Tel Aviv

Jet lag is a thing of the past...I think. We don't have time to enjoy lagging; we are moving.
Our condo is great - two bedrooms, two baths with water heated by sunlight during the day and electtricity by night.

Yesterday was our first day on the town. We met up with our guide, Pamela Levene, on the boardwalk. Her daughter works at a restaurant where everything is made fresh on the premises. We had a typical Israeli breakfast with eggs, cheese, tuna, pickles, fresh bread and muffins. Delicious. Fishermen were on the wharf fishing while we ate. A gorgeous white egret sat on the railing watching them fish -- apparently he watches the fishermen until they catch something and then swoops down and nabs the fish. Unfortunately for us the fishermen never caught anything! Two other guys were out in the rolling sea on a very flat boat with nets and oars and they were fishing as well. It was impressive to watch them fish (standing) through the swells.

We got a big lesson about the building of the port and then hopped in a taxi to go to the far end of the port to end up in the Armenian section of Old Jaffa (famous for those Jaffa oranges). We popped into a little shop that was really interesting. A young married couple bought the shop and then began to renovate it. As they stripped off all of the plaster a very old structure was revealed with the shop having a definite divide -- completely made of rock but from two different time periods. they uncovered a tiled floor that was originally a turkish bath a thousand or so years ago. They had an ancient Roman helmet hanging by the doorway but were not convinced it was original -- really old but they had found it at a flea market and could not verify its age. When they went to put in some air conditioning they found another room and old pottery shards and bones were in there was they did the excavation. It was very cool.

We went by an area near by that is being excavated and they had found ancient mud bricks which are actually made out of mud and straw. Apparently some sort of chemical reaction takes plae when you mix straw and mud together which makes the bricks very strong and durable. The've been buried underground now for a thousand or more years and are still intact. When the Jews were enslaved and forced to go to Egypt a lot of them were put to work making mud bricks but the Pharoah got a kick out of not allowing straw to be put into the bricks....therefore the bricks would fall apart which allowed him to have the Jews beaten or worse. Sadistic little devils, weren't they?

Our tour guide talked so much that we all started to go crazy. Abe shut down, I shut down and so did Ashleigh. However, she was completely oblivious. Benj has been touring Europe on his own all year with only a guide book so he really enjoyed all the information she was giving out. Maybe if it hadn't been hot we would have been more into it. We started to get giddy. I don't think she once thought that we weren't into all the info she was handing out -- such as about the Shoelace, or Shoeless or Shuliss family....they were responsible for getting people to start moving out of Jaffa int oa new neighbourhood with a new style of houses in the late 1800's. We just didn't care. A plot was hatched....a lie was told....we had to be done by 4 for dinner (dinner wasn't actually until 7....THE NEXT DAY)...but we had to get away from her.

Oh cannot forget this....we stopped for a lemonade in themiddle of the day in a small Arab juice bar. I kid you not but this man did not like us. He was very rude, wouldn't answer our questions and just basically gave us a very hard time. However, we were too tired to get up and move so we endured his abuse and just hoped the glasses were clean. Benj watched him chopping carrots to make carrot juice and a big carrot fell on the floor.....he noticed Benj watching him and so kicked the carrot away but we are pretty sure it got picked up later and added to the carrot pile for the next batch of juice. The best was yet to come. A young boy of about 18 was working there. As he walked by to the juicing machine Ashleigh noticed that not only did he have his pants sagged...they were sagged BELOW his ass and he had on no underwear. Well this provided us with a lot of hilarity for the next while.

We caught a cab back to the Marina. A drink was suggestsed and Ashleigh and I practically dove into the bottle. We only meant to have a glass or two but two turned into three which turned in four and then we thought we were the funniest people on the planet. Basically we were just burning off stress from the day with the guide! Smadar (ex sister-in-law) joined us with her daughter, Yael, and off we went to dinner. The marina is a great place as you are on the sea, the breeze is always lovely, there are tons of choices of restaurants, and the sun setting over the sailboats is extremely beautiful. As you enter the marina shopping area the security guard checks your bag and that's it. It feels very safe. I asked Ashleigh how she felt and she said safety hasn't entered her mind since she arrived...my experience exactly. She was only surprised with how modern everything is -- but then we haven't been to Jerusalem yet for her to see the ancient parts of the city.

