I've been living in France for some time on a carte de séjour, which had to be renewed annually at a cost of ~250€ each for my wife and me. Just got notified today by the Préfecture that my 10-year carte de resident has been approved and should be ready for pick up in a couple of weeks!

Saw an opinion piece in the NYTimes decrying the consolidation of US food production among a few corporations -- drives consumer costs higher. I saw that in my last visit to the U.S.: a single leek for $3.50. Here in northern France, it costs ~3€ (about $3.50) for a kilogram of leeks (2.2 pounds).

Visited a destroyed abbey in Normandie today. L'Abbaye de Hambye.

I live a good distance from universities and cities hosting conferences. So I'm asking this group for ideas on online resources (webinars, lectures, online courses, conference presentations) that might help a geologist satisfy a state continuing education requirement. All ideas are welcome.

The is what you get when a nation elects a convicted felon unburdened by empathy or ethics to the presidency. No one with the appropriate combination of knowledge, competence, ethics and morality will work for him. Only people deeply lacking in one or more of those characteristics will.

Shaking my head that right wing reporters are still talking about what a legendary deal maker the convicted felon is. Greatest of all time, some say.

Heading west from Nice to Antibes on a TGV. The Mediterranean is off to the left.

Pigeons supervising a bicyclist adjusting his ride, Grasse, France.

I'm seeing Republican politicians making the rounds saying things like the ACA and universal healthcare are too expensive for the U.S. or that the U.S. is too enormous for such programs to work. According to World Bank Group Data: USA per capita health spending= $13,573.19 (2023).

Antique NCR cash register, No. 178, from Dayton, Ohio with slide selectors rather than keys. Set to register francs and centimes. At the bar at le Garage d'Eugène, Saint-Lô, Normandie.

40+ years working as a professional geologist. Saw this wine in the store and wanted to try it. Inexpensive but not bad. About 6€ if I recall correctly.

Snowing today in our little hilltop village in northern France. About 15 cm accumulation so far.

No photos but Christmas Eve dinner was a bit of effort. I had a craving for Ethiopian food earlier in the week, forgot Wednesday was Chistmas Eve, so I cooked much of the day. Berber-spiced red lentils, yellow split peas with turmeric, a potato-cabbage-carrot thingy, and a tomato and onion salad.

I'm not an urban planning expert but would be curious if any of you could point me to papers or other references that discuss tools for encouraging urban redevelopment and denser housing without also causing gentrification? Gentrification often is criticized but it seems part of the package.

So, I'm starting to look at some EVs to replace an 11-year old diesel car and was looking at the Renault 5. It has a lot going for it, but what is possibly the most French option ever is the baguette basket that clips to the console to keep flour off of your seat fabric. Incroyable.

Je me demande pourquoi tous les messages publiés sur ce fil proviennent de « Le Monde en Feed - non-officiel ». Ne s'agit-il pas d'un fil général destiné à diffuser des informations et des observations sur la France ?

A couple of photos from a visit to the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. I'd long wanted to visit having spent many years living and working around columnar basalt in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Nice walk with views of the Norman bocage and a bend in the Vire River, with low-grade metamorphosed mudstone (pelite) visible in the foreground.

Creepiest store window ever. 2nd arrondisement, Lyon France.

Tracteur pour la conchyliculture à marée basse Agon-Coutainville, Manche, Normandie.

When I read people complaining ad nauseam about daylight savings time, I have to wonder -- have they never travelled? Moved to another place to live? One hour has you whining? I currently live in a time zone 9 hours from that in which I lived previously. It's not that hard. One hour?

Things had been going pretty well until those bastards threw that ring into the volcano. I guess a guy's gotta find work somewhere.

A nun on a foggy morning in Bourgogne walks past a large romanesque church dating from the 12th century.

View of the ground floor of the Granville, Normandie, France indoor market showing the colors of autumn; taken looking down from the first floor.

My favorite spooky photo for Halloween, even though I took it in the early Spring. Taken on an after-dinner walk in Monticchiello, Pienza, Italy.

In Isigny-sur-Mer to pick up some produce at the Saturday market today. Drove over to the WWII German cemetery near La Cambe, west of Isigny. It was peaceful. A total of 21,000 dead, with unidentified bodies buried in the tumulus. This is a reminder of where fascism ultimately leads. No Kings.

Falaise d'Aval on a cloudy day, showing the needle, arch, and cave. Looking WSW from les Jardins d'Étretat

Beautiful day on the Cotentin Peninsula coastline near Barneville-Carteret, France. Sentier Littoral (littoral trail). A couple walks along a deserted beach as the sea recedes toward low tide.

A recent visit to the ruins of Hambye Abbaye, Normandie.

Bauxite sample on display, Les Baux, France.

Un escalier, Paris.

The lavender is well in bloom today.

So, it's nighttime in France and we had a nice sunset tonight. I thought I'd share the scene off of the terrace behind our house.

Glacial cirque with needles along the ridgeline, Mont Blanc Massif, France. Probably bits of Switzerland and Italy in the shot as well.

Drove over toward the coast of the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandie today. Found out there are some pretty smart people there.