Kim: presentations of significance from the FAWCO Bern Conference

There was an enormous amount of content presented in Bern;  the following is a summary of some of the presentations which may have particular significance to AWGLR, all of which are on the FAWCO website:

http://www.fawco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2580:bern-2013-in-a-timely-fashion-women-tradition-innovation&catid=298:bern2013&Itemid=200177

If you click on the Bern conference logo (at the FAWCO page) on the left hand side it brings you to a page with Bern 2013 and options to click on various links including photos (sends you to FAWCO Flickr) and you can click on each day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47292825@N07/

If you click on Wednesday, one of your options is the 2nd VP Member Clubs Report by Elizabeth Abbott.  You can get both her power point or you tube presentation (here is the link to that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LuZW5QqDiM&list=PL7yo2ifBhHe2-vIRC96dGWdDAA6IQTGSo&index=19 ) We are in a photo near the beginning of this presentation and her presentation is a good overall of what member clubs are doing (regionals) and some updates on how we can get info (best practices, etc).

On the same day there is the presentation by Laurie Richardson on the 2013-2015 Resolutions and Recommendations.  Again,  a good presentation to see what FAWCO is striving for. There is a photo of our breakfast at OCarolans pub on election morning;  Peggy Rigaud was on this committee and her name is mentioned too.  The Power point is available, as is video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1DDPifF8mc&list=PL7yo2ifBhHe2-vIRC96dGWdDAA6IQTGSo)

Other interesting (in my opinion) presentations to watch are those by "outside" speakers.  There is one on Wed by Diccon Bewes entitled "Swiss Watching" about cultural differences (yes they are based on the Swiss but many things could be applied elsewhere;  it at least gets you thinking...  you tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh8MUfeiois&list=PL7yo2ifBhHe2-vIRC96dGWdDAA6IQTGSo&index=3) It is long so this is the first part... the following parts can be easily found once you watch the first part.

On Thursday the Ambassador's wife, Megan Beyer, a journalist, spoke and it is an interesting talk. "The Business of Breaking the Glass ceiling" Written presentation is available as well as video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yDIMq5bwS0

For those interested in UN issues, there is a presentation by Dr Lisa Thomas, women's sexual and reproductive health expert from the WHO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_myDEOS4Gs)

We can be seen several times (us, our regional, our logo) in the Target Program presentation (http://www.fawco.org/images/stories/conference/Bern2013/8_March_7_Target_Program__Anne_Van_Oorchat_1.pdf) by Anne Van Oorchat

On Friday Ambassador Betty E. King, US  Ambassador to the UN and other International Organizations in Gevena gave her presentation, which is available in written form.

On Friday,  the Tabitha thank you video is also available:  .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-AwgXJT-gE

On Saturday, find the US issues presentation.  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJTYLc6S21M

The remarks by the incoming FAWCO Presiedent are also a good overall  view of what will be coming in the next 2 years (video):   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ4pJ7xLQ1U

AWG members are encouraged to suscribe to FAWCO You Tube.

Maggie has some photos that will be forthcoming and posted on Scriveners.  

Maggie: visit to the Camille Descossy exhibit at the Musee Fabre, Montpellier

AWG was honoured to have a prestigious docent for their recent visit to the Musee Fabre in Montpellier, to see the Camille Descossy exhibit - the artist Daniel deZ, Karen's husband.  

 

Maggie:  I also remember Kim's possible explanation of the skeleton with the beautiful lady, as Descossy's friend who stole his wife.

Maggie particularly likes this photo because it appears that there's a mirror - see the hands

.

Daniel reaches for a book - in the painting!

Daniel explains the artist ......

..... and enlightens the group

Our thanks go to Daniel for his giving us the benefit of his knowledge and time;  also to Karen for arranging a wonderful event. 

Katharine C: lunch at Orla's: the Irish Mix it Better

Anne in Irish butcher-boy cap

 FAWCO Conference in Bern - de-brief over an Irish lunch in honor of the conference and of St Patrick's Day, at Orla's home. 

Tulips from Holland, cheese and crackers from Ireland and Switzerland, and desserts from CH

Shamrock cupcakes

Irish smoked salmon, in case we weren't hungry after vichysoisse, watercress soup, and Irish mussels in cream

Maggie in Irish green and Swiss Red

Pam:  teeshirts, hats, hairbands and sunglasses courtesy of OCarolans Bar, Ecusson. Thanks, Nick! 

Noel and her Mom, Mariannick and Jessica.  The Irish Mix it Better

Katharine J and Denise

Kim and Jessica, in Irish teeshirt and Magners shamrock hairband

Orla - hostess with the mostest

 A wonderful time together, celebrating St Patrick's Day.  We also heard about the FAWCO Conference - Kim introduced it at the beginning of the lunch, and then Maggie and Rowena both spoke about what transpired in Bern.  (Full details/reports on the FAWCO website, and they will also appear on Scriveners).  Maggie returned with delicious slabs of chocolate from Switzerland - chocolate/cranberry;  white chocolate;  chocolate/noisette;  dark chocolate.  Yum!  We had a drawing for Swiss cookies, won by Laetitia - who kindly donated her prize to the table, very generously. 

Jessica in Magners hairband

Pam and Katharine C

Noel's Mom lives in Buffalo, NY

Laetitia, Pam, Katharine C, Anne, Jessica and Rachel

Happy St Patrick's Day, AWG members

'

                                                

Katharine: Wandabear

Jane's charming story of Sammy evoked memories of our dog Wanda.   Her face was rottweiler, but softened by the black labrador strain of her mother; her long legs   she owed to her german shepherd grandfather, and her overall colouring was that of her rottweiler father, Bruce - a handsome brute of very little brain who came visiting one time and knocked up our dog Allie.  We arrived home from vacation in Hawaii on my birthday in 1996, and Allie gave birth, unexpectedly,  to a litter of six pups that night. That was an interesting birthday present.

We kept two of the pups - Wanda and Otto (our sons were big fans of the movie A Fish called Wanda).  We had the pick of the litter - and our son Daniel was adamant that we keep Wanda because she was the most fun, she had the most spirit.  Yes she did.  I rather preferred a rather lollopy puppy who was inclined to sleep most of the time, but our sons weren't having any of it.   They of course departed quite quickly for Europe and college, leaving Phil and I to the hard work of bringing them up. 

And hard work it was.  We already had two dogs - a golden retriever and Allie, the puppies' Mom.  They were all outside dogs;  I wouldn't have them in the house.  Otto died in 2002, leaving a gap in our lives;  but at this point, Wanda, seeing my grief, attached herself to me  - and never let go.  When I walked through our house, her eyes would follow me from outside, from one end to the other.  We had a bond - on her part, it was one of unconditional love and loyalty, and joy when she was with us.

She travelled with us from California to France, via Frankfurt, in the hold of the airplane - emerging 22 hours later unscathed in Marseilles, where she scuttled quickly to a nearby grass verge.  She claimed our home in France as her territory - hopping up on to a stone wall and surveying the territory routinely.  No living being, human or otherwise, could approach without her all-seeing eyes. Her days were filled by stalking gekkos along the sunny walls - she never got one, but never stopped trying.

Wanda died the day before our shared birthday, in 2008.  That was the least happy birthday I've ever experienced.   When I spoke to our old friend Ceclie, who had taken another of the puppies from the litter in 1996 (and the one who appeared to be Wanda's fraternal twin), Ceclie told me that he had died 10 days earlier.  Big dogs don't have a long life.

Our sons were brought up with four dogs in their lives;  now we have none.  But we have our memories, and as I work through my major winter project of transferring family videos into iMovie, film of our dogs crops up and evokes feelings of love and loss and the knowledge that even though time passes quickly and our lives move on, she will always be in my heart.  

Jane: Raising a Puppy

Sammy

Heard of the saying “It’s a dog’s life”?  I have always understood that to be a fairly lazy life that consists of food, exercise and hours of sleep.  In May 2012, I acquired a rather handsome (have to say that!) longhaired dachshund puppy.  He turned one year old recently.

I read two very good books on how to train a puppy.  Sammy knows what is not allowed but no amount of gentle (OK, some wallops with a rolled up newspaper from time to time) punishment stops him. 

At great expense, I installed a handmade gate to go between the kitchen and living-room.  He reaches the handle with his mouth and opens it.  He leaps up and pulls all t-towels, handtowels, aprons off the wall hooks.  I spend my time sewing the ties back on the towels.  He has learnt to pull over my waste-paper basket and I spend my life picking up bits of paper from under the coffee table. He loves to lick feet under the table.  Leaping on the sofa to nudge the poor, tolerant cat whose perch is up there is huge fun.  In fact, leaping ON the cat is his favourite pastime.  Pulling strands of wool out of the carpet is also a good one.  But, the game he likes best is destroying my glasses.  Two have had to be replaced and this week, I just caught him in time before my new pair were rendered unusable.   However, the final straw happened yesterday.  My electrician and I were having a coffee.  I was constantly watching Sammy but in five minutes, he had chewed a tear in the hem of the electrician’s coat which was hanging over the back of a chair.  My electrician (aged 63) is quite dapper and likes his clothes!

