Walking, walking, and more walking

This was a week of walking!
After walking to and from the painting class at Francine's. That wasn't too strenuous. On Tuesday I really forget what I did except for an appointment in Nogent near the big market in the middle of the afternoon. It really started on Wednesday.

Mary Lynne took us Ile de France Walkers on a wonderful hike along the Bièvre from St. Quentin en Yvelines to Jouy en Josas. It's always such a pleasure to meet up with old friends now and to meet newer arrivals. For once, I didn't feel like I was lagging behind, either, so that was nice. It seemed to me we were all walking at about the same pace. There were almost 30 of us for this walk, which is perhaps a bit too many, but we managed.

Alexander (now almost 9 months old) came along with his mother again. He's now moved to a fantastic back pack I took pictures of to remember what brand it is in case we want to get one as a gift. When I think of the elementary front pack, and then the backpack, we had, I think the design improvements are extraordinary. The only drawback is, for the front packs, more complicated attachments, and for the back pack, added weight.

The Bièvre is a short tributary of the Seine. It runs into the Seine in Paris, not far from Notre Dame. The water, back in Louis XIV's day, was so pure it was used for rinsing fabric and thread dyes. The famous "toile de Jouy" was produced in Jouy en Josas and rinsed in the river's water and the Gobelins tapestrys were set up (still there) in Paris, on Ave. des Gobelins, Paris 13. They rinsed the dyed wool in the river. Apparently, there were also tanneries along the river and that would certainly have polluted the river for the dyers and in conjunction with dyers, the river became too polluted and was covered for most of its distance until recently. Interesting for those who are familiar with Paris, the printer who set up his fabric printing business in Jouy was Oberkampf, so that's where that metro stop got its name. He chose Jouy not only because the water was excellent for the process, but he also had enough land to dry the cloth, and he wasn't far from the court at Versailles to boot.

The walk is not always along the river, but close enough. There are several ponds and we had our lunch in a clearing at a pond. At Buc we also crossed under the aqueduct that was built in the 1680s to carry water from the Saclay plateau to the artificial canals at Versailles. It was still functioning in the 1950s and is still in good condition even if it is no longer used.

About half of the group decided to visit the museum at Jouy en Josas. It's interesting, although I'm not sure I'd go there on purpose just to see the museum. The museum is in the old Oberkampf home; all the other fabric works buildings are gone. I think what struck me is the variety of Jouy designs and colors. I'm so used to seeing the same design in red or black, I thought that was all they did. There are good illustrated explanations of how the fabric was printed, the chemical process and all that. The arrows led us upstairs, but when I tried to open what I thought was the door to the rest of the exhibit, it wouldn't open, so I just assumed it was closed and went back downstairs. I was not alone in doing this and, from what I heard afterwards, we missed about four rooms of samples and upholstered furniture.

We finished with a short walk to the train station, but no trains were operating, so we had to get on a bus. I ended up getting on a bus that went to the Velizy-Chavilles station, but the others took a bus to Versailles Chantier or Massy Paliseau. I should have gone with them. My bus took us meandering around Jouy for a while before heading on to Vélizy-Chavilles. It was a pretty ride, though.
On Thursday, I walked to and from Francine's again and then headed straight back to the RER station to go to Paris to meet up with a group of AAWE friends for a walking tour of the 1st arrondissement -- a chocolate tour. Iris is a young guide, a real professional guide, whom I highly recommend. She started us off at the Louvre, where Marie-Thérèse, Louis XIV's queen established chocolate as the drink of choice. We then went to where the first chocolat maker set up with a royal patent. We stopped at the boulangerie patisserie that supplies the Elysée Palace. There, we had a sample of an "Opéra", a coffee and chocolate pastry that is sold in almost every patisserie in France. This one was especially good as the balance between the chocolate and coffee was perfect. Of course, we only tasted the very finest quality of chocolate on this tour, all made with 100% cocoa butter and no other kind of oil. (Leslie Charbonnel has kindly allowed me to share her pictures with you -- I forgot to take my camera!)
We then made our way through the Palais Royal gardens (where Anne d'Autriche once lived with the royal princes, Louis XIV and his brother) and went on to three different chocolate makers where we tasted different samples. It was a very tasty tour, but it was just samples and not an excessive amount of ingested chocolate. I found where I'm going to get some year-end gifts, though! Unfortunately, this was a slow walk, though, kind of like a museum and my legs and back hate that.

