Ce n'est pas un petit travail...

... d'accorder sagesse et musique.

(But Dino, you do it so well!)

How can you tell when a girl has been spending too much time in the virtual world, and not enough time brandishing (or in my case calmly holding) her 'plume?' The answer may be found above.

I have been learning 'l'Anglaise' now since mid September and I am still fighting with the slope and the angles. I have tried changing my 'plume,' changing my ink, adding medium to my ink and changing my paper.

Looks like I just can't get away from the evidence... more PRACTICE!

Well dear FiL - You will have to settle for this for now as it is leaving tonight come rain, hail or (in this case) snow with your son, unbeknownst to you, in order to be added to the Golden Book that will be offered to you at the surprise fiesta that is being held in your honour tomorrow in Digne les Bains.  Vive la celebration of the 50th anniversary of l'Académie de l'Accordéon in the Alpes de Haute Provence!

Just as you still do with your beloved music, I promise to diligently practice every day to get better so I can re-write that phrase, which so aptly describes you.

My FiL, with your charming smile and silver white hair, you can still bring a sparkle to the eyes of the Provence folk when you play your waltzes and tangos on that well-loved and worn accordeon. Dino, your calm, quiet wisdom influences all who cross your path. "Better to practice 15mts every day than 1 hour at the end of the week" you say. They are words I would do well to remember and ... implement. If you can do so, and even brave the pain, after chopping the tops of all your fingers off with the rotary trimmer and being told that you would never play again, well then, I can do so too with no excuse other than ... lack of time.

I am safe in letting the secret out a day early. I am safe because I know you won't read this, given that you have sworn to remain faithful to the real world of touch, taste and smell - another wise decision on your part as we do have a tendency to become, ahem, diverted from our primary tasks just a tad when the Blog takes on a life of its own.

So from my perch on the hillside at La Rivière I raise my glass to you dearest FiL and try to imagine your face, a mixture of joy and shy humility, when 50 years of challenges and joy reunite in the form of an orchestra of accordeons comprising many of your still devoted 'élèves' and favourite classical pieces from right back in that very first year. Even your son has taken up the accordeon again over the last two months, for the first time in 20 years ...

Horizons Bleus ... to you Dino for ever more...