Tomorrow night is Nuit Blance as we call it or White Night....and the celebration will be celebrating the 100 years of Tel Aviv's existance. Music, food, and celebrations will be everywhere. Security will be tight. We intend to go but we need to stay awake until at least 10 p.m. before we even think of going out.

Benj has gone out every night with Yael and her friends. Bonfires on the beach, ice cream at ice cream bars, birthday parties, a barbeque for someone else...he's really getting the idea of what life is like for 20 somethings in Israel. Ashleigh wants to do it but she falls apart every night with fatigue....still jetlag I think.

Yael now has her ticket to come to the U.S. She will fly out one day after us and go straight to TX and then we will go to Phoenix and drive up to Telluride. she's excited. I'm sure she's a bit shocked to hear that there was potentila snow falling in Telluride yesterday.

We had to cancel our guide for Day Three. We just couldn't handle the thought of having her with us overnight. Don't get me wrong. She's brilliant and really well informed.....she just burned us out. We worked out a good cancellation fee and it is a fait accomplit.....just us plus JAck for the Dead Sea and Camels. I think it is a good decision.

My photos are not going up on to facebook the way I want. The computer is not uploading them properly. I'm really annoyed. However, I'll keep trying.

Israel – we are here.

We flew out of Tx on Friday night at 5 and made it to Toronto almost 40 minutes early. I guess the winds were good. Ashleigh was waiting for us and we headed to the lounge and immediately enjoyed a glass of wine together. We sat around just sharing family chat and were all grateful that Jim’s GM dealership had survived the big cut in Canada. Ashleigh shared how devastated they are for all of the
GM families they have been friends with throughout the past 30 years who are now without a livelihood. It made us all very pensive and empathetic. For Jim and Karen these are not just people to read about in the newspaper these are their friends and life has taken a drastic turn.
Our plane was right on time and we settled in to our seats. My seatmate was an incredibly intelligent man who has roamed the world working for External Affairs as an architect building Canadian embassies. He and his wife and children are on Ba ‘Hai pilgrimage to Haifa. The spent four years living in Israel contributing their talents to the construction of the terraced gardens of the Ba’Hai temple. To anyone who has never seen this wonder of the world – if you get the chance GO. It is an amazing building and the terraced gardens are one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
Abe was chatting with a fellow who creates serious Canadian documentaries for the CBC so he had
Some interesting talks as well. Ashleigh had planned to spend the night sitting up watching her portable DVD player with a large set of films she had but her drink and a sleeping pill knocked her out for the night (although she swore she hardly slept)….Abe and I bet to differ. Anyone who can pull their hoodie up over their head, snuggle in to their massaging neck wrap, lower their seat back the ¼ inch of allowed space we all got, and then place her feet upon her tray and not move for 9 hours…well I think they are sleeping. We all skipped dinner and dozed off. Since our flight was 11 ½ hours long and when we woke up we only had 1 ½ hours left of flying time…it was delightful. The look on Ashleigh’s face when she asked the time was absolutely priceless…., gee, maybe I did sleep, she said.
Jack picked us up at the airport. Benj’s flight with Iberia had gotten in really early. He and Jack and David (cousin) all had coffee and two hours passed quickly as Benj sold them all idea on the idea of selling everything and moving to Spain. Next thing they knew we were there.
Our worry had been that Abe is supposed to enter Israel on his Israeli passport and he had not checked its expiry date. It expired LAST YEAR. A few beads of sweat had appeared on Abe’s forehead as he mulled this fact periodically on the way to the airport, on the flight, and up to the kiosk to speak to the immigration officer. She was NOT impressed. When she picked up the phone to make a couple phone calls we all thought Abe was going to be refused entry into the country even though he had a valid Canadian passport. After raking him over the coals for a while and treating him as if he was a bit of of idiot, she let us in. Our niece, Yael, has agreed to take him to the appropriate government office to do the renewal today…..he can’t LEAVE without a valid passport at this point. However, we are here and al is well.

