Slow

Summer is moving in slowly. We have finally had some really hot days, but nothing unbearable. It cools down at night. There are supposed to be storms moving through, but they seem to skirt around the Paris area. We finally turned on the automatic sprinkling system. I know my friends in California must be outraged, but even if we, here, have not had a recent rain, we're nowhere near drought conditions; we can water our vegetable gardens. We've already had two zucchini from the garden and there are a few tomatoes already getting fatter. We've also eaten two artichokes. The birds did not get to the cherries before I did and I managed to make a clafoutis. With a few more cherries and the rhubarb I made a dessert I will not repeat. The raspberries are starting to come, but they seem smaller this year and there are not as many as there usually are. There are plums on the red plum tree and I think I saw a solitary plum on the green-gage plum tree.
Yesterday was our street's 25th street party. It was hot and sunny, which is so rare for the event it was remarked. The mayor came, as usual, as did a couple of council members, who are also regular visitors. When we started this, back in 1990, it was quite a novelty in France, unheard of, really. Since then, France has invented the national "fête des voisins", but our street still chooses its own date and ignores the mandated festivities. What surprised me, though, yesterday, was that most of the parents of the kids having fun were not there. Not only they were not helping P, who was organizing games and such, but they were not there to supervise their kids or just to converse. The "old" neighbors did show up. We don't have any kids any more, but we just like to hang out and catch up with some neighbors we don't see all the time. I must remember to alert my kids to the date for next year, so the grandkids can join in the fun. It was too late in the afternoon when I thought of it yesterday.
I was going to take S to the library for the story hour on Wednesday morning, but he's been reluctant to go to the American Library for several weeks and I didn't want to make a big thing of it, so we didn't go. He wanted to see the TGVs at the Gare Montparnasse, so we got on the bus and went to the train station. We saw several TGV arrivals and then there was a long break with no arrivals or departures, so we had time to walk along the platform all the way to the front of the train before the engineer even got there. He arrived; we waved; he waved. S was very impatient for the train to leave, and it was hard to explain that the engineer couldn't just start off because he was ready. Finally, the 2-minute-to-departure beeper started its horrible beeping and the whistle-blower blew her whistle to signal the doors closing. The engineer opened his side window and waved good-bye as the train slowly started. S was all smiles and waved back. Then, we walked all the way back and went to see other TGVs go off - and come in -- for almost 2 hours! (No pictures to share, nor full names -- if you know the family, you know who S is. S, 3, is old enough for the story hour and C, almost 1, has started going to the lapsit.)
A few weeks ago, we went to the Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Grand Palais with Anne. Very interesting, starting with the teddy bear he dressed up when still a small child. We had been to the Velasquez exhibit a few weeks before and this was definitely more refreshing! Velasquez was interesting, from a historical standpoint, but after a while the religious theme became a bit boring to me and then the royal family I found even more boring. Always the same poses, the same faces. With Gaultier, he goes through phases, but its never boring -- almost never anything a regular person would wear, either. I still want to get to the Tudor exhibit. And Bonnard. And Lascaux at the Porte de Versailles, which is not the same reproduction one sees at the Lascaux site; it's a different area of the original site no one is allowed to visit any more. Paul did visit the original before it was closed to the public. We've visited other sites: Cougnac and Pech'Merle and we're going back to Pech'Merle this summer with friends.
I've got the August activites as organized as I'm going to get them: hotel reservations for the traveling part, the reservation at Pech'Merle, the tourist office info for Cordes and Toulouse, maps. For the not-so-mini high school reunion: the dinner cruise on the Seine reservation; bus tour reservation; walking tours reserved; and the date on my calendar to get the dinner reservation. And I have an idea for A's 6th birthday.

Toys and People

After seeing the Stein exhibit, a week later, we went to see the toy exhibit. In French it says "Des Jouets et des Hommes", which literally translates as "Toys and Men", but it's "men" meaning "man" or "mankind" and that just doesn't work any more. So, Toys and People, to me.
There's a bit on the history of toys, earliest documentation of toys. An early Grecian tea set! Some Renaissance royal miniature carriages and so on. There are paintings, many of them by women, because, I guess, representing children with toys was a more domestic, amateur painter's fancy. There are, however, some very official paintings with children and their toys. The exhibit has themes. There are the horses, from the basic head of a horse on a stick to "My Little Pony" via the Fisher Price horse on wheels (of which we still have one dating back to Claire's time).



