Jeanne's rules

I certainly have a lot of them. As does my girlfriend, CM. Perhaps it is a luxury of us aging singles who live alone?

People who don't look 80:
- EB at exercise class wearing short jean jacket. She got it at the Bridge, a faith-based donation center in town.
- FA - a dynamo with a fascinating history and a busy present.

The most beautiful walk in the world (book), by John Baxter. Stuff about Paris is always welcome to me. He gives literary tours of Paris and lives in the same building where Shakespeare and company started out. So, he has tourists always clustering. Got it through Overdrive as an ebook. Miscellanea of the present and past. Talks about what makes a tour interesting or not and the importance of walking to discover a place.

Things you think about in the shower

I don't have time to think of ANYTHING in the shower, other than getting myself clean and the rituals that accompany this goal. Plus, I am a very fast showerer. When I was in Paris, you had to buy a JETON to put in the shower. It was only good for 5 minutes. I was quite proud of the fact that I came in UNDER 5 minutes.
Where I think of a lot of things is during Senior stretch class. We sit in front of the DVD and I am so accustomed to the routine that my mind can wander all over the place.

Lately, I have been obsessed with LISTS, made and unmade. Here are some lists and charts that I would like to make:
1. a chart where I can keep track of the cleaning of coats and scarves. Each year, I say I am going to clean them ALL at the end of each season, but then I don't.
2. a chart listing physical symptoms and their relationship to foods eaten and drugs taken. Trying to self-diagnose.
3. I can't think of them NOW

Disocvered a new website called Bookbub. Actually someone at Yoga class told me about it. You learn of cheap or free ebooks. I already downloaded one from Barnes and Noble for my Nook!

Is this my website?

Should I claim this blog as my "website"? Would more people read it if I mentioned it somewhere?

Sylvia Beach and the lost generation (book) : a history of literary Paris in the twenties and thirties, by Noel Riley Fitch.
Really loved this book since I love Paris and history and since Sylvia Beach lived briefly in my neighborhood in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Of course, she left and became an agnostic and a lesbian. I find most of the semi-famous people from my town are no longer here. Oh well. Sylvia ended up in Paris and had a bookstore/lending library. She concentrated on books in English, while her long-time companion, Adrienne, had a French bookstore on the same street. They fraternized with many famous writers, artists, etc. Her main claim to fame was as the first publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses, which was considered obscene in America. Joyce was, alternately, a blessing and a curse.

Going on a trip tomorrow. Can't decide whether to car-pool with a friend or drive to North Carolina by myself. By myself I can visit Hollins University (my alma mater) to see the new library or take any other side trips that occur to me and stay away an extra few days. With my friend, I will go along with what HE wants to do and have other adventures and save money. What to do, what to do?

The satisfaction of sorting STUFF

Buckled down this morning and went through a box of stuff my sisters gave me shortly after my father passed away. OK, he passed away in 2002. I knew there was some cash in there, but found $900, $200 more than I expected. Also some sweaters, shirts and many wet ones, kleenexes and travel and purse items. Oh, and OOODLES of socks, which I plan to wear. Never enough socks! Next, I will have to get the BOX out of the house, probably containing some things to give away.

Paris from $95 a day, by Haas Mroue. Borrowed through the Overdrive system at the library and read on my Nook. It doesn't matter that I am not planning to go to Paris. I did make a few notes but much will be outdated by the time I ever get back to Paris. It is a good idea to maintain a list of things to do, in any case.

Went to McDonald's today to organize my Monopoly pieces and enjoy at two-for-one Egg McMuffin. Guy at register somewhat baffled by my coupon. Perhaps I am the only one filling out the surveys online? I am gonna get SOMETHING out of this...either a job or a free something. A guy left his car running while he went in. I thought of confronting him about the damage to the environment but not sure how to do that nicely. I was dismayed to see a new sign: NO LOITERING PLEASE - TIME LIMIT - 30 MINUTES WHILE CONSUMING FOOD. Oh dear, there goes my two hour computer session! I was the only white person hanging around in there.