We went for the big traditional meal at Abe’s parents – chicken, pasta, hummus pancakes (yes they can be done and they are great), and other vegetarian pancake things that Judy seemed to have invented that were delicious. We had just had BREAKFAST on the plane so we weren’t hungry but man did we eat as the food was so wonderful. As well she had prepared home made baklava and let us say we didn’t waste any of that either….you’d be a fool not to tuck into that. We chatted a bit and watched Ashleigh fall apart with terrible allergies, mine started to kick ink and Benj had the beginnings of his allergies as well. We begged off and were brought to our condo on the beach.
WOW is all I can say. It is gorgeous complete with bomb shelter…which we hope not to ever need. However, they are smart…the fridge is in the bomb shelter as well as all Abe’s and my clothing, extra sheets and towels and plenty of room….should (and I know it will not) anything every happen we can eat and hold a fashion show at the same time. Our windows overlook the gorgeous grounds below and the
Facility pool as well as look out over the marina and t he sea. Abe’s and my room has two walls of floor to ceiling windows and the sea air coming in during the night was fantastic. Benj and Ashleigh quickly shoved their beds to far corners of the room but no one is complaining as they got their own bathroom and lots of storage space. It would be a bit much to have a three bedroom apartment for four people so we will make do with this. Our living, kitchen and dining area is the largest Abe and I have shared since leaving Telluride on April 1 – we are in heaven. The air is great …it is about 80 degrees, no humidity and the top levels of all the windows (ceiling to just above waist height) open wide and we are flooded with dry sea air – is this heaven?
Jack and Judy loaded us up with fruit and I just ate something I don’t recognize – it looks like a nectarine but is pale green inside and was a perfect thirst quencher. We need to get to the grocery store to get some drinks and food and that is likely next on our agenda.
Tonight Smadar and Yael will come by so we can discuss Yael’s trip back to the U.S. with us. Here’s hoping flights are not crazily expensive. Thanks to Jan B. for sending a few books for Smadar. Between the two books I bought and the three Jan sent Smadar feels she has a complete English library. And to anyone who has not read the (not 100% sure of title) Incredible Vanishing Act of Esme (something or other)…get it…..it is a really good read.
Benj already went out with a bunch of Israeli kids for a beach barbecue somewhere. He had a great time and got in about 3 a.m. We all woke up for his homecoming. They seemed to give him directions as to where it is safe to go out at night (re bars)and told him people who go to the wrong place are crazy and deserve to get blown up – who knows howmuch of this is bravado (as in go to the wrong place in Canada and you’ll be definitely eaten by a grizzly after living in your igloo), however, I think we will take their word for it and do the smart thing.
Today is beach day. Off we go to find some food and drink and replenish our fridge. We are all excited to be hear. It is a beautiful country and we intend to have one hell of a good time. Hello to all. Benj and Ashleigh have agreed to do yoga with me one day so we will check out some locations with taught Ashtanga. It should be fun. Take care all.

Well we're off

Holy cow do we have a lot of stuff. Two bins have to go back to the storage unit. Pat is keeping a gigantic suitcase for us -- haven't heard the Bretz' are suing us for someone's back going out so I am assuming they got that thing upstairs and locked in a closet. We were down to two small suitcases each and then well, we had shoes....benj got some new clothes I'm bringing, ...beach towels...do you know how much room a beach towel takes up. However, hopefully we will be allowed on the plane.

Ashleigh is all set up in Canada and will meet us at the airport. She sounds excited.

Benj is in Madrid being coddled by Olga -- my sister's good Spanish friend. Olga already coddled
Benj by giving him a private birthday party at one of her bodegas......a winery they own in Jerez. He had wine tastings with friends and spent the night, had a dinner and lunch with the foreman. Not many people get to turn 21 in those surroundings. It was a party he will never forget. Wish we could have been there.

Abe worked right up to the last second. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. It is now too late. We either have it or we don't. We didn't follow the cardinal rule....pack your suitcase and then remove half.....I just can't.

