On My Own

LIZ SAYS: Okay, so Dick is back in the States to deal with the closing on the house. It will belong to a woman who loves to garden. What could be more perfect.
It has just hit me that Madison is no longer my home. There was a moment of some kind of emotion verging on nostalgia but it wasn’t like I wanted to go back. It was more a little sadness that my Madison friends were now really far away, and they will have to visit. But then I can show them my Paris, I know they will love it too.
My friends here seem to have made it their job to make sure I am not lonely. Adrian invited me for lunch on Sunday, with Frederic and Frederic’s beautiful parents.
It was great fun to try to talk to them and hold a real conversation. Frederic had to fill in every 3rd word or so, but his parent’s said my pronunciation was very good.
That puffed my chest up abit.
As I have said before, Adrian is a fabulous cook and the meal was a real french meal. One, that has so many courses, I ran out of room. That was really sad, because I took a bite of everything I could not eat and it was delish!
I go out to our local corner bistro, the Petit Cardinal, to study my french, have coffee and lunch or dinner. Our favorite waiter there, Vahnsahnt, (Vincent) chats with me a little, to make sure I’m not lonely. He asks about my weekend and we Ca Va each other (How’s it going).
French waiters seem like they are a gruff lot, with their white shirts black aprons and pants. But, once you get to know them, well, here’s an example.
My other favorite waiter here is a guy I call Buster Keaton. He has the same sad face as Buster Keaton. He is probably anywhere from 40-55 but he smokes a lot, so it’s hard to tell.
I am determined to make him smile. 
We have already succeeded with Vincent, just by asking him how to pronounce a verb and then saying it back to him. It makes his lips curl ever so much on the sides.
Buster is another story, he grunts in response to an order and turns away very quickly. You can never ask him anything, he is gone in a flash.
However, even he has noticed that Dick has gone and tried to speak english to me. It was then that I realized, his grunts are in response to words he does not understand, and he actually has a very hard time with english.
I try to speak french as often as possible. So, I always order in french. Last night he asked me if I wanted some “bray”. “Du ewe wat so bray?”
I gave him the questioning look and he said “bray” again. I looked t my table and realized it was missing bread. He was asking if I wanted bread. He was trying so hard to be friendly and nice. I know how to ask for bread in french, he was just being nice to me. It was so cute.
I may not ever get him to smile, but I will keep trying.
I also realized that the smokers all recognize us, because they say “Bon appetit” to me, when they come to light up. Now that I am by myself, they try to chat, but since I have the vocabulary of an infant, the conversation does not go too far. They all want to know where Dick is and why he’s not with me. I have learned to say, “He’s in the States with the house sale” or something like that.
We always eat outside because I love it. I guess they recognize us because we are always out here. I never noticed them, but they evidently recognize us. It is very nice to have people notice you in a good way, and be so friendly. I have a feeling that if I could speak fluent french, we would never stop talking.