End of the week!

 This is one of the pieces of mail art that I took with me on Monday to mail from the Postal Museum. I was playing around with oil sticks. I don't know that this ever dried properly and I hope it made it through the system without gumming up the machine.

 The National Postal Museum. What a treat to see it again.

 This is one of many views of the Jefferson Monument with Cherry Blossoms around it. The sun had finally appeared from behind the clouds and briefly lit up the dome.

 Juli took this photo of me, deep at work on the display table, making mail art.

 It was a very busy week between the D.C. visit and today. Among other things, on Tuesday we went to VMFA with friends for lunch,  and to look at the statues of The Mourners again. So beautiful.  

This morning, I walked to the Science Museum for Spanish Meet-up and on the way back took photos of flowers. Everything is in bloom, or about to bloom. Do you know what this plant is? I don't. It's a bush. The flowers are so pretty.

 This iris is growing against my neighbors fence. Childhood memories are full of irises, because I'd take them from neighborhood yards and bring them home to my mother, to her delight and chagrin. I knew she loved that flower, but she disliked me taking them from the neighbors yards.

Some brilliantly colored tulips.

 I haven't made much mail art this week, as I've piled my table full of papers, including goodies from the Postal Museum. (my excuse, weak as it is, cause you know I make M.A. anywhere.) This weekend, I'll neaten things up and get busy. 

I have continued, however, with my daily piano practice. 

End of our trip, France

 A pain aux raisins, my favorite, at the airport (CDG) awaiting our flight back to the U.S. of A.

 View from the train as we sped along between Grenoble and Paris.

 The old water spigot in the courtyard of our friends' abode in Paris.

 Lots and lots of flowers in Paris, lots and lots of tulips especially.

 This is a municipal pigoen coop! The city put it up outside of a small park. It provides food, water, and nesting boxes. The idea is that the pigeons will go to the coop and not the window ledges of adjacent buildings, plus the city sterilizes the eggs or the birds. Can't remember which. It was interesting to see this.

 An angel in the corner of the Ethiopian restaurant we went to on Chemin verte. The food was delicious!

 This is a municipal water station. You can fill up your small water bottle OR large ones. There is a hanging sculpture (see Chuck taking a photo of it?) using plastic bottles. The French appear to be trying to get people to use tap water. Too many plastic bottles in the environment, there and everywhere. The water was excellent, by the way.

 Passing along the street next to the Promenade Plantee, this view, very surprising, a bit of old Paris.

 We stood on the Pont Marie, eating a Berthillon (I had pistache and banane) watching the Seine. Isle St. Louis is to the right.

We spent a couple of afternoons sitting in Place de Vosges. The weather was lovely, people were stretched out on benches and the grass. I was taking advantage of the free WiFi (weefee) and a place to just relax. It was a moment to say au revoir to Paris once more, and quietly saying "I hope I'll be back."

My pup and some nature.

My old dog was so tired out by his visit to the vet that he just lay down on the kitchen floor and went to sleep. He's on an antibiotic now and some blood work is being done just to get a picture of what's going on for him. Notice how nice he looks? We have this really nice groomer who arrives at our door in her van. Smitty is really nervous about being groomed but Serena of Serene Grooming, is great with him. Even an old dog likes to look nice.
Chuck found the birds nest on the window ledge by our air-conditioner. It was abandoned by the dove. It's so loosely built but amazing how the tiny egg sits in the twigs. The tulips are in front of a house on the next block.

Some images...

For some reason the photos of the irises and the tulips, which were taken using my cell phone, look somewhat like watercolours. Spring has sprung. The tulips are all over my neighborhood but I've only seen one iris in bloom so far. The ones in the vase came, alas, from Trader Joe's (yes, I finally made it out to the far west end of my city to shop there, and quite honestly, it was worth the drive.)
Ryan, our 8 year old cousin, was visiting for Passover, and made this lovely addition to Smitty "bedroom." I don't know how much Smitty dog likes it, but we sure do.
I'm showing you my old, and only bicycle, which has a flat tire, but will soon be put in working order. My neighbor wants to take me on an excursion. He'll be fixing up my bicycle in preparation. I've been to the gym 3 times in 2 days to ride a stationery bicycle to get myself prepared, since I haven't ridden my bicycle since I broke my arm 3 years ago this coming June. Here's the thing, the bike had nothing to do with my breaking my arm. What accounts for my not riding my bicycle since then? Fear? Could that be it? I'm going to over-come it and see where my neighbor leads me. I'll keep you posted on this.

Update on Plastic bottles

I decided that these lovely images by Marja Karina in Rusko, Finland, can help us keep in mind how we can help our earth by re-using our water bottles....but it's necessary to choose the right bottles for our health and safety. An update from our cousin, just in, #7 bottles can be safely refilled if they're the newer ones that say BPA FREE. The older #7's aren't to be "trusted." Here's a site that can help you learn more and find safe re-fillable bottles. Thanks Marja for sharing your photos and our Cousin D for the research.