Poisson d'Avril

Poisson d'avril! Or Happy April Fool's Day, if you're not a francophone.

The holiday sort of snuck up on me this year....no time to plan an elaborate hoax. I had to go to a funeral this morning, so I thought it best to forego pranks, although I was around a lot of just the sort of people you'd ordinarily want to play tricks on, because they themselves love to play them.

Hard to play tricks on the boys, either, because they're rarely around. Amir and I are vampires, especially on weekends, so there was a fair chance I wouldn't even cross his path till the holiday was over.

So that left the dog. And, hey, that's what dogs are for--to take up the slack around the house. Although she's a certified canine genius, and as such probably deserved to be the butt of an elaborate, sophisticated joke, I didn't have the head for concocting one. Since she's learning French, and is in fact catching on very fast, I decided to play the classic French schoolboy prank on her and tape a fish to her tail.

A few morsels of ferret food on the floor kept her busy for maybe six seconds--barely long enough to tape the fish on and snap the shot. Another six seconds to chase her tail and catch the fish. And less than that to eat her catch.

Charlotte Lesquier, aged 97, was buried today. Only a couple of weeks ago she was inquiring with interest about my trip to France--which cities I would be visiting and so on. Charlotte studied at the Sorbonne, taught French for many years, and visited France often. I think she would have appreciated the prank.