16 August 2006
Another airfare note: United on sale for the fall, but only through Friday
United sent an email today titled "Catch a low fare starting from USD49." Now Paris is nowhere near that low of course, but they're quoting $680 r/t for travel from August 22 through November 16. Check it out here. (Oh, and for USD49 each way you can go from DC to NYC!)
United airfares
On the off chance anyone's looking for a weekend trip, uh, right now, Washington-Paris showed up on United's list for this week.
International E-Fares
Sample fares are for travel beginning Monday (August 21, 2006) through Thursday (August 24, 2006) and returning Monday (August 28, 2006) through Thursday (August 31, 2006). Additional taxes and fees apply.*
From: To: Roundtrip:
Washington, D.C. (IAD) Brussels, Belgium (BRU) $690
Washington, D.C. (IAD) Paris, France (CDG) $791
Brussels is 90 minutes on the high-speed train, so that could work too. I'd even meet you there. Mmmmm, Belgian beer ...
By the way, I know only a few of our friends and family live in DC, but I don't see a lot of fare listings for other places direct to Paris. If anybody knows how to search for "anywhere in the US to Paris" let me know.
International E-Fares
Sample fares are for travel beginning Monday (August 21, 2006) through Thursday (August 24, 2006) and returning Monday (August 28, 2006) through Thursday (August 31, 2006). Additional taxes and fees apply.*
From: To: Roundtrip:
Washington, D.C. (IAD) Brussels, Belgium (BRU) $690
Washington, D.C. (IAD) Paris, France (CDG) $791
Brussels is 90 minutes on the high-speed train, so that could work too. I'd even meet you there. Mmmmm, Belgian beer ...
By the way, I know only a few of our friends and family live in DC, but I don't see a lot of fare listings for other places direct to Paris. If anybody knows how to search for "anywhere in the US to Paris" let me know.
15 August 2006
Cyclists' holiday
Today is Assomption - memo to France, why bother with a holiday when everybody's on vacation? I mean, seriously, everything is closed today, but 90% of it was closed yesterday, and 80% was closed last week too!
Anyway, Betsy had the day off, and the weather finally looked decent so we got the bikes out. We hadn't taken them across to the Bois de Boulogne yet, partly because the on-street routes to get there are kinda intimidating with Carter pedaling himself. With the promise of 75 degrees and partly sunshiney weather, we took the plunge. After sleeping late, of course. Our new expat friends Tom & Carol had bought and brought a new trail-a-bike for Calvin's use, and we hadn't taken it out yet. Carter's close to outgrowing his $8 thrift-store bike, so we headed to the bike shop to rent him a 5-speed.
Our trip over there, via mostly bike lanes (some shared with busses and taxis, yikes!) went very well. Carter really tries hard and doesn't complain about all the riding at all, but he has the attention span of a 7-year-old on a bike in a big city with lots of stuff to look at! After we got to the park, where many of the roads were closed down for the holiday, we had a great and relaxing time meandering along them and the many paths through the Bois. We found a lovely lake with shade trees, ducks, and other pique-niquers and boules players and cyclists about. After our bread, ham, and cheese lunch, we rode around for a while longer until it was time to head home. We ran into Mike from the bike shop on an ice cream run, and he brought back a couple for the boys. Come join us for a bike ride soon!
Anyway, Betsy had the day off, and the weather finally looked decent so we got the bikes out. We hadn't taken them across to the Bois de Boulogne yet, partly because the on-street routes to get there are kinda intimidating with Carter pedaling himself. With the promise of 75 degrees and partly sunshiney weather, we took the plunge. After sleeping late, of course. Our new expat friends Tom & Carol had bought and brought a new trail-a-bike for Calvin's use, and we hadn't taken it out yet. Carter's close to outgrowing his $8 thrift-store bike, so we headed to the bike shop to rent him a 5-speed.
