60+ days

When Suzanne posted her beautiful self-portrait starting her 50-day countdown to her 50th birthday, I thought it was a clever way to mark the year's end-in-progress. But darn, I forgot and missed my counting date. Then this evening I needed to take a quick photo of myself for something else. Although I haven't found the right photo for that project yet, here's the come-as-you-are "self-portrait in a bathroom mirror" version, complete with bad lighting and bad focus, to mark 60+ days till my 66th birthday. (At least I'm IN the photo, which was no easy task.)


Dinner with friends on Saturday evening provided an interesting statistic to contemplate. Heidi, the young mother of a 3-year-old daughter, remarked that, among girls now 3 years and younger, one out of two is predicted to live to be 100 years old. Imagine!!
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paris in the afternoon

In the last minutes as we were leaving a sunny afternoon luncheon/reception,

shaking hands and kissing cheeks and lingering in the garden,

I turned around to take this photo across the shaded lawn,

where only a few empty glasses waiting to be cleared

reminded of our earlier presence.

Isn't the setting delicious?

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postcards from paris: un peu de bleu

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Elegant doorways can be found all over Paris.

But this photo is cropped at the knees because inelegant trash cans

lined the sidewalk edge just in front of the doors, as is often the case.

A little red, white and blue.

Another wonderful doorway, marred visually by posted announcements.

To control this, many public buildings still retain "défense d'afficher" warnings chiseled or painted in scrolling fonts along eye level (although the original 1881 law had larger intentions, including holding the "press" legally responsible for anything it printed).

Ways to maneuver around the city.

After a long walk, it's lovely to sit on a bench in a small tree-lined park

with one's pastry and Kindle, listening to the gentle fountain sounds,

feet up if possible.

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