Tuesday, May 31st - bring on the heat

 For the second day in a row, we are expecting temperatures in the low 30's. Sorry, but I'm loving this weather - but then I don't have to actually do any work in it! It is, however, perfect Miata weather, so I'm a happy camper.

Lots has gone on over the past couple of weeks. 

There's a new addition to my little family. Meet Ginger! She is basically another stray. A pregnant female cat was abandoned near my friend Carle's place. She lives out in the country and being an animal lover, had no choice but to take her in.

Fast forward a few weeks and she has 5 little kittens. Needless to say, once I saw them I had no choice. But actually it's been a good move. Pepe is really enjoying having the company and another fur baby to play with.

*********************

I had the pleasure of joining the ladies at Nancy's for lunch one day last week. We all met there at 12:30 and I was actually home by 6:00! A lovely time was had by all. Great food and wonderful company. Thanks Nancy!

****************

Some time ago, Meghan was getting another tatoo. She and I were talking and I suggested that perhaps I should get another one. She asked what would I get? After giving it some thought, I decided I'd likely get some kind of bird, to signify that I'm "free as a bird". That year she gave me a lovely drawing that she did of a phoenix, rising from the ashes. She thought that was most appropriate for me. So I've finally gotten around to having her drawing turned into a tatoo.

***************************

This year, highland games are back on again. Tristen will be competing in most of the games so I figured I'd be attending most. Turns out that they need people to act as Stewards. So I've signed up to help out. Might as well, since I'll be there anyway. I only have to work for 4 hours, keeping track of competitors before it's their turn to play. Should be fun.  Bonus is I get paid a little bit to do this as well as a pass to get in free to all the games. Works for me! Of course I'll miss a couple of games while I'm away on PEI but there are others who will be doing this job as well.

***************************

Last Saturday, Patti, Tristen and his friend Liz, from school, joined me at Centre in the Square for a live stage show highlighting the music of, who else, the Beatles! It really was a great show but this was just the appetizer.

The main course will be when we see Sir Paul this coming Saturday in Syracuse, NY. There have been some reviews saying his voice isn't as good as it once was. Come on, people. The guy is going to be 80 years old in June. The fact that I can go and see the musician I loved at the age of 11, at almost 70, is pretty amazing. Tristen is looking forward to his first real concert and being able to someday tell his kids he got to see a real Beatle perform live! My work here is done 😀

Sunday, May 22 - what a storm that was!

Well, our long weekend certainly started off with a bang.

The weather was predicted to be cool and wet for most of the weekend. To our great surprise, Saturday morning dawned warm and sunny. It was a great chance for me to finish off a project from the day before. I had finally gotten around to weeding my front flower bed but had yet to spread the mulch. So this unexpected nice weather was the ideal time to do that. 

When I was finished, I noticed that a few clouds were starting to move in, so I thought if I was going to have any chance to get the Miata out for a little spin this weekend, this would have to be it. So off I headed to Guelph as I had something to drop off at Patti's. It could have waited but what the heck - I needed some place to go. When I arrived, she was busy painting trim for her downstairs bathroom which was being re-tiled. She was just about to take Tristen over to the mall to pick up his suit for next Friday night's prom. I suggested that I could take him. Of course, he was all for that idea. So off we went.

When we arrived at the mall, I thought it prudent to put the top up on the car as by now it was really overcast. We left the car and walked into the mall and within a couple of minutes the storm hit. We weren't aware of just how severe it was until later. We picked up his suit and then went to the food court to get some lunch. By the time we finished eating it was pretty much over. Friends of Tristen's had texted that power was out in that end of town due to a downed tree. Turns out all the traffic lights were out as we made our way back to Summerfield Drive. I dropped him off and then headed back to Kitchener.

Talk about a road block (in Guelph)

Downtown Guelph Patios

One way to bring a ballgame to a grinding halt

When I got to town I was shocked to see so many very large branches down, and the closer I got to home, the worse it got. One of the streets I take to get home had a tree down almost all the way across it. Several of the side streets were almost impassable due to the number of branches on the ground. Yet by now the sun was out and the skies were clear. 

When I got home one of my neighbours called over to me to invite me to join her and y other neighbour, for a little excursion to Elora. I had been there last weekend with Patti, so my first response was, thanks but no. I had just gotten home. But then I had nothing else going on, so I changed my mind and went with them. We didn't get away until almost 3:00 and we got back shortly after 8:00. We had a lovely afternoon just wandering in and out of the little shops and finishing up with a bite to eat at a local pub. 

When we were on our way to Elora earlier, we came across a section of road where the power poles were sitting at about a 45 degree angle. Not a very safe spot to be in. Fortunately when we were on our way home, the road was blocked off as repair trucks were there looking after the damage. I was saddened this afternoon  to hear of at least 7 people dying from the storm - one lady was hit by a tree while she was walking and another was in a trailer at a camp ground that was also struck by a tree. No firm details on the others at this time. 

Just goes to show how things can change in an instant.

Friday, May 6th - Day 10 in Paris, and our last one 😒

Well, it's been a whirlwind of a trip and sadly it's coming to an end. 

We were up a little early this morning as Patti and Meghan were going to the Louvre by 10:00, for their entry time. I chose to skip the Louvre and stay home and start sorting out stuff to pack. I'm definitely going home with more than I came with. I spent my last full day just walking around the neighbourhood and scouring the local grocery stores for baking ingredients that I've not been able to find at home. On my way back I picked up a pastry and brought it home to enjoy with a coffee of the balcony. There's a boulangerie (bakery) as opposed to a Patisserie, on the corner by our place. 