Our trip over there, via mostly bike lanes (some shared with busses and taxis, yikes!) went very well. Carter really tries hard and doesn't complain about all the riding at all, but he has the attention span of a 7-year-old on a bike in a big city with lots of stuff to look at! After we got to the park, where many of the roads were closed down for the holiday, we had a great and relaxing time meandering along them and the many paths through the Bois. We found a lovely lake with shade trees, ducks, and other pique-niquers and boules players and cyclists about. After our bread, ham, and cheese lunch, we rode around for a while longer until it was time to head home. We ran into Mike from the bike shop on an ice cream run, and he brought back a couple for the boys. Come join us for a bike ride soon!
14 August 2006
From the archives: Marilyn on pickling with the boys
Betsy's mom Marilyn is currently undergoing chemo in her fight against breast cancer, and can't get out of her house much. She's has been sending lots of great updates, and I thought you'd enjoy her story of canning with the boys. Thank you, Marilyn.
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alan, the girls and i moved to this house in baltimore more than 30 years ago. each summer since then i have done home canning. always making applesauce. usually pickles too. and a variety of other things. most years i can and preserve a couple hundred jars of a handful of different things. it is one of the highlights of my year.
last year at this time carter and calvin spent a lot of time with me. and we worked so hard. the boys have canned with me each year and have a better notion of the fundamentals of canning than most of you might have. carter was 6 and calvin 3, and carter had decided he wanted to enter things he made in the maryland state fair. so we had our work cut out for us.
at the moment i can recall only 5 of the 6 categories he entered. bread & butter pickles. whole pickled beets. pickled green beans. green tomato pickles. hot sauce. carter is a good cook, with interesting ideas about food. and he has very high standards. so he was a bit disappointed that of the 5 ribbons he won, none was a blue ribbon. the whole pickled beets were not very good. the other pickles were appealingly and professionally packed, and tasted great. his hot sauce was terrific! and another year i'll make some again. the first recipe we tried was alright - granny smith and jalapeno peppers. but not up to carter's exacting standards. we tried another combo, tinkered a bit and made a fantastic red haven peach and habanero hot sauce. awe didn't get to taste the other entries, but the only one judged better than carter's must have been a doozy.
carter did all the work on his state fair entries except when it involved anything boiling. he's a terrific worker and it was a treat being his assistant. calvin, for his part, was also an excellent worker. every year for the past several years first carter, and now carter and calvin have made christmas and holiday gifts for their many friends and family. if i had to guess, they might well give a whole lot more gifts than most any of you give. the total is over 100. they are wonderful, generous and very sociable people.
so last year at this time, calvin was hard at work on christmas presents. he made gallons of deliciously flavored vinegars. he filled huge glass canning jars with a peck of garlic cloves and then filled the jars to overflowing with white vinegar. he filled other jars with a peck of fresh red raspberries (carter noted that calvin assiduously tested every handful of berries for quality, and ate any that were bad) and calvin filled those jars to overflowing with white vinegar too. i sliced habanero peppers and packed the jars with them - that makes me the pickle packer. then calvin filled the last jars to overflowing with white vinegar.
since my parisian son-in-law loves his hot sauces, we had one final labor of love. we made a few jars of some very flavorful and very hot hot sauces for chris. his birthday is in september. chris, uncle roberto and a couple of guys named mike were pretty happy with those. (i think i actually got a marriage proposal out of those hot sauces. that’s how hot and delectable they were.)
a year ago my house was filled with busy, happy, tired little boys every night. this year it is just one grandma who seems to be tired not only every night but also every day too. and i am impatient sometimes with myself. even so, my energy levels today and yesterday are prodigious, almost unbounded compared to what i had only days ago. cathy is quick and insistent in reminding me that i have one thing to do right now and it requires my every effort, waking and sleeping: i need to get better. that does take a lot of energy and attention. though in my heart there remains a sparkle of hope that i could get in a bit of canning again this season.