Off we go to sand and camels and family dinners and swimming in the sea and maybe Mysore in Israel. We shall see.

We're Back!

Wow...we are back. Of course we aren't in our house as it is rented so we are in one
large room at a Residence Inn. Living in such close quarters is definitely an experience everyone should try. We own a home with 4,000 sq. ft. and we are and have been living in
about 400? sq. ft. (of course Telluride is only abouta 1,200 sq. ft.) There is nowhere to go to get away from each other which hasn't been a problem yet but we still have a month or so to go. Let's put it this way...4,000 sq. ft. it ain't!


I look like a bag (really box) lady. I had no summer clothes with me in Tell. or in Paris. They were all boxed up in our storage unit so we dragged a box to the motel. At least they fit, that's a blessing.

Now that we are home what am I grateful for -- ICE. Glorious ICE. No more tepid drinks. I could hop in a bathtub full of ice and just love it. An entire month of no ice and a not so cold refrigerator makes me appreciate all the terrible energy wasting equipment we have here. That is disgusting I know but let me enjoy my fridge and ice for a few more days. Sitting at Starbucks with a friend....(super duper grateful) yes, Abe is my friend but we've done a lot of sitting together. I haven't had anyone else to talk to really and so talking with Silvia and hearing her life tidbits was wonderful. Knowing you HAVE friends is such a wonderful feeling after a month friend deprived. Knowing my way around the area and NEVER having to consult a map, no twisty windy streets to figure out (so romantic when you arrive, such a damn pain in the ass after a month) .....ah, give me a grid any day. Heat....yes, grateful for heat in small doses. Shopping at the grocery store and recognising products and knowing which yogourt to buy, which cheese, which bread.....those are small blessings to be sure but appreciated at the moment. ICE TEA....black and or green...bring it on. I don't even like going to Canada in the summer when they foist sugared ice tea on you...ugh! Being back just means you get it, you know the rules, the social conventions and life is easier for this.



What won't I miss.....beggars on the street with their children knocked unconscious with some kind of drug. Those children don't move. It is broad day light and they are lieing on their mother's laps as if dead...maybe they are dead? ...but the little asthma inhaler next to the mother suggests otherwise. Abe has seen this in India and he was convinced the babies really were dead. I don't hold out a lot of hope that these children live long; I don't believe that their mothers take them home somewhere warm and cosy at night, wake them up and let them run around and shake their sillies out. No, I think these children live in some kind of druggged haze day and night, which probably helps them not be hungry. I also won't miss the dogs with the beggars. I read in one of Obama's books....Americans are more concerned about elephants dieing than the lives of millions of black Africans. That line really struck me because in Paris I did think about all the poor animals starving more than I was concerned with their owners. I'm missing a human sympathy gene perhaps and overdosed on the animal sympathy gene? The poor pups are flea infested, worm laden.....diarrheaing their way along city streets. Sometimes I saw the owners giving the dog some food but in general those beggars aren't looking for food, they are looking for drink. My thought was that a dog is necessary in the night to guard their posessions. By the way, where are OUR beggars? You can't walk down a major street in Vancouver without seeing a junkie dreaming away on a porch or beside a fire hydrant.
In Toronto we have rubbies or alkies begging on the corner for money to get their next drink. Why aren't they down in the theatre district in Houston panhandling. My friend is a psychiatric nurse to the poor and disenfranchised in Houston so I know they exist. Doesn't this seem strange to anyone that they are so invisible. Does it make us feel better?

