St. Agricola

Avignon is the jewel of the Rhone river, a trifecta of French vacation win: a dramatic location, a dramatic history, and near to a myriad of vacation sights. The Popes made Avignon their home during the middle ages, when the French Kings essentially "stole" them from Rome. Nearby are the Arles of Vincent van Gogh, the ancient robber baron castle of Les Baux, the mountaintop village of Gourdes, and the Roman aqueduct called Pont du Gard. All are easy trips. If you love opera, the ancient roman theater in Orange is perhaps the most dramatic stage imaginable for Turandot.

A summer evening spent in an outdoor cafe at the Place de L'Horloge is a pleasure that everyone should enjoy at least once.  I did, many years ago, when I took a photograph almost indistinguishable from the one above.  Dad did, too, when he visited there with Mom, some time back.

Avignon is the home town of St. Agricola, one of the seventh century church fathers and patron saint for protection against misfortune of all kinds.

Dad starts chemotherapy today. I'm grateful that the drugs are both more powerful and less harrowing to the patient. He sounds in good spirits, but if anyone has a hankering to remember him in your prayers - maybe even to St.Agricola - well, I'd be mighty obliged.

And remember Mom, too. She's done a fabulous job keeping his spirits up. It's been quite a love story with those two, these last sixty years.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

-Friedrich Nietzsche