Other people's typing

Time for the headphones? A guy across from me at the Bridgeton Public Library is doing that attack typing thing....LOUD and FAST. Now he is CURSING at the computer.

The other day I was surrounded by people "doing" Facebook. In a way I feel superior in that I have BETTER things to do, but perhaps they have superior skills with relationships and technology than I have. The one woman types fast for HOURS. What can she possibly be doing?

Finished a book on the Nook and wanted to borrow one off of Overdrive. Frustrated in that attempt as Wi-fi is BROKEN at Bridgeton Public Library AND the Cumberland County Library. Anyway, I enjoyed the book I just finished called The grave gourmet by Alexander Campion. I think I chose this "Free Friday" book from Barnes and Noble because it was about Paris and food and detecting. It was a good romp with a female detective trying to figure out who killed a guy and left him to be discovered in a fine restaurant in Paris. Her husband is a food critic. It was full of unfamiliar words and familiar words used in strange ways. The good thing about the Nook is that you can look up words as you go along, but since some of them were of French origin, they weren't in the dictionary. So, I am still looking them up. The question is, what do I do with them after I look them up? Save them in a document with the name of the book or the name of the TV show? (I have started writing down vocabulary words from Downton Abbey, too)

Adam y Yves

Once again I found a little slip of paper with something written on it. Where to file/put it? I was a sign in a cool demonstration (parade) I saw in Paris. It went right past my hotel. It was quite festive event, with little cars all decorated. All of the themes seemed to have the word BAR in them....BARack Obama, BARbie. Not sure what these students were for or against. It mostly seemed to be an advertisement for a party they were going to have. This sign was a sort of a pro-gay sign...a take off on Adam and Eve. Adam y Yves are two boys in French. (Y means and. It is pronounced EEE)

My plan for today was to work on the computer for one hour and then walk for ten minutes. I haven't really accomplished that. I walked a delightful few minutes down to the new restaurant in town (the ONLY restaurant in town) and had a nice lunch with a friend. Then I walked back to the historical society. It is a beautiful fall day. I seem bedazzled by each leaf that falls this year...the COLOR!...the SIZE!...the SHAPE! I love the falling moments and the rustling as you walk. Also poignant knowing that tomorrow could be colder and rainier and windier.

Tried out some headphones last night at the Spring store. My God, they were fantastic. Dr. Dre, white, for $199. And attached to a phone I would like to have (HTC) but it cost $99. And I am not sure I am going to stay with Sprint. It is time to start looking, however. Am getting disappointed in my phone. I think it is time to get disappointed in another phone or company.

Sittin' on the "group W" bench

I went to Municipal court this week.  I forgot to take a Xanax and I really needed it.  Felt like Arlo Guthrie, sittin' on the" group W" bench, with mother stabbers and father rapers and the like (listen to the song/album called Alice's Restaurant if you don't know what I am talking about).  I sat there for a deadly but entertaining and educational three hours listening to all the other cases.  Finally got called in to the prosecutor and felt like she blew me off (actually I should have had a succinct statement ready).  I had a one page document and a chart of all of my neighborhood annoyances, but a 15 word statement would have been more to the point.  She referred my case to "neighborhood disputes" of which I had never heard.  I guess it is some kind of mediation which I learned about reading a really fascinating book called "Neighbor law", put out by Nolo Press. ( I really should have read the one called "Dog law").  I signed a complaint against my neighbor who insists on having a pit bull live on her steps.  I have lost the use of my yard and the peace and quiet of my home due to the barking.

