Double Shiny Bacon

 I loved everything about this advertisement.

Double Shiny Bacon: Even the Americans want to taste it.

And then below, as is required by law, For your health, avoid snacking between meals.

What is Double Shiny Bacon?  Can I eat as much of it as I want, as long as I don't snack between meals?  Americans, Canadians, do you want to taste Double Shiny Bacon?

 We have a new mall not too far from us.  I walked along the beautiful and windy Isle des Cygnes.  Sadly, I did not take a photo of the mini statue of liberty who holds her torch at the tip of the island.  The best part of this mall is that there is a Marks and Spencers grocery store.  I have learned a lot about myself this last couple of years.  One of the less profound things I have learned is that I really like peanut butter and I really like cheddar cheese.  Marks and Spencer can set me up for a reasonable price and that makes me happy.

Much of the Line 6 metro runs above ground.  It reminds me of the El in Chicago and I like to be able to see grand swathes of the city as I travel past at great speed.  I always wonder if these turrets are just decorative.  I like to imagine that someone has turned at least one of them into a fabulous library with a breathtaking view of the Seine.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Exhibit

 Monday, I went to the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Exhibit at Musée de l'Orangerie.  Photos were forbidden inside the exhibit.
For more about Frida Kahlo click here.  
For more about Diego Rivera click here.

I read (and did not love) The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.  Part of the book talks about how Trotsky came to Mexico and was good friends with Kahlo and Rivera.  Kingsolver touches on some of the more dramatic parts of Kahlo's and Rivera's lives in her book.  Diego was twenty years Frida's senior.  They were both ardent communists and had a passionate and often turbulent relationship.  They were once divorced for one year.

Her friends called them the elephant and the dove.

 Musée de l'Orangerie is associated with and across the Seine from the Musée D'Orsay.  Its permanent collection includes two oval rooms with enormous waterlily paintings by Monet.  He worked on these for the last few years of his life, and they were painted to fit in this space.  Downstairs houses mostly impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.  It is inside of the Tuileries gardens.

 Every November the Ferris wheel goes up.

 Jeanne D'Arc

Random sign

Wisconsin fashion comes to Paris

Unfortunately, the reflection makes it hard to see this outfit.  These are man-sized Oshkosh B'Gosh overalls with a Harley Davidson sheerling lined denim vest.  The best of Oshkosh and Milwaukee coming together in this Paris vitrine.  I had a pair of the same overalls when I was two or three.  Who knew I was so fashion forward?  This store is called "Wild Road" and is on our way to school.  It has lots of silly American fashions and lots of fake vintage American clothes.  Last week there was a Boy Scout T-Shirt and a Phillys jacket.  It keeps me smiling.

It is cupcake time again!

 You may remember last year  Lillian and her Brownie troop made lots of cupcakes and sold them.  With the profits, the girls bought toiletries for the homeless.  The girls learned all about running a business and learned a bit about being homeless in Paris.  I know I learned a lot. 

This weekend we baked about one hundred cupcakes.  We had help from another Girl Scout mom and another Junior Scout.  The cupcakes are now safely in the freezer.  A few weeks from now we will be thawing and frosting them.  This year, we will be selling them at Pierre's work.  

A couple of days before we began baking the cupcakes, I had unknowingly turned my oven onto "Safe" mode.  Basically, I couldn't turn it on.  The oven is the only appliance that actually came with the apartment and thus the only appliance that did not come with a manual.  When I went to preheat the oven, there was no heat and the display said, "SAFE."  After about thirty minutes of panic, Googling, button pushing, etc.  I managed to push the magic combination of buttons and we were able to get started.  I have no idea what the magic combination was, so I am hoping that I don't mistakenly put the oven into safe mode again!

It is cooling down here and we had the park all to ourselves. 

I sat and read on the park bench until I whimped out and we had to go home.  I am reading Jo Nesbo.  These pages are some sort of weird WWII fashback.  I find that the policiers are easy enough that I can read for enjoyment, without having to have my dictionary by my side.  

