A rainy day

 I got up in the dark, but it was already 8 a.m.!! It's raining and gray now, but the temperature is like spring, 50F. Wow. Crazy, right?  I'm off to French class shortly, but wanted to show you some things.
This is what came in the mail yesterday from my friend Andrea. A packet full of goodies that I can use in my mail art. She knows I came empty handed. What a treasure trove. Plus some of her Weather-grams. I put three of them up on the board in the Cite already.

 This is at the other Cite Internationale Universitaire. It has a beautiful campus and right across from the big park Mont Souris. It was raining when we got there last night. We went to the Theatre de la Cite to see a performance by Jamie Adkins. What fun! We took the RER to get there which is good practice for when we take it to get to the airport next week for our trip to Bilbao.

 Here's one of the pieces of Mail Art that I made yesterday. I just can't stop making.  This one has a show card as the base, part of a painting from a catalog, and part of a sticker. I brought my small hole punch, so I can add those dots for movement.

 After seeing the performance last night, we stopped at Pizza MoMo and got a pizza to go. They make them right there in front of you, they're small compared to U.S. pizza's of course, and very delicious. It was a perfect thing to eat on a rainy night, at our little table, overlooking the Seine.

 This is what I often make for lunch or dinner. There are several non-meat varieties available and none of them have msg. The flavors are ones not available at home. These, too, are perfect for gloomy and/or chilly days.

 A bientot, off to French class.

Tuesday, the archives and Mail Art and food.

 The National Archives are located not too far from where we are. This afternoon, the courtyard was open and there was an exhibit installed along the arcade. In the middle was a photo booth, which caught Chuck's attention and drew us in. For 2€ I got a photo of myself as a "suspect."

 The exhibit was of identity cards and passports from 1917 until the 1960s. It was very interesting, surprisingly.

 A close up of one of the large posters along the arcade.

 I brought my 9B pencil with me and enjoyed making piece of Mail Art with it. The circles were made using an aquarelle pencil in green.

 No one knows, except Mona, why she is attracted to light houses. Who knew that the needlework catalog left in the storage room would come in so handy.

 Mona showed off her latest needlework creations. These are destined to me housewarming gifts, no doubt.

 Last night, I made salmon (that came from Scotland) and potatoes for dinner. I don't have an oven, or broiler, so I made the salmon in a frying pan. I sear that bottom then lower the heat and cover the pan. It works well.

On our walk back from the trip to the galleries, we stopped at the boulangerie recommended by someone, and got a pain au raisin and an abricot viennoise. We decided that we don't like this one as much as another bakery nearby. Not to say these were not delicious, and certainly better than we get back home, but we are getting to be very picky about our pastries!

Tuesday, out and about after French class

 After my French class we started out for a walk to an area where there were a lot of galleries. Along the way, we came to a florist shop, oh but there were shoes in the window, it was a shoe shop - a shoe shop/florist! What a nice combination! Even though it was quite chilly, the flowers were out waiting to be purchased.

 Everywhere I go, I have to be mindful not to twist and ankle! I love the old courtyards and streets, but even in a solid shoe they are treacherous. I can't imagine how some women walk over them in high heels.

 Autolib' - There were four spots marked with this and four numbered metal posts, where one uses their pass card to get electric recharge and then GO! This was the first time I'd seen anything like this. All of the vehicles were gone so I guess it's useful.

This older woman was stopped in the street in front of us. I loved her blue coat and matching gloves, with her white knit hat and brown boots. She went on her way shortly after I snapped her photo.

 We went to see the exhibit at Galerie Karsten Greve. They were showing a huge amount of work by James Castle, who was a naive artist from Idaho, in the U.S. We'd seen some of his work before and have a book of it, but this was work we hadn't seen before.

This was a nice surprise. In a small shop/gallery we saw these "shoes" on a glass shelf in the window. We glanced then went back and looked again. They are wonderfully painted old wooden shoe forms. There were two more shelves. One had baby shoes on it. I'm sorry that I didn't fotograph the name of the artist. They are wonderful illustrations.

Another sunny day!

 The sun is extremely bright today and it's quite chilly outdoors. It looks much warmer than it is. We took a walk today, noticing the sharp shadows on the buildings, glad we had enough layers of clothing and hadn't forgotten our gloves.

 I crossed the Pont Marie to go to La Poste but there was no one to wait on people at the stamp desk, so I went to La Poste in the Marais. There are so many of them within walking distance, it's such a pleasure for a Mail Artist.

