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Search RuthAndJohn.com NOTE: click on the link then put your search words inside the quotes on Google
John again provided many wonderful photos of the kitties, interesting architecture in Rennes, lovely scenes and flowers
in Thabor and Oberthür parks and new baby duckies! In July! So cute. We've only previously seen baby duckies in May.
With a little reading, however, I learned that duck eggs are laid between mid-March and the end of July. So baby duckies in July is not unusual.
Kitties
The kitties are happy, though sometimes bored so they get excited when neighbors come by to visit them. Tommy's health
is fairly stable. He's had prescription wet and dry kidney foods and 2 kinds of medicine twice a day for about a year.
The vet said he's improved a lot. But chronic kidney disease is not reversible and he is having some problems.
He and Buster are best pals much of the time. Charlie can head butt Tommy without inciting hisses and that's due to tolerance,
not tiredness or depression. We know that because Tommy still plays a fair amount and seeks cuddles.
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Tommy above and Buster happy in his little house. |
Charlie on his day job. | Brothers forever. |
Rennes Buildings, Monuments and Shops
The photos of Rennes include some from La Criée Marché Central. We first went there with our friends Kathleen and Dave.
Kathleen is so cool. She's curious and adventuresome and shares her experiences freely. She'll be back in Rennes in a
few days and we'll visit with her then. It will be so good to see her again.
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| Saturday morning bicycles. |
Always find interesting houses when we go walking. |
Place de l'ordre Nationale du Mérite where the war dead of Rennes are honored. |
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| Chapel of the Carmelites | Fish shop at La Criée Marché Central. | Live crabs for sale at the Criée Marché. |
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| Live lobsters for sale at the Criée Marché. | Many of the buildings in Rennes display the date of construction. This one reads 1875. |
Many of the older houses have interesting towers. |
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| French tavern with a very French name. |
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| Always peaceful, restful Oberthür Park. | Some new summer flowers this month. | Not sure what this is, but it's very pretty. |
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| A young Moorhen chick. |
These wooden creature carvings are distributed throughout the park. |
These look like Morning Glories. |
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| The little ducklings are almost grown. | More summer flowers. | The hottest day in several years caused a lot of algae growth. |
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| But a few days later it cooled off. |
Thabor Park
John's photos of Thabor park include a local Column of July memorial commemorating two men from Rennes
who died in Paris during the Revolution of 1830. There's a giant one in Paris and I presume there are others
throughout France, especially in the cities. In Thabor Park there is also a memorial to Glenmor, a Breton folk singer who sought to preserve the Breton language.
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| New playground area at Thabor Park. | Colorful parrot in the aviary. | Some very fluffy chicks. |
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This area was added for the doves in addition to their dovecote. |
Thabor Park has a more sculpted look than Oberthür Park. | But there are still many places that are secluded. |
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| And ducks, of course. | The Column of July with the playing field. | A garden area behind the Column of July. |
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| The Column of July commemorating two men from Rennes who died in Paris during the Revolution of 1830. | A memorial to Glenmor, a Breton A memorial to folk singer who sought to preserve the Breton language. | To save energy the park shut off it's waterfall. |
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| The cat on the left was scouting the ducks on the right until I walked up. | Tall trees in a gentle breeze. | The orangery in the background. |
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| The fountain in the French gardens. | A natural green theater. |
New baby ducklings!
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| Cautious mother with her three new babies. | A closeup of a duckling. | The grass is taller than they are! |
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| We found this duck sound asleep in the pond. |
European Energy Crisis
Europe is in an energy crisis due to
weaning itself off Russian oil and gas. FREE/GIFT link NY Times.
France gets some Russian oil and gas but 70% of its energy is nuclear. Nevertheless, much heating in France is gas or oil.
The French government is encouraging residents to cut back on energy use and the EU has initiated a voluntary reduction by
15% of gas use which may become mandatory before winter, depending on reserves. So we may have an interesting winter this year.
It's likely that natural gas prices will increase. It's possible that there may be rationing due to shortages. I bought a
small electric heater to go with our other two in case we decide to use less gas heating.
Black Sea Environmental Disasters caused by Putin's War
Environmental disasters are occurring in and near Ukraine due to the Russia invasion. Currently thousands of dolphins are dying in the Black Sea
due to noise pollution produced by Russian battleships.
