More Travels, and Reunion-ing

Wherever I go this trip, I seem to meet cats. Not that this is Miss Kitty's first appearance on the blog, of course.

She lives with #2 Son and his family. Yes, she really is that big-=her alternate name is Miss Piggy!
But she is a big purry sweetie. They have another cat, the Invisible Snickers. She's extremely shy and hides out when anyone but her family is there!


We took a drive--actually, went to lunch--and on the way back I persuaded my darling favorite #2 son to stop at Horse Pond so I could take some pictures. I definitely thought the views were worth recording!

There was some sun coming through the bushes so there's a hazy glare in my pictures...but really.
Tell me this isn't a wonderful sight!!

So I was going to post some of the pictures from the reunion, but I decided against it. If you want to see them, click on my Flickr badge; they are all there! But really--how interested are you in pictures of people you have never met??
Anyway, it was a good party and a wonderful reunion. It was everything I hoped for and more! Lots of good reminiscing and talking to people who have had interesting and productive lives. I guess part of it is that our school attracted a certain kind of student just by its very nature--it was a bilingual school, and all of us spoke both French and English. We also studied and worked in both languages.
I do think that attending a bilingual school offers some advantages over a single-language situation, not just in the area of language development either. There's a certain habit of mind that governs the switching from one language to the other that carries over to other areas of learning. Or living, for that matter.

Anyway, it was fun hearing my name in French after all these years, and being able to chat in both languages too. After so many years in California, where the dominant "alternate" language is Spanish, there's something comforting about being able to use my "mother tongue."

And hearing my classmates refer to themselves as Memere? Priceless!