The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Two Very Different Peas in a Pod

When I think of the expression, "two peas in a pod", I am reminded of the extraordinary bond I have with my best friend, Wendy. I've always been a "woman's woman", meaning I've always enjoyed the friendship and company of other women, and I've always had a number of very good friends no matter what my age or stage in life. I even have a few friends I've managed to keep since early childhood, and we've got the bond of history on our side even though we aren't able to see each other or talk very often (one is in Tampa and the other in Seattle). My women friends have always been so important to me and I have always tried to work at my friendships and not take them for granted. But Wendy and I have a friendship that is in a class by itself. A lot of people feel that the term "soulmate" applies only to romantic love, but Wendy and I both believe we ARE soulmates, without the romance and the sex. (Years ago, before she fell in love with her husband and we were two single 20-something roommates, having a high old time for ourselves, we... Read more →

Two-by-Two Haiku, Part 2

Pray for victims in Saturated river towns; I hear more thunder. I live in Warren County, New Jersey, on the opposite side of the county from Phillipsburg and Belvidere and Easton, PA which are all partially under water today as the Delaware River is several feet above flood stage from top to bottom. Towns and cities farther south are faring no better; beautiful New Hope, PA, which I just LOVE, is completely under water including the Bucks County Playhouse and much of Main Street with it's historic buildings and quirky shops, like the sex toys shop and the witchcraft shop and any number of art galleries and new-agey places. On the Jersey side of New Hope is Lambertville, where right along the river is one of my favorite restaurants, The Lambertville Station. Guess I won't be going there for lunch anytime soon if they're water-logged. Trenton, the state capital, is having problems, too, including having to shut down the water treatment plant. From Upstate NY to Virginia, the stories are the same. Too much rain too quickly. The rain has been happening on a daily basis for over a week and even on days like yesterday and today where the... Read more →

Does this sound like anyone else's ex-boyfriend?

On Borneo Island in Indonesia, a new species of poisonous snake has been discovered. It has chameleon-like skin and can change its skin to match its surroundings, just like the infamous lizards. It occurs to me that this sounds exactly like a few of the men I've dated. You know the ones: they manage slither in under your "loser" radar, blend in with your life almost effortlessly, tell you exactly what you want or need to hear, and then when they have lulled you into a false sense of security and you start to relax, thinking you've finally found such a perfect guy... SNAP! Out come the fangs and before you even know what hit you, it's all over. You're dead meat. Now, if we could just get all the chameleon-like MEN to move to Borneo, they could go and be with their own kind... Read more →

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

Two seemingly unrelated stories that have one important thing in common: Secondhand smoke is a definite killer. It's official: there IS no "safe" level of second-hand smoke, period. Non-smoking sections in restaurants do not prevent its negative effects on non-smokers. Exposure increases an adult's risk of heart disease by 25-30% and cancer by 20-30%. It contributes to SIDS - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. So not only is smoking unpleasant and unattractive, and not only will it kill the one who's doing it, but that person gets to take everyone else around him along for the death ride. It makes me glad that New Jersey has gone "smoke free" in all restaurants, as well as New York City. And it's probably the one major thing I am NOT looking forward to about living in France. Europeans smoke like chimneys and I simply cannot figure out why they are so reluctant to give it up. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Al Gore's new movie and book, "An Inconvenient Truth" are getting big thumbs up from the scientists for accuracy. A friend of mine just saw it over the weekend and raved about it although she said it's pretty scary because you come away feeling like "but... Read more →

The "I don't have anything to say so here's a meme" meme

Taking a page out of Vivi's blog today, and being immersed in some client writing projects, I am too pressed for time and energy to come up with anything really original of my own to blog about today. So here's my variation on this meme-less meme (I left off or changed a few questions that were pointless or didn't apply to me at all). It's a long one so I've put the first 10 on the main page and you'll have to click through to the link to continue through #60. 1. How old do you wish you were? 25, but still knowing what I know now at 45. 2. Where were you when 9/11 happened? This is our generation's "where were you when Kennedy was shot?", isn't it. I was at home in New Jersey, enjoying the piano I purchased just the day before after having gone years without a piano to play. At 10:32am I took a breakfast break, sat down in front of the TV with my cereal and coffee to watch the news... and there it was, New York City in a huge cloud of dust and debris. I thought it was a movie until I... Read more →

