When Worlds Collide
It's chilly and very overcast here, dropping rain now and then. But haven't you always heard that there is just something about Paris in the rain? It's true! It makes ducking into a patisserie for a delicious treat and coffee even more delightful, and all this architecture, some covered in gold, is stunning against the palette of charcoal found in an angry sky. It could also be that nothing - NOTHING - will disuade me from enjoying this city. 🙂 Yesterday we experienced the Metro, got a good lay of the land while we walked the city, and spent the afternoon in the Musée d'Orsay, seeing age-old sculptures and beautiful impressionist paintings. When we walked out, we went across one of...
At Home in Paris
Greetings from Paris! We're wiped out, but here, in this beautiful city. It was surreal to pass the Arc de Triomphe and look down the long Champs Elysees, as we were driven to our hotel. But to turn and see this view from our window was almost too much. I can still hardly believe it. I sent out a quick Facebook post yesterday, about the first leg of our journey. I sat next to the most interesting elderly woman, whose life I was itching to get down on paper. Seriously, it would be a best-selling biography or based-on-real-life novel. We spoke of her background of intrigue, Wall Street and her house next door to Brad Pitt in the Hollywood Hills. She teared up telling me of her two children,...
Dish
I used to wonder why some people referred to gossip as "dish." Now I think it's probably because gossip is the act of serving up what so many find delicious: the inside scoop on someone else. What they said. What they did. How they look. Their incompetence; or if they really are competent, their horrifying superiority. The list goes on and on, doesn't it? And we belly up to that big, steaming dish like we haven't eaten for days. Why am I talking about this, you ask? Because I was witness to it in the elevator yesterday. Two women ignored me, and the obviously uncomfortable, lone male in the corner, and proceeded to gut, filet and consume their subject during our 30-floor ascent. It...
Alphabet Soup
Alphabet soup. It's what is filling my head right now. Lists and more lists. Letters upon letters across a page, running together like a fine stew; the more I think, the more I stir the pot. My favorite part of the trip preparation process is when I get settled on the plane and exhale, long and deep. My mind shakes out the last drops of that soup because there's nothing more to be done about it, and I'm officially free. But until then... There's actually great joy in preparing for something long-awaited and long-anticipated. It's a countdown of sorts, doing all the many little things that must be done before the big event. It allows you to fully focus on the event itself with the...
It is More Blessed…
You can finish the sentence that is this title, can't you? It is more blessed to give than to receive. It's something we've heard all our lives, so perhaps the meaning has become a little watered down. Less poignant. Even cause for a little eye-rolling in this economy, with ever-rising costs and seemingly less and less income. We were invited to a gala, last night, for Manegait, an equine therapy non-profit in the North Dallas area. I worried for them all day, as the weather forecast was rain and our first significant cold front, and the event was being held in their arena. It is a covered area, so it was going to go ahead regardless of the weather, but I feared their numbers would...