in the city.  Even the proprietors came outside to view the bug and were surprised!

The next day, Eva texted me again for lunch.  I was not going to turn her down.  It was a beautiful day!

So, I had lunch with this dear couple, and we dined together outside...

And then walked around town a bit...

And I'm happy to report...

We've seen no more bugs during our lunches outside!

Hope you are having a "jewel" of a day!
Jan

P.S.  I'm also happy to report, that we did share the huge Madeleine with friends and now it's almost gone!