Russian Free Press
Russia's Liberal Dozhd TV Returns to the Air After Wartime Crackdown. Dozhd had suspended its operations in March after
being ordered by Russian authorities to stop broadcasting over its coverage of the war in Ukraine. Facing the threats of
being shut down or criminally charged under Russia's wartime censorship laws, Dozhd moved its operations abroad and set up
broadcast studios in Latvia, the Netherlands, Georgia and France. In June, Latvian officials granted Dozhd a European broadcasting
license. Dozhd's studio in the Netherlands was established in cooperation with The Moscow Times, with which it will share a newsroom
in Amsterdam. Dozhd went on the air July 18 at 8 p.m. Moscow time with the two-hour news show "Here and Now." The stream will be accessible
across Dozhd's social media pages and on several television streaming services such as Latvia's Tet and Israel's HOT. The channel
is expected to resume operations with a broadcast limited to several hours a day before eventually returning to round-the-clock programming.
Its signature news segment will return to the air alongside shows hosted by Dozhd journalists Yekaterina Kotrikadze
and Anna Nemzer, as well as a weekly roundup show hosted by Mikhail Fishman.
The online newspaper Moscow Times is a very good read for what is happening in Russia today. The About Us page reads,
"The Moscow Times is Russia's leading, independent English-language media outlet. Our team of Russian and English
journalists provide readers across the world with breaking news, engaging stories and balanced reporting about [Russia]."
One recent article covers Russian suspension of gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West
over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping European and U.S. sanctions against Russia. Russia has cut gas
supplies to other European countries at least temporarily, which is why gas rationing in Europe is being evaluated right now.
Other Useful Media
The newsletter for Just Security is also very good. It's "an online forum for the rigorous analysis of national security,
foreign policy, and rights. Founded in 2013, we aim to promote principled and pragmatic solutions to problems confronting
decision-makers in the United States and abroad. Our expert authors are individuals with significant government experience,
academics, civil society practitioners, individuals directly affected by national security policies, and other leading voices.
Our Board of Editors includes a broad range of leading experts on domestic and international law and policy. Just Security is
based at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law." It has a lot of stuff about Russia and
Ukraine but also very many other security issues worldwide.
European Heat and Drought
Eurotopics.net is an excellent resource for European news. One recent article addresses the heat and drought across Europe.
Half of Europe is in the grip of a heatwave, with forest fires raging across southern Europe from Portugal to Greece,
harvests drying out and life in some cities becoming unbearable with temperatures of up to 40 (104F) degrees. Since
temperatures have rarely been that high this is a big deal for the people of Europe. Here in Rennes we had a couple of
incidents of high heat each separated by several days. Last week we had a high of 107F (about 42C) degrees.
A France 24 article stated that, "Record high temperatures were registered in 64 different areas around France on
Monday July 18 as a heatwave peaked in the country, the national weather service confirmed on Tuesday."
COVID
Covid-19 is making a comeback in France and opposition to Macron's government is preventing the implementation of safety
measures against the disease. The French parliament voted to end Covid emergency measures. The National Assembly rejected a proposal to give
the government powers to demand travelers show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test when entering
France. The defeat by 219 votes to 195 saw all the major opposition parties -- the far-right National Rally (RN), the hard left LFI,
and right-wing Republicans (LR) -- unite against the minority government.
Halloween
As I wrote to you earlier, John made a Spooky Sudoku book for me for
Halloween. I love it. And it's available on Amazon.fr and
Amazon.com and other
Amazon stores. Click on "Look inside" Scroll down the page to see larger images and more info and links to explore content in the left column.
John's complete collection of North Star paperback books including adult and kids games, puzzles, coloring books, planners, notebooks and much
more is now available in France too.
Usually for Halloween and Christmas I move most of the window dolls and set out seasonal decorations. When Halloween comes I'm going to put
the Spooky Sudoku book and a note about it in our window where the dolls now live. I've said this many times before but one of my joys
of living where we now live is that the neighbors come by to visit the kitties and to tell their children who the dolls are.
And finally, just because this is so special here's a link to a short video by Italian actress Isabella Rossellini about sex on Noah's Ark (very cute).
She has several other presentations linked from this video or you can look them up - Green Porno by Isabella Rossellini.