As I near the end of the alphabet, I find it increasingly hard to find proper nouns for the titles. The first "u" word is a bit of a stretch but it refers to an absolutely wonderful picture Louise posted recently, which I show here with her permission.
My immediate reaction was to comment that it was a lovely picture showing undeniable fascination and familial love. Tessa is clearly enthralled by the book and Chris' storytelling. Patrick is interested at the least and Chris' arm around him shows his style of quiet grand-paternal love.
However, when I took a closer look at a picture taken slightly earlier, my appreciation for this picture was multiplied.
I am going to veer into probably unwarranted and widely outdated associations here, but somehow it feels appropriate. Norway (where Louise and family reside) was one of sources of Vikings more than a millennia ago. Between my frequent re-readings of Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom series, a reading of the Orkney Saga and a book about Viking artifacts on my kitchen table, I have the idea that the Norse were ones to boast of their accomplishments. They did not hesitate to highlight and sometimes exaggerate their deeds. Modern grandfathers have also been known to do so. However, Chris would be last person to do so, first because of who he is and second, because there is little need given the fact that one of his adventures was to ride from Bangkok to Paris, which is hard to underplay.
(As an aside, last night, I watched Les Douze Travaux d'Astérix. One of the tasks is to defeat "Cylindric the German". He proves to be a rather small man who manages to defeat Obélix using judo. He explains to Astérix that he learned it on a trip which took him far to the East. The relevance is the trip to the East and past Germanic activities.)
My recent dealings with my own immediate family have not been as welcome. Over the winter holidays, I received umbrage from most of them. I could explain, but it would not be wise to.
