4 laptopless days

  “Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”

Gloria Steinem 1934-2026  

 

I'm constantly writing in my head, usually on my rose-decorated laptop or in notebooks.

Thus to leave my laptop home for a visit with college friends was monumental.

My friends came from the States to Périgord, France. My husband, Sherlock The Pup and I drove there. 

The hotel had a mat, a dish of food, a water dish, and a box of biscuits for Sherlock. No staff member passed him in the corridor without saying how cute he was and patting him. My friends, also dog lovers, treated him as royality.

We combined conversation and memories, including reciting the first few lines in Old English of the Canterbury Tales. His memory covered more lines than mine.

Périgord had its own religion delights including foix gras and different duck dishes and traditionally long French meals were a pleasure. Although I live part time in France and part time in Geneva, a new region of tastes was more than welcome.

Like I and my husband are, they are history and book buffs. We share political beliefs. Between that and sharing details of the years we didn't have contact there was never a lack of topics. 

Like many French areas the typography and flora vary. Every twist in the roads was beautiful in its own way.

 

Our last morning (we were going home, they were going on to Paris) I saw what I wanted to see most, Josephine Baker's château. 

We decided to have a last lunch together in Domme. He did not know how thrilled I was to be in a Cathar bastide. I had spent years researching the Cathars, trotting up mountains to Cathar strongholds, but I had missed seeing Domme.

Lunch served outdoors by an exceptionally smiley waiter outdoors was a perfect finish to a a perfect visit.

I loved everything we said, everything we ate, everything we saw, but best of all was the time with people who were a major part of my life during the college years. Despite the decades in between, it was like we are running to history or poetry classes except no exam awaited us. 

Our lives have been our exams, living 101. 

Did I miss my laptop? Only on the four + hour drive home.