Madam Jeanne Louise Calment

 

Meet Madam Jeanne Louise Calment, who had the longest confirmed human lifespan: 122 years, 164 days. Apparently, fate strongly approved of the way she lived her life. She was born in Arles, France, on February 21, 1875. The Eiffel Tower was built when she was 14 years old. It was at this time she met Vincent van Gogh. "He was dirty, badly dressed, and disagreeable," she recalled in an interview given in 1988.

When she was 85, she took up fencing, and still rode her bike when she reached 100. At the age of 114, she starred in a film about her life, at age 115 she had an operation on her hip, and at age 117 she gave up smoking, having started at the age of 21 in 1896. She didn't give it up for health reasons; her reason was that she didn't like having to ask someone to help her light a cigarette once she was nearly blind.

In 1965, Jeanne was 90 years old and had no heirs. She signed a deal to sell her apartment to a 47-year-old lawyer called André-François Raffray. He agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs on the condition he would inherit her apartment after she died. However, Raffray not only ended up paying Jeanne for 30 years, but then died before she did at the age of 77. His widow was legally obliged to continue paying Madam Calment until the end of her days.

Jeanne retained sharp mental faculties. When she was asked on her 120th birthday what kind of future she expected to have. Her reply, "A very short one."

Here are the Rules of Life from Jeanne Louise Calment:

"I'm in love with wine."

"All babies are beautiful."

"I think I will die of laughter."

"I've been forgotten by our Good Lord."

"I've got only one wrinkle, and I'm sitting on it."

"I never wear mascara; I laugh until I cry often."

"If you can't change something, don't worry about it."

"Always keep your smile. That's how I explain my long life."

"I see badly, I hear badly, and I feel bad, but everything's fine."

"I have a huge desire to live and a big appetite, especially for sweets."

"I have legs of iron, but to tell you the truth, they're starting to rust and buckle a bit."

"I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I'm very lucky."

“Being young is a state of mind, it doesn’t depend on one’s body. I’m actually still a young girl, it's just that I haven't looked so good for the past 70 years."

At the end of one interview, the journalist said, "Madame, I hope we will meet again sometime next year." To which Jeanne replied, "Why not? You're not that old; you'll still be here!”

Unseasonal Weather

We are in a severe drought.  It's never been this bad in my lifetime.  Water restrictions have been extended.  Usually our brown grass is going back to green by now, but not this year.  We still have forest fires!  It's the middle of October and we are at "5", the highest level of drought!  Here is our accumulative rainfall:

On the bright side, the weather has been amazing!   It's pumpkin patch time.  I loved taking Lexie to the pumpkin patch.  We would "hope" for a decent day, wear rain gear and always wear boots as the fields were pretty mucky.  This year my friend went in shorts and flip flops!  Our tomatoes have never been better.  They are still abundant.  If you live close, drop by and help yourself.  We can't eat them all.

All these communities are in and around Vancouver.  I live very close to White Rock

Those temperatures were Saturday, yesterday was warmer!   We use to call this Indian Summer but I'm sure now that's offensive and I wouldn't want to offend anyone.  

I looked it up and found this:

One theory speculates that this period of hot autumnal weather was originally communicated to settlers by Native Americans, while another bases it on conditions when Native Americans hunted. More sinister is the theory that Indian summer somehow means "false summer" like the slur "Indian giver." There is even an international theory that places its origins in the Indian Ocean with cargo ships.

So, given the mystery of its history, do people actually find the term offensive? It depends on who you ask.

The City Election is over!

 

Kathy invited me over to watch the Election results.  I went over with Kleenex and Wine.  The people spoke.  Put a fork in Doug McCallum, he's DONE!   I wanted Brenda to win. If any of the others running for mayor won, as long as Doug McCallum lost it would be good for Surrey.  

Four years ago Doug McCallum was elected.  Usually a mayor gets a yearly car allowance.  McCallum asked the Procurement people to order him a $46,521.00 Buick SUV which they did.  The city paid for his car insurance and he filled up his tank at the Maintenace yard.  Then for almost two years, he accepted the yearly car allowance of $14,550.00!  When  a city employee turned him in, he paid his car allowance back.  That's just the start of his corruption!

Now we can watch his criminal trial that will start on October 31.  

Some very interesting tips

 It's a video but some good information for everyone:

Is it Autumn or Fall?

It's so warm here, the weatherman called it Hotumn.
23C/73.4F  Yesterday        Saturday 26C/78.9F!

Do you believe political polls?

I never rely on political polls because they've proven to be wrong in the past.  I've seen polls that cover the City of Vancouver 2022 election, but nothing out of Surrey.  However, last night on Twitter, I read an article that's being published in The Vancouver Sun today.  I hope this poll is right!

Surrey Election

Block Watch

I've lived in a gated community for fifteen years.  We are a close knit community and everyone works together and is very friendly.  After 10 years, our Block Watch Captain  decided it was time to pass it on.  She asked me if I would take it over the Captain position and my next door neighbour Nancy agreed to be Co-Captain.  We both had all the RCMP security checks and did the training last month.

Yesterday at 3:30 PM, I got a cell phone call from a neighbour at the other end of the complex.  He said "intruder in the complex and he's headed your way".  He was talking on his phone as he followed the intruder and I immediately left my house and walked towards them.  

Fortunately for us, a retired VPD officer was in his yard along with his son, a Delta Police officer.  They both spoke to the intruder and told him to immediately leave.  With two more male residents, they escorted him out of the complex.  

I was able to get a good picture of him that I was able to share with the community.  It captured his tattoos and it appears he is wearing a wedding ring!

I

The female resident that first spotted him checking out her open garage when he spotted her said "don't call the cops, I'll be dead".  Thankfully her husband was outside and so were others.  He told them he was homeless and kicked out of the Cloverdale shelter.  Looking at how clean cut he is, I doubt that story.  I wonder what was in his back pack?  At least the police officers knew how to speak to him and walked behind him until he left.  They told him never to return!   He jumped the fence to gain entry.  So much for the security gates.

I called the non-emergency police phone line and reported the incident.  I then sent a report to the block watch at E Division along with the picture of him.  I'm figuring they know exactly who he is.