It was horrible being in court, even though I was the filer of a complaint and not the perpetrator of a crime.  They made everyone, complainer and criminal alike, wait in this tiny vestibule with no chairs for a half an hour before letting anyone enter the court. THAT was awkward, but I got the feeling that lots of these people do this very often.   I was out on the porch listening to a woman and a man talk about their domestic violence history, where one person files a complaint and then the other person turns around and countersues.  When the police come around to serve them with papers they just don't open the door.  When they do get into court they generally say that they aren't going to press charges.  What an unpleasant way to spend your afternoons!  It is just a game and a big waste of time.  The woman talked about just getting an ROR.  What's that, I asked.  Release On Recognizance, she said, (but she didn't pronounce it properly).  Some of the people had multiple "crimes" at once....driving offenses, domestic violence, paraphernalia possession.  One guy didn't know (me either) that on the third paraphernalia offense you get a mandatory 90 days in jail.  He was wearing orange at the time.  A really FAT white woman came up and declined to press charges against him.  Then ANOTHER large white women was there with a black guy and as they walked out, having declined to press charges, I noticed a large hickey on her neck.  Some of the people were polite, some had major attitude and some were snickering.    I did learn of some unsavory individuals who live near me. 

Below you will see a photo of a flower blooming at Giverny in July.  I borrowed this pic from a blog I read called Eye prefer Paris (doesn't everyone?)  He said that July was  REALLY hot in France, just like it was here.  I need to take time out of every day to enjoy beauty and calm and elegance.  Thinking about my vacation in France is quite pleasant.  I need to start thinking about the next stage of my life.  Living in Bridgeton is getting pretty taxing, what with the changing neighborhoods.  Too much coming and going around me and people who think the barking of pit bulls is not annoying.

Getting behinder

. 

Books by the bed at home - eleven.  Have taken to reading every time I wake up in the night.
Also binged on cereal and fruit last night.  I shouldn't really have cereal in the house, especially the kind I like to buy even though I know I shouldn't.  I buy one healthy cereal and one "fun" (sugary) cereal.  Have "neighbor anxiety" which makes it difficult to sleep.

Yelled at the neighbor kids again yesterday.  The barking dog threw me over the edge and I rushed out in a frenzy of discontent.  Would I have the nerve to do something so rude and aggressive if they weren't defenseless foreigners?  They actually went and told their mother (who we NEVER see) and came over and rang my doorbell.  So I went out and next door and halfway up the steps and talked to A.  She feels we are harassing her by calling the authorities to come and investigate dog situation (I am not the only one who is calling).  I feel she has no concept of being a good neighbor.  When it came down to it, she says she is allowed to have a dog and dogs bark.  P., the pitbull,  barks many times a day and not in a nice way.  She also tears stuff up and spreads it all over their yard and mine and deposits unmentionables on my property.  I gathered up such and placed it on their porch.  I really should be nicer to the kids and may wait a week before taking further action.  I really want them to leave.  Also, a couple of guys were seen arriving with suitcases yesterday.

I did finish two books yesterday.

Book review: The complete potter, by Steve Mattison.  A good overview of making pots.  Each page includes one or two topics/methods with beautiful photos of procedures and finished pieces, giving credit to the potter and explanations of the pieces.  This book is available at the Vineland Public Library (738 Mat)

Book review:  The sweet life in Paris, by David Lebovitz. Started reading this BEFORE I went to Paris in May and was determined to finish it.  According to David, only 20% of Americans have passports and we are used to foreigners on our turf and not so good at dealing with them when they are on their own turf.  "The unspoken rule if you plan to live here - but equally good to adopt even if you're just coming for a visit - is knowing that you're going to be judged on how you look and how you present yourself.  Yes, even if you're just dumping your garbage."  I guess I should have mentioned that David is a chef from New York who moved to Paris.  The book includes several great recipes such as floating island (made by Julia Child and my grandmother) and Gateau Breton (made only one day a week at a bakery near the Pont Neuf where I lived after college).  I didn't copy the recipe for Ile flotant on page 28 because it looks really complicated and takes up three pages and I don't cook.  When people ask him how long it took him to become fluent in French, he points out that even the FRENCH are not fluent in French.  "One of the first words I learned in French class was raleur, which means 'someone who complains'.  Maybe it's la grisaille, the dull, gray skies that hang over Paris, causing la morosite ambiente, the all-encompassing gloom that blankets the city at times."
I learned a lot of good words in this books, like that there is a name for the prized crusty end of a baguette.  It is called le quignon.  This is a valuable introduction to life in Paris and equally fun after you have been there.  I borrowed this book from a friend.

