dinner with mom. she always has fantastic stories, though sometimes she is the story herself... but that's another, umm, story.

my mother's great-aunt was named, not without a hint of foresight, jeanne d'arc - joan of arc. now, every family has its black sheep and joan is, amongst my grandmother's siblings, most definitely it. she ran away with some guy her parents did not approve of and married young. henri-louis, her love. they had several children, most of their sons and daugthers have done time in jail for all kinds of petty crime. it has often been said that if she paid as much attention to her children as she did to her husband, her kids would have probably turned out alright. but, really, who are we to speculate?

anyhow, latest gossip in the life of late joan of arc is that she now lives in one of those lovely retirement home with henri-louis. my grandparents live in the same home and they see each other every now and then... although my grandmother says she does her best to avoid spending too much time with her sister!

joan came by on new year's, though, and proceed to inform my mother that she thought that henri-louis was cheating on her. the poor chap is 90 years old and can barely walk, but she swears he ventures out of the apartment late at night to go spend the night with other residents. i told him: "you are worse than guy cloutier," she said. (cultural insight: guy cloutier - a well known producer in quebec - has been accused, under great scrutiny from the media, of abusing two kids he was responsible for.)

her next plan: to put cornstarch on the floor by the doorway to make sure she catches his footprints as he is leaving their love nest in the middle of the night.

the woman truly does have visions.