craven.fr (.ox.ac.uk)

We had a nice relaxing Easter holiday (Easter Monday is a public holiday in France), visiting Emilie's family, getting the garden in shape, and having a nice Sunday roast, which will be the subject of an upcoming cooking article. On daycare on Friday they had an Easter egg hunt; in France this is done by hiding chocolate eggs in the yard (they are dropped there by the bells as they return from Rome—no Easter bunny here!). James did a good job crawling through the grass and finding eggs—which he promptly crushed and shoved into his mouth, wrapper and all, before the daycare ladies could stop him! Emilie also put baby chocolate powder in his bottle on Easter morning, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

I spent the evenings enjoying mlb.tv, which is really a great service to have for an expat like me. Besides being able to watch the Red Sox on NESN, and the Cubs on WGN (both of which have a lot of nostalgic value for me), I'm also getting the opportunity to discover some announcers and teams that I would not otherwise know about.

In particular, I've watched a couple of Dodgers games, and in the process discovered the amazing broadcasting legend Vin Scully, whom I would not have known about otherwise. Until I looked up his name to write this, I didn't know anything about his amazing history with the Dodgers—I was just impressed at the way he calls a ballgame, dropping in lots of interesting statistics and keeping things interesting despite being all alone in the booth. Every game is like a master class on baseball, and I really enjoy listening to him.

I could tell from his voice that he must have been a long-time veteran announcer, but I would never have guessed that he's been the voice of the Dodgers since they played in Brooklyn! It's no wonder that he knows so much baseball, given that he called the play-by-play for the likes of Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax. And yet even at an advanced age he's able to call the games as well as anybody in the business, and to be able to tie in so many statistical and historical tidbits while doing it. I am in awe.

So although the Cubs are still my team in the NL, I think I'm going to be watching a lot of Dodgers games this year as well, just to get a chance to hear such a legendary broadcaster while I still can. Plus, having lived in the Midwest and on the East Coast before, following a West Coast team will give me the chance to get to know a lot of teams and stadiums that I don't know as well as those in the eastern two-thirds of the country.