Ottawa Visit

 When we arrived in Ottawa, Pierre sat down and wrote a few work e-mails.  Lillian kept him company and Sylvia and I went to collect our luggage.  Sylvia couldn't stop smiling.  She threw a penny into the fountain and made a wish "to stay in Ottawa for ever and ever."  She was very generous and gave each of us a penny to make a wish.

Peggy and kids welcomed us into their home and showered us with Puzzle Books and other fantastic reading material.  Peggy and I got to take a long run and to catch up.  Another night, we ate a lot of fries and pizza and canceled out any good the long run had done.

Swinging Friends

 Our house is across the street from this park.  I spent a lot of time in the park with the girls trying not to stalk our renters.  The house looks good from the outside.  

Because our house is being rented, we had no place to stay.  I wanted to be in the neighborhood and my friends came to the rescue and took us in as their guests.  It made our visit so much nicer to be with friends.

The girls' school was getting ready for their annual used book sale.  We got to help prepare, which involved a lot of visiting with kids and parents, and we got to go to the sale.  The sale involves used books, crafts, and food.  It is one of the things the girls look forward to each year.  They were very excited to be able to go to book fair and to trick or treat! 

 Anna and Lillian have their hair braided so that they will look more like Hermione when they trick or treat.  Clara, a friend of Sylvia's went as Hermione, too.  Crookshanks had three Hermiones to choose from!  Nathalie went as a vampire.  

It was so much fun to see these girls reconnect.

 I had forgotten the sheer volume of candy that is acquired trick or treating.  Yikes!

Valerie and her girls rearranged their lives for us and let us stay at their house forever.  We loved being with them and are forever grateful.

 I tried to see all of my friends and my book club had a special meeting so that I could attend.

 I need to make prints of these photos so that Sylvia can take them to school and show her teacher.  Her teacher wanted us to take photos of Halloween, which isn't celebrated in France.  Unfortunately, a cold, rainy night did not make for a lot of nice photos.

Thanks to Fiona's mom, Julie, Lillian and Fiona got to spend a lot of time together.  They picked up where they had left off and had a grand time.  Here they are drawing at The National Gallery of Canada.

We could not have had a better "home leave" and are so grateful for our family and friends.  We look forward to begin back in Ottawa sometime next summer. 

Crazy.

Halifax Visit

For the second part of the girls' school vacation, we flew to Canada!  This was the first time that Pierre and the girls had returned since we moved to France.  The girls and I had been to the states a couple of times to visit family and I had flown back to Ottawa once, shortly after arriving in Paris, to be sworn in as a Canadian citizen.  We began our Canadian tour in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Pierre's parents and one of his brothers live here.  We had a wonderful visit with them all.

We enjoyed tasting many yummy things at the Halifax Farmers' Market.  

The market is in a new building right along the water and it has a green roof.  Everyone at the market was dressed for warmth and comfort; I did not see any high heeled shoes, no dog poop, and no cigarettes. 

 Mémé saved the day!  I was panicking about Halloween costumes and then I called Mémé.  She bought Lillian's Hermione costume, and when she couldn't find a Crookshanks' (Hermione's cat) costume for Sylvia, she had her amazing seamstress make one!  Sylvia was thrilled--and so was I.

 The girls loved playing with their cousins and enjoyed lots of time outdoors.

 We even got to celebrate an 8th birthday!

 Beautiful green-faced birthday girl

 Climbing cousins

I am very grateful to have such a thoughtful and caring Canadian family.  The Halifax LeBlancs (all of them, including my sister-in-law's parents) took wonderful care of us.

The Halloween t-shirts are thanks to my thoughtful sister-in-law.  Thanks, Jen!

 The cousins amused themselves with lots of impromptu drama skits.  Luckily, there were lots of costumes and wigs from which to choose.  That's Lil in the blond wig.

Another night of drama

Nothing like having a wonderful family who goes out of their way to take care of you.  Thank you!  Robert and Michelle, you were missed!

School Photo

Here is a sideways photo of the girls' school photo.  I love that they take sibling photos.  We have individual shots, too.