Big C Bloghop, Thanksgiving in Geneva, ROW80, and a Song

appy thanksgiving!

No, it's not a joke. Yesterday was the Jeûne genevois holiday here in Geneva, the fasting day which is a holiday in all of Switzerland but falls on a different day in Geneva.

The tradition began back in the 16th Century, apparently, as a way to show solidarity with the suffering of the Huguenots in France. Wikipedia doesn't say why, and I haven't delved further, but it appears to be a somewhat recent tradition to have plum pie on this day. Sounds yummy to me!

It's interesting to think of all the titbits and trivia I've learned since we first moved here. I wrote a brief article on them all for the Turkish newspaper Bizim Anadolu.

I'm posting early for the Big C Bloghop, hosted by the wonderful Michael di Gesu.

The goal of this bloghop is to compile an anthology to help towards Melissa's treatment. "For this anthology post on Sept 15 a story about cancer. We are trying for comical, uplifting, inspirational... Let's give cancer a big kick in the pants! All posts will be included in the anthology so please edit it as best you can. Thanks All!!!"

I don't have one specific story, just a lot of warm memories of friends and family. It's scary, in a way, how many people we each know that have been and are affected by cancer. I like to say affected instead of afflicted because I try to see something positive in every situation. I'm on my annual reread of The Lord of the Rings and there's a great line by Sam, quoting his father: "Where there's life there's hope...and need of vittles."
Speaking of food reminds me of one specific memory: a great aunt who was diagnosed with cancer the summer of our wedding and told she didn't have much of a chance... She just congratulated us over Skype the other day on our ten-year anniversary!
I hope that was short and sweet. Sending Melissa lots of {{hugs}}

And now for a brief interlude, a song about good times:

I'm excited, too, because I've gotten some steady ROW80 work done, typing a few hundred words per day of last year's NaNo story. I won't think yet about all the editing it'll require... Hope you hop over to Michael's and join in the anthology!