I didn’t shoot a video today: too busy exploring Arles’ Wednesday Market (made me WISH I had a house here to furnish with antiques!); hopping a short, 15 minute train ride to Avignon and exploring that gorgeous city (and the Papal palaces of the 14th century), then literally 7 HOURS attempting to book a room for tomorrow night in Barcelona. (I’m hating on the Airbnb website right now.)
So here’s what’s good:
The book buyer at Amazon (the biggest book seller in the world, obviously, LOVED my husband’s book “10,000 Miles With My Dead Father’s Ashes” about his love/hate/comedic relationship with his con-man dad, and his attempt to fulfill his father’s wishes, expressed to his father’s 7th wife, to have his ashes ‘returned home to Cadiz, Spain.’ Devin’s Dad was not Spanish and had never been to Spain. As I said, his dad was a conman.
Because the big guy at Amazon loves Devin’s book, Amazon is pushing it this month by offering the Kindle version for ONLY $1.99! Woo hoo!
Get Devin’s book NOW!!! (And tell all your friends!!!)
Here’s What’s Ugly:
Devin and I had a fight last night. I’m not sleeping well, and Devin is suffering from really bad plantar fascitis pain in his right foot. Too much walking and dancing have made it worse.
Exhaustion and pain do not bring out the best in people.
And I share this because even the happiest couples fight. And sometimes we behave poorly. And the point is we make up quickly.
Devin came up with a wedding vow, many weddings ago, and I matched it, promising to “be kind even when we want to kill each other.”
Studies have revealed that the difference between the couples that stay together vs the ones that part is NOT the disagreements or the fighting… the difference is the willingness of the partners to make up, be kind, and return to caring and seeing the best in the other person.
The Papal:
Devin and I took an easy day trip to Avignon, 17 minutes by train from Arles. It is a GORGEOUS city! We lunched on signature Provencal cuisine, including a swoon-worthy onion soup.
Then we toured the Papal Palaces from when the Catholic Church left Rome and established a new home base in France for most of the 14th century.
It was really, really good multimedia tour of the art, architecture, economics and political history of this period with personal headsets and ipads.
Whenever I go somewhere I want to understand the history and the context of the place. It’s like it makes a place more real if I know where it came from. And where we come from
It’s amazing how the same patterns of fear and power repeat over and over again. And how much better life is today–more freedoms, more resources, more rights for more people. Not perfect by a long shot, but still an improvement.
Tomorrow: we’re heading for Barcelona!