Everyone warned me that owning a dog is expensive.  The replacement glasses set me back a few hundred euros and well, I am not too sure as yet what I will need to do re the electrician’s coat!

Motto of this story:  A ‘dog’s life’ is not what you think it is!

Deb: Concert by Trio Borsalino

 

Cassan:   Trio Borsalino will perform on Sunday March 10th at
Chateau Abbaye de Cassan at 11.00am.  The concert will include
works by de Falla, Ravel, Berto, Piazolla, Bizet and also "Summer"
from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

www.cassan.org
For reservations, call:  04 67 24 52 45
Billeterie:  12euros, Reduit:  10euros

Chateau Abbaye de Cassan
34320 Roujan

Katharine: International Women's Day 2013 - President Obama

President and Mrs Obama on International Women's Day

Obama on International Women's Day: Empowering women the smart thing to do

• 
  

  
  

  3/8/13 10:45 AM EST

President Obama marked International Women's Day Friday with a recommitment to "fight for the rights and opportunities of women and girls around the world."
"Empowering women isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do," he said in a statement. "When women succeed, nations are more safe, more secure, and more prosperous.  Over the last year, we’ve seen women and girls inspiring communities and entire countries to stand up for freedom and justice, and I’m proud of my Administration’s efforts to promote gender equality worldwide."
As part of the administration's International Women's Day celebration, first Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were scheduled to present "International Women of Courage" awards to 10 women at the State Department Friday. As POLITICO's Katie Glueck reported, one of those awards has been delayed pending an investigation of one recipient's potentially anti-Semitic and anti-American tweets. But the rest of the ceremony is scheduled to go forward.
Obama, in his statement, touted the country's efforts to promote women's "economic empowerment and political participation, to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, and to strengthen our commitment to helping more women participate in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
"We are promoting food security initiatives that recognize the rights and needs of women farmers, and ensuring that women and girls are at the center of global health programs.  And we will continue to focus on empowering women and girls at home and abroad," he said. "We’ve also worked with a wide range of partners – from the United Nations and civil society groups to the private sector –  to advance this important agenda.  Because when it comes to creating a world in which our sons and daughters can reach their potential, we each have a role to play.  And we can make even more progress together."

Katharine C: new (cheap) TGV service - Ouigo

A picture of one of the Ouigo trains on a trial run

                       

Ouigo is a new (starting April)  French low-cost train service between cities of Marne-la-Vallée (near Paris) and Montpellier and Marseille, via Valence. Ouigo is a subsidiary of the French national rail company SNCF, but it is independently run from its parent company. 

http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/new-ouigo-budget-tgv-launches-in-april.html?id=14088298

Ouigo - that's We Go for Anglophones.  

Really cheap fares - 10 euros from Marne-la-Valle (EuroDisney) to Montpellier.
Not as convenient as Gare de Lyon of course!!  

Deb: FAWCO Annual Report

Conference 2013

Please find attached, the .pdf of the FAWCO Annual Report presented today at the FAWCO Conference in Bern.  Each day of the conference, you are able to read about the events and download documents from the fawco.org website.

Deb YH

2012_Annual_Report_FINAL_Feb_22_2013_reducedsize.pdf 2681K   View   Download

Maggie: salades sauvages with David Ferrando

AWG garden group did a salades sauvages outing with David F a couple of years ago, and it was very enjoyable.

 

----- Original Message -----

From: FERRANDO DAVID

To: undisclosed-recipients:

Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2013 2:54 PM

Subject: Le week-end des salades sauvages

Bonjour,

Le Rocher des Fées organise le week-end des salades sauvages,

les 16 et 17 Mars 2013.

"Laiteron ou Saint Joseph? Coscorilha ou Ampoleta ??? 

Une après-midi pour chercher, cueillir, goûter une trentaine de plantes sauvages comestibles, apprendre à les reconnaître et s'imprégner de culture occitane."

RDV à 14h00 au Moulin du Rocher des Fées, 

rue des pins à Vendémian

Inscription gratuite mais indispensable (pour le samedi ou le dimanche) au 06 62 60 07 91.

David FERRANDO

Retrouvez quelques salades sauvages sur notre page www.facebook/rocher.des.fees

Jane: Momma bear and the three bears

                                           

The audio is hilarious! Make sure your sound is on!

The park is named after the Algonquin Indians.)  

Momma Bear and her three very young  cubs in the wild of northern Ontario , Canada . Humane wildlife  experts taking a winter bear census right in the hibernation dens.  Besides the cute 6 week old baby bears (eyes still closed) the guy (Rick Mercer) has some of the funniest commentaries. !!!!!!!

                                                                         

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=vJRDpTUIrJI&vq=medium