Helping Hands

Song - HELP! by the Beatles

Mama Finch feeding her fledgling

While I have been posting about our April trip to France, a lot of love has been going around.....at least around our family.  We have celebrated six birthdays, Mother's Day was spent with family in Booneville, and we just celebrated Father's Day with a family BBQ in our backyard. But more importantly......

 My brother and I have found a great little rescue dog for my mom!  She has named him Buddy and that's just what he is.  He is sweet, cuddly, loves children, is properly house trained, doesn't dig in her garden or chew her shoes and insists on sleeping in bed with her! And when she gets out the brush to comb his soft coat, he lays there like he is having a Spa Day and wonders why she has stopped.  Buddy is learning to ride in a car and walk with a leash. 

Buddy is a mix of Bichon Frise and Halvanese.  He is bonding with his new family (all of us) and learning to trust again.  It's beautiful to watch this frightened little guy go from shaking in the corner to jumping into mom's lap and give her a kiss for taking such great care of him!

 A few weeks ago Mr. B and I drove down to my parents cabin in Santa Cruz.  After the long winter it needed a little loving care. 

 While Mr. B worked behind the scenes on fun stuff like the plumbing and clearing the leaves off of the roof, I got to do a little cleaning up and planting in the garden.

 Now it is ready for summer fun!

"We might think we are nurturing our garden, 

but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us."

--Jenny Uglow

Au Revoir - Day 24 & 25

Song - Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman

May 1, 2018

This post is taken from my French travel journal and my trip through Southern France in April 2018.  For some reason my iPad and Blog were not communicating at the time so I was unable to write any posts. At home I am able to blog "post" travel! Thanks for joining me on the journey!

 

Happy Labor Day - May Day

Le Fete de Muguet

The day to present a bouquet of Lily of the Valley to loved ones

Mr. B had never been to Parc de Bagatelle before so I thought today would be a good day to introduce them to each other!

 The peacocks were happy to greet us!

 But from 3 weeks ago when I last visited, a lot had changed.  The Yellow Lady Banks climber was in full bloom.

As were the white and lavender Wisteria!

Pink Peonies - hello darlin

 An arbor full of scented Clematis - breath deep

 We were still too early to see the rose garden in bloom but it was looking good.

 Fragrant Lilac's were everywhere....

 And upon returning to our hotel we were greeted with Muguets.......

After a quick rest we took a walk over to the Louvre and Tuileries. 

 Everyone was enjoying the rays of sun on this cloudy day.......

 The Roue de Paris is a giant Ferris Wheel at the Place de la Concorde.....

 Enjoying the gray sky and views from the Pont de la Concorde bridge over the Seine......

We didn't plan too well as it was a bank holiday and everywhere we wanted to dine on our last night was closed! Back to dinner at Cafe Louise as it was good and the waitress was so kind & fun. 




 May 2, 2018

Woke at 6 to finish packing, check out of the hotel and order an Uber to Charles de Gaulle Airport. We made it but without much time to spare as we forgot about the hour drive to the airport!  We were sitting near our gate at a small cafe when I spot two people we know from our home town. Our kids were on swim team together and it was so much fun getting caught up!
 

They were on our same Aer Lingus flight to Dublin then onto SFO.  We all just barely made the connecting flight!

Good to be home.  The garden is in full bloom and the roses are spectacular!

"One mustn't ask apple trees for oranges, 

France for sun, women for love, life for happiness." 

-- Gustave Flaubert

So Much to Do - Day 23

Song - Napoleon - Viva La Vida by Coldplay

April 30, 2018

 Having taken photos of window, doors and door knockers all over France, I find the best one right across the street from our hotel.  Not sure about the symbolism but I like the whimsy of it!

 Another rainy day in Paris so we decide to take an Uber over to the Musee Jacquemart Andre to see the exposition "Mary Cassatt - an American Impressionist in Paris".  After being dropped off on Boulevard Haussmann I decide that I need some meds for my cough which is keeping me awake most nights and walking to the pharmacy we passed these amazing flowers at a shop.

 I do love Peonies!

 This was the advertisement for the exhibit and unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photographs once inside.

 Inside the Musee Jacquemart Andre before getting to the exhibit.

 This is a painting of Mary's sister from a postcard that I purchased there.

 We decided that it would be nice to get our three son's some bread knives from Boulangerie Poilane.  I bought one for us many years ago and it's a very special knife.

 And right next door is the newly remodeled and expanded Comptoir Poilane which just happened to have an open table just as we arrived. It was pouring rain outside so it was nice to be somewhere warm and cozy.

 They serve tartines or open faced sandwiches both hot and cold on Poilane's famous bread. I don't know why but it tastes so incredibly delicious this way.

 Luckily we dropped our knives off at the hotel before heading over to Napoleon's Tomb at Le Invalides because........

 .....machine gun toting police were doing body scans and bag searches!

 Mr. B nor myself have ever been here before and while it was an amazing building, once was enough.

 The marble floors were richly decorated...........

 And the tomb is built of red quartzite and rests on a green granite base.

Several of Napoleon's family are buried here as well as important military hero's. Now we are off to E. Dehillerin to do some more shopping!

 Dehilleran's is a chef's store in the Les Halles area of Paris and noted for their fine copper pans.

Which I purchased a cute little shaped sauce pan that just spoke to me.  It has sloping sides that help hasten the process of reducing or thickening sauces!

Next door was a cozy bistro named Loup and since it was still raining, we decided to head inside for a glass of wine and to give our feet a chance to rest.
 

 We are seated near this massive rotisserie full of golden brown meat going round and round...
.

The chef decides that the Prime Rib is done and takes it into the kitchen.

 But returns with this little smiling piggy......

...that every time it went around it's little tail would go "plonk"......too much for me!

Le addition s'il vous plait!

Check please!

The hotel had made us reservations at Brasserie Lipp but we canceled because...well....they serve trotters.....

We had dinner around the corner from our hotel at Cafe Louise and it was perfect!

"You won't realize the distance you've walked 

until you take a look around and realize 

how far you've been."

 --Anonymous