The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Mes amis

So, I've been back in New Jersey for a week, and in that time I have shopped, shopped and shopped some more. I still have a few products to buy but for the most part, the shopping phase of this trip is over and done with. There's not much else to DO in this part of New Jersey, quite frankly, except shop and go to chain restaurants. Oh, wait, there IS one more thing to do when I'm here: spend time with my friends. Being able to reconnect with people I have not seen in a year (or in some cases, much longer than that) has been a real joy, the thing that keeps me feeling good about coming back. As I write this, I am camped out at the kitchen table at my best friend Wendy's house; I got here yesterday to get in some quality time with her, her husband, and the four kids. I got to marvel at how each of the kids has grown and changed in the 13+ months since I last saw them; I nearly fainted when the oldest boy VOLUNTARILY hugged me -- he has never been much of a hugger and I... Read more →

Quickly

This is just a super-quick post to say that I'm alive and well and being held hostage in New Jersey. My hair DID get bigger upon arrival but that was really due to the horrible heat and humidity rather than bad taste. Actually, so far the trip has been good. I have bought out Dress Barn, Macy's and Target. I (we) bought my mother a badly-needed new computer yesterday, and after a quick trip just now to Staples to buy a Windows 7-compatible network adaptor (since the old one didn't work with the new PC), we now have a live internet connection and voila! Here I am at last. I've gotten to reconnect with a couple of friends so far (meeting another one in about 2 hours for coffee) and will spend a lot of time this weekend with my best friend and her family. Haven't seen my niece yet as she was busy every night this week after school and now she's at the Shore for the holiday weekend with 20 of her closest friends; ah, to be 17-almost-18 again and have the whole world ahead of you, right? Will update more in a future post... in which I... Read more →

Whirl-winded

WHEW! I am taking a few minutes to actually sit down and blog, in the midst of a very busy few days. We had the Little Guy with us this weekend, plus both the older kids, in a 2-bedroom apartment. The three kids took turns sleeping in the Little Guy's room, on the canape-lit or on an air mattress; we are still experimenting with how all of us can comfortably co-exist in a smaller space, at least for the next few months when the "olders" will be preparing to move out, l'Architecte into a roommate-share here in Paris, and la Fille into an apartment out of town (if she ends up going to school out of town, which she really wants to do, but must wait until July/August for results from her bac/college board tests until anything is officially decided). One thing is already clear; we must spring for a second sofa-bed for our very large salon; the air mattress thing is no one's favorite. So, we'll take care of that when we get back. Get back? Oh, yes... Georges and I are away from Paris for the next TWO weeks. He just left for the airport for his flight... Read more →

Couleurs

The Eglise Saint-Pierre de Montmartre has beautiful stained glass windows. I finally had time to go inside the church for the first time yesterday, with my friend Linda, as we wandered around the Butte with our cameras. If you read her blog, you might eventually see some similar photos to my own. This caught our eye: the beautiful colors washing across the floor and the votive holder. Doesn't this look like someone splattered it with multi-colored paints or candle wax? But no, it was just the sunlight coming through the window. The colorful stained glass reflection in this prayer alcove (perhaps that is a baptismal font?) lit that vase filled with silvery decorative branches, and it positively sparkled! The stained glass behind the main alter of the church. We really hit it at just the right time on a perfect sunny day (around 1pm) to see how magnificent the stained glass windows really are. This stunning window portrays Mary, with Sainte Geneviève enveloped in Mary's robes, in turn holding Notre Dame de Paris in her arms. Geneviève is the patroness of the city of Paris; you can also see a 1920's statue of her high atop a pillar on the... Read more →

Saint Georges

Saint Georges and the vanquished dragon, Sacre Coeur. And you thought this was going to be a photo of my wonderful husband. He's not a saint, but he's a good man who would kill a dragon for me if he had to. Read more →

Gifted

I'm café-writing on the book today for the first time in over a month and need to get back to work, but wanted to take a moment to share the gorgeous birthday gift my darling husband gave me last night. He is truly gifted at choosing the perfect jewelry for me... I love it! Merci, mon coeur! Read more →

Recount

I woke up today when the alarm went off at 7:05am and my husband nudged me to shut it off (I am in charge of the alarm clock so it's on my side of the bed. Just like I am in charge of all household machines like the coffee maker, microwave, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher and washing machine. Georges is in charge of the fun stuff: computers, TVs, radios, iPods and soon, an iPad.) I got up, shuffled off to the kitchen to make breakfast for him and pour coffee for me. We sat down at the table; he ate while I got my daily ass-kicking from this backgammon game on his iPod that seems to have an unfair advantage over the human player, because it wins about 85% of the time. (And yet I keep playing, which shows you what kind of a masochist I can be.) Kids passing through the kitchen looking for coffee, juice, food, then off to school. All life as usual around here at chez Bold Soul for a Wednesday morning. And then, Georges got up, put his arms around me, kissed me many times, and whispered something in my ear, which I didn't hear at... Read more →

Ivy and cobblestones

On a sunny Sunday morning at the corner of rue des Saules and rue Cortot, village de Montmartre, Paris. Read more →

Designated driver

Yes, I drove THIS yesterday. In Paris. And didn't get a scratch on it, either. I have driven in France twice before -- first time, in chateau country when we went to the Touraine for a long weekend, and the second time more recently when I drove my sister-in-law's car (with no power steering) in the south -- but never in Paris. I used to feel a bit intimidated by the idea of driving in Paris, and we don't have a car so it isn't normally an issue. But when we needed to rent a van to move the last of our things into storage, and I said to Georges that I had prior experience driving a big van (from my numerous moves in NJ), he decided I would be the designated driver for this little job. I was a bit relieved when he wasn't even able to rent the largest size van (more of a truck, really) and this van handled very well, but because it was smaller, we had to make two trips plus a stop-off at our new apartment to swap some things in and out. Fortunately, most of the routes we had to take were already... Read more →

Flirting with 50

I am five short days away from my (gulp) 49th birthday. Or, forty-FUCKING-nine, as I am affectionately calling it. I'm not exactly depressed about it, but I am a little bit freaked out. Because after this birthday, I am officially flirting with 50. As in FIVE-OH-MY-GOD, WHERE DID FIVE DECADES GO? If I live to be 100, then I'm half-way there. If I don't make it to 100, then I'm well over that hill already. That is a very strange thing to be aware of. I don't know what I thought 49-almost-50 would feel like, but it's nothing like what I imagined when I was younger. I thought 50 would feel "old", but it doesn't (well, other than the aching joints and back pain and wrinkles and gray hairs, and...) I'm sure others of you who have hit this milestone feel much the same as I do, which is that whatever the changes may be on the outside, on the INSIDE, I still feel like a much, MUCH younger woman. Not a woman in her teens or twenties exactly, but I feel like I'm in my early 30s. I liked my early 30s and felt good at that age, so... Read more →