back in belmont

we are settling back into our house in belmont, on the outskirts of boston.  jj has started school at the local high school.  she pushed her way into french AP - after they had assigned her into french 4, which she found much to easy.  she has her driving learners permit and so far has only driven around empty parking lots.  we had to get a car right away - this being america, so i have leased a honda crv.  lucky for her they only make them with automatic transmission - no shifting!  she is enrolled in an orchestra at New England Conservatory of Music and has found a new violin teacher there as well.

i have returned to working at my old real estate office, hammond, as a sales agent.  if you know anyone moving to the boston/cambridge area, please give them my contact info!  AND i have arranged to have painting space in a studio nearby, starting in october.  i am VERY excited about that.  i will be sharing 800 sq ft in a factory building with 3 other artists among studios housing 75 other artists.  this will be a game changer!  those of you whom i have promised a painting, i will be on it soon! 

p has finally achieved his goal of being unemployed (he was unsuccessful in paris with that).  though he is looking for work, and has had some good leads with some very cool video and web companies nearby.  he unpacked his beer making equipment and started a batch of brew yesterday.  i need to design labels. one idea is to call it "obama brew".  it should be ready for election day.

and lastly, maynard made the transatlantic journey with us.  we were very lucky with the weather and the day we traveled was the first that the temperature dropped in boston to an allowable 75 degrees.  i think that his air traveling days are done, though i do tell people he's been to more countries than most congressmen.  he is very happy with his outdoor space, wandering out freely to lie in the grass, basking in the sun.  squirrels are plentiful.

of COURSE, we miss paris, terribly.  was it just a dream?  i have decided to try to organize champagne tastings here to make me less sad. 

pisa, one year later

so we're back in pisa, a little more than a year after our last trip.  ryanair, relatively cheap tickets.  of course by the time i booked them with the dates i preferred, it was more than twice the price.  but still, 100 something euros roundtrip each is reasonable.  we are on our way to the cinque terre - along the coast - 5 small towns with foot paths between them and a railroad.  i booked it and THEN found out about the disastrous mudslides last fall.  they are repairing the damage.  many footpaths closed, don't even know if the railroad is totally working...  

this morning in paris, i went to conversation group in the form of a champagne party given by the russian lady who just got french citizenship, she cooked us all an authentic russian lunch including her own home made marinated salmon, piroskas and more.   i had to leave early to rush home to pick up my bag to head to meet the family and go to beauvais airport.  we arrived in pisa approx 6 hours door to door from paris.  within a half an hour after the plane touched the ground and after a quick 10 euro taxi ride,  we  were in our hotel room . same hotel as last year.  we went to the same recommended restaurant - the one with the campy large photocreations of the saints.  we had our well anticipated pasta, some of the same dishes as last year, like the excellent gnocchi.  and then gelato on the street. and a walk around that crazy leaning tower and the other church buildings next to it.

my art show;octopus

p helped me hang my art show this morning in a restaurant near eiffel tower.  was fun but we had to hurry.  we started at 11 and by 11:20 the staff were hurrying us to finish before the lunch clientelle came in.  i will have an "opening"  party on thursday.  have sent out at least 150 invitations (electronic and hard copy...)

went to talk to an art gallery on ile st louis - one that i had seen before with paintings in the same sort of style as mine.  they weren't interested...  but met a guy working there whose name i had run across before.  he runs an outdoor painting session in paris.  connected well with him and will talk further about art matters.

bought an octopus in the marche and am cooking it now.  never done it before.  want to make an octopus salad.  should be interesting...

first day of spring; french shopkeeper

i am behind in my blogging. but i HAD to put this in right away.

i know the french are accused of being terrible at being shopkeepers. i am usually quite forgiving of them. one of the guide books said you must understand and accept that they are doing you a favor in waiting on you.

