7 h 32 au caf\u00e9 du village
\nOn dirait, ce matin, que la neige a mang\u00e9 un coup de poing en plein visage. Noir de boue, le stationnement du caf\u00e9 ressemble \u00e0 l\u2019enflure noiraude d\u2019un visage massacr\u00e9. M\u00eame nous, les gentils premiers clients, avons tachet\u00e9 le plancher en ciment gris p\u00e2le du caf\u00e9. Dehors, la froidure faiblit, le balcon d\u00e9go\u00fbte \u00e0 gros bouillons et les immenses gla\u00e7ons, soud\u00e9s aux corniches ext\u00e9rieures du b\u00e2timent, plongent dans le vide. <\/p>\n
Confront\u00e9s de plus en plus souvent aux \u00e9nigmatiques incertitudes climatiques, seuls mes yeux semblent retenir leurs larmes. Et pourtant! La page B6 du journal LE DEVOIR du 14 et 15 janvier de ce d\u00e9but de Nouvel An affiche 12 photos d\u2019avis de d\u00e9c\u00e8s : huit hommes et quatre femmes. D\u2019habitude, il en montre quatre ou six. Je suis toujours surprise et quasi heureuse de constater que les trois-quarts des morts sont plus vieux que moi.<\/p>\n
Chaque samedi matin, je fais le plein d\u2019essence au Couche-Tard du village et j\u2019ach\u00e8te les journaux du week-end. Je les \u00e9pluche consciencieusement : les nouvelles internationales, la guerre en Ukraine, le devoir de PHILO, la situation dans les h\u00f4pitaux, l\u2019encart PLAISIRS, la section LIRE, VOIR ET CULTURE ainsi que la p\u00e9nible section AVIS DE D\u00c9C\u00c8S.<\/p>\n
L\u2019\u00e2ge des morts m\u2019int\u00e9resse au plus haut point. Je lis la courte biographie de chacun d\u2019entre eux et je cumule les statistiques qui m\u2019int\u00e9ressent. L\u2019ann\u00e9e de naissance, l\u2019\u00e2ge de la mort, l\u2019\u00e9tat matrimonial, l\u2019emploi dominant et l\u2019endroit de la mort. Quelques fois, je pleure de peur parce que les morts sont tr\u00e8s pr\u00e8s de mon \u00e2ge, et assez souvent, je me r\u00e9jouis parce qu\u2019ils sont beaucoup plus vieux que je ne le suis.
\nAinsi, aujourd\u2019hui sont affich\u00e9es quatre femmes dont l\u2019\u00e2ge du d\u00e9c\u00e8s est 77, 85, 95 et 99 ans. Et 8 hommes d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9s \u00e0 73, 75, 80, 83, 88, 93, 96 et 99 ans. \u00c7a ne veut certainement pas dire que plus d\u2019hommes que de femmes meurent, ni que j\u2019aie encore 24 belles ann\u00e9es \u00e0 vivre.<\/p>\n
L\u2019importante question est peut-\u00eatre de savoir si l\u2019homme s\u2019use plus rapidement que la femme. Y avez-vous d\u00e9j\u00e0 pens\u00e9?
\n\u2014 \u00ab GOOGLE, aide-moi \u00bb. Et la machine de r\u00e9pondre vitement : \u00ab Selon le magazine QU\u00c9BEC SCIENCE, fond\u00e9 en 1962, au Qu\u00e9bec, l\u2019esp\u00e9rance de vie \u00e0 la naissance est de 80,6 ans chez les hommes et de 85,5 ans chez les femmes. Personne ne s\u2019en \u00e9meut, puisque c\u2019est comme \u00e7a dans toutes les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s du monde, \u00e0 divers degr\u00e9s et m\u00eame chez beaucoup d\u2019autres mammif\u00e8res. Et patati et patata. \u00c0 ce qu\u2019il para\u00eet, les \u201cstructures microscopiques\u201d qui fournissent l\u2019\u00e9nergie \u00e0 nos cellules sont mieux adapt\u00e9es aux femelles. Ainsi, c\u2019est la m\u00e8re qui l\u00e8gue ces structures \u00e0 sa prog\u00e9niture, et une fonction de la s\u00e9lection naturelle ajuste par la suite cesdites structures au m\u00e9tabolisme f\u00e9minin, au d\u00e9triment des m\u00e2les \u00bb.
