It was thrilling, and completely unexpected: to meet someone who so obviously hated Pat and liked me. This never happens. Except here in France. With a certain produce vendor. This was years ago, and we were staying on Ile Saint… Read More ›
Life in Paris
In 2017, we decided to settle in Paris for a year. Then two. This is all things Paris. And France.
Happiness is …
Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang sang a song when I was young: Happiness is finding a pencil. Pizza with sausage. Tying your shoes for the very first time. Lately, I’ve thought a lot about happiness. If you are considering… Read More ›
La Rentrée… Home to Paris
My French teacher was explaining the various verbs that translate as ‘to return.’ She told us that retourner constitutes a return to any place: school, the library, a country. But rentrer is reserved for that special place. She placed her… Read More ›
Mont Saint Michel, France
Shortly before midnight, I crawled into bed and pulled the comforter up to my chin. The sea breeze billowed the curtains. Other than the drone of the wind and an occasional squawk from a gull, silence. Blackness finally erased an… Read More ›
By Train, Bus, and Foot: Sénanque Abbey
For years, I’d admired photographs of the purple lavender fields in front of the stark-grey Notre-Dame de Sénanque, a Cistercian abbey in Provence. With our time in Paris dwindling, and with the lavender season a brief mid-summer event, if I… Read More ›
