What nationality are Jews???

Monday May 2, 2011                                                                                             Day 306

Shelli texted us at about 5:30 a.m. to say that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Later I saw pictures on Yahoo of dancing in the streets in Washington D.C.

Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., said

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

This is a philosophy I could not agree with more. I do not rejoice in the death of Bin Laden. There are plenty waiting to take his place. 

Today was apartment cleaning day again - not sure why that rolls around so often, but it does. Our landlord has asked that we allow some prospective tenants in to see the apartment on Thursday. Roger asked him whether they are Americans, and his response was “No, they are Jews.” Somehow I never thought of Jewish as a nationality.

Happy Birthday to Daddy

Sunday May 1, 2011                                                                                               Day 305

Happy Birthday to Daddy, who turns 92 today! I called him to wish him a happy birthday and he seemed pretty upbeat about his new living quarters.

Today we were going to take the tram and the bus out to a wildlife sanctuary which I explored last fall with Elisabeth. But we got to the tram stop and there were no trams running. Nor, we realized, were there any buses. Apparently May 1 is a big labor holiday in France and much of the rest of the world.

Instead, we walked to the botanical gardens near our apartment and enjoyed the plants and flowers there.

Note the turtle in the water

Watch for this one later!

We ended walking through the Peyrou and got this photo of St. Anne's Church

To market, to market to buy some more flowers

Saturday April 30, 2011                                                                                         Day 304

The market today was even fuller than usual - there was a boules tournament going on, with coverage by a local radio station whose DJ served as announcer. Boules appears to be akin to horseshoes, except that they use metal balls about the size of a baseball. They begin by throwing a much smaller wooden ball into the ring and that becomes the goal. The players try to throw their boules as close to the goal as possible, hoping to knock out someone else in the process.

We bought some flowers for the flower boxes - dahlias, petunias, marigolds.

My sciatic nerve has been bothering me seriously today. I stretched it out a couple of times which only seemed to help some. After dinner I took a warm bath - a real rarity for me! That seemed to help a bit as well, as did the further stretching afterward. I am truly beginning to feel like an old lady!

I started another painting today - I got the wash done and will start the main coat tomorrow. If I were working in oils, I think this could be a fantastic painting. Who knows how it will turn out in acrylics.

Paris in the springtime??

Friday April 29, 2011                                                                                             Day 303

Apparently a big wedding took place today. We did not turn on the television, but Roger reads Yahoo news, both French and U.S., it got a couple of mentions into Facebook, and even crept into Evony, my online game. Jon Stewart said, It is “the kind of historic event that only happens once in a generation – the storybook marriage between an anachronistic fascination with the descendants of some very lucky German hemophiliacs and ubiquitous 21st century media hypercoverage.” Indeed.

I finished another painting today. I titled it “I Love Paris in the Springtime, but it is actually a picture of a tree in bloom against St. Roch church near our apartment.

More paintings

Thursday April 28, 2011                                                                                         Day 302

Today I ache all over from yesterday’s exercises. But I gritted my teeth and got through the whole series this morning. Ugh! I spent the entire rest of the day limping from sore muscles.

Afterward, we went out for a bit - to the halle to buy some meat for dinner, to the ATM for some money, and to a book/video store for some cheap CDs. We splurged and bought five for 20 eurocents each. I also sprang for a portfolio - deciding it was time that I stopped using an x-ray bag to store my paintings in.

My new portfolio for my paintings

 Roger got rained out at chess and came home early. He called to remind me to bring the clothes in from the line, and his timing was perfect - the laundry was dry and it was just barely starting to spit.

I finished the watercolor. I am not pleased - it did not turn out as I planned it. I should probably plan on taking some watercolor lessons if I intend to continue in that medium. The painting is nice, I suppose, but then, I am my own harshest critic by a long shot.

Exercises - ugh!

Wednesday April 27, 2011                                                                                     Day 301

We finally went to the grocery store, three days after returning from vacation. We were hurting for a couple of things - peanut butter, tea and lunch meat primarily. On the way to the store, we stopped to check out one of the booths which are set up almost every day along the edge of the Comédie. Roger had been eying a ring there, and we checked out the jewelry booth more thoroughly. In the end, he bought a ring with another ring built into it - one which has a chessboard pattern on an inner ring which spins.

Roger has been doing exercises for a month or more now, and I have not bothered to join him. I decided to this morning, doing a 12-minute aerobic workout from an internet site, and hated every minute of it. Indeed, I did not even complete it. My computer started acting up - I did the warm-up and the first series of exercises, but when it came time to do the second set, I couldn’t see what they were because my computer refused to cooperate. By the time I got it to display again, I had half cooled down, but I forged on for a bit. Then the timer wouldn’t display, so I threw a hissy fit and quit about halfway through. Any excuse not to exercise!!!

