Two years of same-sex marriage in France : the facts.

Mariage pour tous : deux ans après, un bilan en chiffres http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2015/04/23/mariage-pour-tous-deux-ans-apres-un-bilan-en-chiffres_4621629_4355770.html Le Monde

Advantage

I love going to the hardware shop around the corner. No, it is not one of those big, impersonal stores, Praxis, Gamma, whatever... It is a smallish shop, with two men who'll always ask: "How can I help you?" as soon as they see you.

When I was younger, I felt patronised by them, and I did my best to show I knew what I was talking about. I also would have liked to look around a bit before having to tell what I needed or wanted or was looking for.

Now that I'm older, I do my damsell-in-distress act. Could you explain this, could you tell me how to do that.... They love it, and so do I. Sometimes, when I need something and don't know the name (and can't take it with me to show), I take a picture of it and show it on my smartphone. That works quite well. (And it allows me to show off my smartphone-literacy....)

Thanks to these shopkeepers, I have a nice shower now (yes, I fixed it myself!), and very pretty
new kitchen curtains. Well, new... Some of you may recognise them. And no, I didn't fix the curtain rail myself. I got help... Still, I did buy the hardware all on my own! And (afterwards) I could tell exactly which was what and felt quite proud...


That, at least, is one of the advantages of getting older. So our national soccer hero Cruyff again is proved right, when he stated his famous words 'Every inconvenient has its advantage... (elk nadeel hep z'n voordeel).'

Rembrandt – le génie et ses élèves | Vu du Nord

Rembrandt – le génie et ses élèves | Vu du Nord

Yes, I will write a blog on this in English... but here it is already in French...

Est-il nécessaire de le préciser? Même quand on croit connaître certaines oeuvres par coeur, elles vous touchent chaque fois que vous les regardez, vous émeuvent même. Qu'il s'agisse de 'La mariée juive', de cette Suzanne au bain, montrée  dans la vidéo ci-dessus, d'un des autoportraits de l'artiste vieillissant, fragile, vulnérable, marqué par la vie et en même temps  rayonnant d'une force intérieure - toutes ces oeuvres reflètent ce que c'est qu'un être humain dans toutes ses dimensions. Et dans les deux expositions à Amsterdam, il n'y a pas que des tableaux « que l'on connaît par coeur », loin de là: rien qu'au Rijksmuseum, il y a une centaine d'oeuvres - toiles, dessins, gravures - glanées tous azimuts, dans des musées ou des collections particulières. La Maison de Rembrandt (Rembrandthuis) complète cette exposition sur « les années de plénitude » en montrant le peintre tel qu'il enseignait son art à ses élèves: ses techniques, sa touche spécifique, son influence...

Il faut donc voir les deux expositions: la grande, au Rijksmuseum, et la plus modeste - mais fort intéressante - au Rembrandthuis  (toutes deux jusqu'au 17 mai 2015).  Commençons pas la grande - dont la vidéo ci-dessus donne déjà un aperçu.

Read more... Rembrandt – le génie et ses élèves | Vu du Nord

Financial Literacy

Good initiative of the OECD - with Queeen Máxima - to assess the financial literacy of 15-year old kids.

La Lacuna

Just wrote a review of La Lacuna on GoodReads:

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I confess I had never heard of Barbara Kingsolver (but all my North-American friends did...) when I received this book as a present. In the very beginning I had trouble getting into the story, but then it started off and I couldn't stop reading.
I love this combination of history and fiction, of fictional and historical characters (among the latter, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, as well as Lev Trotsky and his wife). And as to the historical part, I learned things. It is well written, well researched - and plausible, despite everything.
What a discovery! Now I want to read Kingsolver's other books.


View all my reviews

Gluten

All those people who do not have coeliac disease or any other form of gluten intolerance (the skin disease dermatitis herpetiformis, or the neurological condition gluten ataxia) or even gluten sensitivity, and who are on what they think is a gluten-free diet, should watch this.

Do you know what gluten is? Well - look here, for instance: https://www.coeliac.org.uk/coeliac-disease/about-coeliac-disease-and-dermatitis-herpetiformis/ And when you have to follow a gluten-free diet for medical reasons, it is not necessarily fun. Oh, and by the way, it doesn't make you lose weight...

Premier mai sans muguet – et sans fête de la reine

Premier mai sans muguet – et sans fête de la reine