Stressful morning

Was rushing to get to my exercise class.  Got into the line at McDonald's although it was horrendously long.
Noticed in the side view mirror that the guy in front me was SHAVING like he had narry a care in the world.  Finally he drove off without even going through the drive in to get food.  Grrr...Then had to go to get car maintenance done.  Brought an overdue library book.  I forgot that one has to listen to country western music in the office.  That was hard enought for me (not good at multitasking)  Then a guy who was waiting kept getting phone calls and his ringer was gangsta' rap.  I am as fond of gangsta' rap as the next fella but NOT when I am reading AND listening to country western music.  I was missing Paris where people are quiet and well behaved, not IN-YOUR-FACE like people in my town.  I really detest listening to other people on the phone.

How did I run out of time?  Planned to use the computer for an hour and then do other stuff like photocopying and reading the newspaper on a stick (cheap thrills, as was pointed out by Kramer on Seinfeld).  Drove an hour to go to a demo on Windows 8 although not sure why I want to learn about it.  May have to get an ipad or an iphone soon.  But I don't say no to some free education.

Tried to look up my favorite yoghurt from France to see exactly HOW fattening it was.  But the stats are not like ours, so I couldn't figure anything out.  Thought I would post a picture of it anyway.  Yoghurt with chestnuts!  How come WE don't have that?  In fact, the yoghurt selections in Paris were WAY more than we get.  I brought home one of the little glass jars to remember it by.  (We couldn't figure out what to do with all of them anyway).  This is from their collection called Les moments plaisir (pleasurable moments).
I know you can FRIEND my favorite CHEESE on Facebook (Caprice des dieux) but not sure about stuff from La fermière.

My worst nightmare...

...is that a barking dog will move in RIGHT NEXT DOOR.  I wish this dog would run away.  I really HATE having my peace disturbed by a barking dog.  Not to mention the issues of trash, noise, ambulances, and police with drawn guns.  Other than that, they are just your average Mexican family with North Carolina license plates, a pit bull, and relatives who are going to move in with them.  My general philosophy on neighbors is..."I'll WAIT them out".

Restaurant review: Mi familia pizzeria and ice cream on Burlington Road in Bridgeton, NJ.  Around here you can blink and restaurants are closed or have an entirely new name.  Usual door was locked, but we got in the front door.    Four policeman were out front talking to a lady (some sort of disagreement about a Diet Coke).  I kind of liked it although my friend was not happy with her meatball sandwich.  What I liked:
- waitresses trying really hard to please
- you can get a WHOLE WHEAT pizza crust
- on a salad you get a choice of romaine, spring mix or spinach
- I ordered a small salad and waitress pointed out that by ordering the SPECIAL I could get a large salad for less money

I am starving right now, but I am trying to get more used to it.    Usually, I bring a snack to the historical libary, but I didn't today.  Another guy usually goes to the store to get lunch but he isn't going today.  Someone else usually bakes bread but he didn't today.  Luckily someone produced a bag of almonds and a container of raisins, so this will tide me over.  We are in a small town with NO stores....just a country store with a sign posted that says, "We are doing our best to open as soon as possible".  I am waiting anxiously.  The last people who ran it did not have Diet Coke as they said that no one drinks it in Greenwich.

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.

Camera displays people naked

Guy next to me on the computer is looking at that on Youtube.  I am using my free headphones I got on the airplane to use with the ipad they loaned me.  I need headphones EVERYWHERE, just like I need scotch tape, staplers, telephones and waste baskets everywhere.  Have misplaced my special ones yet again.  But I got TWO new pairs....on the way to Paris and on the way back.  And they are nice and LONG....I don't have to check out the headphone extender cable like I had to with my regular earbuds.  I had to give back the ipad but they didn't want to headphones back.

I like this cartoon in the New Yorker,since I am laboring in obscurity on this blog.

Book review: Murder, she wrote, a slaying in Savannah by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain.  Actually, I have listened to this audiobook before, narrated by Cyntha Darlow.  Amazingly, the narrator manages to almost SOUND like Angela Lansbury, who played Jessica Fletcher on TV.  As a former cataloguing librarian, these kinds of books used to drive me crazy.  Jessica Fletcher is a FICTIONAL character so how can she be writing a book?  Jessica is called to Savannah upon the death of a good friend.  The friend left one million dollars to a literacy foundation she ran with Jessica.  The money is contingent upon the solving of a murder by Jessica.  So she stays in the big house of the deceased, along with fortune-hunting boyfriends, ghost-chasing "tenants", servants who have been around for decades.  She solves the murder with a clue that sailed completely by me. 

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.