Halloween

There are some adventurous souls here who try to copy the American idea of Halloween. The children love receiving 'treats' but getting them is difficult because of the codes to the house doors. The very reason to have codes is to avoid getting 'tricked' this evening and all the other days of the year!
The other difficulty is to get a pumpkin for the carving of a Jack-o'-lantern. No problem at Russo's in Newton:



Searching here for something similar, one realizes perplexed that the pumpkin (potiron) is sold in slices! Not for carving, but for cubing, cooking, pureeing and instead of a lantern you will have a delicious soup.



And the black cat - the preferred pet of all the Halloween witches -



is still hissing on the half moon in the original street sign of the famous Montmartre cabaret "Le Chat Noir" (1881-97). Now it is in the collection of Museum Carnavalet.

Visit to the Louvre

What do you see? Two men carrying a way too large grape.....
This idea about over sized vegetables by Patrick Laroche seems not so new.


Patrick probably saw this painting in the Louvre and perhaps the meaning is that big vegetables are to be found in the promised land? France, the promised land? What do you think?
What do you see that makes you say that?.......

( to learn more about VTS, click on the title)

An unclassifiable artist

What happened? The result of too much obsessing about the interior decoration of our home? Choosing colors: blue, yellow, red, green? Choosing texture: satin, brilliant, mat?

Not at all! Decisions were made, the painters left and it was time to visit the Centre Pompidou to get away from it all. There they have just now the first French retrospective dedicated to the Japanese artist




Hard to classify her works - 150 are exhibited - and fascinating to learn about this multifaceted artist. Yayoi Kusama is a painter, sculptor, performer, writer and much more. She did and still does influence the contemporary art scene both in the US and in Japan.
1977 she checked herself into a private psychiatric hospital in Japan. 81 years young, she continues to paint in her own large studio there.

Her statement "My life is a dot lost in millions of other dots...." made sense to us when looking down on the Louvre court yard.

Vegetables you can't avoid

At the Sevres-Babylon Metro station we walked by this sculpture reflecting the light and catching everybody's attention.



You can use the three questions of the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) and then Google this 'Best worker of France' on www.patricklaroche.com.



Using your own Thinking Strategy, you can draw some conclusions about the art market in Paris.

Organic food

Paris 6e
Marché Bio du Boulevard Raspail
rue de Rennes à Sèvres Babylone
Le dimanche matin de 8h à 13h
Marché 100% biologique
C’est le marché le plus chic et le plus cher de Paris, mais on y croise des stars et ça, ça n’a pas de prix !




For many years this organic food market was a well kept secret where the offered vegetables, meat, cheeses etc are remarkable better then in the other markets. At the same time it was a fashion show for 'casual Sunday morning at the market' clothes. Then this was mentioned in the NYT and since then the prices are still high..... The most elegant people of Paris? Perhaps we are there at the wrong time or perhaps we belong to them without knowing?


Did you notice that the stand above offers food from "Lot et Garonne" which is about 600 km away. Who cares about the carbon footprint?

PS. Click on the title of this post to get more info!

What are 5731 km in miles?

If you ask me what the 'center of Paris' is, I say Notre Dame de Paris, the reason is the 'point zero' placed in front. It was installed 1924 and from this point all the distances to French cities are calculated. Next time you drive on a French motorway direction Paris, you will notice the count down of the distance in km on your left side on small white signs.

From Boston to Paris it is 5731 km - easy forgotten while sitting in a plane.


Here are cold nights and during the day the sun is warm which give the evenings the perfect temperature for strolling around the 'center of Paris' and admiring Notre Dame from all angles.
The buttresses remind me of something..... yes, they are the hidden reason for the breath taking height perceived by the visitors when entering the nave of the church.

William's advice

There is a reason to be back in France for a time. The apartment here is having the 'travaux' done by three painters and an electrician and a plumber. They are proud French professionals but they need some supervision, so that the result will please the foreign customers taste.



Differences in perception of what is beautiful have to be solved. Our home will not become a 'Kelmscott House' but the colors of the William Morris curtains give me inspiration and support.

WM said in his writings about interior decoration:
"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful".
When I unpack the boxes I will think about his advice.

