Postcards

yesterday’s iPhone photo

A few days ago, Materfamilias wrote about postcards and her recent trip to Lisbon. My sketching has been neglected so I have not created my own postcards but I am always surprised when my phone presents me with a memory. Twelve years ago, my mum and sister visited me in Paris. My father was still alive and in the hospital but mum had never visited The City of Light so a short visit was planned. My sister treated us to dinner at the Eiffel Tower. It was a surprise,

Years have passed…Mum is not mobile, Dad is no longer, my sister and I have aged. These twelve years have been interesting and filled with adventures that I could not imagine but they have been the time of the first aching joints, the increasing awareness of passing time and grey hair. The iPhone postcard reminds me that the 60 year old me was a lot more youthful and had so much more time ahead of her.

Years ago, at a retirement seminar, someone spoke of the “go-go, slow-go, no-go” years of retirement. It is a natural sequence although there are many factors that can influence our ability to lead active retirement lives. Covid definitely slowed us down for a few years while illness and the higher cost of living may limit retirement activities.

I think a lot these days about making small changes in my life to facilitate the slower times ahead. I’m becoming more involved in our strata and church community. As my husband becomes more withdrawn, I seek out the company of others. As literacy is my passion, book clubs and library work fill my days.

a brand new book

Libby, my library app friend, provides me with too many possibilities. I’m reading Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade. Did you know that a group of American women under the leadership of Anne Morgan, J.P.’s daughter, worked in World War 1 France to help French civilians? They trained French women to be librarians and set up the first children’s libraries in France. I’m finding the audio book a little cloying but I am really interested in the history. It reminds me of Libra’s para Pueblos that I support in Oaxaca.

We have another day of rain with below seasonal temperatures. Although I know this rain is needed, I long for blue skies. Today will be a household chore day and perhaps I will finish my audio book. I have 3 more Libby books and a package from Amazon.

 

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A Novel Paris:The Paris Novel

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A tasty novel!

I love French salads.

I am enjoying a sensory visit to Paris in the 1980’s. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl is a gustatory walk down Memory Lane. The first time that I visited Paris was in 1987. I travelled by myself and met up with a group led by Paul Deggan who taught Art at Capilano College. Like the heroine in The Paris Novel, I was quite inexperienced, unaccustomed to French food, with little knowledge of French Art but I had majored in French Literature so I also know a smattering of French history. For me, as for the heroine of our novel, this trip to Paris opened me up to many of life’s possibilities.

Olympia by Manet

Like our heroine, one of the first museums that I visited in Paris was La Musee d’Orsay where our guide explained about how Manet’s work was considered scandalous in his time. Our heroine, a copywriter from New York decides to solve the mystery of this model’s own paintings, lost to art history.

Since 1987, I have spent a lot of time in Paris. I have eaten and cooked many meals, visited many museums and gardens and gazed at many shop windows with longing but I will never forget my first Paris adventure. 

If you would enjoy a brief Paris escape, I would heartily recommend this book.