 

 

Not really feeling like a "happy baby"

That's a yoga pose.  I am feeling more like a cranky adult.  Trying to forget my woes by using the computer, listening to my playlist and eating chocolate hershey kisses at the Cumberland County Library.  I thought scary Mondays were just for working people, but here is what has gone wrong so far:
- stopped in to Little Mama's cafe - they no longer have real cream, just powdered creamer.  Then I bought a chocolate covered graham cracker but there was too much candy and it was too sweet
- went to city hall to get a T-shirt left over from the walk on Saturday, but the mayor's secretary knew nothing about it
- visited the tax office as my name was in the paper for the tax sale.  I got so highly agitated and ungracefully paid the water and sewer bill including fees even though it was NOT MY FAULT.  They had changed my address in the system and the bill got sent to the owner of the house next door and then returned to them.
I am feeling wronged and not very forgiving.  May have to write a letter of outrage.
- then to yoga class.  She did a number of moves of which I am not fond....too many downward facing dogs, the plank (which seems suspiciously like pushups which I do not do), squats (another thing I CAN'T do).

Remembering a gorgeous hotel I happened to stumble across in Paris.  It took up almost an entire block and around the corner again.  It is called the Plaza Atheneum on Rue Montaigne.



Went on Facebook, although I really feel it is a pretty big waste of time.  Tried to send an encouraging poster to a friend.  Advice that it is hard for ME to follow, not sure why I think it might cheer HER up.

Remembrance of things past

My weekly laptop picture is of Proust in his bed writing his most famous book, A la recherche du temps perdu.  I saw his actual bed at the Carnavalet museum in Paris. 

http://carnavalet.paris.fr/en/museum-carnavalet

This museum is HUGE and free and lots of cool stuff including old store signs and fragments of stained glass windows from churches.

Not many people can say that they have read all of this multi-volume work.  I have tried but ended up skipping some.  Very dense, he can go on for pages about the sensations evoked when he bites into a madeleine.  I love the fact that he wrote such an evocative book IN BED.



Starbucks is really incommodious today.  I came here because my exercise class ends at 9 and the libraries don't open until 10.  Here is what I don't like about Starbucks:
- only one table big enough for me and it is continually occupied
- small round table barely big enough for my laptop and mouse.
- table is sticky
- chair is hard

On the plus side:
- they have a plug
- they have newspapers for sale

Exercise for arthritis class was strange this AM.  I ran over there for 8 AM since my excursion for today was cancelled due to extreme weather which is nowhere in sight.  Teacher was not there.  Another attendee was there with an audio cassette of our teacher.  So the two of us did the class looking at an audio cassette player instead of the teacher.  It worked!

Foiled again

Weather tomorrow getting in the way of my plans.  5 of us had planned to go up to Grounds for sculpture.  Do you know how hard it is to get 5 people to agree on a date and a plan? 

I am so close to finishing so many books.  Reading is my favorite activity (probably because it involves SITTING).  Still slogging through several books about Paris, and the book I found in the Newark airport and the book written by Jill McCorkle, who attended my college (Hollins), and the new David Sedaris book, and L'etranger in French, and a children's book about Monet in French.  And there are MORE...

Made a vow to get better about gifts.  Changed one of my money envelopes to be earmarked for such, since I never have extra spending money and thus am never prepared for birthdays, weddings, etc.
Everyone else is so generous and I am just BEHIND and lacking in inspiration.  I hate to shop and I hate to spend money, but I love cool gifts.  Had an urge to go back to Paris and SHOP which is dumb because it was so overpriced over there. 

Friday it rained all day and Monday it rained all day.  One weather guy said tomorrow was the most worrisome day of the weather year so far.  The nice thing about Paris is that even though it rained frequently, it didn't rain a lot and it didn't rain for long.

