It's rare in anyone's life that they meet someone they're related to after almost an entire lifetime. Last week that happened for me when my 2nd cousin Bruce Boyd Raeburn came to visit with his wife Linda Carroll for a little over 4 days. Bruce's father Boyd "Albert" Raeburn was my Grandfather Hagan'
s sister's son and Boyd was a semi famous groundbreaking big band leader in the early 40s into the 1950s. I heard about his dad for decades from my father and actually heard some of the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra albums my dad had when I was quite young but wasn't smart enough to realize how cool what was actually happening on them. I didn't really explore Boyd Raeburn's music until we were living in Sioux City, IA, in the mid-90s when my dad's cousin Jim made me 15 cassette tapes of all of his old Boyd Raeburn albums. I was totally blown away and found out from Jim at the time the Boyd had a son named Bruce Boyd who was at Tulane University in New Orleans and who ran the Hogan Jazz Archive there. Bruce has a PHD in History but also plays drums and has been playing in Punk and other bands in New Orleans for decades. I told someone earlier this week that meeting Bruce Boyd was like gaining a brother for me and I think he feels the same.

So last week for me was an especially good week here and I plan to keep in better touch with Bruce and interact with him far more than I have in the past.
Bruce's wife Linda was amazing too. She teaches Italian at Tulane but has been on sabbatical in Padua, Italy, for the past 9 months researching 16th century Italian playwrights. Having both of them here last week was a gift plain and simple.

Life is good here in Paris but then, I guess that's not a surprise is it???

A bientot,

Sid

Getting Somewhere And The Rhythm Of The 16th

Good news yesterday.........my staph infection is almost (and I stress.....almost) gone and my doc (the plastic surgeon AKA part of my "Gang Of 4) was certain I didn't need any more anti-biotics and in my new role of far more aggressive self advocate with my French Docteurs, I pushed back and told him while a medic in both the US Army and Navy, it was common practice when treating an infected wound to continue with anti-biotics until the drainage was clear and since mine wasn't clear yet I wanted to continue with another week of anti-biotics. He reluctantly agreed but acquiesced telling me that I seemed to want another prescription. OK THEN............* I don't have to see him for another 2 weeks as he'll be in Bordeaux at a conference. I told him to watch out for the wine and he laughed and said, oui, it is very good and I agreed.

I am and have been in writing mode ever since arriving here over a year ago and am now writing about our neighborhood which is the 16th arrondissement and not so much a tourist destination here in Paris but rather a quite upscale residential enclave which is percieved by almost everyone else in Paris as a Gros Bourgeois hood filled with stuffy rich people. Personally I find the neighborhood charming and find myself and my family including the twins moving in harmony with the rest of the folks who live here. There's something special about living in Paris that defies description in ordinary terms and to me it has most to do with the "rhythm" of the neighborhoods and the people who live in in them. Most definitely after over a year we have settled in and frankly I don't really miss the US or Lynchburg that much although I do miss quite a number of people back in the states it will not take much convincing to keep me here forever which is how I felt in the late 70s when I left Paris to go back to the US and school and never thought I'd return. I immediately found the part of me I left when I got back here a year ago and that part has grown in me completing much that had been left unsaid and undone simply just by living here. I love the French and everything about them, even their strikes and drama.......* They truly know how to live........*

Bon journee all......*

A bientot,

sid