Past glories

It's been a while, but we've gone back to a fine resto, les Caves Solignac, thanks to our friends Jean-Marie and Sylvie. Excellent value, très français and delicious "cuisine du marché"in a sort of 30's atmosphere.

"Cabaret Latin" au Dansoir

NO time to translate ... we went to see this piece tonight and I cen tell you it was VERY enjoyable (including seeing our friend Juanca dance besides sing and play guitar). I recommend it ... so GO, you have a few days left.

See more info here at the entry "Cabaret Latin au Dansoir"

12th Annual "Carnaval de Paris"

This afternoon, Pimprenelle, the cow - queen of "la Promenade du Bœuf Gras", kicks off the traditional procession of the Carnaval de Paris. Rendez-vous at 3pm rue Le Vau, behind the square Séverine in the 20th arrondissement.

UPDATE: Got my 30km training run sandwiched in between lunch and a later afternoon foray to City Hall (the endpoint) of the Carnaval procession ... got to see Pimprenelle, herself, and scads of batucada groups drumming up a frenzy. Bravo to Macaq, the organization that puts on this fine, fun event.

Drinks at Le Pick Clops afterwards and then dinner at a new place, Le Chant des Voyelles, with Odile and Denis.

Dreaming of warmer climes

Odile heard from our dear friend Gianni, in Milan, and tried to convince him to take a break and come visit us (a hint to you, dear Reader - you know who you are). Of course when you have a place in Brazil, as he does, perhaps "sunny Paris" (which it certainly it has not been) is not the first place you'd go in late February!

If YOU are looking for place to stay in Brazil then consider Gianni's place (this is shamless huckstering since I've never been there - but I trust him with my life) - take a look at: http://www.casadaareia.com/

24 heures de la vie d'une femme

We're off to the Théâtre Le Petit Montparnasse tonight to see this play by Stefan Zweig.

Crim'expo

Whodunnit? ---Leave it to science!
The museum director has been found murdered – and you have to identify the killer. To complete your investigation you'll need to visit each department of the forensic science lab, from forensic medicine and fingerprints to odontology, DNA, microfibre analysis, entomology and ballistics. After this fascinating experience, you'll watch CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with twice as much interest!

Tonight at la Villette we're attending the vernissage of this expo (for which we did some of the translation from French to English/Spanish) - it runs until 2010, so if you're a fan of CSI, NCIS, Bones, Crossing Jordon, RSI (France) or any one of those German sci-pol series then get on over to the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie.

Where is this statue?

Some of you have asked (OK, it was only me) where the statue, that appear on our 2009 New Year's Well Wishes Card (NYWWC - I *guess* that what one calls it), is located in Paris. On the left-hand side of this text you have another photo of the work.

It took me a while and some CSI photo work, but I've located the placement, if not the name, of the statue.

So, here's the challenge to YOU ... tell me the name given to this work (extra points for who sculpted it)! Just add it as a comment. First correct answer wins ... what? My gratitude. Hmm, not enough? Well, let's say I'll stand the winner to a drink in a bistro near this park.

And, to warm up just try to tell me where it is located ... if you "give the cat your tongue" then click here.

Switzerland - France training run

Below is the map of the route I ran today. I guess I could call it a bi-national, inter-faith run, as I ran from the synagogue (rue de la ...) in Porrentruy, Switzerland to the church in Vieux-Ferrette, France. About 2h40m ... and a daunting hill climb about two kilometers before the border. But a truly nice run, with the sun coming out in the latter half, and snow everywhere. Odile caught up with me (by car, easier) about 5 km from the end - and had lovingly thought to bring me a croissant. Quick energy!

The photo just above is the city center of Porrentruy this morning - click on the image to see it larger.

The towns on this run were: Porrentruy, Alle, Miécourt, Liebsdorf, Durlinsdorf, Moernach, Koestlach and, finally, Vieux-Ferrette.

View Larger Map

Café-théâtre par la Compagnie Labile

We've come to Porrentury, in the Swiss Jura, to see Odile's cousin, Françoise. She's acting in a theater piece entitled "Elles & Eux". You can hear an interview and excerpts here (en français, bien sûr).

UPDATE: We all had a wonderful time - the actors were all top-notch, the direction (Danièle) was impeccable for timing and rhythm, the tech crew did very well. And the texts! Laugh-out-loud funny (touching, incisive, even biting at times).
Afterwards about a dozen of us met for dinner at the Buffet de la Gare, where Danièle's cousin, Didier, is the head chef.