Anyway, back to Paris. What will I miss....shoes, the glorious shoes at affordable prices. These women are stylin! The teensy tiny stores with the well dressed mannequins. The miles and miles and hours and hours of walking you can do every single day and never have to retrace your steps. I'll miss walking down a street and looking into the alleyway to see a cathedral peeking out. It took two weeks to notice that you've missed it every single time you walked down that road to get your falafel. Picking up a pastry that is so melt in your mouth as to be sinful. Mysore, Linda and Gerald will be missed....this trip gave me new found courage to go to a Mysore class and realise how truly liberating it is to be centred on your own yogic practice within the confines of a living breathing entity...the class. There is an energy that flows through the room that is so uplifting and inspiring; everyone is working and struggling to overcome their own personal obstacles and you get carried along with the current. I will miss walking to the gymn and seeing and hearing yet another protest going on in Place de la Republique. The Leonida chocolate shop will be missed even if I only went in twice and only indulged in four white chocolate cafe creme Manon's in an entire month when I could have gone every day! I'll miss seeing all the children playing in the well used parks, the hawkers selling their wares in the markets, the smell yes just the SMELL of delicious fresh fruit....glorious.

The French are very good at protesting. It seems to be a required skill to claim residency in the country. When Benj, Daniel, Kayla and Lauren came to town we took them out on May 1st, May Day....big socialist holiday. As we walked down the street towards La Bastille, Benj quietly took me aside to let me know that the programme they are all attending, CIE, had specifically told them to NEVER hang around if any political protesting was occurring. This makes sense as large groups of people can suddenly go berserk and things can quickly get out of hand. We were passing bus after bus after bus (say 20 or more) of cops called in to keep an eye on the May Day protests, "manifestation." These cops were carrying what appeared to be a very serious but lightweight gun...looked like a small machine gun to me. Since I felt vaguely responsible for these children and didn't want a conversation with a parent that could go something like this....."well, yes, we could see there were thousands of people gathered protesting various causes...well yes, we knew that it could become dangerous....well, yes, we saw that there were hundreds of police around with big weapons for crowd control and well, yes, we just marched your daughter right into the fray and well, sorry....things didn't turn out so well........because of this potential conversation I stopped to ask a policeman if he felt it was safe for us to go into the Traffic Circle where everything was taking place. Oh yeah, he said, no problem. Well every protest you can imagine was taking place....La Reve Commun (which means Common Dream...but I think was also a play on Greve Commun (United Strike)....by the workers, university students agitating about research being cut in medical fields, the Iranians taking to the street for their current plight, the Tamils loudly and vocifeously yelling out about their cause, environmentalists.....you name it, if you can protest about it they were there. It was a bit unnerving to have so many people in one place but nothing occurred. We saw even more police at the tail end of the thousands of people marching but they seemed calm. Everyone was screaming and yelling but jubilant at the same time; they were being heard. And then the street cleaners came to dust up, wash off, scrub down the streets and it was over.

It is always nice to come home. It was great to go to see Sam tonight and get a hug and a great class...although those sandbags Sam, yikes. Iwas wonderful to meet Rosena in a store today and have a chat. It is nice knowing I have friends out and about to be visited and not feel so socially isolated. Who are we without our social networks?

Anyway, we are home in the land of Texas for a few weeks. Israel looms, desert sands and warm water beckons. Camels wait impatiently for us to arrive and ride/walk to The Great Rift.
How many stars will we see as we camp out overnight in the desert? What will pita taste like cooked on hot rocks....pretty damn good I'm expecting. The Dead Sea is waiting to scoop us almost above the surface so we can float with the greatest of ease. Eilat...a coral reef adventure waiting to happen. It will be wonderful to see Ashleigh reach out and into a new culture in a place she never expected to see. May we create a memory for her that endures for all time.

Of course I have a lead on a Mysore class only two kilometres from our condo. How hard can it be?

In case you are wondering, Abe has a new little computer.

Last Paris Post

Well we are packing up and getting ready to head out tomorrow to a different hotel at the airport. It is easy packing up since you don't have to decide what to take, you just take what you have.

Abe and I have walked and walked and walked and walked. I don't think we can walk anymore.
We've seen quartiers we've never seen before and marvelled at how packed with people theyare -- just not tourists. The French use their cafes. They sit out and have coffee and wine and beer
every night..maybe just one but then they can sit at the table for hours. The waiter never comes by to ask you to leave. When your feet are tired it is a perfect antidote to walking.

The weather has been great, the food has been wonderful and we've had a good time. Now we are ready to go back to Texas for a couple weeks.