Friday, Paul and I went to the Renoir exhibit at the Grand Palais. Being a Renoir exhibit, it was crowded. Too crowded. If you tried to look closely at a painting or even the sign with the title, you were pushed out of the way; if you stood back to admire, you couldn't see because of the people passing by in front of you. Luckily, I have a carte Sésame and can go back whenever I want. I might try some morning. I was very happy to stop walking when we got home. That walk uphill from the RER seemed interminable.

An then on Saturday was the Money Matters for Women conference in the 7th. I was a volunteer so I had to get there by 11. Paul drove me in. At least I didn't have to walk around too much. There was a lot of going up and down stairs, but that was a pleasant change. I think I attended some good sessions and the day ended with Samina, who led us through a speedy prosperity workshop. Having done a real workshop with her, I can say that one should take the time to think through the answers to the questions, because if you speed through it, you end up with a superficial view. I think everyone understood that the session was just the beginning.

Waiting for pictures to upload

I've been home almost a week. It's Saturday and Anne and I left England last Sunday evening. Even on Sunday it took us a full hour to get from Duston to Luton as we hit traffic of Londoners on their way home from a weekend in the north. Luckily, there was no waiting to check in for the flight and hardly any line at the security check, so we ended up waiting on the other side. When our departure gate was finally listed, we found ourselves among the first in line, but then they switched gates on us, so we had to go back upstairs and get in another line, no longer first. We left on time and arrived on time in Paris, where Paul was waiting for us to come out of baggage claim. Very uneventful.
On Monday morning, I went to Francine's to start painting again. A flower again -- from a photo of a sunflower at Giverny.

From Giverny, 2009 August 14

Tuesday I tried to start sorting papers -- all the mail that accumulated over the past two months that I never got around to. I finally finished that this morning and just need to take the last step of going down to the basement to file them away. I got my hair cut. That was very important and long overdue. I also started contacting potential sponsors for the STC France conference in April, a joint venture with the Trans-Alpine chapter this year.
Wednesday was too rainy to go for a hike and I got up too late, anyway. The weather was hot and muggy most of the week. Really strange for October. But now we've had a few storms and today is cooler. No complaints as this means the heating hasn't turned on yet. I've also started to organize a photo album of Aurelia for Grandmaman (and us, the Husaunndee parents, ...)
Back to painting on Thursday. I put on a first coat of background color and lost most of the detail of the edges of the flower in the process. I spent almost all afternoon on line with Fidelity. I had started a chat the previous evening to ask for a form that is not listed among the documents one can download. The customer rep. sent me link but that was for a different document than the one I wanted and when she sent me the link to the right document, but the page wouldn't open. When I recontacted them, the same thing happened and it took forever for them to understand that the problem was not in the pdf file (they kept asking me to make sure I had Adobe Acrobat Reader) and I kept telling me that it was the link -- there was no page, no pdf file to read and that I had several pdf readers available once I had a pdf to read. Couldn't they just email me the pdf file? No. Tech support was even worse -- he wanted me to change the regional settings of my computer, not just internet browser. I told him I thought the problem was that the link was not working because I was outside the country. Anyway, I ended up calling and speaking to someone else and he offered to fax the document to me, but I don't have a fax. He said he couldn't send it -- but he could fax it! In the end, he's sending it to me. When I get it, I'm scanning it to have a blank on hand for the next time. It's as if Americans shouldn't be allowed access to their own money if they live abroad, where they shouldn't be in any case. I understand the anti-fraud protection argument, but I think they are carrying it a bit too far. I want to transfer funds from an account that belongs to me there to an account that belongs to me here. I am told that if I had another American bank account, it would be easier (meaning still another account....) to route through that, but that's just multiplying the transfers, which, in my logic, creates more opportunities for fraud. This took all afternoon! I hope I receive the form in the mail early next week.
Yesterday, Paul and I got some frames for the prints we had done and are giving as presents, so I spent the end of the afternoon putting pictures in the frames. We also chose a frame for the painting of New York at night (inspired by one of Louis' photos).
Today I finished the paperwork and getting the accounts in order. During the week, I made a preliminary budget and it looks like we are going to take another trip to Asia early next year. I'm waiting for Nadine to give me the dates they are on vacation and where they'd like to meet us. We'll plan around that.
Tomorrow Russ and Judy, Ken and Sandy's New York friends, are back on their annual Paris visit and will come over to our place for dinner with the Touzés. Christine can take it easy and not have to entertain. Jacques mentioned going to a concert in a church in the 11th tomorrow afternoon, so I guess I should call him for the time and place.
Next week is looking good. A hike on Wednesday, a "chocolate tour" on Thursday, the "Money Matters for Women" conference on Saturday. I have a nagging feeling I'm forgetting something on Friday. And with all this, Paul wants me to go down to Toulon with him.