\n\u2014 OUACHE!<\/p>\n
Je me demande ce qu\u2019en dirait ma petite-fille (21 ans) qui termine ses \u00e9tudes universitaires au printemps. Je sais qu\u2019elle envisage d\u2019aller plus loin dans sa connaissance de l\u2019humain et je vais lui parler de cet \u00e9pineux sujet. <\/p>\n
\u00c0 travers la \u00ab bay window \u00bb, je d\u00e9visage un soleil printanier qui essaie de nous leurrer; de nous faire accroire que demain, les pissenlits envahiront nos plates-bandes. En sortant, je constate que tout le stationnement est rempli d\u2019automobiles et de skieurs de fond qui s\u2019empressent de rejoindre, derri\u00e8re le caf\u00e9, la piste cyclable encore passablement enneig\u00e9e. Je me r\u00e9jouis d\u2019admirer tous ces faci\u00e8s de sportifs bienheureux. J\u2019ai chauss\u00e9 des skis une seule fois dans ma vie et j\u2019en ai perdu un dans ma troisi\u00e8me descente. Ce fut donc pour moi la fin de ce plaisir hivernal. La vie tourna la page. <\/p>\n
Midi
\nJ\u2019ai toujours un peu faim apr\u00e8s un avant-midi d\u2019\u00e9criture, surtout qu\u2019hier soir j\u2019ai presque je\u00fbn\u00e9 en me contentant de d\u00e9geler un restant de soupe \u00ab dinde et petites nouilles \u00bb. Il faut quand m\u00eame accommoder les restes de l\u2019oiseau de No\u00ebl.<\/p>\n
Nous \u00e9tions 22 attabl\u00e9s comme des ogres autour de deux longues tables about\u00e9es ensemble et plac\u00e9es de travers dans mon immense cuisine. Ma grande fille se porta volontaire pour \u00e9taler toute la nourriture de circonstance sur les comptoirs, le chaud sur le po\u00eale \u00e0 huit ronds avec les tourti\u00e8res ronronnant dans le four et les boulettes mijotant dans le rago\u00fbt. Quelle extraordinaire b\u00e9n\u00e9diction que nous soyons enfin revenus \u00e0 notre habituel r\u00e9veillon!<\/p>\n
Nous ne sommes pas des gens qui f\u00eatent \u00e0 tout bout de champ, mais No\u00ebl doit redevenir, je l\u2019esp\u00e8re, un rassemblement immanquable.<\/p>\n
Cora
\n\u2764<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
7 h 32 au caf\u00e9 du village On dirait, ce matin, que […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":16622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lettre-mme-cora"],"acf":{"img_en":"","contenu_en":"7:32 a.m. at the coffee shop\r\nThis morning, the snowy landscape looks like it has been punched between the eyes. The muddy parking lot, covered in black patches, resembles the swollen surface of a bruised face. Even we, the first customers of the day, have stained the coffee shop\u2019s light grey floor. Outside the cold is weakening, the balcony is releasing large droplets and the massive icicles, hanging from the building\u2019s ledges, are falling to their earthly end.\r\n\r\nIncreasingly faced with climatic uncertainties, my eyes seem to be the only things able to hold back tears. And they even manage to stay dry as I read the sad news on the pages of the LE DEVOIR newspaper. The pictures of 12 people appear in the obituaries: eight men and four women. Usually there are only four or six pictures. I\u2019m always surprised \u2013 happy almost \u2013 to realize that two-thirds of the deceased are older than me.\r\n \r\nI\u2019m sure I\u2019ve told you before: every Saturday morning, I fill up the tank at the village gas station where I buy several newspapers. I go through them from front to back: the international news, the war in Ukraine, opinions, the situation in Canadian hospitals, the life and entertainment sections, and the painful obituary section.\r\n\r\nI am very interested in knowing at what age people pass. I read each departed\u2019s short biography and note the points that interest me: year of birth, age of death, marital status, professional occupation and place of death. Sometimes I cry from fear because the deceased are so close to me in age. And quite often I rejoice because they are much older than I am. And so today, the four women who have passed did so at 77, 85, 95 and 99. The eight men who joined them were respectively 73, 75, 80, 83, 88, 93, 96 and 99. It certainly doesn\u2019t mean that more men than women die or that I still have 24 great years ahead of me.\r\n\r\nThe important question might be, do men age faster than women? Have you ever thought about that?\r\n\u2014 \u201cGoogle, help me.\u201d \r\nThe device promptly answers me: According to the Harvard Health Blog, \u201c57% of all those ages 65 and older are female. By age 85, 67% are women. The average lifespan is about 5 years longer for women than men in the U.S., and about 7 years longer worldwide,\u201d and so on and so forth. It is apparently true in many other mammal species. I find out, through another query that apparently the \u201cmicroscopic structures\u201d that supply energy to our cells are better adapted to the female body. Thus, the mother passes on these structures to her offspring, but natural selection determines whether they support the body, in the case of females, or not, in the case of males. \r\n\u2014 \u201cYUCK!\u201d\r\n\r\nI wonder what my granddaughter (21), who\u2019s finishing university in the spring, would have to say about that. I know she wants to study the human condition further, and I\u2019ll be sure to ask her about this tricky topic.\r\n\r\nI stare at the sun through the bay window and I know it\u2019s only trying to fool us, to make us believe that the dandelions will blanket our lawns tomorrow. When I walk out of the coffee shop, I notice that the parking lot is full with cross-country skiers eager to be sliding over the snow-covered bike path located behind the shop. I consider myself lucky to be able to admire all these happy faces enjoying their outdoor pursuit. I put on skis once in my life and I managed to lose one of them on my third time down the slopes. I put an end to this winter activity after that, and life continued on.\r\n\r\nNoon\r\nI\u2019m always a little hungry after a morning spent writing, especially when I barely eat dinner the night before. I thaw out a small portion of turkey noodle soup, made frugally with the remains of the Christmas bird that adorned the table not so long ago.\r\n\r\nThere were 22 of us seated like ogres around two long tables placed end to end across my large kitchen. My daughter volunteered to put out all the food on the counters, heat the dishes on my 8-burner stove, place the tourti\u00e8res in the warm oven and stir the meatballs simmering in the pork stew. What a blessing it was to finally be reunited again for our usual Christmas dinner!\r\n\r\nWe are not the kind of people who celebrate at every turn, but I hope Christmas once again becomes a gathering none of us would miss.\r\n\r\nCora\r\n\u2764"},"yoast_head":"\n