The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

70's chic at 11

Something both painful and laughable at the same time: my 6th grade class photo. I was 11 years old. My best friend was Claire (red dress, upper left) and we were both boy-crazy. Problem was... SHE pretty much always got the boys! There were two in our class she liked that year (I won't point out which ones and they ALL have bad hair, but then again that was the 70's). I remember she had one boy's ID bracelet (the 6th grade 1970's equivalent of "going steady") and one day she and I went for a walk in the alfalfa field near our house. She picked some alfalfa and then tossed it away, sort of absentmindedly -- and the ID bracelet went FLYING in the air, landing yards away in a sea of green vegetation. We trampled half the alfalfa field looking for it until the farmer saw us and came out to yell at us and chase us away (he asked for our names so he could call our parents, and we gave him fake ones!) We never did find that ID bracelet and she had to explain it to her boyfriend. On the other hand while I rarely... Read more →

Why dogs are easier than cats (or, Why I'm afraid to take the cat to the vet)

... because the vet might tell me she needs to take some pills. My mother forwarded this to me this morning (she knows all about Clachat) and I nearly peed my pants laughing. Don't know the original source. How to Give a Cat a Pill 1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow. 2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process. 3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away. 4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten. 5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden. 6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear... Read more →

FaceSpace, Twitted-In, MyBook and Other Tales of Confusion

So yeah, I'm on Facebook. Is there anyone who is NOT on Facebook these days? Ditto for Twitter. And MySpace. And LinkedIn. And Plaxo (but only because other people I know kept sending me requests to join because THEY were using it). And what I want to say right now about these so-called "social networking" sites is this: STOP THE FREAKING INTERNET... I WANT TO GET OFF! These sites, and others like them that keep cropping up nearly every week (it seems to me) are making me nuts. Don't get me wrong, I have been a big fan of the Internet since the beginning of it, way before most people were even aware the World Wide Web existed. I have made a damn fine living off the Internet in one way or another since 1992. I'm what you might call a "power user" of the Internet, having been a web developer for a long time. I've booked vacations, shopped online, and made good friends via the Internet... and best of all, the Internet is how I met my wonderful husband. So the Internet is a part of my life and I barely remember what life was like before it came... Read more →

Love, Franco-American Style

Here it is again, February 14th. The second biggest Hallmark holiday of all -- at least in America, where Valentine's Day is the day the florists, bakeries and greeting card sellers often make the most money of any holiday period all year long. I used to hate, hate, hate Valentine's Day in America because inevitably I was sans romantic partner and had to watch all the women I worked with as they smugly accepted their deliveries of a dozen (or more) roses and balloons at the office. Bah, humbug! Of course, I'm a lot more friendly toward Valentine's Day NOW... for obvious reasons. It doesn't matter to me one iota whether or not I get flowers or a gift from Georges (even though it's certainly nice if I do); it's just the idea of having the one I love next to me that counts the most. We both like to be acknowledged on this day just as on our birthdays or Christmas. And this is our first "married" Valentine's Day, too! We have the Little Guy with us for the weekend, so we may end up spending the evening right here (unless we can guilt one of the teens into... Read more →

A Moving Room with a View

One of the things I love about train travel is what I call "window time" -- those minutes when, instead of reading, talking to your neighbor, or sleeping, you just find yourself staring out the window at the passing scenery. Train travel in my native northern New Jersey has little to recommend it in terms of scenic interest, but my periodic jaunts around France and other parts of Europe are often fascinating. I can sit for hours, simply hypnotized by whatever is flashing past me outside my window. Where else, on just one five-hour journey across France, could you see all of the following as you move from south to north: Palm trees and sunshine in the Var Fishing boats bobbing in the Mediterranean Sea Terracotta tile roofs on pastel-painted buildings A Roman arène Views of distant southern mountains on the Cote d'Azur... with snowy tops! Church towers and spires with open ironwork bell towers on top (built that way to ensure they won't topple over when the mistral blows) A view of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde (the Sacre Coeur of Marseilles), the old fort at the harbor and the notorious Chateau d'If Crumbling monastery ruins hanging on precarious cliffs Perched villages in... Read more →

How to drive others crazy on a train trip... because Crazy is clearly your destination

Talk incessantly on your cell phone from the moment you sit down to the moment you leave the train at the terminus in Marseilles: 2 hours. Never mind that it is 8 o'clock on a Monday morning and everyone else is quietly trying to sleep. While you are talking, laugh out loud and make frequent gasping noises to punctuate your conversation, because you are clearly having one of the most entertaining chats of your life. While laughing out loud, every so often you must slap your knee and double over with the hilarity of what you are saying or hearing. Be so annoying that the girl sitting next to you gets up and changes her seat. Everyone else around you, if they're lucky enough to have one, turns up the volume on their iPods and MP3 players to drown you out... but it's still not enough. Talk with your hands as if the person you're speaking to is right in front of you. Because the volume of your conversation isn't nearly annoying enough to everyone around you. While waiting in the queue of people to depart the train, continue your animated and apparently now one-sided conversation... because as it turns... Read more →

Family time

We're off to the South to spend some time with some of Georges' family members, one of whom has been very ill. Posting will be light, if at all... but I'd really appreciate everyone sending some good thoughts and prayers to his family right now. Merci and I'll be back early next week for sure. Read more →

The last thing you'd expect to see in downtown Paris

... a shipwreck and a lighthouse. And it's no where near the Seine or any body of water. It's actually just down the street from my old apartment in the 15ème, next to a seafood market and just adjacent to the Montparnasse railroad lines. I see that someone has thoughtfully scribbled some graffiti on the lighthouse, too. Read more →

Be the Author... of Your Own Life™

Well, I've gone and done it. I've started a second blog. Actually, this is/was an e-mail newsletter I've been publishing periodically, in various incarnations, since 1998 or 1999, but I recently migrated it to the blog platform for easier management. It's called "Be the Author... of Your Own Life™". It focuses on both the challenges of writing boldly, and of living boldly. Here's an excerpt from the most recent post, in which you can catch me thinking out loud about my struggle with writer's block: I think the problem is fear. It might sound odd to say that "fear" is at the root of my writer's block, that fear is what causes me to waste hours playing computer games or surfing the 'Net or hanging around Facebook when I should be writing. But I think fear is what's behind it all. But fear of what? I think I am afraid to be brilliant. There, I've said it. Somewhere in the core of my soul, I know that I am a brilliant writer. Maybe not brilliant in a way that will someday win me a Pulitzer -- I'm not a literary type of writer -- but in my own unique way,... Read more →

Reader Mail #1 - Dressing for the Temps d'Hiver

Sometimes I get emails or comments from readers with general questions about visiting (or living in) Paris or France, and I decided to make a new blog category to address these. (So, if you find that your original comment was deleted and "upgraded" to a Reader Mail post, you'll know why!) Today, it's all about the cold weather and how to prepare for it. C.J. writes: "I am heading to Paris Saturday until Monday with my sister---am getting nervous with all this snow! What is it really like at the moment? Any helpful packing hints, please?" It's true, we had snow again yesterday, but nothing like we had last month where it stayed cold and frozen for a week afterward. Yesterday's morning snow was nearly rained out by noon. It HAS been colder again the past few days, but remember it's February and that's normal for northern Europe. Still, I haven't noticed the winter weather dampening the resolve of tourists to come to Paris... they're everywhere, comme d'habitude. So don't be nervous... just make sure to bring a warm coat and dress in layers. I've been wearing a tank top or T-shirt (sometimes long-sleeved) underneath my normal shirts or sweaters,... Read more →