There are pull toys, dolls and doll houses. There are modern art installations, like Barbie Foot by Chloe Ruchon. There's a very interesting couple of photos: a girl in pink in her pink room surrounded by all her pink objects and toys and a boy in blue in his blue room surrounded by all his blue toys and other objects. There are professional themes, with girls being led to playing nurse or teacher and boys off to soldier or fireman. There are video games: war games, Sim City, being a vetrinarian, taking care of horses.... Films on toys or with toys in the plot: Babes in Toyland; Citizen Kane, Toy Story, ....
Again, no waiting on line. Well, this time, there was no one else waiting, and we had our Carte Sésame. So, if you are going to the Grand Palais and feel there are too many people crowding into the Stein exhibit, go to the corner and take in this Toy one.

The Stein exhibit at the Grand Palais

We've been doing a lot recently, and instead of loading up one post, I'm going to break it down into several episodes. I've just been too lazy to write more often.

Back in the days of the Pierwige, back before I stayed there, Paul was already living there and there were plenty of foreign students and young working people. Among them were Peter and Jeanne from Switzerland. They were not a couple, then, but they did become a couple and are still so. They came to Paris a few weeks ago and we all went out to eat on Tuesday evening and then to the Stein exhibit on Thursday morning.

The Stein Collection -- a great exhibit. I don't think I've ever seen so many Picasso and Matisse paintings together. Apparently Leo and Gertrude collected mostly Picasso and their brother and his wife took to Matisse. No matter. They collected early, before these artists became famous and overpriced. When they could no longer collect Picasso and Matisse or Cézanne, they started collecting newer artists. It's all interesting. Leo, the elder brother, left Gertrude when Alice B. Toklas came to live with her. And that's the Gertrude Stein I was more familiar with, the writer who befriended Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. We got to the Grand Palais a few minutes before opening and with our Carte Sésame we were in the direct access, no waiting line. It's so refreshing to see exhibits before the crowds come in and you can't see anything. (Last year, at the Monet exhibit, I saw the difference. I saw it once with Rita at 9:00 a.m. and then went again with the Pickars and Paul one afternoon. They allow too many people at once in the Grand Palais and it's tiring to try to see anything. You can get close. You can't stand back. Just keep moving.)

Before going to the exhibit, we all met for dinner on Tuesday evening. Of course, over the years I had heard stories of the Pierwige before me and of Paul's friends there, so I felt as though I already knew them. Paul had found the restaurant on Lafourchette.com. He reserved us at Au Gourmand, where you get a 40% discount when you reserve via the site. Very, very nice. It was an excellent meal and, with the discount, not expensive, at all.

Caillebotte brothers

 Paul and I just got in from seeing an exhibit at the Musée André-Jacquemart. You might know the name Caillebotte from the famous painting of the floor scrapers. Well, there were two rather wealthy brothers and one, Gustave, was a painter. He exhibited with the Impressionist and was a collector and patron. His brother, Marcel, took up photography. One of the things about Gustave was the way he chose the point of view for many of his paintings -- looking down on the floor scrappers, taking a plunging view from what seems to be a fifth-floor apartment on the Boulevard Haussmann (Marcel's apartment) and almost photographic, modern points of view. Marcel's photos, when you consider how expensive photo development and printing were, are exceptionally banal, everyday photos of family in their activities or at rest, people in the street, street scenes. They are not so different from what catches the eye today, like seeing two guys perched on ladders at the Place de la Concorde would be something I'd take a picture of, too. And this is modern because most 19th century photos were formal productions. Marcel took advantage of the new techniques that allowed for faster shooting. There is a lot of similarity between the two brothers' subject matter. Of course, there's family, but even the boating scenes or the railroad bridges are shared. As you can tell, I enjoyed it.

On the way home, we stopped to eat at Le Relais in Nogent and ate in the courtyard. The prices seem to have gone up there since the change in management, but the food was good, so no complaints. We've had such summer-like weather for the past month, I just know we're going to pay for it one way or another. Might as well take advantage of it, though. Paul is out reading (or sleeping?) in the backyard. The tomato plants are coming up just fine. I should buy more plants for the vegetable garden this weekend.

A day of rest

It's been a busy week, starting with Claire and Aurelia's visit Friday to Monday and ending with Ken and Sandy from Monday to Friday. I took them to the airport before dawn this morning. OK, before dawn is not a big deal in winter, since dawn isn't until 8:30, but it sounds so early!

