MountainMornings

We like to read on vacation. Twenty three years ago, when we first discovered this French island, there was no satellite TV, no “wee fee” and certainly no cell phones. Even then we felt it was a pleasure to disconnect from the rest of the world. Our only source of news was the free 1 page “Le News” and I remember reading this one day and not believing that our translation was correct. How could our Vice President have shot someone in the face?

Now that our villa has super-connectivity, we still stay unplugged, by choice. And the 1 page Le News now has 4 pages of advertising. This time the French government has delivered some surprising news. “Coup de Pouce” – very rough translation – the National Council on Medicine has stated that a medical professional is permitted to give a terminal sedation for patients at the end of life, with ‘persistant, lucid, and reiterated requests’.

I wonder if this made the news back home? In other words, the whole country is going the way of Oregon! State by state we trudge along, slowly trying to keep up with science and culture. Our generation, the one that brought you the Summer of Love in 1967, will be bringing you the Winter of Death. We will catch up, with marriage for all like Great Britain, and the freedom to choose how we die as in France. It’s inevitable, progress, love and death and taxes.

Just finished reading The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberrto Urrea. It’s about a Mexican saint, about how the native people exult and fear death simultaneously. A wonderful, lyrical read, when it came to the end my Kindle prompted me to “Tweet that you finished this book.” I laughed out loud, since I’m not on Twitter and don’t even keep up with Goodreads. I’m blogging from Bob’s iPad, which he keeps to check with work from time to time, at the airport.

Happy President’s Day everyone aka Valentine’s Day for the Bride and Groom!