The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

And there was much rejoicing (yay!)

As you can see -- The Bold Soul™ is BACK online, where it belongs! Cue the fireworks: My apologies for the outage, which lasted more than 24 hours (longest in my 9-year history). In short, here's what happened. My web hosting company that I've been doing business with for many years (which does not host this blog) was sold last month to a new hosting company; the wonderful owner decided to retire due to some health concerns. I had it set up with my old host to point "theboldsoul.com" to the blog, which is hosted by Typepad. In the transition between the two companies, some technical changes needed to be made, but somehow in the process they "misplaced" the link between the domain name and the blog itself. Having worked in I.T. for a whole lot of years, I know that sometimes these things happen during a transition such as this one, although it was frustrating when I found myself trying to explain to the new support guys what I thought they needed to do in this special case, and either they weren't quite getting it or else there was some other info I/they were lacking that only the original... Read more →

Crazy Jersey

This year's homecoming visit has been the biggest emotional roller coaster yet. I have been very good about NOT stress-eating, but is it too late to start stress-drinking? Read more →

Inspired by those Russian nesting dolls... and Napoleon's tomb

Sometimes, I even amaze myself when I get ideas like this. Especially when it means I can metaphorically flip the airlines the bird. Read more →

Perception

One of the often-discussed topics in our household and among my friends here in Paris are the differences between certain every-day things in America and here in France. There are things that we Americans take for granted that other people just find strange. But they're not necessarily what you might expect. I'm sure the reverse is true as well: travelers to France will also find some of the differences a bit odd or funny or even annoying. So reading this article on "30 Non-Americans on the American Norms They Find Weird" was something I could (a) relate to, (b) agree with much of, and (c) laugh my ass off about. And I decided to weigh in on this list myself. Bread being too sweet in America. Georges has often told me he thinks many American products are over-sugared, but his biggest complaint about American bread is "THAT'S not really BREAD". In America, bread comes in a plastic bag and it's square and mushy; in France they call this "pain de mie" with the "mie" being the soft stuff inside the crust. But real "pain"/bread in France? Comes from a bakery oven, is fresh and crusty, with no preservatives and yes,... Read more →

Middle Age of Reason

Best reason yet not to procrastinate when you're over 50. Read more →

Oh the noise, noise, noise, noise

I think the Grinch expressed it best (click to listen): No wonder he was such a cranky prick. Those Whos were pretty damn loud, if you ask me. In Paris, every building is required to undergo a good cleaning every 10-15 years. So on nearly every street, you will see at least one building covered by scaffolding so that the ravalement can take place. The buildings look great when they're done, so pretty and bright and fresh, you can see the lovely details in all the stonework, if there is any. But the process? Is sheer hell for the residents and neighbors. Clouds of dust hover over the street and fall onto cars. Dusty, dirty water cascades onto the sidewalk and leaves residue for passers-by to step around (or in). The people living in the building can't open their windows for weeks, because they are sealed shut by protective plastic (not to mention that you've got workmen peeking in your windows all day long). But the worst? Is the noise. The NOISE! Oh the noise, Noise, NOISE, NOISE!!! It begins shortly after 8am every weekday, and continues unabated until about 5pm or so, except for the lunch break (which, being... Read more →

You know it's serious when Ikea stops selling meatballs

Possibly you've been following the Great European Horsemeat-disguised-as-Beef Scandal of 2013? If you haven't, let me get you up to speed. People in some countries (France among them) do voluntarily eat horsemeat. To those of us from countries where this is simply not "done", I know it may seem wrong that people are choosing to consume horsemeat instead of something more "usual" like beef, pork, lamb or chicken, but for the purposes of this story let's just agree that people eat a lot of odd things in different parts of the world -- including bugs, snakes and monkeys -- so we're not here to judge. So, yes, in France, some people do choose to eat horsemeat, and it's not a secret. In fact, you can go to certain butchers who advertise that they sell horsemeat along with all the other meats: Not a horse hotel but a butcher selling both beef AND horsemeat, Rue de Poteau, Paris 18ème The scandal has erupted all over Europe, not because horsemeat is bad for you or because someone was selling tainted horsemeat (I take that second part back; in the midst of all this someone DID sell horsemeat tainted with a horse drug... Read more →

And another one down

My sister doesn't usually read my blog (at least, I don't THINK she does), and therefore she won't see this post. But I'm going to go ahead and put a big old "Happy Birthday, Sue!" out there anyway. Why? Why bother, if she won't even see it? Because my little sister has turned 50 today! FIFTY! This adorable curly-top red-head has clocked 50 years. Could we be any cuter? But what was my mother thinking, buying that butt-ugly "Early American" sofa? And another one bites the dust. This means that my mother's two children are now both in their 50s (and my mom will turn 80 in December). In June, my brother-in-law's youngest sibling, also a sister, will turn 50 as well, and then ALL of us in our family - of our generation in the family tree and on both sides of the Atlantic - will be over 50. After this year, Georges will have the next major milesone in 2014. Oh, la. We are now all officially over that proverbial and really annoying hill. That hill where, once you're on the other side of it, everything starts to hurt, to change, to dry up, to fall out, to... Read more →

Counting the days

Every year in January, it seems that I find my self counting the days until it's February. Not that I love February so much, but it's NOT JANUARY. And being NOT JANUARY means the days start getting noticably longer and warmer, and we're one month closer to spring. I've tried in the past to make January about something more interesting than simply killing time until February. But so far, short of escaping to somewhere tropical for the entire month (which we aren't in a position to do), I haven't really come up with anything that has worked. So now, I just sort of accept it with as much good grace as I can muster: I hate January and I will always be happy for it to be over. Feel free to wave at me through your computer screen if you feel the same. I hadn't noticed the title of the film being advertised on this Spectacles billboard when I shot this photo last week. But now it seems appropriate: the snow has since melted but Paris is still so very grey, and we could sure use some Happiness Therapy, Bradley Cooper. While I'm waiting for NOT JANUARY to arrive, I... Read more →

It's a small, small, hotter-than-hell world

We're away on a weekend mini-break to Disneyland Paris in the highest temperatures to hit Paris so far this year. The friggin' canicule has arrived. Why NOW?! We had crap weather in Paris all summer until a couple of weeks ago (when we had already left for sunnier shores). So now, the one weekend when we just needed it to be pleasant, what with standing in lines and so on... ugh. Well, I'm hoping the happiest place on earth will still make me happy with 90-degree temperatures. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney. I just hate the heat. Hence the advance whining. If you don't hear from me again, it means I most likely expired on the It's a Small World ride. And if THAT isn't like dying and going straight to hell, I don't know what is. And because I want to share my own personal hell with you, here you go. Now that song (and it's in French) will be stuck in YOUR head all day, too. You're welcome. Read more →