Thursday, June 12, 2014

World Cup Day!!!

Yes the opening ceremony and the first game happen this evening.  TF1 will have the opening at 2015hrs with the game following the spectacular!  Croatia vs Brazil...it MIGHT be closer than you think with all the chaos of the setting affecting the players.  The country is MAD over the sport and the stadum holds OVER 200,000 souls! 

Fifa article says:

"We have been working hard, I don't think our team has slept a lot over the last days or weeks," he told media at the FIFA congress in Sao Paulo.
"It's true that Itaquerao stadium (Corinthians Arena) we are still working on. But now you know we just need to put some flowers and nice trees around and it will look beautiful.
"So it's a question of details and I can tell you that the FIFA team and the local organising committee team are ready to make sure that nothing will happen.
"It's not time any more to say what's this and what's that. We are now in the delivery, 24 hours before the opening game, so we just have to make it. And we will make it."
The 12 World Cup stadiums were due to be ready by the end of December but six missed the initial deadline and eight workers died in the construction, including three in Sao Paulo.
Workers could still be seen wiping seats, checking beams and installing wiring in the Corinthians Arena days before the opening match, which will be attended by a dozen world leaders including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. (All the latest FIFA World Cup photos)
At the 46,000-capacity Amazonia Arena in Manaus, there were worries about the pitch, which appeared dry in several areas, while power cables dangled in the changing rooms.
Valcke said the media facilities and arrangements for spectators, including food and beverage outlets, would be ready at all 12 stadiums.
He added that any incomplete infrastructure projects were mainly intended for public use after the tournament, rather than being directly related to the World Cup.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said while he hadn't made many visits to the host country, he had "followed all that was done, and not done, in Brazil.
"Now we're at the eve of the opening and I'm happy that tomorrow we'll have the kick-off and everybody will be in the game, and I'm sure the population of Brazil also will have the time to enjoy it," he said.

Corinthians Arena

Fingers crossed it will go on as planned with nothing worse than burned seats and a few black eyes.

Sunday, June 08, 2014

The Sunday Before "Donkey Day"

The "Brrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy!!!!" at 6 am awoke me for a sound sleep dreaming of pies...apple-type pies, trying to perfect one, busy, busy dream.  Nor sex, not, violence...just pie making silliness.  Getting the apples, deciding which one to use, cutting them up with the funny apple peeler-corer that we have, then arranging all the sticky slices this way and that, counter clockwise then clockwise, sticky hands, baking the shells, burning one, replacing it. Rush, rush...omg...a DONKEY!!!!  Looking outside I saw one on the Champ du Foire a block away.   It begins.

The "It" is the annual Donkey Faire in Lignieres, falls 51 days after Easter and is the birthday of the Donkey that Joseph and Mary had raised to carry her to Bethlehem or wherever they were intent on going before The BIG EVENT happened.  Oh brother...here's the REAL story (!!!!...MYTH) of Pentacost, pay attention. Sit up straight!

"
Pentecost (Ancient Greek: Πεντηκοστή [ἡμέρα], Pentēkostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth [day]") is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks, a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai. This feast is still celebrated in Judaism as Shavuot. Later, in the Christian liturgical year, it became a feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ (120 in all), as described in the Acts of the Apostles 2:1–31.[1] For this reason, Pentecost is sometimes described by some Christians today as the "Birthday of the Church".
In the Eastern church, Pentecost can also refer to the whole fifty days between Easter and Pentecost, hence the book containing the liturgical texts for Paschaltide is called the Pentecostarion. The feast is also called White Sunday, or Whitsunday, especially in England, where the following Monday was traditionally a public holiday. Pentecost is celebrated seven weeks (50 days) after Easter Sunday, hence its name.[2] Pentecost falls on the tenth day after Ascension Thursday.
The Pentecostal movement of Christianity derives its name from the New Testament event."

It's hot, not screaming hot like it can be but hot enough to turn the fan on or sleep on top of the covers at night for a while.  We lowered the blinds in the south facing rooms, the Sale du Bain, the Sewing Room and the upstairs hallway to keep the sun out. 

Tonight is the Jamaica vs France Preliminary match (soccer you sillies!) at 8:45 live on FR1. Go FRANCE!!!!

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