today i went into a small office supply shop. i usually don’t go in the smaller shops because they are always more expensive. but at the same time, as p says, we need to support the small businesses. this shop is just around the corner from our apartment. i needed some printer paper and large envelopes. i went in, leaving maynard, the dog, obediently sitting outside. the lady was on the phone, behind the counter. i waited politely. several minutes passed and she made NO eye contact to let me know she was aware of my presence in the shop (standing, waiting in front of her). she made quiet “hmm, oui, hmm” noises on the phone and it did not seem to be a business call. it seemed to be a long friend discussion. she clicked her mouse on the computer. i figured she was doing some work at the same time, so very occupied. i waited some more. no eye contact, no acknowledgement of my presence. i waited some more and started to wonder whether she was doing this on purpose. i peeked over at her computer screen that held her attention. she was playing solitaire... so i took the hint and walked out. i have to admit i am shocked and shocked. totally rude! i won’t go back. in france, as p explains, it is not a “service” economy. in the US, the “customer is always right” and if you serve them well, they will come back and spend more money. here it is about the employees. the jobs are there to give them money to live. the world revolves around them and their hours, not around how well the job is done. i know this is not really true, but it certainly seems like that sometimes!

meanwhile, the first day of spring was lovely. flowers and trees are blooming. the weather was sunny with temperatures around 60. it promises to get warmer through the week. i taught an art lesson this morning in our apartment. we did pen and ink drawings (using felt tips) using cross hatching. trying to force the students to think in terms of light and dark tones. even though one could get more uptight about not being able to erase, i was hoping it would make them loosen up a bit instead. afterwards, we worked in color conte crayons, which are like pastels, but slightly harder. this is the first time we have used color. the still life was vegetables – eggplant, red pepper, carrots and zucchini, on a bright yellow/orange tablecloth, so the color exercise was appropriate. it all worked very well.

afterwards, i rushed off to my first french lesson at a school many of the expats use. i want to really try a last gasp effort in improving my french before we move back. the class was full of middle aged english speaking women... like me. the class was ok, but i’m not sure if i’ll go with it or not. there are only around 8 lessons because of the way the holidays and vacation fall and maybe i should get a tutor instead (for less money!). the schedule is a little tight with my art class.

art, food, leaks and spa

went to art gallery to an exhibit organized by a school mom, of photographs of egyptian rebels of the “arab spring”. the photographer lit the photos dramatically, like caravaggio; they were beautiful, but it was quite the aggressive sales pitch. she had said there would be a gallery talk of “contemporary art market”, but it was instead all about the quality of the photographs, how long they would last and why one should buy one.

afterwards went to the hammam with louise.  the hammam is a public steam bath in the mosque of paris. part of the muslim culture.  it was very “middle eastern” in its worn off paint. i hadn’t been in decades and wasn’t sure of the protocol. we used to go to the japanese spa in san francisco together. so we just got naked and put our clothes into the locker – which cost 1 euro to lock. we walked out into the room and saw that everyone was wearing bathing suit bottoms and some bathing suit tops. hmm. not sure if we’re making a faux pas here, being totally naked, but we weren’t going to spend an extra euro each to open up the lockers. so we just wrapped our towels on our bottom halves. we just went to the various steam rooms. i didn’t get a massage or gommage. the last time i had that, in morocco last year, they scrubbed and scrubbed my skin very hard, and it HURT! so i decided that i wasn’t into it this time. we just sat and sweat. afterwards, we had mint tea in the tea room. came home and painted.

got sick of the leak in the kitchen so went to the hardware store to find some pieces to hack a solution. want to run the water down to the sink. i ended up using tarp taped into a tube and guided the water straight down to the sink. it worked perfectly. now no more emptying plastic containers twice a day! made dinner – salmon teriyaki. bought more cheese for the appreciative maguires. got some st marcelin, brebis, edam with cumin seeds, and reblochon. we were talking and their oldest daughter c, turns 18 soon. so incredible. she was saying she wanted a big present for her big birthday. her parents said “present! what do you mean, present? you’re going to have to start paying rent!” i laughed and then said, “yes, that could be the present – first month free!”. it has been so much fun having them here. we hadn’t seen them in so long and we have laughed a lot.

more art and food

went with maguires to musee d’orsay, then popped over to the louvre food court for lunch – not too cheap. came home to paint

art and food

taught art class – worked on colored paper and conte crayons – still life. 

afterwards, i painted – working on horse. 

 for dinner we and the maguires had oysters and champagne, milanese veal prepared by the butcher, roast eggplant, red pepper, and feta pasta; good cheese plate – epoisse, camembert, comte, rocamadore chevre, st emilion wine . delicious and fun to share.