Israel looms ahead of us. All kinds of wrinkles in the system re getting my niece to Colorado with me. Hopefully we can iron those out once we get to Tel Aviv. All too complicated to get into here. However, she wants to come and her passport is almost ready. We just have to get her dad to get the ticket.

Ashleigh is getting ready to come to Israel with us. I'm currently in the "stuck my foot in my mouth position." and no that is not one of the Ashtanga asanas. If it was...I'd be a pro. However, life happens, mistakes happen, and life goes on. The camels are waiting for us I think and it should be an experience.

We have friends lined up to see when we get back to Texas and I'm looking forward to that.
In otherwords....a bientot we'll see you all soon.

Disaster for Abe!

As per usual, Abe is not in France. He's in Scotland -- I think. It seems to me that he then

ends up in Holland some time today before making his way to Madrid tomorrow. The nice thing for me is that it apparently makes more sense for him to come back to Paris for the night before

zooming off to Spain. There is a piece of me, however, that has some suspicion that he is returning to Paris to TAKE MY COMPUTER AWAY! You see yesterday he forgot his computer (it is one of those new really tiny computers bigger than a book but not by much!) in the seat pocket of the seat in front of him. He's probably used to the fact that the computer now weighs next to nothing and therefore his lightweight computer bag didn't jog his memory. Everything on his computer has a code to activate it but there is always the worry of identity theft if the computer is sold to some hacker. Who knows.... we may not even need to sell out house when we return to Texas, some stranger may actually do it for us. Anyway, all joking aside losing a computer is huge for Abe. It is literally his third arm. In Telluride he works with two networking together to get through his day's work. Luckily he is not one of those people who never backs anything up. Everything will be fine if and when he comes up with a new computer to use --and I know mine has all his contacts installed in it so that is why I am fearful. Love the guy but.....gee.....do without my computer, can't be done. I'm afraid. Well, it might have to be done but it won't be easy. Withdrawal is painful so I've heard.

After my best yoga day last week I had one of my crappiest today. Gerald turned into Gary. Gary has this habit of wandering around the class and quietly groaning ..unh unh...to himself. You just KNOW he's looking at you and that he is absolutely unimpressed with whatever it is you think you are trying to do. Today, I heard tsk tsk tsk...Kathryn!.....everything felt fine to me...next I heard...look at your foot, look at the way it is not straight...and your knee....pull your knee back to be more in line with your ankle, you are going to hurt yourself. For some reason every time he spoke to me I felt he was talking REALLY FREAKING LOUDLY but I could never hear what he was saying when he corrected someone else. In fact, I'm not sure he ever did correct anyone else. However, you are in the class so what are you going to do? Leave? I know he's there tohelp and he's so darn nice...but ....gee Gerald, talk a little more quietly, please.

I sent a little email to my friend Pat yesterday and she got a kick out of my Hebrew lessons so I thought I should share a bit with you. We leave in less than a month and Abe decided we needed Rosetta Stone. I prefer learning with a real person rather than a computer (not addicted to Rosetta yet) but I couldn't find anyone in the Jewish community of Telluride who spoke Hebrew so had to resort to the computer. All was going well...I know man, woman, boy, girl, boys, girls, water, dog, cat, run, read and swim and horse. I figure those should come in really handy. I can go to the beach and say "boy swim water", see a horse and say "horse run"...but Rosetta forgets that last time I never saw a horse in Israel. I saw a camel....I need "horse with bumps runs" but they aren't teaching me that. What is really frustrating about Hebrew is they have a phlegmy sound to lots of words -- I can do that in Dutch so it isn't too bad. However, Rosetta won't let you move on to the next picture unless you get your phlegm down properly and you can talk with phlegm for half an hour but Rosetta will not beep happily and flash a green light at you unless it is convinced you are phlegming properly. This can get very frustrating. I'm only in Lesson One part 4 (after several weeks....I'm a bit lazy)....and suddenly they started showing me a picture and asking me to match it up to the correct WORD!. Now let's let a grip Rosetta, I have absolutely zero interest in reading or writing Hebrew. However, when you skip over something suddenly you don't do so well in the next section. It is always giving you your score -- 78 WRONG, 22 correct. I can see Lesson 2 involves getting directions....this could actually be useful. Oh well, at least I can get an apple if I want one -- oh right....apples don't grow in Israel either. Abe said he was going to work on this too...hmmph. Haven't seen or heard one word, except to point things out that he already knew or corret me. I KNEW IT.....he's been lieing all these years, he DOES KNOW FREAKING HEBREW!

