My Mazamet

Life at № 42 by E.M. Coutinho

Experimentations in Shallow Breathing

We watched Call Me by Your Name today. Undoubtedly the film of the year. It’s only going to be released in France in February, so it was excellent to see it … Continue reading

December 27, 2017 · 34 Comments

You weren’t wondering – but anyway

I’ve been quiet because I’ve been doing stuff. On occasion my mind becomes exceedingly unpleasant. Critical and negative, to an almost crippling degree. This has been one of those periods. … Continue reading

October 13, 2017 · 45 Comments

If Goodness Is Represented by X

Last night I couldn’t sleep and I was thinking about that tired line on how can there be goodness without “god”… But – what is goodness really? Isn’t the very … Continue reading

October 4, 2017 · 56 Comments

Illuminated by Gas

About a year after I came out the dust had settled. All financial support from my family had ceased. Many harsh things were said- mostly by me. And at that … Continue reading

July 18, 2017 · 51 Comments

Tentative Uncertainty

When my mother-in-law was first ill, it was a strange time. Sometimes she’d say unusual things. Things that didn’t quite fit in the conversation. Then she’d have the occasional fall. … Continue reading

June 26, 2017 · 43 Comments

A Mild Headache & Peonies

–I have a mild headache. –We’re entering summer mode. We had guests a couple of weeks ago, but as of Wednesday it’s basically non-stop until September. Cold soups will feature … Continue reading

June 19, 2017 · 31 Comments

Hips, Lovage, Heat & Banks

Lovage: The only good part of the title. I can’t believe I’ve gone 39 years without it. It looks like big flat leaf parsley but with a much stronger celery-like … Continue reading

June 14, 2017 · 31 Comments

An Agendist’s (Mostly) Private Thoughts

It’s usually a bad idea to put people on a pedestal; Unless they’re blind or in a wheelchair, in which case it might be funny. Three of my grandparents are … Continue reading

June 4, 2017 · 27 Comments

Some things never change- mostly the chandeliers

  I was up a ladder cleaning the chandelier in the grey salon today and I started trying to count backwards to figure out the year when I bought it (because … Continue reading

May 19, 2017 · 41 Comments

From Denying to the Grave

From Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Facts That Will Save Us by Sara E. Gorman, Jack M. Gorman, M.d., Jack M. Gorman, Oxford University Press Rabbit Feet and … Continue reading

May 2, 2017 · 26 Comments

The Last Straw Fallacy: Another Causal Fallacy and Its Harmful Effects

by Carolyn Cusick & Mark Peter November 2015 Argumentation; Nov. 2015, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p. 457 “We have noticed a pattern of arguments that exhibit a type of irrationality … Continue reading

February 16, 2017 · 30 Comments

Little- thinking

When I was little I sometimes wished an aeroplane would crash. This was generally to get rid of a single person- which makes it terribly inefficient methodologically. Wishing for choking would’ve … Continue reading

January 11, 2017 · 15 Comments

What would 18 year old you think?

I read this the other day and it stuck in my mind. It’s from a speech by the author of The Black Swan, N.N. Taleb. Interesting notion. To go back to … Continue reading

January 10, 2017 · 34 Comments

Attempts at mind control

Because I obviously need(ed) to *wear* a reminder in very large letters.

January 5, 2017 · 19 Comments

Twas the night before Christmas (eve- all’s about eve)

Alagna was at Versailles last week. Magnificent. I don’t go to things like that anymore because- because I don’t like leaving the house unnecessarily, or travelling, or pretending I’m interested … Continue reading

December 24, 2016 · 30 Comments

Nostalgia

The glads have come up. I planted them when we arrived last year in Spring but they didn’t flower last summer. The colour is lovely. It harmonises the pink of … Continue reading

July 14, 2016 · 15 Comments

Veni, Vidi, Perivi

One of the people we first met when we arrived in Mazamet is ill. It was all very quick. In December we went to their Christmas party. He was working … Continue reading

March 12, 2016 · 18 Comments

Twiddlings

Have you ever considered you’re just twiddling? I went to a gallery opening earlier. Some beautiful things there (more on that tomorrow.) I saw a painting I intend to buy … Continue reading

January 25, 2016 · 31 Comments