Lance Armstrong
Dayle in Limoux – Day # 56
August 30, 2022Les Ampoules sont meilleures! Dieu Merci.
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After my climb up to St. Salvayre late last week, the blisters are better and time for new exploration. Heading to Arles tomorrow, where I can explore Roman ruins and basque in the energy and paintings of Vincent van Gogh. In 1888, after two years living in Paris, he yearned for sunshine and the colors of Midi-France, the South of France. Apparently, he was consumed by creativity during his time in Arles, before he left to voluntarily be committed to a psychiatric institution in Saint-Rémy de Provence. 🌻
You know what’s so wild? I was in Denver last summer for my birthday to be with my son and his girlfriend, and my daughter and her boyfriend, to visit the traveling Van Gogh exhibit called, Van Gogh Alive!
It was s p e c t a c u l a r and incredibly moving. And now, this year for my birthday (!), Arles and walk in Vincent’s footsteps, absorbing, Gaia willing, his energy…feeling his presence. Who knew! The Universe. ℒℴve ☆҉ it when that happens.
Incredible, really, the U.S. media has not picked up on what Lance Armstrong and his WEDŪ team did for the kids in Uvalde. Maybe if DT was somehow involved, either dissing it or the providers, they would have then covered it and amplified what collective compassion and goodness can do for a community to heal violent devastation and emotional wounds.
I wrote about this yesterday. If it wasn’t for listening to the Vuelta update on The Move podcast/YouTube, I would not have known the bikes were delivered.
BIKES FOR UVALDE DELIVERED
On August 27th, 800 bikes and helmets were delivered to the children in the Uvalde, Texas community – $269,446 in donations!
Here’s what Lance had to say about your tremendous efforts.
Thank you for making a difference!
From Lance…
“To say the experience was powerful & moving & emotional would be wildly understating the resilience of the children and community of Uvalde, and of the human spirit; but it’s a good place to start. I truly believe there’s an unmatched freedom in bicycles; and in that freedom, there’s power. To all involved, thank you.”
Would love to find the Cave of Bethlehem, where the Cathars reportedly conducted their initiations, for the Parfaits, and many people connected with them visited. Perhaps Mariam of Mandela…and Yeshua. The Rosicrusians ascribed and still ascribe great importance to the space. Some believe invitations continue to take place there in the cave.
P. 422 of the book, The Manuscript, I picked up at the book shop in Rennes-les-Chateau: “…can’t run away from he past, always present and now.”
Ancient Aramaic prayer:
Heavenly Source
You Who are everywhere
Thy Kingdom come
Your will be done
Here and now and for evermore.
Fill us with the power of your mercy.
And free us from the fetters with which we bind each other.
Lead us out of temptation: free us from ourselves
And give us the strength to be one with You.
Teach us the true power of forgiveness.
May this holy moment be the ground
From which our future actions grow.
Amen.
To many of you, this will sound familiar. You may know it in later versions as “Our Father,” “The Lord’s Prayer,” or “Pater Noster.”
From the Center of Action & Contemplation this week:
“Parables are a wisdom genre. They belong to mashal, the Jewish branch of the universal tradition of sacred poetry, stories, proverbs, riddles, and dialogues through which wisdom is conveyed. . . .
We can see the razor edge of Yeshua’s brilliance as he takes the familiar world of mashal far beyond the safety zone of conventional morality into a world of radical reversal and paradox. He is transforming proverbs into parables—and a parable, incidentally, is not the same thing as an aphorism or a moral lesson. Its closest cousin is really the Buddhist koan, a deliberately subversive paradox aimed at turning our usual mind upside down. . . . Their job is not to confirm but to uproot. You can imagine the effect that had on his audience!
