Une bien triste nouvelle, libera me domine de morte aeterna

This morning I got a phone call from my sister who is in Montreal at this time. She informed me that our Mom had died in her sleep. Mom had been ill with Alzheimer for 14 long years. We saw her decline and it was painful to see such a wonderful, intelligent women disappear before our eyes.

She really was a great Mom and she took her duties as a mother seriously. She had been raised by the nuns in Ville Saint-Laurent, then a separate city from Montreal. She went to l'Ecole Normale run by les Dames de la Congrégation and became a teacher. In time got married and had 3 kids, me being the eldest, my brother and my little sister. Education, Culture, speaking French correctly and being polite and courteous even when people could be rude was something she taught us. She use to say that you have to get along with everyone because it takes all kinds to make a world.

Rollande Gougeon-Beaulieu, Mars 1931- Septembre 2013

She was a successful Realtor in Montreal, she organized cultural events in Montreal at the time of Expo 67 and became friends with the Mayor Jean Drapeau, she worked at organizing events and raising funds for Pierre E. Trudeau, our then Prime Minister, she was also the Secretary of the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa, a job she loved, she was comfortable in high society and was not phased with meeting Heads of State. She treated everyone with courtesy and kept a cool head.  With my father they travelled and lived around the world, Paris, London, New-York, Washington DC, St-Paul, Toronto, Quebec City.

I remember in 1969 she won a radio contest, the prize was a trip to Ireland. She decided that she would take us to Europe and so we travelled from Ireland to France to England.  We were kids but will never forget that first trip. We got so many wonderful things from her, her common sense, her love of beautiful things, of things well done, hard work, being responsible, of always taking the high road in life and raising above any situation, never lowering your personal standards.

She was also a good cook, I remember watching her cook, always from scratch, she never used any processed, frozen or package goods. Being a teacher by profession, she was good at explaining how to proceed and what you had to watch for. I think I got my love of cooking from her and to this day, go to the Farmer's market to get fresh farm produce.

So many wonderful memories of a beautiful life, I know that I can say without false sentimentality that
my Mom was a great lady, able to combine home and work at a time when women were just starting to enter the work place. How she did it, always having lots of time for us and being able to work and have so many commitments outside the home, amazes me.

She knew from the beginning that she was suffering from Alzheimer, she was afraid of what was going to happen, but she nonetheless remained dignified.

I feel very grateful and lucky to have had such a Mom. I am thankful for her life.

Her favourite song was Yellow Bird, whenever we would go out where they had a band or a singer, she would request it.

Caramel, a sweet and hair remover

Caramel (2007) Directed by Nadine Labaki; written (in Arabic and French, with English subtitles) by Ms. Labaki, Jihad Hojeily and Rodney Al Haddad.

This month ARTE the French-German Television station is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. They are showing award winning movies from the film Festivals of Europe. Caramel is a Lebanese production and refers to the sweet which is used in Oriental cultures also as a hair remover. The Beirut beauty salon where most of  ''Caramel" takes place is likely to be a familiar type of establishment, even to people who have never been to the Lebanese capital. What the shop lacks in sleekness and chic it makes up for in the kind of friendly, sisterly warmth. 

Women of various shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds gather to bond and gossip. Their camaraderie is occasionally disrupted by a crisis, but you are likely to remember this charming film, directed by Nadine Labaki, less for its gently comic, mildly melodramatic plot than for its friendly and inviting atmosphere.



Ms. Labaki plays Layale, owner of the shop, which is called Si Belle. Like many unmarried women in the Middle East, Layale, in spite of her professional independence, lives with her parents. She is also having an affair with a married man and spends anxious hours waiting for him to call, ignoring the attentions of a handsome traffic policeman who is obviously smitten with her.


Layale’s friends and co-workers are supportive and tolerant of her, and also have troubles of their own. Jamale (Gisèle Aouad) is a recently divorced actress made frantic by the necessity of competing with younger women for work in television commercials. Nisrine (Yasmine Al Masri), a Muslim, is engaged and is worried about what will happen if her future husband discovers that she isn’t a virgin. Rima (Joanna Moukarzel), who cleans up around the shop and washes hair, develops a crush on an elegant client. And then there is Aunt Rose (Siham Haddad), a seamstress who lives down the street from Layale’s shop with her demanding, mentally disabled sister, Lili (Aziza Semaan).

Life for these women is not easy or especially fair, and each of them faces moments of humiliation, loneliness and potential heartbreak, there are also twinges of real pain and disappointment.

But in the best melodramatic tradition, their toughness, good humor and loyalty see them through. 

I very much liked this movie because it shows life as it is and not as it is too often portrayed in the news. I know, for having lived for 8 years in the Middle-East, such charming people and their family, their stories and little dramas, hopes and joys. The movie touches on many topics, adultery, homosexuality, women's issues, marriage, family life. It brought back many memories of cities like Cairo, Amman, Damascus and Beirut, where I lived or worked or visited many times over.