a little more Paris

Oh my, where does the time go? Seems like ages since I returned from Paris, but I still think about it everyday. That is, when I am not thinking about weddings, which I have been lately. More about that in a later post, though. Or birthdays. Like that magical day yesterday, 9-9-09 when my baby was born 19 years ago. Yes, where does the time go? This is the first September in many, many years that I have not seen someone off to school the day after labor day, and made them stop to take a photo by the front door so I could freeze that moment.
So I have turned my attention to making things again, now that I am home and Fall is coming.
These tassels have been so fun to make and I just love assembling them in a big, colorful cluster. When I showed them to my art group today, one friend decided that she just had to have the whole collection! So, I will happily make more to sell at our show in December.
This Parisian shoe is what first started me on my path of dumpster diving in Paris, though there they might call it poubelle diving. I saw it on the street one early morning, and it was too beautiful to leave there, so I brought it home. I must confess that it was my size, even though one beautiful French shoe wouldn't do me much good. I planned to sketch it everyday, but ended up bringing it home with me where I finally got around to painting it.
One afternoon as we were throwing away our small bag of garbage, Jim looked in the garbage can and said "There are some nice reusable shopping bags in here". As he retrieved them, he noticed that there were other things that had been thrown away, and we pulled them out, too. A man's leather jacket, and then a Burberry cashmere full length coat emerged from the thankfully clean, garbage can.
Later in my stay, I found an antique lamp, some old photos and a beautiful gold picture frame. I hope my neighbors didn't notice that I made frequent stops at the garbage room, often without any garbage to dospose of.
I had always wanted to be in Paris for Paris Plages, the annual beach on the Siene event. Finally I got my wish, and it was even better than I had imagined. Of course the Parisians would do this with style, and not just dump a load of sand by the river's edge. As I like to say, it is a little more than some sand on the Seine. There were restaurants, and bookstores and massage booths and lounge chairs--lots of lounge chairs. And lounge they did! They settled in with abandon, some even in swim suits, but mostly they just seemed happy and relaxed.
And finally, my favorite dessert, the Ispahan, two meringue disks encasing rose and lychee flavored filling, studded with raspberries, and topped with a fresh rose petal. Heaven! This one was from Laduree, but Pierre Herme is said to make the best version.