 On the way to La Post on rue Pavée, we stopped in at Mona Lisait (bookstore) which is full of wonderful books at lowered prices. One must be very careful not to get too distracted by such fabulous items or one could break one's ankle. Notice the "floor" which is just the paving stones of the former passage way that is now the shop. We got a super book on collage that we'd not see before. This is also the best buy on Mona Lisa postcards - 12 for 2€, as I mentioned before. They do have other postcards, not just Mona.

 We stopped at the Orange telephone and photo developing store and chose some of my honey's photos to have enlarged. We've decided to have an Open Studio before we depart.  After that, we went to the market for and got some Poilâine bread for lunch. It's nice for us that they carry it at the market and we don't have to make the trek to the shop, though we will do that one day, also.

 Last night, I wasn't sure what I'd make for dinner as the cupboard was pretty bare. The previous resident had left some of these packets. I wasn't sure what they were but Alsacienne's are maybe a pancake? The ingredients: pyrophosphate de sodium, bicarbonate de sodium, et farine de blé. Okay, I know it's baking soda, some flour, and ? maybe baking powder?
So I beat up a couple eggs, some milk, some flour (left by the previous person) and some of the packet. Voila, I had a sort of thicker crèpe. I folded them in half with some chevre inside. Sorry no photo as we dug right into them and they were delicious. We garnished with apricot preserve. My honey says that I'm such a creative cook. Nice to be appreciated.



I made a double landscape for some mail art to send to a friend who is a landscape artist par excellence.
She can cut each of them out to frame, should she wish to do so, or leave as they are. I was thinking that next time, I can leave them sans color, like a coloring book, for her to complete. Hmmm, an idea!

More in Paris

 Yesterday, we were models for Ann, who lives across the hall. You can see here work here.
She lives on the other side of the building, with wonderful light coming in, with a view of buildings.

 This is a view from Ann's studio.  I love the way the roof tops look. The shadow lines are interesting to me, also.

 After the photo shoot, we went to the Swedish Cultural Institute for coffee. It's gotten quite popular but we found places to sit inside. 

When we were on our walk along the Canal St. Martin, we passed through an area where there's a Fire Station. These Pompiers were cleaning there hoses. You can see a beautiful photo of the hoses on My Urban Fragments blog here.

Day 12, almost a 2 weeks in Paris!

 La Poste offices are in old buildings but have been "modernized." This one is near Les Archives. I have to go to one again tomorrow. One of my big indulgences - postage stamps!

 Mail Art using a show card from an exhibit that has passed. Now I'm seeing a couple of eyes peering out at me!

 This is another of the Mona card alterations. I'm having a lot of fun with these and glad that I saved the petit-point patterns catalogue. I bought another dozen Mona cards from the book shop Monalisait, which has a different version and a better price, 12 cards for 2€. We (my honey and I, have a plan for them.)

 Here's the view from Centre Pompidou looking towards Mont Martre. What nice weather we had for that day. I love how the light and shadows effect the pattern of the buildings.

Folks from Richmond are in Paris for a few days and met up with us for dinner. We went back to Le Trumilou. Here's my dinner, which was quite tasty.

The Tarte de Pomme, shared by my honey and I, was yummy. It had a berry sauce drizzled on the plate. 
We aren't going out to eat very often. I'm making simple meals in our tiny kitchen, frequently just a salad with cheese and baguette. We eat it, sitting at the table which we've placed by the window, with the view of the Seine and the Ile St. Louis. It's so good.

Friday, already!?

 We went on an excursion with Ann (photographer from Sweden) and Åke (painter from Norway) to the 10th arrondisement. We took the metro to La Crimée stop and then walked down the Canal St. Martin.

 People were rowing on the canal, which is quite wide at this point.

 Does this look like Paris? It reminded us of the Canal du Midi in Toulouse.

 We stopped for coffee (Cocolate Chaud for me) at this famous Hotel.  
I put a link to a video in French that shows (after an advert) the Hotel/Cafe & the canal. When you see the inside of the cafe, picture us sitting there this afternoon, inside to the left of the door.

 This is a boat that was docked on the canal.

Here, I altered a card for a musical about Le Petit Prince. I had fun with this. I blocked out all of the information with the needle work and the black part at the bottom, which was from the auction house catalog of paintings. I really like precisely cutting out the images to make them look like part of the card. Reminder: not photo-shopped, old school cutting and gluing.