Mon Cher Papa,
Picture this: It is July 1, 2017. I am with a friend on the balcony of a local bistro. We are sitting on high stools at a tall table, with a small, stone surface. We are not under a Cinzano umbrella, though the sun is strong enough to warrant one.
My friend is Julie Bonde--daughter of Camilla and Laurel Johnson--who also was a Mission Children's Home "kid" during our Madagascar years. She is helping me make a blog/website called MADAGASIKARA SOA. We are working on this project here while we eat lunch. (I will soon tell you why we are engaged in this endeavor.)
We are looking over the Cannon River, which is surging below us. This place is one of my favorite spots in Northfield because when I am here, I can imagine that I am in Paris, France, perhaps on the trottoir of a café-restaurant right on the Seine.
The name of this establishment is FROGGY BOTTOMS. Try saying that with a French accent, Papa. Or translate it into French: Fesses des Grenouilles. And...there are grenouilles (frogs) everywhere! Even around the mural, on a wall of this balcony, a mural that depicts the seven deadly sins: anger, lust, gluttony, greed, envy, sloth, and pride.
I am reminded today of our mutual experience of France, the French, and French things. And, also, for the country which once was a colony of France--Madagascar! La Republique Malgache!
Today, in this note, for the very first time, I announce to you and Maman where I am going in November: Madagascar! That is why Julie and I are working on a blog-website--to help me share with you and anyone else who is interested what I am experiencing during my trip to and in Madagascar. While I am there with some of my boarding school classmates and their spouses, I will learn about the lives of elders in Madagascar, and compare and contrast how things are for them and for elders here in the United States.
Folks connected to Global Health Ministries, of Fridley, MN, will be helping me with my continuing education project on the elders in Madagascar. I will tell you more when I see you in Duluth, very soon!
Je t'embrasse, toi et Maman!
Ta fille, Kristine