Flying Back To Brooklyn

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: center; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Dear Reader, By the time you have lunch, I will be sitting in the plane getting back to New York City.I will be back to my Carroll Gardens blogging life by Tuesday, after the long week-end.Hope you will check back then! Ka...

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View From My Paris Window

St. Séverin Church In the 5th ArrondissementTypical Parisian Mansard RoofsA peek at Nôtre DameA charming balcony gardenThe weather is glorious here in Paris, dear Reader, and I am having a very nice time. I took the photos above from our window this morning. We are staying at the very charming Hotel Henri IV in the 5th Arrondissement on the Rive Gauche. (If you are ever here, I hope you will consider this place.)Instead of walking around town...

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A Late August Day In Paris

Our Little VillageView Of Nôtre Dame From The Institut Du Monde ArabeOh, how sad it was to leave our little village. As we were driving away yesterday, I took one more look and one final photo at our village and then, puff, it was gone from my view as we drove down into the valley and towards Paris. Paris is as beautiful as ever. Thrown back into city life, we have filled our first day here with a visit to the "Institut Du Monde Arabe." The Institut...

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Saying Goodbye To The Auvergne!

This is our last morning here on top of our little hill in the middle of the Auvergne. As if to make our departure even more difficult, the sun has been shining gloriously for the last two days.My boys and I have been hard at work cleaning and , well yes, stacking wood for the next time we come here. I must admit that I was slightly freaked to see my son operate the chain saw. Mentally, I saw myself rushing to the nearest hospital with him. And...

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A Visit To Le Puy-En-Velay

Though I had wanted to visit Puy-En-Velay for years with my schoolfriend Violaine, who is a professor there, it somehow never happened due to our very busy schedules.So this year, we ceased the opportunity to go accompanied by German friends who had come for a few days to stay with us.Le Puy is one of the most beautiful and oldest cities of the Auvergne in France. It is one of the official starting points of the St. Jacob's Way, the pilgrimage route...

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Counting The Days

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } The days have been flying by, dear reader, in our little corner of France.Guests and family have come and gone over the last four weeks and I don't know where the time has gone.My husband and son are busy chopping and stacking wood for next year. It may be hard for you to believe,...

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La Bourrée, A Traditional Auvergnat Dance

Postcard from 1910I was lucky enough this summer to see a performance of the traditional Auvergnat dance called 'La Bourrée'. This couples dance first appeared in the Auvergne in the XVI century. It is believed that the dance got its name from the small logs that were burned on the fire around which the dancers twirled.The bourrée is a happy dance. Since it was traditionally performed in wooden shoes, the steps involve a lot of stomping of the...

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Appreciating The Humor Of A Long-Ago Sculptor

A gigantic water fountainMade of local lava rock Can be found in a square In front of the giant cathedralIn Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne.One has to appreciateThe sense of humorof the sculptor,who created the fountainSo very long ago.For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Ask...

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Puy-En-Velay: When This House Was Built In 1650...

Truly old houses can be found everywhere here in France. It is not rare to find entire blocks that were constructed in the 1700's. On a visit to Le Puy-en-Velay last week, I stopped to take a picture of a house built in 1650. It was in amazing condition, lovingly restored and maintained.It was not the only one on that stretch of the old town. There were some that were built in the 1500's. It just made me think of how terribly difficult it is...

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Stone House With Red Petunias

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: center; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } There were many more planters with red petunias adorning the stone wall of this house. Alas, my little camera was only able to capture these few. The deep red color against the white shutters of the house was just amazing....

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Once Upon A Time: A Patisserie

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Faded on a façade in Ambert, Auvergne.A reminder of a PatisserieGone for at least 35 years.Probably long...

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Picture Of The Day: Is Anyone Home?

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: center; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Passing by an ancient door,In the small city of Issoire,I spied this wonderful old knock...

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A View From Atop A Volcano

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I must have mentioned, dear reader, that our little corner of France is in a very volcanic area. The tallest in the chain of extinct volcanoes is the Puy-De-Dôme.Yesterday afternoon, when the sun finally made an appearance after two days of rain, we took a trip all the way to its...

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A Typical Auvergnat Dish: Aligot

Once upon a time, in a place named Aubrac, a volcanic plateau in the Auvergne that is bare and very cold in winter, the local monks prepared a dish they called "Aligot" that was not only tasty but incredibly filling. You see, Aubrac lies along one of the pilgrimage routes that cross France to Compostella in Spain. Aligot was the perfect meal. Made of potatoes, tôme de Cantal cheese, crème fraiche, garlic and a bit of milk, it has a very bizare consistancy,...

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Picture Of The Day: Mr. Chancel's Café & Restaurant

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Mr. C. Chancel,(Whoever he may have been)Once operated a Café & RestaurantIn this precise location.The only trace?A signPainted in white lettersOn a light moss backgroundOn an otherwise gray faça...

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The Last Of The Poppies

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: center; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: center; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } The days are still long and warm here in our little corner of France. My little family is still in vacation...

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Picture Of The Day: Total Solitude

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: middle; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } An old house way downat the bottom ofA valley.Could you image livingIn such solitu...

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Town Square With Church Steeple

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } AllancheOn a crisp sunny day,A World War I memorialWith a stone statue of a soldierStands in a town square in the Cantal, A region of the Auverg...

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Tending My Little French Garden

Will you forgive me, dear reader, for taking a few days to myself and for not posting?For days, I have gotten up in the morning and made a vow that I would sit down in front of the computer to write more about life in France. But then, you see, even on our little hill, there is always something to do. There are neighbors and friends to catch up with. Remember, I need to catch up on a year's worth of gossip. Then there are the house guests who...

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A Moment In Time: Playing In The Village Watering Trough

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: center; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } As a hot summer day is slowly coming to an end, In the Auvergne countryside A group of children isEnjoying some coolness By playing in the village watering trou...

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