FR : Je viens d’écouter J’ai eu envie de vous revoir de Véronique Sanson (2025) — sa voix traverse les années comme une caresse de mémoire retrouvée. 🎶
EN : Just listened to J’ai eu envie de vous revoir by Véronique Sanson (2025) — her voice cuts through time, like a memory made new. 🎶
Écouter / Listen: J’ai eu envie de vous revoir
Paris has lived in my memory, my images, and my heart for a lifetime — read my new reflection here: A Lifetime of Love for Paris
Currently reading: The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown 📚 I just started the audiobook and it is hard to stop listening. The narration is excellent.
Gold Tops $4,000 an Ounce
Gold was fixed at $35 an ounce in 1971 when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard. Today it trades above $4,000 an ounce—a more than hundredfold increase that sounds dramatic at first glance. But stretched over half a century, the rise works out to a compound annual return of about 9.2%. Solid, steady, and a reminder of gold’s enduring appeal—but not the staggering windfall the headline number might suggest.
From 1971 to 2025, the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested has returned about 9.9% annually, slightly higher than gold’s 9.2% annual return over the same period.
The Reflecting Pool at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, 2025
EN: Part of a memorial complex designed by the Philadelphia firm Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson (H2L2) with landscape architect Markley Stevenson for the American Battle Monuments Commission, the cemetery was dedicated on July 18, 1956. The pool stretches toward the horizon, linking sky and sea with the final resting place of more than 9,000 American service members who died during the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy. Its still surface invites quiet reflection, a fitting symbol of remembrance in this hallowed ground overlooking Omaha Beach.
FR: Faisant partie d’un complexe commémoratif conçu par le cabinet d’architectes Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson (H2L2) de Philadelphie avec l’architecte paysagiste Markley Stevenson pour l’American Battle Monuments Commission, le cimetière a été inauguré le 18 juillet 1956. Le bassin s’étend vers l’horizon, reliant le ciel et la mer au lieu de repos de plus de 9 000 soldats américains tombés lors du Débarquement et de la bataille de Normandie. Sa surface immobile invite au recueillement, symbole approprié du souvenir dans ce lieu sacré qui surplombe Omaha Beach.
Harvest Moon Over the Iwo Jima Memorial, 2025
The October 2025 Harvest Moon rises over Arlington’s Marine Corps War Memorial, its glow breaking through clouds above the illuminated bronze figures of the Iwo Jima flag raising. In the distance, the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol shine in alignment — a solemn reminder of sacrifice framed against the nation’s capital.
Harvest Moonrise Over Washington, October 6, 2025
The October 2025 Harvest Moon rises above Washington, D.C., glowing unusually large as it lifts into the pastel sky at twilight. From this vantage point, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and U.S. Capitol align in a classic view of the National Mall, with the full moon appearing oversized on the horizon — a visual effect created by atmospheric perspective at moonrise.