I stopped by a lovely wine store today to buy a wine thata our friends from Strassburg recommended. The name came to me in the night. It sounds wonderful -- it is a rose with a slight bubble to it and great with Italian food. It is called Lombrusco. I explained to the gentleman behind the counter what I wanted and asked if I could get some. He gave me a really

pitiful look as if he felt sorry for me. Madame, he said.....that is Italian not French. Yeah, sure. Ok. But I want to get some. But Madame...he said, shaking his head mournfully I am not Italian I am French. You must find an Italian wine seller. Right......now how the hell am I going to do that?

To anyone who is French, I apologise. Do the French never smile? You can chuckle at their baby, smile at their sweet little dog and they look at your like you are insane. We North Americans are smilers. Smiling gets you in trouble in Costa Rica....smile at a strange man and suddenly he is following you all over the store and out on the street because surely you meant something, heh heh heh with your sonrisa!.....in France....smile, and they look at you like you are a total bitch. Smiling is for friends you idiot, not for strangers. I don't even know why they have a word for it here, they never use it. I feel a smile startinag to cross my lips and suddenly I develop rigor mortis and try to stop it so I don't look like a fool. Also....if you see a Frenchman coming down the sidewalk or you HEAR him coming behind you get the hell out of the way. He/she is not moving...YOU ARE. The other day I swear I bearly got out of the way of a man barreling along behind me with a baby stroller (luckily I heard the wheels). I am convinced he would have steamrolled right over top of me and not looked back. Abe laughed because he had been thinking the same thing.

Dog poop -- poop and scoop does not exist. It is better here than it used to be but scooping -- absolutely no way. I laughed my head off at a street cleaner the other day AFTER he went by me. He had his broom, his uniform identifying him as a street cleaner and both of us saw a huge pile of dog poop right in the middle of the sidewalk. I looked at it, he looked at it, and then he walked straight on. There are big pictures of dogs and arrows pointing to the curb drawn on some of the sidewalks, meaning curb your dog....well the dog poop ain't going to any curb as far as I can see. It's staying right there. It's a form of dodge ball. However, I remember it being much much worse say 15 years ago so something is happening I'm just not sure what? less dogs?

If you come to France you must go to a butcher shop and buy a freshly roasting chicken and the potatoes that are cooking in the drippings. Oh my God, good. It is probably not good for you to eat the potatoes that have cooked in the drippings of hundreds of chickens but the flavour is to die for. Plus their chickens have flavour and meat on them. Delicious. Buying a chicken and some potatoes and eating in a park or in your hotel room is so worth it...skip a restaurant and just dig in, rip that baby apart and just go for it. A pastry is a nice accompaniement.

Anyway, got to run. Off to find someone who can cover up my skunk streak of grey. It is a little frightening going to get your hair coloured in a strange city. they have different ideas of what looks good, or is chic, or appropriate. I don't want blonde. I don't want large chunks of high lights. I don't want to pay a fortune! Hopefully I can find someone who can do it for me tomorrow before Benj arrives so I don't look like his OLD mother...I look likehis old mother with coloured roots!

If you don't hear from me for a while you will know it is because Abe came back on the pretext of seeing me ONLY TO STEAL MY COMPUTER.

Some tasty photos!

Here's a view of Monet's lily pond....although my camera is wonderful the colours are a little muted which is sad....it was a grey day! However, imagine brilliant colours and you will envision what we saw today.

Not only do these darn pastries look absolutely delicious...they are phenomenal. There is so
much less sugar used and the creams are so light and sparingly used that you can actually taste

and enjoy the fruit, the pastry and the cream as separate entities while eating the entire product. Why can't North American get this right?