Stories were Yeshua’s stock-in-trade, the main medium by which he conveyed his message. The parables occupy fully 35% of the first three Gospels. But one of their most surprising features is that they are not about God. They are about weddings and banquets, family tensions, muggings, farmers sowing and reaping, and shrewd business dealings. God is mentioned in only one or two. . . . Rabbi Yeshua obviously wanted us to look closely at this world, not some other one. It is here and now—all around us in the most ordinary things—that we find the divine presence.”
jai
Drinking Blanquette de Limoux, Perrier, and inhaling the sounds, the music, the French conversation, the beautiful and quiet energy of Limoux, on the Place de le Republique. Merci, Le Concept, for the Wifi. :)
Demain (tomorrow), Gaia willing, Arles!
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Dayle in Limoux – Day #55
August 29, 2022After picking up some items at the local supermarket in Limoux, I sat down at a cafe in the Place de la Republicque for a Perrier and a Blanquette and to read my latest Cathar/Languedoc book. I was there about 30 minutes when suddenly this massive wind squall descended on us, turning over umbrellas and tables, shattering dishes and glasses, some folks screaming–the scene turned chaotic in moments. I wanted to take some photos, but my phone was put away and I needed to find shelter. Walking back to my studio I could barely stay upright…intense wind…no lights…lightening…and right as I opened the main door to my place, the rain started. It was frightening. I found this report online.
[Image d’illustration) © Radio France – Cathy Vaxelaire]
by Manon Klein
France Bleu Occitanie
‘De violents orages frappent une bonne partie de l’ex région Midi-Pyrénées ce lundi soir. Une rafale de vent à 103 km/h a été enregistrée en Ariège.
Here’s a translation I put together:
“The sky thunders in the former Midi-Pyrénées region. Five departments are on orange alert to thunderstorms this Monday evening. At 8:30 p.m., strong gusts of wind were already recorded; 103 km/h measured by the station of Saint-Girons, in Ariège. Gusts of wind, rain, lightning and outbreaks of fire: strong storms hit the former Midi-Pyrénées region. North of Toulouse, in Labastide-Saint-Sernin, a fire in a field spread to a house under the effect of the wind. Firefighters are still on site at 8:30 p.m. They managed to stop the progression of the fire which threatened two neighboring houses.”
I had lamps turned over in my place, windows slammed closed, papers scattered, some books soggy, and I think the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard…constant lightening. Then I heard the emergency responses. That was w i l d. No warnings or sirens. Quiet now.
I heard a re-cap about Bikes for Uvalde this evening. For those following the ‘Dayle in Limoux’ daily posts, you may remember I wrote about the fundraiser Lance Armstrong and his WEDU/The Move team put together during the Tour de France to purchase bikes for all the elementary school kids in Uvalde, Texas who witnessed and survived the horrific and tragic mass shooting at their school. The team raised over $250,000 from listeners/viewers to purchase bikes, helmets, and locks to give to the students. They distributed them this past Saturday in Uvalde. The kids and parents/families are so happy. Some of the families shared with the WEDU team that some of kids haven’t really spoken much at home since that awful day. On Saturday after they received their new bikes, they were smiling, laughing, and talking. They also shared how being a small community, people are seeing kids out and about and riding all over town after receiving their new bikes.
From radio station KURV News Talk Radio:
Around 800 kids in Uvalde received a free bike Saturday thanks in large part to the generosity of Texans. Around 270-thousand dollars was raised through efforts of the cycling community, as well as Lance Armstrong and Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop.
The goal was to give each elementary student a bicycle before the start of the school year to bring them a “sense of normalcy, freedom and fun.” Volunteers spent two weeks unboxing and building the bikes in Austin before they were shipped out to Uvalde.
From News 4 San Antonio:
Operation Get Out handed out bikes and helmets to the Uvalde Community earlier Saturday morning.
The organization funded over 800 bikes, helmets, and other gear for the kids in Uvalde at Winter Garden Produce.
“Operation Get Out is a non-profit organization out of Austin, Texas that provides equipment, resources, and events for individuals and agencies who have gone through trauma, stress, loss, or grief. We provide the equipment so they can get out on nature and water! Two months ago, we were planning and said what about Uvalde? Would they embrace it? Would they need it? A bike is a great tool to Get Out, Get Active, and Get Connected for positive mental and emotional wellness impact.” said Cindy Present.
