Jeanne Koré Salvato

ordinary life + poor French = yikes!

peaking a language (and I use that word speaking approximatively) in another country is a lot like going to the county fair and throwing a ball at a painted wooden duck.  A hit and miss affair.  I have a friend, a teacher, who with the utmost willingness,...
Sufi Music and the Jazz Greats

Sufi Music and the Jazz Greats

he general hilarity of living across the street from a Sufi master was tempered by the very fact of the master, whose measured sense of purpose had inspired thousands around the world, including, of course, his family.  Every so often I think even the tramps in...

somersaults and other French dangers

don’t know how to tell you this, but sometimes an American or even a person (in case these are two different things) can be totally clueless in France.  I don’t mean dancing with the languages and stepping on the toes of your partner.  I mean just dumb....
remodeling redux

remodeling redux

he foundation’s treasurer, full of vim and energy, (or prunes as my mother’s friend used to say) assured us that all remodeling would be finished within three months.  Well, one and a half years later, M Ludovic was still keeping on keeping on.  We had moved...
Remodeling

Remodeling

stragon, one of the gentlemen in Waiting for Godot gives his opinion about where they are.  The particular spot where the two of them now find themselves is exactly where they were yesterday.  Vladimir, the other hobo asks, “you recognize the place?”  I...

A house, a home, a haunted house?

e see Godot’s people in a state of disrepair, much like a house can be in disrepair. One of them has a problem shoe. They talk about going places. The play ends with the stage direction, “They did not move.” Did you ever wonder about where they were...