There is always a line up to get in to buy their bread so it must be really good. I, on the other hand, didn't choose to wait every day for that special bread. Perhaps I should have. Oh well, next time.

The girls got back around 2:00 in the afternoon and after a bite to eat out on the balcony (because it was 22' outside in the sun) we headed to the metro one last time. We were going to explore Montmartre, an area know in the city as the artistic spot. 

We downloaded the details for a walking tour and Patti had it on her phone, so she acted as our tour guide, and did an excellent job. 

It's a really interesting area, with lots of hills and tiny little streets going off in all directions. This was the area where many of the great french artists began their careers. 

When getting off the metro, one of the first places we visited was Moulin Rouge, an area we had driven through on the bus tour.

Just up the street is Le Chat Noir, a club that's been around for many years. It's iconic sign was painted by Toulouse-Lautrec and apparently hangs on many university students walls (and will now hang on mine!)

After a little souvenir shopping, it was on with the tour. We passed many famous spots including the building that housed Vincent Van Gough and his brother Theo, when Vincent first came to Paris. We had learned a lot about him in Amsterdam and also saw some of his work in the Musee D'Orsay.

There are a good many sights to see along the way and I would have to give you all the details but I really don't remember them all, other than it's another fabulous part of the city. 

After climbing like what seems forever (although it's really not) you reach the top of the Mont (mount) where you are greeted with an amazing sight - Sacred Heart Basilica. It truly is a memorable sight with spectacular views overlooking the entire city. 

From there we began our descent into an area where dozens of artists were set up displaying their wares and doing custom work. 

One of the artists caught Meghan's eye and she really wanted a pencil drawing done so Patti and I found a cafe to sit and have a glass of wine while we waited ( I was quite shocked to see that two glasses of white wine cost 23 euros - Yikes!

The results were quite good. I managed to get a photo part way through the process.

When she was done, we wound our way back down the hill to get some supper at the bottom of the hill. I'd learned about this place from a blogger I follow who moved to Paris from California. He usually has good suggestions. The restaurant he recommended promised traditional french food at reasonable prices. When we got there we got in right away but within about 15 minutes the line up out the door stretched all along the sidewalk outside. Talk about good timing! 

Patti and Meghan went with escargot for their first course while I opted for the foie gras. 

The fois gras was presented a little differently than what I was expecting but it was really good, with crisp bread and some smoked salt on the side.

For our main courses, Patti went with the beer burgundy and Meg and I had the steak frites (steak and fries). I was going to have the duck confit but it was all out. All in all it was a very enjoyable time, although a bit noisy.

Done dinner, then off to the metro for the last time today. We stopped at several stores on the way back to pick up some last minute items, one of them being a small bottle of champagne, to toast our last night in town. 

It was really pleasant weather even at 9:00 so we were able to sit outside. Patti had bought a pastry earlier in the day and we shared that. 

We also finished our macarons. We had done our taste test at lunch and could not really decide on a winner between the two famours macaron makers. Needless to say the McDonald's ones were not even close. 

It's been an amazing 10 days for me and a very special time spent with two very special people. Thank  you ladies!

Thursday, May 5th - Paris day 9

 Today was our day to try to cross a few of the last minute things off the list. 

We weren't in any rush this morning so some folks slept in. Once we were all up, showered and sufficiently caffeinated, we headed out to the metro. Our first stop was Arc du Triomphe. 

From there we strolled along the Champs-Élysées. Our next stop was the metro over to the Gallery Lafayette, a masive shopping complex with the most beautiful stained glass dome in the centre, and incredible views of the city.

The gallery somewhat caters to the high end shopper. I came across a small booth that I naively thought might have something I could take home as a souvenir.

The least expensive item on the rack was a t-shirt style top that was a mere 349 euros. Needless to say I left empty handed. For that kind of money I can go and see her father in concert! 

On our way around we found two famous macarons. One is Hermes and the other is Laduree. We chose 3 from each location. We want to do a taste test and see which is better, as they both claim to be the best in the city.

In our travels we noticed a couple of McDonald's restaurants and they have macarons. So our plan is to pick up three of those as well so we can do the test with all 3. I think I can already guess which ones will come in last!

While walking along we came upon a Maille store. They had several assorted mustards to try and we all chose our favorites to take home.

Today seems to have been a lot of stops with small purchases. Good thing cause they were easier to carry home.  We took a walk along the street I had discovered on Sunday with all the high end stores. I had noticed on one corner there was Cartier jewellery store with a guard armed with a machine gun standing on the corner  blocking off the street. 

I had thought at first it was because of the jewellry store but that didn't make much sense as there are a lot of very high end stores along that street. When we were passing, someone asked the guard why they were there and he replied that the American Embassy is on that street. Seems they aren't the most popular people in the city.

From there we headed back to our place to rest up a little bit and have something to eat before heading out for the evening.

Patti had booked a night time bus tour of the sights. We took the metro back over to the Louvre and met up with our tour.

 It started at 8:00 so it really wasn't even close to being dark but we did have a nice tour with some comentary.  It's such a great way to see neighbourhoods of the city you might never get to experience.

It was quite an experience for Meghan to witness the traffic first hand on the round about at the Arc. From there we headed out to the Eiffel tower, which lit up just as we got there. 

We thought our tour was almost over but we headed over to Montmartre area to visit the famous Moulin Rouge. We're planning to spend some time in that area tomorrow touring around but for now it was quite a sight in the dark.

By now it was well after 10:00 before we headed back over to our starting point at the Louvre. A quick metro ride and were were back home, ready to get rested up for our last day in this amazing city!