No complaints, though. It was a wonderful week. With Aurelia we mostly stayed home and went for walks in the neighborhood. Claire was out with her friends a lot, but Sunday afternoon was a family day. Louis and Gwen came here, as did Anne.
Monday morning I made a blanquette de veau (veal stew in white sauce) for lunch. I left home before lunch to pick up Ken and Sandy. I diligently checked the flight status before leaving and it was showing up with a 5-minute delay. There were no major traffic delays and I got to the airport about 10 minutes before the flight was due and spent a good deal of time finding a parking space. I got up to the welcome area for flight arrivals a little after the flight was due, but the flight was still not in. It was still expected at 12:30. At 1, it was still expected at 12:30! I went over to the information booth and asked if they had any better information and they told me it was now due just before 2:00! I remarked that their arrival board needed updating, since the plane had obviously not even taken off at the expected arrival time. Needless to day, Ken and Sandy did arrive and their baggage was the first off the plane, so we got home by 3:00. They had just enough time to say hello to Claire and meet Aurelia before Paul took those two to the airport for their flight while we had our lunch.
Jacques came over after work to say hello. After a weekend of cooking, I hadn't wanted to make another dinner. Plus, we had had a very late lunch, so I, for one, was not hungry. I had the perfect solution. Quenelles de brochet, which Wikipedia translates as pike quenelles, and I would translate quenelle as a big dumpling, in a fish soup. I didn't have to make anything. I bought the quenelles and the soup at the market from the fishmonger and she's the one who suggested cooking the quenelles in the soup and serving that way. It was a hit. Salad and then cheese and that was the meal. No work.
Tuesday we all went into Paris, but with different things to do. Paul left us to see his friends from work; I got off to go to Michel Cluzel to get some chocolat before going on to the library; and Ken and Sandy continued to the Grand Palais to try to see the Monet exhibit. Turns out the exhibit is by advance purchase only and is all sold out, so they saw the Bulgari exhibit instead. We went over to Jacques' for dinner, where we saw Julien and Gaetane and their children. It was Julien's birthday! Jean-Paul and Anne, other friends who know Ken and Sandy, came in for a before dinner drink. We miss Christine. Still, we had a good time, a good dinner and a good birthday celebration.
Jacques lent Paul his card for the Grand Palais, and we were able to take Ken and Sandy to the Monet exhibit that way. The exhibit was very crowded. Not at all like it was when I went with Rita. Paul and I left Ken and Sandy there because I had to get back for a dentist appointment and Paul had something else. We all met up later at Anne's with Louis and Gwen and went out for a family dinner nearby.

Yesterday, I went into Paris with Ken and Sandy and we went to the Marais. Had falafel for lunch on the Rue de Rosiers and then went to see what was on at the Museum of Jewish Art and History. They've rearranged the permanent exhibit since the last time I went there. It's better, less dense. I think we spent too much time in the permanent exhibit and didn't leave enough for the current exhibit of Felix Nussbaum. What a discovery! What a shame! By looking at the paintings you can see history unfolding -- from the seaside, happy scenes in the 1920s to the masks (like his friend, James Ensor) in the '30s and then premonitions of the concentration camps in the '40s. He died there only 40 years old. But we had to leave to meet Jacques at the Grand Palais for the France 1500 exhibit. For me, it was the second time and I was looking forward to seeing the Belle Ferronière again, but she'd been taken back to the Louvre! A pity. They could have at least put up a nice reproduction of it, but no. If you didn't see it before November 18, then you weren't going to get a glimpse. I felt sorry as I had encouraged the choice of that exhibit for that painting. The rest of the exhibit is still worth seeing. I was able to pay more attention to details this time. We had dinner at a pizzeria on the Champs Elysées and then met Paul at the Théatre des Champs Elysées, which is on Ave. Montaigne, near the Place d'Alma, not the Champs-Elysées, for a fantastic concert of Sibelius and Prokofiev, which I am listening to as I write the blog. It's available for listening for a month. Wish I could download it.