It's MY day

I am getting lots of attention today.  Facebook notices, breakfast, gifts, yoga class singing Happy birthday to me.  And here I sit doing my favorite activity...getting online.  Lousy weather forecast today but it is a bit brighter out than one would have expected.  Oh well, you can't have EVERYTHING on your birthday.

Book review: Hardly knew her : stories, by Laura Lippman, audio book performed by Linda Emond and Francois Battiste.  I wanted to listen to this because I noticed that Laura Lippman was speaking at the recent New Jersey Library Association conference in Atlantiic City.  She writes about Baltimore a lot and I was going there last Saturday.  I did not enjoy this audio book much until the end.  Then my CD player in the car broke and I couldn't listen to the last disc.  I liked the part featuring stories about her detective from Baltimore, Tess Monaghen, which provided me with details I may have forgotten about this character.  My lack of appreciation stems from the fact that most of the stories are about using and abusing people and a lot of sex and murder.  The audio on this CD seemed a bit dim and did not jibe with my radio volume.

Having a lot of trouble pasting pics today.  Here again I try to feature one of three great stores right across from my hotel in Paris....La petite chaloupe.  Artisinal sardines in gorgeous containers.  Then the wine store, La p'tite cave.  Then a wonderful bread and pastry store.  One day I bought a bagette and some butter and ate the whole thing by myself.

Boss bitch?

Saw a woman at lunch with this tattooed in BIG letters on her chest.  I told her that once someone put graffiti on my house that said BOSS BITCH in big blue letters.  I asked her whether I should have been complimented or insulted.  "It wasn't me!", she claimed.  I looked it up in the urban dictionary (online) at the time and found that it meant a tough woman who won't take no s#$t from anyone.

Checked the weather in Paris.  It is about 10 degrees cooler and cloudy.  I AM enjoying the SUN here in New Jersey.

Went to see an author last night.  Couldn't decide whether to go to the Sea Isle City library to hear Lisa Scottoline or to the Free Library of Philadelphia to see Walter Mosley.  I decided to go to Philly as I had seen Lisa once at a library conference.  Managed to find a parking place right in front of the library and also figured out the parking kiosk (new technology intimidates me).  It was "only" $4 for 2 hours.  He spoke for 45 minutes.  Talked about his new book in the Easy Rawlins series.  Not sure if I have read one of those.  Just printed out the list of all of his books and series from Wikipedia so that I can systematically read some more.  He seemed rather acerbic and world weary?  He has great character names like Socrates and Leonid and Fearless Jones.  Writings are all over the place...mysteries, nonfiction, science fiction.  Mostly known for his crime fiction.  In his latest book he resurrects a character he killed off in 2007.  Most of his books involve redemption, he said.  This one involves resurrection.  He said that in the beginning, black men did not come to his talks.  Black men prefer TRUTH, so they read nonfiction.  He has pointed out that most of the lies in the world come from nonfiction.

Becoming a lazy bum again

Now that I am not forced to walk all over Paris, I am back to my sedentery ways...driving, reading, using the computer.  Amazingly, the eating evened out with the walking and I didn't gain any weight during my ten days in Paris!  How to get that level of activity into my life?  Today it is too HOT and I don't have any TIME....oh, I can go on and on with the excuses.

Vowing to add PARIS to my list of frequently read categories.  Of course, all of the others are GENRES (biographies, nonfiction, mysteries), not SUBJECTS.  A friend I visited there is obsessed with Paris in the twenties.  I think I am more into the late 1800's.

Last night was talked into going to a concert in Atlantic City.  I really don't like staying up late and I wanted to go to bed early as I am still jet lagged and I had never heard of Deana Martin, but I went, because I didn't want to be such a big party pooper and I was offered a free ticket and a ride.  Have I been living under a rock?  I never heard of her and she had a list of accomplishments two pages long.  One of Dean Martin's 7 (?) children, she basically sings his songs and others of that ilk.  It was very entertaining and was helped with a big band in back.  It was a fundraiser for the Schulz and Hill Foundation to fund arts in the schools.  The audience was high society down-the-shore people....I called them "sequins and botox".  They all knew each other but I didn't know anyone except the three people I came with.

