O's Sneaky Marketing

I received an envelope in the mail from the Office of Credit & Adjustments of O, The Oprah Magazine. The envelope had IMPORTANT ACCOUNT INFORMATION across the front.

I thought this was odd, since I haven't subscribed to O in years, but I was curious enough to open the envelope.

The top of the letter said "Credit Amount: -$42.00." The fine print informed me that due to my "credit adjustment" I needed to pay only $12.

Does anyone actually fall for sneak marketing like this? Are there people mailing in their $12 today because they think they owe it, not realizing that if they aren't getting O and don't want to get it, they owe nothing?

The marketing department at O clearly doesn't think much of their potential readers.

LW is at it again

Me: IM, you are being awfully picky about the music today.
LW: Picky? That's my job!

After I tucked NB in first (because LW was still in the bathroom): That's not what Moms do to kids who love them!

The Vegetable Nazi

On our first Sunday in Burgundy, we went to the market in Chablis. French markets have everything you would expect to find in an American farmer's market--produce, meat, honey and jams, baked goods--and many things you wouldn't. Mattresses, for example.

We strolled through, buying some cheese Michael had heard about. Checking out the olive and dried fruit booth. Did you know you can dry kiwi slices? The most popular meat booth had an entire pig (head and all) on display. There was a long line waiting to be served there.

After we had finished exploring, Michael asked me to pick up some vegetables while he purchased some picnic supplies from another booth. The vegetable booth we were standing in front of had tables of vegetables on either side of the walkway. Michael assured me he had seen customers picking out vegetables themselves, and he pointed to the plastic bags available to hold them.

And then he left. I found the onions and carrots he wanted and put them in plastic bags, being careful to only touch the ones I was buying. The tomatoes were on the table on the other side of the walkway, and I noticed that customers there were waiting for the vendors to help them. There was a line, so I waited.

All of a sudden, a man walked up from behind me, grabbed the vegetables out of my hands, and put them (still in their bags) back on the table. I held out my money, but he waved me away.

And then I realized that those vegetables had come from his vegetable booth, which curved around the corner of the street. I had taken his vegetables and was attempting to pay his competitor for them.

I tried to apologize and pay him, but he shook his hands at me and turned his back.

"No vegetables for you!"

French Chateaus

We eventually arrived in France on Thursday (after waiting in line for three hours to check in at the Air France counter in Montreal).

We went straight from the airport to Versailles:



We skipped the interior and focused on the gardens. I was a bit surprised to see that none of the flowers were planted yet. I expected spring bulbs.

The drive from Versailles to our rental house was supposed to take about 40 minutes. Let's skip over the gory details and just say that the A86 was designed by Satan, shall we? Not my finest navigating moment. But we eventually found the house, although not in time to buy towels. (The rental contract for this house was all in French, so we missed that we needed to bring our own.)

Due to arriving in France five days late, we had to scrap most of what we wanted to see that first week, including Paris. We ended up focusing on chateaus.

On Friday, we visited Vaux-le-Vicomte, a chateau so elaborate that a jealous Louis XIV imprisoned the owner for life and seized the property.



Visitors at least 10 years old get to climb up to the dome:



And the stonework is rife with Italian fence lizards. Each boy stalked his own.



Saturday morning we had to pack up again and drive to our next rental. We visited Fontainebleau on the way.

The kids were amazed by this fountain. It doesn't show up well in the picture, but the dogs are all peeing. (You can buy a full-size replica of the dog in the gift shop, to bring a touch of France home to your garden.)



Napoleon bid farewell to France from the top of this staircase.



Interesting tidbit from the audio guide: French queens were required to give birth in public to prove the child was legitimate. Barbaric and nonsensical.

Canada

I had never considered Ottawa as a vacation destination, but there was quite a bit to do.

This picture was taken outside the Museum of Civilization, with the Houses of Parliament in the background.



All the museums were closed on Monday, so we drove to Parc Omega. We followed the suggestion to buy one bag of carrots each and then set off into the park.

You feed the larger animals from the car:



But you can feed the deer on foot:





We also visited the Museum of Science and Technology, where I was most impressed with the flawless way the presenters switched from French to English and back in the same session, and the Museum of Nature. The dinosaur floor was a huge hit: