The Mustang

 I really need to look for old photos of Maman's cars.

She really loved the very American "Mustang" cars.  In fact, she had three of them!

Her first one was a dark blue 1967 Mustang Fastback.  I'll find a picture, but it looked something like this.

The next one, which I think was a huge step backwards, was a Silver 1974 Mustang II- with a red plastic (Naugahyde?) interior.  Let's put it this way, the first Mustang she had would be worth $50k right now.

She had that car for a few years- and decided to go pony again, and got another blue Mustang.  This time, I think it was an early 1980s version like this:

After this, she went European (she really wanted a Renault or Peugeot when they were sold here), but instead got a nice BMW.

In any case- it continues.  I have just bought my first Mustang- a 2022 Black Mustang GT.

That's.. 55 years of Mustangs in the family!

 

Back in the USA

We just took a trip to France- Max, Stef and me.  We had a wonderful time, despite Max having an altercation with a cement wall involving an electric motorcycle.  The health care we got was very impressive- much better than what I had gotten in the past in France- and honestly better than what we get in the states.  And- it was about 10% of the cost of what we pay in the US.  Maman would be giving me an "I told you so" look.



We did all the things we should- went to the open market many times.  Got amazing cheese and saucisson.We went on walks almost every day, hit the forest, Versailles.  But what we enjoyed most was just living the French life.

Maman's grandfather grades a paper

I don't know a lot about Maman's grandfather- and I'm not sure which one she described this story about.  She was a young girl in school and was proud of her schoolwork.  She gave a paper to her grandfather who then marked it up with all the mistakes she had made.

I remember hearing the story from her and I was horrified about how cruel that must have been.  I was probably an early teen at the time during a trip to France with her.

But now I think if she had been around, she would have done the same for Max and my reaction is the same as she described.

She was very grateful that her grandfather had taken the time to pay attention to her schoolwork and wanted her to be a better student.  Strange how my perspective has changed so much- I guess I wish she were here marking up your papers kids...

10 Years Later

My mother died almost exactly ten years ago,  November 20th, 2003.   She died from an infection of Hepatitis C that she got almost 20 years before that during a blood transfusion.  Thankfully, the blood supply is no longer a source of that because they can test for it.   She suffered a slow decline in health because Hepatitis slowly destroys the liver.  She died waiting for a transplant, having been ignored for the family's request of a living transplant from me.

But, hopefully this loss won't affect other people anymore.  It looks like they've finally found a cure.

I am very thankful that others won't have to go through the loss we suffered.  My mother was a big believer in the progress of medicine, I just wish it was far sooner.

Mother's Day

It is very wistful which I think about Mother's Day.  Though my mom hated faux holidays, Mother's Day was always special.  It's Springtime, and flowers abound.  Maman loved flowers.   Today Danielle is visiting and I think Mamie would be especially proud of her granddaughter.  Danielle is preparing to finish highschool and go to college, majoring in Dance.  Mamie would approve- these are the types of things that she says are important to a young woman.  As I sit here in the house, I see a cardinal outside- easily Maman's favorite bird- she always spoke about how the cardinal would visit- Roux de doux?  I can't spell it, but the words fly off my tongue.    When I think of Mother's day back in Asheville, I think of eating outside on her deck, looking down at the garden (English style, of course) and having a light airy, but delicious meal while birds swooped and insects buzzed.

I miss you Maman- I hope you've got a lovely English garden that you're tending right now.

Comments on a trip in 2002

Maman and I took Danielle to France and met Claire there, it was a great trip, and I was looking through the pictures of it the other day.

And then I discovered that Maman had gone through a few of them and added her comments.  It brought a smile to my face.  Check them out...

The Concorde

Maman was very patriotic about France.  More so than most French that I know.  I remember a French woman I met who said that Maman was old school about it because she left France in the highlight of its glory days.  She didn't experience the decline of France's stature and only remembered the brightest things they were taught in school (and continues to this day.  I'm amazed how much better versed Europeans are about their own countries than we Americans are).

Probably the highlight of French Aerospace was the Concorde.  It was a joint venture between British Airways and Air France.  It was a supersonic airliner that goes even faster than the F-18 fighter of the USA.  It could go Mach 2.04- which is more than twice the speed of sound.  New York to Paris took 3.5 hours- and could be even faster if they were allowed to fly supersonic speeds over land. 

But it was terribly expensive to fly.  Seats were about $12,000 a flight!  It was meant for business executives who had to meet a client the same day. 

Yet Maman managed to fly it!  She was very careful about using airline miles with credit cards.  Basically every expense was put on credit cards, even utilities.  And she saved enough airline miles to fly the Concorde.  How cool is that!