The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

In Passing

Marion C. Huff September 16, 1912 - December 28, 2007 Age: 95 well-lived years Mother of two, grandmother of five (including one Bold Soul), great-grandmother of six. Former minister's wife, and export manager for electronics company in the 1960s, a time when women rarely did jobs like that. She traveled throughout Europe during those years, and was in Paris on the day I was born. She brought back a christening dress -- my first Paris "gown"! -- and a lace handkerchief that she put aside for my wedding day (finally giving it to me a few years ago, realizing perhaps that day might not come or she might not be around to see it). She made many friends, was musically gifted as an organist, soprano and church choir soloist, and also wrote poetry and did beautiful embroidery work especially during the last 25 years of her life when she "had more time". Her smile was one of her best features. Blue was her favorite color. I will miss her, but it's lovely to know I've got someone else up there on my side. Read more →

Lights-mare

OK, I think this house gets my vote for most tackily over-done decorations in the neighborhood, although it really could be a tie with the house across the street. The house in the above image has the word NOEL in electric lights on the roof, the blow-up Santa gift-train as well as another couple of blow-up things you can't see from this angle, several reindeer and lights draped on every tree, shrub and fence. And the sad part is, neither of these are even the WORST decorating job I've ever seen in New Jersey. But you get the general idea. Read more →

First Christmas Cadeaux

Undaunted by being 3,700 miles apart, Georges and I decided to exchange just one gift today, long distance -- then we'll have the rest of our Christmas celebration on New Year's Eve with the kids back in Paris. I'll be righteously jet-lagged, but too overjoyed to care. So I gave him his gift before I left, all wrapped and ready to go, and he did the same. I've been eyeing my cute little package with great curiosité for the past two weeks, but staunchly and faithfully resisted the impulse to peek. I've also been very eager to watch him open my gift to him, as I knew he'd love it. Like a young child on Christmas morning, I spontaneously woke up at 5:30 am this morning on pure instinct (I had PLANNED to wake up an hour later) and logged onto my laptop and Skype. A few minutes later, Georges logged onto Skype, too. It's like one of us just knows the other one is there, waiting -- this has happened a few times over the past couple of weeks of our travels, where we plan a time to meet online and then we both show up early. So since... Read more →

Itinéraire de Noel

My Christmas Itinerary: Now: having breakfast and coffee (American "jus de chaussette") Just finished: Talking to Georges online using Skype and web-cam. Found out that his 6-year-old is getting too smart for him: the plan was, while the Boy was having his evening bath, that Père Noel would come and quickly leave the cadeaux under the tree -- he's a sneaky one, that Père Noel. This is the way it has been done in years past. But THIS year the Boy has insisted on having his bath in the MORNING so that he can CATCH Father Christmas right in the act. Hmmmm... there must now be a Plan B. Bonne chance, mon amour... Shortly: shower, get dressed, pack up my stuff (I've been staying at my sister's over the weekend but due to imminent arrival of her two sisters-in-law and their two dogs, I need to go back to my mother's place tonight). Return a bottle of Australian Shiraz I bought the other day because I did not notice that the FOIL had already been ripped away by someone! Merde! Quels crapules! How dare they try and sell a bottle of wine that someone "nearly" opened and then returned?! Go... Read more →

The (Not So) Bold Mascot

This is Madison -- Maddie for short -- the recent addition to my sister's family. She's a 9-month old Golden Retriever, and right now she is taking a siesta after a very difficult morning of hiding from the vacuum cleaner and trying to eat anything that isn't nailed down. She is small for a Golden and definitely still all puppy at heart. And she is the sweetest-natured dog... just needs a bit more Dog Whisperer training to teach her who's the boss. Read more →

Painful, even to look at

What's in my 10x15 storage unit in NJ right now: What I think I will end up shipping to France in a few months: 4 dining chairs 1 antique pedestal side table 1 antique enameled metal-top table (to use as a desk) 1 country French coffee table and matching sofa table/credenza 1 pine entertainment center 1 decorative mirror 10-15 boxes of dishes, cookware/utensils, Christmas ornaments, the rest of my books and assorted personal items. Everything else (maybe even that pine entertainment armoire that you can't even SEE in this photo 'cuz it's buried in the far back corner) will either get sold at a yard sale, given to friends, donated to charity or (as in the case of about 10 boxes of old files) tossed in the trash. It's amazing how much stuff you can suddenly decide to do without when it comes to paying for international shipping. The only other thing I might consider shipping is if I want to buy a new bed here and have it shipped over. So far, I'm not impressed with the quality of French mattresses, and they are super expensive. Plus, bedding is very pricey in France and I can get nice stuff... Read more →

Phet bast-ard!