Made it to the Monet exhibit

This is a picture by Jacques Demarthon/Agence France-Presse, used to illustrate the critical review in the New York Times. I'm glad I didn't read the review before seeing the show for myself. It's a great review and a great show, but I'm glad I decided it was great on my own. Well, not entirely on my own since Rita also got up before the break of dawn this freezing morning to get the RER and be at the exhibit entrance at 9:00.
There was already quite a line, but since I had that Sésame card, we went in first and didn't have to stop at the cashier's desk. We got rid of our coats and went into the absolutely empty Grand Palais. They weren't empty for long; Rita and I took our time and by the time we were through the first room, the crowd had caught up with us. It wasn't a horde, though, we were able to go at our own speed and look carefully at whatever we wanted to. That brings me back to why I chose this picture; I was most impressed by the many series. 
Back in September, when we went to Rouen with Jackie and Ed, we saw the Impressionists in Rouen exhibit and, of course, the series of the Rouen cathedrale were there. Well, they finished the exhibit in Rouen just in time to make the trip to Paris. Each painting in a series belongs to a different owner -- museums for the most part -- all over the world, so you really don't get to compare the cathedrale, haystack, or parliament paintings. Here, you do. They really did get paintings from all over the world, with the exception of the Marmottan museum in Paris, which has its own Monet exhibit and doesn't want to share. So you get to see the haystacks at different times of the day with colors and shadows more or less intense, or in sunlight or under snow. I just loved the Parliament paintings from the early 1900s. 
Another thing I noticed about Monet is that he doesn't seem to have a signature brush stroke. Each painting is done differently. Reflections on the water are fantastic, but there doesn't seem to be a certain way to get that result; it's all in the color, and there doesn't seem to any right way to do that, either. Sometimes the little people in a painting are really vague tiny splotches, but with a little different color in the middle of the splotch, it's a woman's dress. On the other hand, the details in large paintings with people are exquisite and exact. 
So now, I'm back home. No library today. Anne has kindly taken the afternoon slot for today. She has to stay in town for an evening activity and just preferred staying at the library. I understand her reasoning. It's such a schlep to go back home that the mere idea of schleping back out makes you want to just crawl under the covers and not go. I've had an excellent left-over turkey lunch. It's very cold, but the sun has come out. Rita and I walked up the Champs Elysées from the Grand Palais to the RER station at Etoile and then, of course, I walked home from the Fontenay station. That added to my walk to the station should be enough for today. 
Here is the link to the exhibit again: Monet 2010 and another to the post about our trip to Rouen in September.

Consumer frenzy - Art Nouveau at the Musée d'Orsay - Volunteering

New TV

We've been debating several purchases for a very long time. It takes us forever to finally decide to take the plunge and buy. But we're getting there. In December we visited a furniture showroom to see the sofas, but the salesguy was so insistent we left in a hurry. I want to get rid of stuff before buying replacements because I want less and I want it distributed in the living room differently. So I think it'll be some time before we act on that.

Another discussion was fixing the path from the house to the front gate. It got to the point we couldn't really open the gate anymore. That's been taken care of. 

Then, there's been the TV discussion. Time to get a flat-screen TV that could be hung on the wall or put on a shallower table and not take up so much room so that we could free the space between the living room and dining room and once again walk through. It's been time for a few years already. Well, it's done and in the frenzy we got a second TV so I could watch a little TV in bed. All these years resisting a second TV and here we are, at last. After seeing that TVs are going the way of computers (once you buy it, it's already outdated) we finally got LED TVs, the really thin ones, and decided not to wait for 3D, Skype integrated into the TV, or whatever comes next.

Little by little we're also framing or re-framing the artwork and we seem to have expensive taste in frames, but they do so much to the pictures that once you see a good frame it's hard to choose a lesser one. Anyway, that's why we're going so slowly on that. It's hard to choose.

There's still plenty on the list: redoing my closet space, a new kitchen (after 25 years, it's time!), making Louis' old room into another guest room, and other odds and ends.

A Visit to the Musée d'Orsay

Yesterday evening we went to the Musée d'Orsay for the first time in a really long time. It's still a beautiful place. There are loads of people but you don't have that crowded sensation you get at the Grand Palais exhibits or at the Louvre. Sara, a Swedish friend here in Paris that I associate with STC, but that's because she's a close friend of Jen's from her Brussels days, set up the visit and Paul and I were glad to go. It was to see the Art Nouveau Revival exhibit that's ending next week on the 4th. We had gotten hooked on the first part of the title, Art Nouveau, and were surprised to see the later stuff from the 30s, 60s, and 70s. Of course there were posters and furniture from all these periods and it was interesting to see how strong the Art Nouveau influence was. In fact, it could have been a bigger exhibit and still not bored me.

Since it was a small exhibit, we went through it fairly fast and decided to take in the James Ensor exhibit, which is also ending on the 4th. The poster for that exhibit is one of his surrealist paintings of masked figures. I  don't particularly like those, or the ones of skeletons -- not the kind of thing I could look at for long before getting very gloomy thoughts. But, I discovered his early paintings, which seemed, to me, at least, to be heavy-handed impressionist -- bold colors, thick paint, but wonderful light coming from the depth of the painting. Also, he did fantastic drawings. Still, I wouldn't really want any of it at home. I am glad we saw it, however. 

American Library

I've become a volunteer at the American Library -- one afternoon a week (Tuesday) at the circulation desk. I've done it twice and am enjoying it. It gets me into Paris at least once a week, although it's a real challenge to get there in less than an hour and coming home during rush hour is horrible and a reminder of why I'm so glad I don't have to do that every day. Once a month I'll stay on for the "night at the movies" event at the library and come home later, well after rush hour, when you have to wait about 15 minutes for the next RER to come along.