This morning's cow parade and a strike story

Dan took this video of the cow parade this morning. A change in the world order for cows is that not all of them go to the barn at night, so many just stay out in the field. Cow parades still occur but not with the number of cows that we saw in the past. 
 

And Farmer Dan chose an easier way to cut grass...

Our friends, Debbie and Bill McCormick arrived yesterday, and I'm going to tell a little of their tale. They arrived at Charles De Gaulle on time and got their luggage pretty quickly, compared to our experience at least! They grabbed a taxi to go into Paris to get a train to Angers. 

Then I get a text from Debbie that the taxi driver says that they may not be able to get a train because of strikes. What strikes? In France, there are frequent strikes, but they are often announced ahead of time. The train schedules didn't mention strikes, and we couldn't find any news about them. So I thought that maybe the driver was just screwing with them... You know, mess around with the Americans. 

But no. There was a called strike at CDG and Orly, and taxi drivers were joining in. In fact, the driver said that he would drop them at their destination and then strike. Talk about good timing!!! We weren't sure about where or when they would arrive because the conductor announced that no one could get off of the train at their first two stops. Were they being kidnapped by the train conductor? Would their experience in France consist of a train ride to Nantes and then back to Paris? Was this some crazy version of a strike? 

However, all ended well... They arrived at Angers safely (after getting train tickets despite no help from the people working at the station but with help from a young Frenchwoman named Jessica - merci, Jessica!) and Teresa and Reginald were waiting for us when we arrived with aperitif, raising their glasses as we drove in. 

We are grateful to Teresa and Reginald for hosting all of us, and we are grateful to be here.