Prête à parir -- Ready to go

Si tout ce passe bien, je repars en France demain. Nous avons eu un "hic" la semaine dernière. Claire, qui avait toujours mal depuis la césarienne, mais encore plus dans cette troisième semaine, s'est rendue à l'hôpital samedi, midi, pour voir un médecin. Elle avait très mal, surtout du côté droit. C'était bel et bien une appendicite, mais elle n'a été opérée que le dimanche soir. Elle est rentrée à la maison mardi, dans l'après-midi.
Aurélia est passée très vite de l'allaitement au biberon, sans problème, sauf que nous lui donnions certainement un peu trop. Maintenant que sa maman est de retour, elle est repassée au régime de l'allaitement. Mais Claire est très fatiguée par tout ça. De coup, je suis aussi prête à rester si elle sente le besoin. Sinon, j'ai envie de rentrer chez moi et j'ai envie que cette petite famille puisse se retrouver entre eux.
Anne est venue passer ce weekend et faire connaissance de sa nièce. Charlotte est aussi arrivée hier soir pour le weekend avec nous et les parents de Geoff viendront passer la journée demain.

From Aurelia

Claire de retour à la maison, retrouve Aurélia et rassure Paul au téléphone // Claire, home from the appendectomy, holds Aurelia and reassures Paul on the phone.

If all goes according to plan, I leave here tomorrow evening with Anne, who has come for the weekend. I say, "according to plan" because the plan got off track last week when Claire had an appendectomy, not even four weeks after the c-section. That has set her back a bit. She was already suffering a bit more during the week preceding the appendicitis (probably because it was building up) and now she has more holes in her tummy to get over. She went to the E.R. on Saturday at noon but was not operated on until Sunday evening, and she came home on Tuesday afternoon.
While Claire was hospitalized, Aurelia had to go on to the bottle. Claire couldn't even send home her milk because of the painkillers and antibiotics she was receiving. I think we probably overfed her a bit, but now that Claire is back, Aurelia has happily returned to breast-feeding. Claire is really quite tired by the whole thing. I'm prepared to stay if needed, but I hope I'm not. I want to go home and I really want Claire, Geoff, and Aurelia to be by themselves, at last.
As I said, Anne has come for the weekend to meet her niece (and lend me space in her suitcase for some of my stuff). Charlotte is also up here for the weekend and Geoff's parents are coming tomorrow for Sunday lunch and they will take Charlotte home with them.