July 14th, a famous date in history, when the Parisians stormed the Bastille, liberated 7 prisoners, and did away (temporarily) with the French monarchy.
The good people of Paris celebrated this event by chopping the heads of all the aristocrats at hand. Eventually, King Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette were also led to the scaffold and beheaded, accompanied by the jeers of the “tricoteuses”.
Since then, July 14th has become a national holiday, and the French people usually celebrate with parades, fireworks, and street dancing.
We had none of this yesterday in Sonoma, but fortunately, we had among us, the embodiment of the French spirit in the body and voice of Jean-Michel Poulnot.
Every year Jean-Michel dons his tricolor outfit (including the French béret) to call all the citizens to arms, with an enthusiastic version of La Marseillaise.
It feels so genuine, that we almost feel that we have to grab our muskets, and erect barricades (which in the future doesn’t seem too far-fetched.) Fortunately, we are not there yet, but a mob (any mob) is always unpredictable.
Otherwise, there was just a regular tournament with 18 “triplettes” competing for the big loot. Considering my venerable age, I chose to abstain from the competition and strolled on the field around 11:00 am, accompanied by my regular entourage of assistants.
We didn’t linger too long, due to some unexpected fatigue experienced by our junior set. I still managed to take a few pictures to share with you, and you can watch them by clicking on the link called “My photos”.
Later, at home, I received a message indicating who won the Concours. So here it is:
Concours:
1st place: Duncan, Jean-Michel, and Bernard P.
Congratulations fellow gunslingers, on another notch on your respective pistols!
Alain