I painted again this afternoon - starting on a watercolor and on an acrylic as well. I was unable to finish either one, as it was my evening to cook. I usually start painting in the afternoon, and quit when Roger gets home from chess, which is anywhere between 6:00 and 7:30, depending upon the weather and the light. It stays light here until 8:30 or so, and I may begin to rearrange my days so that I can paint after dinner as well. We can probably bump up dinner an hour or so on some days, and when I cook, I can continue to paint while Roger cleans up.

By mid-afternoon, I realized that my thighs ache from the exercises I did this morning.

We Skyped with Brennan and Shelli this evening. Brennan is starting to move around a lot and to respond to lots of stimuli. He is such a cute little boy.

Buying flowers

Tuesday April 26, 2011                                                                                          Day 300

Market day. We bought some lasagna for dinner, along with some squash, peppers, onions and tomatoes for creole squash. We ran into Susan from AWG while we were buying flowers and chatted briefly with her. There were some beautiful amaryllis flowers for sale, most of them with multiple flowers on one stem. I bought a pink and a red. This was the same vendor who sold us the daffodils a few weeks ago, and he lovingly, almost tenderly, wrapped them up in paper, added a few extra detail flowers, and stapled a sprig of something to the edge of the paper. Before he wrapped them, he asked me if they were a gift. The wrapping was exquisite - I wonder what he would have done had it been a gift!

I dropped into the pharmacie for a weigh-in after lunch. Then I walked to the hair salon and got a perm. It was the longest one I have ever had - more than three hours. In the middle of it, the hairdresser paused and put color on another lady’s hair, then returned to mine. When I left, the lady had had color on her hair for over an hour without a rinse! 

Today I discovered that there are buds on one of my African violets. Nice!

Roger’s hat got a couple of spots on it on our travels, so I hand-washed it today. It is rare that I hand-wash much of anything, so I hope he feels privileged.

Weather here and there

Monday April 25, 2011                                                                                          Day 299
Roger went out for a baguette this morning, only to discover almost all the shops closed, including bakeries. Apparently the day after Easter is a holiday in France. He finally found one open and bought some 6-grain bread - not quite as tasty as a grain baguette from the local bakery, but good nevertheless. The apartment was in dire need of cleaning, so we set to that after breakfast. I am still catching up on laundry from our guests and travel.

Roger was not sure there would be chess since this is a holiday, but he left shortly after 2:00 with his chess set. Around 3:30, it began to thunder and shortly after 4:00 he called to say he was on his way home. Almost immediately after he called, it began to rain here, and hail as well. I think this is the first thunder I have heard since coming to France, and I know it is the first hail I have seen.

Hail in our tulip box

Alicia called this evening to say that they almost didn’t get out of Massachusetts and back to Atlanta. They were at a small airport in Massachusetts and were waiting for the turnaround plane from Atlanta to Massachusetts. When they arrived at the airport, there was an announcement that the flight would be delayed because the plane had not left Atlanta yet. This was announced several times before the plane finally made it in, they boarded and left for Atlanta. Alicia said she got to bed around 3:00 a.m.

I called Daddy to talk to him one more time before he leaves for a retirement center in Lubbock. Jimmy answered the phone and I spoke to him for several minutes before talking to Daddy. Daddy seems mostly resigned to the move, but not particularly happy. It is the end of his independence.

Some swallows have begun building a ndes right outside our bathroom window. I don't know if you can see it here, but it is the slight protrusion from the brown beam. I am reminded of the swallows who built a nest above the porch light at Daddy's house and returned year after year.

Returning home

Sunday April 24, 2011                                                                                            Day 298

Happy Easter to my readers.

Here is how one rider decorated her bicycle for Easter

Because it was Easter Sunday, there were not many places open for breakfast. We finally located a bakery and purchased not only breakfast, but lunch as well. There was fresh-squeezed orange juice which was quite delicious, although it would have been even better cold. We ate our breakfast alongside a canal, then returned to the hotel to pack. The train station was a very short walk away, and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. The trip to Paris was uneventful, but the metro transfer from Gare du Nord to Gare de l’Est left us panting slightly, as there was not as much time between train trips as we had heading north. On the train from Paris to Montpellier, we were entertained by a little girl about age 9 who engaged in various tactics to amuse herself including reading over Roger’s shoulder.

Some of our breakfast choices the last day. No carbs or calories here!

Impressions of Amsterdam:

Bicycles everywhere!

Canals lined with houseboats

Much more English spoken here than in France