As the Olympic Games get underway…

As the Olympic Games get underway in Paris on 26 July 2024, the community of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit – 14 sisters – has been living the spirit of the Games since 12 July in Elven, a French commune in Brittany, highlighting ‘their spirit of cooperation and their joie de vivre’.

— Saturday, 6 July, 2.30pm. The day’s event is ‘intellectual and cerebral’: it’s the scrabble competition, in 3 groups divided into 3 rooms, with one person from each of the 3 teams.
Each team thinks, reactivates its memory and spelling to form words that score as many points as possible! It’s not easy when the letters are drawn in such a way that only vowels or only consonants can be placed… But sometimes luck smiles! A climate of reflection and silence reigns in each room. It’s a serious affair, even if we sometimes help each other… when it’s time to stop and count the points for each team. The winner? The Poppies team!
After all the hard work and fun, we had a nice snack.
Thank you to our ‘captains’: Marie-Christine, Marie Thérèse and Mathilde, who went out of their way to help their team win!

— Monday 15 July: the blind tasting test.
It’s not our brains that are going to be at work this day: it’s our taste buds that are going to be tingling! In the greatest secrecy, Nathalie (our coordinator) and one of us are busy preparing for the test in the great hall… What are they up to?
14h30. Time to find out what’s going to happen during this tasting session… First of all, we are blindfolded; then we are led to a place reserved for each of us. The instructions were given: we were given a spoon containing a food whose name we had to guess by its texture and taste! So, first test: savour, taste, guess: what am I eating? Is it moistened flour? Cornflour? It’s bland… In the end, it’s unroasted almond powder, guessed by just one team! So there are 10 challenges! Fortunately, many of them are easy… We all stumbled on the same recipe: toast with Patamoule!
During the tasting, we whispered and laughed… The atmosphere is joyful. Our ‘captains’ are there, faithful, adding to the atmosphere… Once the tasting is over, the blindfolds are removed and we discover the setting we’re in. Nathalie does the sums: the 3 teams are tied: 8 correct answers out of 10!

— Saturday, 20 July, 2.30pm. It’s raining outside at times, but it’s the day of the pétanque competition! By mutual agreement, we decided to go out and play, despite the weather.
The three teams: Coquelicots, Bleuets and Kevin Mayeur are ready to compete… A small problem: the pitch in the courtyard is on a slope and there’s a risk that the balls will roll: so we’ll be playing on the grass!
And off we go! The sun is in our hearts and we’re all laughing as we try to get our balls as close as possible to the jack. Of course, our opponents are always trying to knock the balls away… The distances between the balls and the jack are ‘scrupulously’ calculated and we have a lot of fun with each other’s prowess or clumsiness.
It was the Bleuets who won the game, having achieved the required 12 points, the Kevin Mayers came 2nd with 11 points and the Poppies came last with just 7 points: there had to be a winner and a loser!
A game of pétanque is always fun. ….
The ball goes in and out of sight, just like at leisure….
You aim at it and miss… change your shot… ! sang DARCELYS in the 50s

After the effort, the comfort! And it was in good spirits that we enjoyed a delicious homemade chocolate prepared by Marie-Christine.