Glasses etc.

Maybe I've written this already, but can't remember and don't have time to do the research. I got my new glasses on Saturday Nov. 30. I got two pairs that have slightly different frames, one black and one torsoise-shell. I'm happy with both of then. I can just wear one pair and not worry about having different glasses for distance vision and for near vision. I don't need them for driving, walking or watching TV, and that's fine. I do need them for close work and for reading my laptop or tablet screens. And that's fine. As for the cataract surgery goes, if I had to do it all over again, well... I'd do it all over again. I'm happy with the result.

As for Carteret, you might be feeling like you've been there and seen it all. I have a few more posts I want to do over the next few days. You might recognize some of the scenes in the photos above and below. Sand and water. Clouds. High tide and low tide.

Miscellaneous Carteret and Barneville scenes

I was in Carteret several times with my late friend Charles-Henry (b.1924-d.2023) starting in 2004. His friend Jeanine, the widow of his old friend Philippe, who he had grown up with in Paris, had a house in Carteret that she inherited from her parents, I suppose, because it was the house where her grand-parents had lived. I knew Jeanine and Philippe too, but we were colleagues more than close friends. We all worked together in Washington DC. On the left you see Jeanine's house in Carteret. I wonder if Jeanine's children, who are my age and live in the U.S., have kept it or sold it. I'll probably never know. Jeanine spent summers there, at least in the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. For me, those stays at Carteret were really good times. Jeanine's house was literally just steps from the harbor in Carteret (a six minute walk, according to Google Maps). Neither Jeanine or Charles-Henry had a car. They didn't drive at all, so when I went to see them they enjoyed touring around in my little Peugeot, and I enjoyed hearing their stories about their families and their lives. Jeanine was 94, I think, when she passed away. It was a privilege and an extraordinary opportunity for a young American like me to know and spend time with them.

Just above are two more photos of the harbor at Carteret. Notice how the boat is docked in the picture on the left.

The photos below show the beach at Barneville-Carteret and the summertime activities taking place on it. The building with white shutters is known as the Château de Chimay over in Barneville and is apparently an apartment building nowadays. It was built in the early part of the 20th century.

Beached boats at Carteret in Normandy

With tidal variations like these, the people with boats in Carteret can't take them out at high tide. They have to wait until the rising tide floats their boats.

Dans les rues de Carteret en Normandie

I was always surprised when I went to Normandy in summertime and saw how people could grow such beautiful flowers there. Normandy's summers can be really damp and gray. But Normandy wouldn't be Normandy without frequent rainy days.

The rest of these pictures show some of the restaurants and hotels in the village of Carteret. I had meals in several of them, often with Charles-Henry and our friend Jeanine who lived in Washington DC and had a house in Carteret, but also with Walt, of course, and once with my mother and her sister. I took them to Carteret in 2004 so that they could tell people in North Carolina about the town that gave its name to the county where our family has lived for so many generations. The restaurant just above on the right is called La Kalakiki. It was one of Charles-Henry's favorite lunchtime places in Carteret because he loved its specialty, moules et frites (mussels with French fries). The moules marinière were always really fresh-tasting there, and they were perfectly prepared.

Another of Charles-Henry's favorite foods was oysters. I don't know if he went to La Coserie to feast on them, but I never got a chance to. (C-H passed away last February at the age of 99. Our friend Jeanine passed away five or six years ago, when she was in her mid-90s.) On the right below, the logo on the back of a van shows that les Normands have a good sense of humor about their region's climate. They don't let the gloom get them down.

The hotel-restaurant above, Le Carteret, was one of my favorites. I stayed at the hotel there once by myself and once with Walt (and our dog Collette, who was welcome to share our room with us). I have so many funny memories of my trips to Carteret. I've told some of them on this blog before. Maybe I'll have to tell them again.