I have been shirking my blogging responsibilities. I apologize. It took me a while to get out of vacation mode and get back to sitting at the computer.

(As for what provided the impetus... well, there's nothing like discovering a deadline is much, much closer than you had thought. Ulp.)

I've spent the past several days getting work done and running those stupid, necessary little errands that should be easy but end up taking forever. Sigh. I much preferred lying on a chaise lounge on the deck of the barge as we tooled down the Canal du Midi in France, relaxing with a staff of four at my beck and call.

Not that I becked or called. I was actually a little freaked out by the staff thing. I kept wanting to ask if I could do anything, if they needed help with the dishes, anything like that. I don't take well to being a parasite, I guess.

So, more France stuff:

• Ultimate Inner Geek moments: Wandering around the almost silent, near-empty walls of Mont Saint Michel as the sun set (at about 10 p.m.), thinking dragons and knights and other geekly things. It's amazing. I didn't think anything could top it. And then we went to Carcassonne, the largest walled fortress in Europe. It was crowded and touristy, but hell, I was staying inside the walls of a castle. My little geek heart went pitter-pat.
  
• Most humbling moment: Going for a hike up a mountain with Anne Se. the guide and my family. I expected Anne Se, Amy and Jorge to make me look bad, but when my 58-year-old mother, 61-year-old father and six-month pregnant sister all had an easier time of it.... Oy. Maybe those pain au chocolates for breakfast weren't the best idea. Then we ran into some old guy who rode his mountain bike up a slope we were having trouble walking. Whimper.
  
• Major purchases: Sadly, books. In English. Big ones. I went on a French literature/history kick when I was there. I got a short Travellers History of France (which got left on the barge so I didn't have to schlepp it home), A Tale of Two Cities (ditto), Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais (at Jorge's urging), the Count of Monte Cristo (happy, Tripp?), Decision in Normandy and Orwell in Spain. (Which isn't French. Huh. But I did get it at the WWII memorial in Caen, so it kind of counts.) The guy at Skakespeare and Co. -- a pretty kick-ass book store -- did mention that French people did, in fact, write some short, easily transportable books, but I chose to ignore him.

Right, I must move away from the computer as an ice cream truck that is playing "The Entertainer" over and over and over again is parked right outside my window, and if I don't get away from it my head will explode. Grrr. Welcome back