Mon Ami Arrivé

My friend Toni arrived today, bringing thoughts of home with her. So it seems like a good day to post the pictures my friend Sheri, who is housesitting for me, sent of my menagerie of creatures. I do miss them. Can't help myself. Arthur and Merlin to the left and below, Pelé and Sélène (note the French spelling), are posed in one of their favorite spots.

I waited for Toni at the little café next to my apartment—they were most kind and turned on the heaters for me. It's definitely beginning to feel like winter and it's raining today. While I waited I drank coffee and read Stendhal's The Red and The Black. Such an interesting book. I'm really enjoying it.

One of the best things is that it's footnoted with all sorts of historical information to help the modern English reader understand the historical references that Stendhal, of course, takes for granted writing in 1830. It's set in the countryside, but it's very politically-pointed. He makes all sorts of observations about the Liberals and the Conservatives of the day. I swear it sounds contemporary. The hatred of the Right for the Left… very familiar.  Stendhal is sly. So is Hugo. I don't know, but it seems that might be a "French" characteristic. I've read that the French value wit in conversation, that they score points more through wit than through factual logic... I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well, but there's something in both books that I really like, a kind of satirical voice that I'm calling "sly." In any event, I'm not only reading a good, well-told story, I'm also learning a lot of interesting bits of detail that point directly to my time period, which is great.

When Toni finally arrived,  I'd been reading for close to two hours. It took her longer to negotiate the train than she had expected. She speaks French much better than I do, although she hasn't been here in quite awhile. I think she figured it's been ten or twelve years.

Later in the afternoon, we moseyed over to the Anvers Market and had a lot of fun buying groceries. We bought these huge shrimp. They aren't shrimp. I don' t know what they are, smaller than a lobster, but bigger than the biggest shrimp I've ever seen. We're planning to have them for dinner tonight. They cost a fortune, so I hope they're worth it. Didn't realize how much they were going to cost because it's so hard, still, to make the shift between grams and ounces and pounds.

We also bought mushrooms and spinach and a green pepper and a couple of avocados, a real shopping spree. Lots of fun. We didn't leave the neighborhood. Toni just flew the ten plus hour flight from San Francisco that I did six weeks ago. Amazing that I've been here six weeks, and she lost 9 hours, so we're taking it easy for the moment. We're planning to go to Montmartre this afternoon and poke around up there.

Last night we went out to dinner in a little café that's across the street from my apartment. I had rabbit with mustard sauce and a medley of steamed vegetables. It was excellent. I've been wanting to try rabbit, which I don't think I've ever had before. It does taste a lot like chicken.  So. Not a lot of exciting news from the home front. Just life. It's very nice to have a friend to travel with. Tuesday we're heading south to Provence.

C'est tout pour aujourd'hui.