While running into the liquor store to pick up some Yellowtail Australian Shiraz for our Christmas dinner, I wandered by accident down the French wine aisle and started browsing to see if anything looked familiar. Nothing did... and then I spotted THIS chubby bugger, "Fat Bastard" Shiraz, by Thierry & Guy. YES, this is an actual FRENCH wine, with a simple yet charming label of a hippo on it. This is a 2006 vintage. Back label reads: The Origin of the Fat bastard. Good friends Thierry (renowned French winemaker) & Guy (British wine industry rebel) created Fat Bastard almost by accident. It started out as an experiment Thierry had been doing in the back of his cellar, leaving a barrel "on the lees" (yeast cells). He didn't know what to expect but when the friends tried the wine, Thierry exclaimed... "Now zat iz what you call eh Phet bast-ard!" (read with a strong French accent) This very British expression perfectly describes the wine's wonderful color and ROUND, rich palate, so that's what they called it. No one remembers exactly where the hippo came from. We'll be sampling this over the next few days and if it's any good I may... Read more →

Santa Sighting 2007

Where is Santa Claus on Christmas Eve? How close is he to YOUR house? Aren't you just dying to know? Père Noel, as he is known in France, is a very busy guy, and he has to move fast (apparently, in France, he travels by Vespa). Find out where he is in his annual global flight, along with Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen (and of course, Rudolph!) by visiting the NORAD Santa Sighting site! Available in English, French - mais bien sûr - German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, so take your pick. You can even add a little tracker widget to your Google dashboard with a countdown (just one day and 19 hours now!) And while you're waiting for the big event, NORAD has provided all sorts of games and things to do on the site, so enjoy while you're taking a break from baking cookies and wrapping presents! Joyeux Noel, tout le monde! Read more →

Demi

Today marks 9 days since I've been back in NJ... and away from Georges. In 9 more days, I board a flight back to Paris. We are at the halfway mark. The first few days weren't so bad. I had my grandmother to visit, and the fun of seeing my mom, sister, brother-in-law and the kids again. There has been Christmas shopping and bring-back-to-Paris shopping. Shoveling snow. Making plans with friends for the rest of the vacation. So I've been busy enough. The past two or three days, though... I am really feeling it, the separation. And it's harder than I thought it would be. I get a little emotional at odd moments in the day, or sometimes when I'm talking to Georges and see him looking at me in that way he has, and next thing you know I'm scrambling for the Kleenex. Even my subconscious is with Georges. I spontaneously woke up at 3am today (and I'm well over the jet lag now) and realized I could log on and wait for Georges to come online at work... so that's what I did. And I will rush back here this afternoon after having coffee with a friend, because... Read more →

You are missed by me

One of the (many) conundrums of the French language is the way one would say "I miss you", as in "I long for you" (not as in "I tried to shoot you but I missed! Now stand still so I don't waste another bullet!") The verb "to miss/long for" is manquer. And that's easy enough, right? Well, you'd think so, but you'd be wrong. For some bizarre reason, in French you do NOT say "Je te manque" as in "I miss you", the way you would construct a normal sentence in French to describe something YOU are doing, saying or feeling for another person, where you would usually start the sentence with "I" as the subject pronoun. So I would not say, par example, "Je manque Georges" (I miss Georges). Even though DAMMIT!!! I DO miss Georges! More than I can even think about without crying. Again. Like I have done a little every single day since I got here. No, instead, this twisted but beautiful language asks me to phrase my longing for Georges in another way. I must say "Tu me manques". The pronoun order is completely reversed, which changes the meaning of the verb entirely. So when... Read more →