Former Tour De France Champion, Lance Armstrong, also attended the bike giveaway. Armstrong teamed up with Operation Get Out to transport the bikes and gear to Uvalde, in honor of the lives lost at the Robb Elementary School shooting.
I screen grabbed some shots from Lance and the WEDU team when they were re-capping the Vuelta today. Big smiles and happy families. How wonderful to witness. Lance was getting a little emotional talking about it, in awe of the kids and their families…the community.
Beautiful.
School starts again for the kids on September 6th, and according to some reports, many do not want to go back to school because they do not feel safe; many still traumatized and will be for a very, very long time. The bikes are a needed, and most likely necessary gift of freedom and encouragement. Deep collective gratitude to the team at WEDU and all the people who donated during the Tour.
Look what we can accomplish together, for each other, through kindness and compassion and service! ℒℴve. ☆҉
Reminds me of this Heineken ad being passed around again on socials called ‘Worlds Apart.’ It’s emerged after Robb Willer, sociology/psychology/organizational behavior professor at Stanford, posted a paper on strengthening democracy and reducing partisan animosity and anti-democratic behavior. He writes they tested 25 interventions to reduce these attitudes. “23 interventions reduced partisan animosity, often sizably, across survey and behavioral indicators. […] Overall, our results provide a toolkit of promising interventions for practitioners and shed new theoretical light on challenges facing American democracy.”
The video received 13 million views in the first month. The premise was, “We know we’re never going to agree on everything but there will also be common ground.”
From a posted comment on the Stanford study:
“The Heineken experiment is basically an argument for some kind of mandatory national service–its ‘ice break’ and ‘bridge building’ tasks show the power of doing something together as a foundation for connection, conversation, understanding.”
Jon Stewart is promoting this, too.
“There should be a draft where every young person has to do one year of something–military, public works–something so that we all feel invested in the same game, because that’s the part that we’ve lost.”
Found one more photo on my phone from Barcelona. This one’s for my dad.
♡
Bonne nuit. Go share a cerveza. :)
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Dayle in Limoux – Day #45
August 19, 2022[45 is my least favorite number now. Especially out loud. Quiet quitting. :) So, welcome to the day that will not be spoken.]
Today, baguettes and poop.
The French love pain, therefore, I love the French. At the local market I frequent here in Limoux, fresh baguettes morning, noon, and evening.
.80 €.
Yep. That’s it. 80 cents.
And it is the best. fresh. bread. you can imagine. And the aroma. So, pain and fromage and wine. Actually, Blanquette de Limoux. Could it even <get> any better. J’adore.
And the 💩.
In France, at least in Limoux, folks aren’t required to pick up after their pooches. Merde. As in, “J’ai marche dans de la merde. ” I haven’t yet, but oh so close because quite literally, it’s everywhere. The feral kitties do their part, too.
Maybe that’s why these little street cleaners come through all the time. The 💩.
Seems like I remember a reference to this when watching season 1 of ‘Emily in Paris.’ I didn’t realize it’s a thing.
‘As she steps out of her apartment building, Emily steps on dog poop. Disgusted, she decides to take a picture of the dog and its owner and posts it on social media with the hashtag #mindthemerde.’
Today’s memory:
#mindthemerde
I love this story so much. During the Tour de France, Lance and his buddies put a fundraiser together to buy bikes for the kids when they go back to school in Uvalde. Look at this.
From The Move:
BIKES FOR KIDS UVALDE UPDATE
‘There’s nothing better than a bike to help children Get Out, move, breathe, play and release — a great tool for positive mental, physical, and emotional wellness impact!
The children of Robb Elementary will join Flores Elementary this fall, creating a total enrollment of 800 students.
On August 27th, 800 bikes and helmets will be delivered to the children in the Uvalde, Texas community – $269,446 in donations.
Thank you for stepping up and making a difference for these kids!’
mercimercimerci
Bonne nuit.
❀