Lotte and Me today

This is what I look like post sick and filled with liquid french medicine. This was my first social foray. The local restaurant , "Maria's , just reopened after being redecorated. It's still in process. I allowed myself a rose as I chatted with the Dutch that were also drinking rose.

The man at the table, Pim, started making fun of how American's eat...."without a knife". I brissled. Now I learn that in Europe, it is bad manners to put your hand or hands in your lap when you are at the dinner table. Bith hands must always be on the table. This is a new one to me. I kept it to myself that Old Pim was speaking in an Irish or Welsh accent when he thought he was doing an American accent...It sounded like a Irish John Wayne. They never see how provincial they are.

So now I have to watch my hands. I have not employed the European knife and fork techniques. I just stay low key. The French would never say anything, but the Dutch pipe right up.