Bonne Année ! (under the wire)

According to tradition in France, one can send one's wishes for a happy new year right up until the last day of January. What a break for us procrastinators!

So here, from both Odile and myself, we send (finally) all our BEST WISHES to you, faithful Readers and dear Friends.

May 2009 be full of love, peace and fun for you and yours.

新年好

Happy (Chinese)New Year!

I missed this year's parade in Chinatown, but will hope to make it up tomorrow. Best wishes to all.

Truffles are a kind of manna...

It's my party! Well, in any case we're celebrating (with a little c) my birthday today by having a really nice meal "en tête à tête", just me and my Odilta ... and when I say really nice I mean really nice because we're having truffles (like those beauties on the left).

Thanks to our friends Jean-Philippe and Virginie who gave us this marvelous gift of truffles. Stay tuned for what we did with them (and send me your recipes).

UPDATE: Finally the truffles are still unused as we ended up going out for lunch at La Commedia and then dinner at Le Godet d'Or (also called the Godet d'Art - but which we refer to as "Jimmy La Watt" - the name of the highly original owner).

UPDATE2: I want to thank Levni Yilmaz for posting an entry on facebook , and for allowing me to embed his work here on my blog. It is called "Youth & Aging" from his continuing Tales Of Mere Existence. That it showed up on my birthday is just more of a kick! Enjoy...

Lift that bale...

We spent a good part of this afternoon (in two sessions on either side of my 20K training run) "repatriating" boxes of (heavy) books from Virginie's basement to our apartment. About 40 boxes (thanks for the help Benj!) ... now Odile needs to unpack and arrange them (almost 99% her books).

And how was YOUR Sunday? Day of rest? Humbug!

Heading home

After teaching all morning (a quite fast-paced EIS workshop with 17 B2B students of the Lyon IAE - all very participative) I am now posting from the Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu (just across the street from the train station) - a modern, accessible facility where I have been able to work comfortably this afternoon - and also take in a fine expo, of photos by Raymond Depardon, entitled "Villes" (Cities - 12 worldwide, from Tokyo to Paris, from Dubaï to Addis Abbaba) . I'm taking the TGV at 7pm for "ma ville" - quiet dinner at home with Odile around 9:30pm. I'll be back for session 2 with these same students next Wednesday.

Lyon 1 - 2009

I'm off to Lyon from noon today until 9pm Thursday - teaching a class on Change Management at the IAE of the Université Lyon III (my fourth year). More news as things unfold. A prize to the first reader to add a comment correctly identifying the photo at left!

Back in the saddle again

Dear Readers - Happy New Year 2009 (we're been away at Montigny, busy celebrating and handling the cold [that's a photo at left of the Lion at Denfert-Rocherau shivering in our Siberian weather of late] - so blogging less).

I'm back to training for a marathon (Rome on March 22) - more news about that later. I have some translation projects coming up and will also be teaching at Lyon this month and next - plus sandwiching in a week-long trip to Switzerland late this month. More about all that too in good time.

Hopefully I'll see more of those of you who are far-flung (at least flung far from me) - don't know how, don't know when ... but got the feeling 2009 will pick up in the visits to Paris category (hey, a good way to escape the crisis).

Like I said: mo' later.

HBB & PP

Happy bithday to Benj (we got him the book you see at left - shhhh, don't tell him as we don't go over to his place until later tonight - LOL). The book includes a fascinating account of the language (and culture) of the tribe of the Pirahã in Brazil. An overview article is here.

Also, one of our favorite local indie musicians, Pauline Paris, is asking folks to rate which one, of three songs, should be released as a single. You can hear the 3 tunes (which are : Corrida, Suzie d. and X.) by clicking here. Then just post your choice here and I'll summarize them and get them over to Ms. Paris. Thanks for interacting!

Uzès Attacks!

Francis & Iva, our dear friends (photographer, artist) from Uzès, are arriving in Paris tonight before flying out tomorrow for the holidays in the Czech Republic (Iva's family). They be bunking with us at Mouton - with their 3 children! That makes 7 under our little roof ...and we're busy cooking for all. We'll be leading with a slew of tortilla española (see recipe here). More news later.

Ma tête, partout

http://www.photofunia.com

Happy birthday, Arlette

We're off to celebrate Arlette's 4x20th birthday on the Péniche Aabysse.