The best food in Paris (a very personal view)

Here's the best stuff I came across:
- crépe au beurre et sucre (crepe with butter and sugar) on the Rue Mouffetard
- souris d'agneau at La Forge ("knuckle of lamb with parsley sauce"....a lot better than it sounds)
- profiterols at Louis Vin - (cream puffs filled with ice cream and covered with hot fudge sauce)
- yaourt aux marroniers (chestnut yoghurt as delicious as ice cream made by La fermière)
- crème brulée everywhere (especially cool when they set it on fire)

Getting online in Paris was not so easy.  Never saw an Internet cafe.  Only saw strictly computer centers or computers plus other services.  We use the "qwerty" keyboard but they use the "azerty" keyboard.  At least if you can believe the guy next to me on the plane.  I found the French keyboard too difficult to use.
I tried to get into the Bibliothèque St. Geneviève (pictured below) but it was too complicated to get a day pass.  Lots of things are complicated in France.



So hot here in New Jersey!  Nice and cool here in the Cumberland County Library.  It was a shock to arrive and find temperatures 30 degrees higher than in France.  I really detest hot weather because I hate to sweat.  That is why I like swimming pools, because you can exercise and not notice that you are sweating.

I'm all museumed out

  My favorite pic at the Marmottan museum in Paris was The Tuileries, by Claude Monet.  It captured the sun and wonderfulness of my walk through the gardens a few days ago.  The Marmottan was my last museum for my trip and I am quite tired out.  It cost 10 euros and I got through it in under 45 mins.  Great paintings by Monet and Berthe Morisot and Gustav Caillebotte.  Special exhibition was Marie Laurencin and she is not really one of my favorites.  When I entered the museum you had to have your bags looked into.  "Vous avez beaucoup de sacs", said the guard (You have a lot of bags).  Sigh...just call me the bag lady.

Getting ready to go home.  Calling the taxi, checking in for the flight.  Not too enthusiastic about leaving except to get a REST.  And my pocketbook needs a rest too.  Blow out final dinner tonight.  I might get ALL the courses.  For some reason, I always like what other people order better than what I order.  OK, sometimes, I just order and I don't really know WHAT I am ordering.  My friend keeps telling me they have a really good whatever at le Mouton blanc, where we are going tonight.

I love it when the weather forecast is WRONG.  It was supposed to be raining and cold for the rest of the week, but today there has been rather a lot of sun and NO rain as of yet.  I even got my Vitamin D bath.
15 minutes a day.  I sat on a bench after our big lunch and before I entered the museum.

The best things about Paris

Here is what I love about it...the architecture, the iron work, the scupltures, the chestnut yoghurt made by La Fermiere, the buses, the flower shops!  Today I visited a more obscure museum, the Jacquemart-Andre, thinking I could avoid the crowds.  I was wrong.  Mrs. Jacquemart and her husband, Mr. Andre, collected art and made a gorgeous home with outrageously high ceilings, just filled with art and fabulous furnishings.  It was to create an oasis away from the "foule" (the crowds).  Unfortunately now the crowds are IN the house.
Exhibition of Eugene Boudin, who influenced Monet and who was influenced by Jongkind.  A big rainstorm came so I went into the cafe there and had a $7 Diet Coke (Coca Cola light).

Then I traversed Paris by foot and metro to go visit a previous love of mine.  We spoke rapid-fire French for an hour and it was very pleasant.

Then it got really cold, but SUNNY at last.  Walking, walking, walking...had a croque monsieur at a cafe overlooking the bronze flame sculpture over the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed.  Walking around the traffic circle, I managed to find the bus to get home.  I adore the buses in Paris.  At the bus stop they say how long you will have to wait for the bus.  Then you get on and put your ticket "dans le trou" (in the hole).  Then there is a digital sign telling you what is the next stop and how many minutes it will be until the end of the line.  All this and scenery too!