When billionaire worlds collide

Fascinating... I just read that Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the world, is planning to donate the bulk of his $44 billion fortune to the charitable foundation run by THE richest man in the world, Bill Gates. And he's not waiting until he's dead to do it, either. He's divesting himself of 85% of his fortune (all in stock in his own company) to the tune of about $37.4 billion, with $31 billion going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as soon as the transfer of stock can be arranged. This essentially doubles the assets of the foundation, which is already the largest grant-making foundation in the U.S. Buffet will also become a trustee of the foundation. I have to say I like the style of these two billionaires. They both know they have more money than they could ever spend in 20 lifetimes and there are only so many material comforts a person really needs anyway. So why not channel all that immense wealth back into the world where it can really do some good? Money is just energy, anyway. And energy needs to flow freely in order to work well. What flows in must flow... Read more →

Decorating dilemmas

This weekend, I went with my mother to visit some showrooms and hardware superstores, because she has decided to do some much-needed remodeling work on the one and only bathroom in the house. Suffice to say, this is going to be hell on earth. Not only because of the inconvenience of the remodel but because of the many decisions that have to be made before we can even get to the inconvenience itself. God, give me strength. This house is 44 years old. My parents built it and moved in when I was about 9 or 10 months old. Over the years, my mother has put in many improvements and had to fix many things that broke or wore out, because such is the life of the homeowner. She had a new roof put on, and the entire house re-sided. She had all the windows replaced with Anderson windows except the one in the bathroom because it was partially set in the shower area with all the tile. Our basement steps used to be exposed to the garage and she had the entire thing enclosed and a pantry closet added. And a few years ago she invested in all new... Read more →

Two-by-Two Haiku

Downpour all day long, Hard, steady, without ceasing. Time to build the Ark? Noah's Ark by Edward Hicks Click here for some appropriate mood music (mp3). Read more →

Patchwork Music

Timing, in music as well as in life, is everything. Just this morning -- before I read the Sunday Scribbling's prompt for the week -- I was flashing back to my high school days, when I was heavily involved in all aspects of the music and performing arts programs at my school. And when I say "heavily" involved, I'm not joking -- I played the xylophone in the concert band and the marching band (click photo: I'm on my knees in the dirt with the rest of the drum line, just to the right of the drum major, down in front). In marching band, we didn't just play at football games, we were in about 5-6 competitions annually, so in the fall and spring we rehearsed daily after school (and even during the summer) and we had three professional drum and bugle corps guys working with us as our choreographers and trainers. It was serious business, and as physical a workout as most team sports get, only with less person-to-person contact (damn, look at that picture! I had to wear knee braces on both knees after the stress of all that marching wore out my young knee-caps. And I'm convinced... Read more →

Something to love about the French

My friend Paris Parfait brought to my attention this morning a really moving story about French families who are risking jail time to shelter the children of illegal immigrant parents who are at great risk being deported due to a government crack-down. Whether or not you have strong feelings on either side of the whole illegal immigrant issue (whether here in the U.S. or elsewhere), I think we can all agree that children are the innocents here: they live where and how their parents decide they will live, and they didn't choose to be "illegal". And in France, many of these illegal immigrants are from war-torn African countries where going back would probably mean a death sentence because of lack of jobs, poor living conditions, political unrest -- and genocide. For many of these children, France is the only home they can even remember, having been very young when their parents first emigrated. So hearing that once again, the French people are stepping up to the plate to hide and protect these children and to give them a chance at a better life in France -- just as many brave French people did in WWII when Jewish children were being... Read more →