What is that odor agreeable?

Yes, friends, that's the title - or so I thought - to the first new song of the season for the Riviera International Singers! Of course, by now, only my second blog entry, you know where I'm going with this, right? Right! Actually the title of this French traditional carol, translated by someone far more knowledgeable than me - back in the days of "Ye Olde English", goes like this:

"Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing?"

I could say all sorts of things about this goodly fragrance here in France - French bread, for instance, which is truly a heavenly fragrance,

or the smell of the Mediterranean just a few minutes from my front door,

or lavender blooming everywhere in summer,

but I think the composer, a Frenchman after all, was thinking of CHEESE, all 500+ varieties.

Seriously! He goes on to write about "Shepherds in fields in May" (what's this doing in a Christmas carol?), so he must be talking about goats cheese, the most pungent variety?

But seriously, he's referring to the Lord, Jesus Christ's birth - a very, very Goodly Fragrance, for one and all!

Merry Christmas, a few months early!