The Bold Soul

I'm in the final day of frantic packing, cleaning and organizing for my trip to the States on Friday (why, oh why did I book an 8:20am flight' WHAT WAS I THINKING') and for some reason I'm inordinately more anxious about this trip than I usually am when I travel. (And no, I'm not having premonitions about bad things happening to the plane. I'm just freaking out about the piles of laundry, the messy kitchen, and the fact that I haven't vacuumed, food shopped, or ironed Georges' work shirts...

"OK, time to get up. It's 7:10 and your alarm went off." "OK, it's been 5 minutes, you really need to get up now." "Are you awake' It's 7:20. You really need to get up or you'll be late." "OK, now it's been 15 minutes and you REALLY need to get up. Please get up and come to the table." "Come to the table, now please. It's 7:30." "Now. Table." "Now, please." "NOW." "No, not on the couch. To the table. You need...

Finally having time to explore our new quartier this weekend, we stumbled on this restaurant ("Le Mansart") on a side street between Blanche and Pigalle, and decided to have lunch. I had an amazing salad with lemon-marinated chicken, fresh melon and Parmesan. Apparently, they do a brunch (with mimosas!) on Sundays so we'll have to come back some time. And they have foosball, so what's not to love'

When I was writing my silly post earlier today (because humor is much needed on difficult days), I just had a feeling something wasn't "right" back home with my friend Dwight. Several days had passed with no updates from his wife, and in this case no news was NOT good news. He passed away very peacefully this morning, in his own home with his family around him, exactly where I know he would want to be - it was the family home and he grew up there with his sister and his two brothers,...

Taking a walk on the lighter side today, after a week of bad news from back home (my friend with cancer is losing the battle and is now in the care of his loving wife with home hospice), French elections, Ugly Americans and blog comment battles. Time to lighten the hell up. So, for your viewing amusement (and mine), I submit the following photo: THIS... is a white radish. A RADISH. I never saw vegetables like this back in New Jersey; not even close. I mean, LOOK at this thing - it's longer...

France has elected a new President, François Hollande of the Socialist party. Here's an image (from TV) of the crowd celebrating at the Bastille after Nicolas Sarkozy conceded. My step-daughter is in that crowd somewhere, being a part of history. The new Prez gave his first speech in his hometown and is en route to Paris now to give another at Bastille around midnight. By the way, "Socialist" in France is NOT Communism, so don't panic. Although France has a wider spectrum of political...

On our way to the Apple store via the #68 bus this afternoon, I was unfortunate enough to overhear a rather loud and obnoxious American couple talking to each other. It wasn't just their tone and volume that got under my skin... it was what they were saying that put me over the edge. They complained to each other, non-stop, about how rude the French were. How whenever the French have been in trouble and needed help, America has had to bail them out (and how no one in France...

My best friend, Wendy, graduated with her BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) this week. She decided to change careers after her 4th child was born, and felt drawn to nursing. So, she started nursing school. That was 11 years ago. After she finished her first year, the youngest child was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 22 months. Wendy's husband and I both encouraged Wendy to try and continue with her studies because it would give her something positive to focus on, even while she was...

Hmmm, last day of April. Tomorrow is the 1st of May, a holiday in France that is like the French "Labor Day" (complete with all sorts of manifestations or protest marches). After that, I feel like I can finally start looking ahead of me a little, instead of the "head down, just do what's in front of me so I don't lose my mind" mode I've been in for most of the last couple of months. Georges and I both had to be in that mode to get through everything we've been juggling, but...

Weekend #2 in our new place, and still digging out from under the cartons. But we're making decent progress, and I hope by the end of this weekend we will have excavated our dining table so that we can stop eating at the coffee table. Georges' "Honey Do" list is getting smaller. Still on the list: hanging the remaining curtains (one of the 3 windows in the salon and our bedroom), and hanging various coat and hat hooks since the so-called coat closet is too small for all our coats, and...