Useful - yes, beautiful - yes and what about all the things which trigger memories? We want to hold on to those!

Transantlantic flight

Often I get a surprised reaction when I mention that my preferred airline is Iceland air. Is it because I like Iceland? I have to admit, that for the most part I just see the beautiful landscape on the postcards in the airport. (Yes, the Blue Lagoon, which close to the air port, I know and enjoyed to relax there in previous years.)

Changing planes in Keflavik means to go through security and pass port control and enter the Europe zone. That is an advantage, because later in Paris is often a long line for the pass port control. The other advantages are the departure time from Boston (9.30 PM) and the arrival time in Paris (1 PM). In the middle of the day the traffic on the motorway to Paris is 'fluide'.

Nevertheless it is a long flight and approaching Paris CDG in the morning sun over the clouds we all gladly fasten the seat belts to get ready for landing.

After a bumpy ride through the clouds we say grace to St. Christopher when the wheels touch ground again.

Greek vacation dreams

The Greek Evangelical Church in Newton had their yearly Food Fair today. Young and old American-Greeks and just hungry visitors chose from moussaka, souvlaki, lamb shanks and other Greek specialties as well as the many different baked goods.


We enjoyed to hear the Greek language around us and of course remembered numerous vacations we had in Greece. It has been a few years now and we would like to go again. Will the economic crises have an impact with strikes? Should not be a problem when you have lived in France for some years and know how to handle them. And the smiling Aphrodite and Alexander (!) at the entrance to the Fair gives us optimism for the future.

La Peregrina

In the exhibition in the McMullen Museum there is this famous portrait of Queen Mary of England. She was the queen before Elizabeth I and they had the same father: Henry VIII.

You have to see for yourself what a beautiful portrait the royal painter Hans Eworth made of his queen. It was made in 1554 and the jewelry she is wearing is 'stunning'.

Can you see the large pearl hanging at the end of her 'necklace'?

There is a story worth reading - double click on the title of this post.

Lobster rolls for lunch

Hungry for good seafood? Drive up Route 128 and take exit 12 to find a great place. But do not wait too long, because the Lobstaplace will close for the winter on December 11.

This is what we enjoyed today:


So nice to find straight forward food prepared with care. Fresh fries, home made coleslaw, toasted buns with big chunks of sweet lobster meat.
Cloth napkins and friendly service - no wonder that there was a content buzz all around.

Leaves of three, let it be!

Columbus day weekend and it feels like summer with temperatures up to 30 C. Wonderful to walk outside but the Poison Ivy is everywhere. In the Fall more European friends come to visit New England to see the foliage and it may be useful to warn them all about the danger of brushing against this very poisonous plants. For more info, click on this posting's title! This is how they look now and they change from green over dark red to brown. In Europe we know nettles which burn but that is nothing compared to these hurtful plants.

Very different and not poisonous - the large amount of Christmas decorations already out in the store animating to start Christmas shopping.
And the reaction of the customer in shorts is just the same as you should have when you see 'leaves of three' - let it be!

Running water

Driving to Boston we always pass the Chestnut Hill reservoir on the left and to the right there is this mysterious large, one could say castle like, building. It was always closed off but now we noticed that it is a museum. What a surprise to find this:


Huge engines, pumps, kettles, pipes, ducts etc now restored and shining quietly. An oil can is the only reminder of the important daily lubrication. These pumping engines worked from 1887 to 1970 to bring the water from the lakes and reservoirs from the west in Massachusetts into the water system of Greater Boston.
All is explained by small touch screens and in an entertaining video in which the head engineer
Mr. Desmond Fitzgerald (1846-1926) talks.

After our visit we walked around the building to marvel at the architecture and appreciate that this building could be saved and turned into a museum in which we are reminded what a luxury running clean water is.

Rainy weekend

The first weekend in October was filled with rain and we watched the mushrooms growing in our yard. A good time to go through the calender and plan ahead, because September came and went. Half of this month will be spent in France and I will keep you posted....

Thank you for positive comments from 'followers' and please e-mail me if you have any questions. My plan is to keep the posts short and quick to read .

I will try to entertain you (and me) and inform you while we/I keep rolling as the famous stone.
No chance for growing moss like our lawn.