Hello Dear Friends
Welcome from the Sundered States of Dystopia. The circus continues! Watch the clowns juggling stupid! See the wild beast tamer running for her life! The only ray of filtered sunshine has been DJT鈥檚 plan to withdraw from the World Trade Organization, to be replaced by his proposal for a Fair and Reciprocal Tariff act, or FART, as its acronym suggests. It doesn鈥檛 take a genius to understand the welcoming responses on the Internet and in the press, such as the following limerick:
The POTUS would like, for a start,
More power to rip trade apart,
Reported the press
Upon its success
In catching a draft of his FART.
There are a few cruder, but you get the drift.
We had a July visit from John & Julie Barr, some-time Mentonaisse, who鈥檇 been touring the wilds of the Northeast 鈥 Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire 鈥 in our aerie in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. We were at a time-share resort, Vacation Village, in our 鈥渙ld鈥 neighborhood of Hancock, MA. The place was packed with cars from all over and people from our new enemy, Canada, as well as Europe and the Middle East. It had everything one could desire in a family resort 鈥 pools [indoor & out], gas barbecues all over the acreage, a game room for kids, etc. For us, it was a base to visit local friends, see the new exhibits at the three world-class museums close by, go to baseball league games, attend concerts, summer stock theatres, sit by the lake reading a book, and so forth.
Our daughter paid us a brief visit in mid-July and texted her beer preference [Red Stripe - Jamaica] before she flew to Rio to work as a Counselor at the American School for two [or more] years.
Weather here is in the high 20C to mid 30C, but dark, rainy, and gloomy in the late afternoon. We wait for the rain to break the humidity, but when it's over it's another round of heat and humidity. Ca dommage!
I went into NYC yesterday for an eye checkup, and, because the doctor's office is across the street from Eric Kayser, I came home with a bag full of croissants. We had just scored a few croissants and baguettes from another Kayser shop in Manhattan on Saturday, but of course the croissants are always the first to go.
We've selected a real estate agent to put our apartment on the market in preparation for renting a 1-bedroom, plus den, flat in a neighboring town. Jayne was busy plowing through the agent's contract and deleting the onerous BS. Jayne reads EVERY legal document, word for word, and it was her due diligence that prevented us from buying a flat that, upon reflection, was involved in a RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] law suit. She's a keeper!
I can鈥檛 express our shock and sorrow upon reading of the collapse of the A10 bridge in Genoa and the horrible loss of life! To think that we鈥檝e driven over it a number of times! The lack of attention to aging infrastructure isn鈥檛 only an Italian problem; it鈥檚 one that鈥檚 even plaguing the US. Proceed at your risk seems to be the answer of governments elsewhere, as politicians spend our riches on needless waste and pork barrel projects. End of diatribe.
At this moment, we鈥檙e busy checking out all kinds of events in Tenerife in preparation for our residence there for January and half of February 2019 (of course). We鈥檙e also looking forward to getting together with Joseph and Marilena LoPresti when they motor north in a couple of weeks.
We hope your summer endured, even through the hellishly hot and humid weather. It鈥檚 really rough not being able to walk a couple of blocks for a croissant or tarte aux raisin. We look forward to seeing you ...sooner rather than later. Jusqu'脿 plus tard.
听