Page 306: "My lessons on the Provencals were never-ending."

From page 306 of the book:  My lessons on the Provençals were never-ending.  I remembered our second dinner with Ebert, where he'd explained that Alphonse Daudet was one of many great Frenchmen to have come from this region, and like many of those great Frenchmen he had referred to his birthplace, a land dominated by the industrial and wealthy North, as if it were a joke.  Daudet later explained, and one was supposed to believe it, that his mockery was merely a ruse for his true love of the South. 

Young Alphonse Daudet

cover of "Letters from My Mill"

Another edition of "Letters from My [Wind]Mill"

Alphonse Daudet

The Windmill

Plaque with Daudet quote which explains that, in this corner of the world, it was for him a fatherland where one could find beings or places in all of his books.  I know such a reverence.  I have four such corners: Connecticut, Illinois, Queens NY, and Arlington, VA.