------------------------
alan, the girls and i moved to this house in baltimore more than 30 years ago. each summer since then i have done home canning. always making applesauce. usually pickles too. and a variety of other things. most years i can and preserve a couple hundred jars of a handful of different things. it is one of the highlights of my year.
last year at this time carter and calvin spent a lot of time with me. and we worked so hard. the boys have canned with me each year and have a better notion of the fundamentals of canning than most of you might have. carter was 6 and calvin 3, and carter had decided he wanted to enter things he made in the maryland state fair. so we had our work cut out for us.
at the moment i can recall only 5 of the 6 categories he entered. bread & butter pickles. whole pickled beets. pickled green beans. green tomato pickles. hot sauce. carter is a good cook, with interesting ideas about food. and he has very high standards. so he was a bit disappointed that of the 5 ribbons he won, none was a blue ribbon. the whole pickled beets were not very good. the other pickles were appealingly and professionally packed, and tasted great. his hot sauce was terrific! and another year i'll make some again. the first recipe we tried was alright - granny smith and jalapeno peppers. but not up to carter's exacting standards. we tried another combo, tinkered a bit and made a fantastic red haven peach and habanero hot sauce. awe didn't get to taste the other entries, but the only one judged better than carter's must have been a doozy.
carter did all the work on his state fair entries except when it involved anything boiling. he's a terrific worker and it was a treat being his assistant. calvin, for his part, was also an excellent worker. every year for the past several years first carter, and now carter and calvin have made christmas and holiday gifts for their many friends and family. if i had to guess, they might well give a whole lot more gifts than most any of you give. the total is over 100. they are wonderful, generous and very sociable people.
so last year at this time, calvin was hard at work on christmas presents. he made gallons of deliciously flavored vinegars. he filled huge glass canning jars with a peck of garlic cloves and then filled the jars to overflowing with white vinegar. he filled other jars with a peck of fresh red raspberries (carter noted that calvin assiduously tested every handful of berries for quality, and ate any that were bad) and calvin filled those jars to overflowing with white vinegar too. i sliced habanero peppers and packed the jars with them - that makes me the pickle packer. then calvin filled the last jars to overflowing with white vinegar.
since my parisian son-in-law loves his hot sauces, we had one final labor of love. we made a few jars of some very flavorful and very hot hot sauces for chris. his birthday is in september. chris, uncle roberto and a couple of guys named mike were pretty happy with those. (i think i actually got a marriage proposal out of those hot sauces. that’s how hot and delectable they were.)
a year ago my house was filled with busy, happy, tired little boys every night. this year it is just one grandma who seems to be tired not only every night but also every day too. and i am impatient sometimes with myself. even so, my energy levels today and yesterday are prodigious, almost unbounded compared to what i had only days ago. cathy is quick and insistent in reminding me that i have one thing to do right now and it requires my every effort, waking and sleeping: i need to get better. that does take a lot of energy and attention. though in my heart there remains a sparkle of hope that i could get in a bit of canning again this season.
13 August 2006
Les vacances sont fini
As you know our vacation here in Paris started Thursday with renting a smart forFour and driving to France Miniature, followed by dinner back in Paris at a Reunion Island-ian resto. Friday we went to Le Grand Répertoire: Machines du Spectacle, at the also-spectacular Grand Palais. The Grand Palais was built for the 1900 World's Fair, and sits by the Seine across from Les Invalides, where we stayed when we first arrived. Ask my Mom how to get there, she knows the long way! ;-> The exhibit is remarkable: over 100 machines built by Royal de Luxe for their colossal, absurd French street theater productions over the past twenty-ish years. The boys and Betsy went TWICE last weekend while I was in Brussels, that's how engaging it is. We spent all afternoon as "les machinistes" demonstrated the various things.
You can see pictures of us with the machines, and also watch video highlights from Thursday and Friday here. It's about 3 minutes, so I hope it dowloads reasonably for you.
