once a year, i don’t mind the abundance and excess of the holidays. but now i’m ready for the other 350 days of the year, and their relative calm and order and restraint. bring it on, 2017.

driftwood and beach rock

languedoc, france

this huge clam is called, in french, an ‘anodonte.” in english we call them duck mussels or swan mussels, for what i assume are obvious reasons. in french it should be called the wild boar mussel. it sits in stagnant freshwater, filtering the world around it, and every once in a while, a large, bristly, tusked quadruped shows up, roots around, drags the huge mussel to the shore, breaks it open, and eats raw shellfish for lunch. in my son joseph’s class, one of his teachers recently remarked that the wild boar is called an omnivore, which was really selling it short. it will eat more things than are included in the term omnivore. it should really be called a “toutovore.” an “everythingvore.”

anodonta

autignac, france

a joyous day to you, whatever you call it: christmas, noël, the holidays, a day off of work, the end of a terrible year. here’s hoping the day is full of human warmth, and a touch of the sublime.

laurier d’alexandrie (danae racemosa), a.k.a . poet’s laurel

autignac, france

this slightly hybrid christmas wreath–grapes and grape leaves, imitating holly and spruce–is an apt symbol of the christmas celebration we will have today in autignac france. some french leg of lamb, and some minnesota wild rice hotdish. some mediterranean oysters and some lapadat family apple delight. happy holidays to all of you in all traditions wherever you come from and wherever you have landed.

grape vine leaves, and grapes

autignac, france

today my mom arrived in france from my childhood home in shoreview mn, and my daughter arrived with her from my alma mater in palo alto, ca. a lot of circles got closed with their joint arrival in montpellier airport. and now we are sitting in a three-generational circle around the dining room table, drinking wine and talking. in circles.

striped beach rocks

sète, france