Notes from Paris

Staying up so late, I can hardly think!  It was still sunny at 9 PM.  Walking so much.  No busses today due to "Manif pour tous".  A manifestation which wasn't REALLY for all, as it was against gay marriage and any form of child rearing by gays (adoption or assisted births).  I was rather astounded to learn that one of the ring leaders with the very odd name of Frigide Barjot, received DEATH THREATS because she wasn't right wing enough.  I came upone this MANIF by accident and went up on a hill in the Passy Cemetery to view it from afar.  I know Manet and Berthe Morisot were buried in that cemetery but I didn't have the patience to LOOK for them.  Many thousands of people were demonstrating on French mother's day.  10 abreast walking down a broad avenue with horns, bells, drums and songs and signs.  Quite FESTIVE for a bunch of heterosexuals!  There were four different groups, I think.  The colors were pink and blue (for girls and boys).  The flags and sweatshirts had a picture of a nuclear family, man, woman and two children.

Up and down the 16th arrondissement today.  Visited home of Honore de Balzac (all in French) and visited address where I lived with an old countess with no money in my students days 46 years ago.

And ate a dynamite mousse au chocolat.  Have accomplished all of my food goals except for losing weight.
According to the scale in the apartment, I have lost 15 pounds in one week, but I know it is WAY off.

It is not easy to use a French keyboard

Finally got online but it is not fun due to French keyboard.  Letters are in the wrong place and punctuation is tres complique.

Je me debrouille vachement bien en general.  I am doing not badly at figuring things out.  I know how to buy a JETON for my 5 minute shower and how to ask for la note better than laddition?  And how to make a phone call from my room and how to get a wake up call.  It is great being able to walk around at night and feel safe.  I am in a nice neighborhood with an artsy movie theater right across the street.

I had my first CREPE au buerre et sucre on the Rue Mouffetard and it did not disappoint!

Well, time is money so I gotta go...

Suddenly humid

Wow, it is going to be over 80 degrees today.  Having a hot flash just thinking about it.  That is getting a bit over my limit of comfort.

I only watch a few minutes of TV each day.  Happened to catch Matt Lauer at the top of One world trade center at the moment the top spire was raised, lowered and attached.  1776 feet tall - is that a historical date or how many people died on 9/11?  We now have the tallest strictly office building in the western hemisphere.  Ain't America great!?!?  Other interesting facts were that it takes the workers 40 minutes just to get to the top to do their jobs each day!  And that the first businesses will get their keys in 2014.  I happen to be going to New York next Saturday.  Must add this to the list of things to do (it is short, so far).  Feel kind of bad that I haven't visited the site at all in ten years.

Book review: Winter journal, by Paul Auster.  I didn't/don't even know who Paul Auster is, but according to a Henry Holt & Co. ad I saw in the New Yorker, he is "one of the great writers of our time".  I did enjoy this memoir...which detailed all the places he has lived (in order) and traveled and the decline and death of his mother.  Also there is a New Jersey connection, which I always like to know about.  And he wrote this when he was 64, about the same age as I am.  I liked the first paragraph - "You think it will never happen to you, that it cannot happen to you, that you are the only person in the world to whom none of these things will ever happen, and then, one by one, they all begin to happen to you, in the same way they happen to everyone else."  I recommend this book.  You can borrow the large type edition from the Millville Public Library (LT 92 AUS).

Book review: Peaches for Father Francis, by Joanne Harris.  In which the characters from a previous book called Chocolat come back to Lansquenet, a small village in France.  There is an interesting addition of an Islamic theme and the push and pull between the cultures.  There is a bit of a mystery about who caused a fire and who is the covered up woman and why has she come to town.    Our heroine, Vianne, returns to the small town to straighten out some things. She gets very involved and has trouble getting back to her life in Paris.   I borrowed this book from the Vineland Public Library (FIC Harris Joanne)