Julie Andrews, where are you?
August 31, 2008
While we might be a little slow today, La Neyliere is alive and humming. I wouldn’t like to has it a guess how many people are here, but there seem to be people dining inside, outside under the trees, and with all the main building dining rooms full two groups, including ourselves, have moved out of the main building to one of the smaller rooms in the smaller buildings. It’s no problem to the staff which manages the situation with distinction.
So who’s here? Well, I don’t really know because the notices on the board are written in French, but I do know is there’s little room left on the “who’s here” notice board just inside the front door.
There are sounds of talk, laughter, of children, the pulling of corks (no screw caps here,) the clanking of glasses and plates. No crying, no sadness. Then later in the afternoon the Petanque balls come out and every available place it used, as sounds of thud, and the occasional Petanque on Petanque klunk followed by sounds of applause, anguish or jubilation.
With due respect to soundtrack from “The Sound of Music,” these hills are also alive.
Technically Sunday is a kind of day off, that is, it’s a day free from formal input and gives us an opportunity to consolidate our thoughts from the past week. With all that’s happened in the past few days there’s a lot of processing to go on. Physically we are at home, however mentally we are sometimes a distance away.
One common statement that people have made is the old cliché, there’s no place like home and coming back to La Neyliere, our home, albeit a temporary one, has been something we’ve all enjoyed. The experience of the last three days provided an excellent opportunity to understand more of our heritage, and while each of us has slightly different high points, arriving back here, where for the last couple of weeks we have been made so welcome, and where the staff, despite the language barrier, are pleasant and still efficient, makes a world of difference.
Because it’s Sunday, the day ends with “Solemn Vespers.” Funny how much these vespers are enjoyed by all. We look forward to “singing again” next week.
Having said the day ended with Solemn Vespers is perhaps a little inaccurate as one of the most impressive thunder and lightening displays that I’ve ever seen really ended the day. It took out the power momentarily on two occasions, emergency lighting taking over, and then took down the Internet for about 30 minutes. Minor technical hitches aside, being so proximate to the action was very entertaining.
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