Friday night the weather turned sour, and the past two days have been low-60s and rainy. Yesterday we went to a movie at Odéon - The Ant Bully in "version originale" to be exact. The movie was cute, and we had the theater to ourselves. After the movie, we split up - Carter and I off to St-Germain-des-Prés and Musée Cluny, Betsy and Calvin to wander and shop (I think - they might've just gone to a bar or taken a nap). We rendez-voused for yummy Japanese near Odéon before heading home. Oh, and I forgot the camera, so you'll have to trust me.
Today we hit the market then returned for the fourth time to the Cité des Sciences, and its Star Wars exhibit and Cité des Enfants childrens' playground. I believe we may finally have gotten those exhibits out of our systems. I remembered the camera ... but left the memory chip out of it so could only take about 5 pictures. Sheesh. Anyway, even though we're on vacation, we made dinner at home and then watched ... Star Wars. Shocking, eh?
Tomorrow Betsy's back to work, but the boys are off school. Tuesday's another random national/Catholic holiday, so why not take Monday off too? It's likely to be a recover-from-vacation day - sleep, grocery store, clean house, chore-y stuff. We'll keep you posted.
11 August 2006
Vacation in Paris
We were going to go to Cologne or Amsterdam this weekend, but decided to stay and have a vacation weekend in Paris. We've been promising the boys to do a lot of things that nebulous "sometime soon," so we thought we'd make that soon come now. Today we rented a smart forFour.
We all love the look of the Smart cars, and thought for a while we might pick up a forFour to bring home (the boys still think we might, so don't tell them). Turns out the forFour has stopped production, but the forTwo is coming to the US soon, if you're wondering. Anyway, since we only know the trains in Paris, Betsy got lost, and well, watch and see.
Anyway, we drove out to the 'burbs to France Miniature. Yes, really. Yes, it was as cheesy as it sounds. But, I have to admit, it was engagingly hilarious. We spent probably 5-6 hours at the place, checking out all 120 models of French sites, located on a plot of land shaped like France, complete with the major rivers, mountains, and trains. Here are a couple of pictures and I'll try to get the movies up tomorrow, day 2 of our Paris vacation.
We all love the look of the Smart cars, and thought for a while we might pick up a forFour to bring home (the boys still think we might, so don't tell them). Turns out the forFour has stopped production, but the forTwo is coming to the US soon, if you're wondering. Anyway, since we only know the trains in Paris, Betsy got lost, and well, watch and see.
Anyway, we drove out to the 'burbs to France Miniature. Yes, really. Yes, it was as cheesy as it sounds. But, I have to admit, it was engagingly hilarious. We spent probably 5-6 hours at the place, checking out all 120 models of French sites, located on a plot of land shaped like France, complete with the major rivers, mountains, and trains. Here are a couple of pictures and I'll try to get the movies up tomorrow, day 2 of our Paris vacation.
09 August 2006
Our apartment
(click picture above or link here)
We realized with the recent spate of welcome visitors that we hadn't really described very well what our apartment is like today, furnished. While we continue to decorate, pick up odds and ends of furniture, and of course wreck the place with our daily lives, it's in close enough to final form that we've taken some pictures to show you what it's like.
In our 95 square meters (right at 1000 square feet), we have 9 rooms, plus a hallway. That counts the foyer and hallway as one. Off of the foyer to the left is the kitchen, straight is the hallway, and to the right is the dining room. On the right side of the hallway past the dining room is the living room (connected by a large opening to the dining room), then the office/guestroom/playroom, which has its own door back to the hallway. On the left side of the hallway is the WC, then the salle de bain or sink/shower room. Trust me, when you only have "one bathroom," the difference between one and two halfs is an important one. At the end of the hallway is the boys' bedroom, and to the right of it is ours.
So come visit!
P.S. These pictures are the first I've posted using Picasa Web Albums, from Google. Let me know if it's better than the .mac way I've been using.
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