AliThinks

Des Bloggeuses à Paris

Yesterday (this would be Wednesday, July 2; I'm not changing the time stamp on my blog just for three days, and it's nearly 5 am in Paris right now) I had lunch with one blogger and dinner with another.

Polly and I connected recently, and I was delighted to meet her at the same café I had a Perrier with Jeorg at last year. (And it was a total coincidence, which makes it even better). We had each had a tarte salée, salad, and a glass of rosé for lunch, then coffee. Then another coffee. The second coffee we had out on the terrasse, because the rain had stopped, and coffee on a café terrace is one of life's better pleasures. See here:

Polly's lovely daughter and her adorable friend joined us for a while, then we all went off to do other things. In my case it was a reconnaissance mission at La Droguerie.

Samantha and I arranged to meet at 7 for dinner somewhere. She crossed the Seine and we met at Les Halles, which was kind of her, since it meant I only had to walk about 300 meters. She'd heard of an Italian restaurant with great ravioli; I knew there was one on the rue Montorgueil. It turned out the be the same place, so we had ravioli (hers with figs and Parma ham, mine with truffles, Parma ham, and button mushrooms) and the house red.

By 9:30 I was back in my room, exhausted. An hour later, I was asleep. A dream woke me at 3:00, and here I am.

But what matters here is the people I met. Blogging is such an amazing thing. (YES. I know I said I thought about quitting.) You encounter people via the blogosphere, and if you're lucky enough to meet in person, you automatically have a connection. My jetlag-addled brain can't think of a better way to say that.

In any case, spending time with Polly and Sam was a great way to spend my first day in Paris. (My second day in Paris will actually involve fast trains, the city of Bordeaux, and picking up my children.)

Merci, les filles !

(Now, do I try to sleep a little more, or do I hit up the hotel breakfast in 40 minutes?)

Farewell to The Dame

Farewell to The Dame, originally uploaded by Alison.

Tonight The Swells and Hot Club of Cowtown performed at The Dame*, which will close its doors in an hour or two (it's 1 am as I write this).

Lexington has lost something special. I'm too tired to write about it now. More photos and commentary to come.

*The Dame's MySpace page actually has more info; you can see a list of musicians who have performed there and get an idea of what a HOLE the closing of The Dame is going to leave.

It's A Small, Small, Small, Small World

It's A Small Small Small Small World, originally uploaded by Alison.

OK, I know I said I wasn't blogging, but my kids are asleep, and this is something I wanted to post last week while I was in France. However, I didn't have the USB cable for my phone with me, and the e-mail setup didn't work (this photo is floating around in the ether right now), so it had to wait.

Here's what I posted at Flickr:

I couldn't believe what I saw as I sat at a stoplight in my former hometown in France: a University of Kentucky bumper sticker on a car in front of me. First of all, the French don't do bumper stickers. Second, The University of Kentucky, located in Lexington, Kentucky? The place I now live represented in the place I used to live?

If the light hadn't been about to change, I'd have gotten out of my car and knocked on the driver's window. As it was, I was lucky to get this shot.

Click on the photo to see the note I placed on it, and view it large here.

This One's For...

Betty C., who wanted to see photos.

Jeff, who wanted a photo of Pittsburgh.

My SIL, who wants me to update more often.

This is the loo at The Beehive on Pittsburgh's Southside. For more information about The Beehive (and a view of the men's room), click here.

Heureux

Heureux, originally uploaded by Alison.

Look at this cat. Is he not the cutest? He's sofa king cute, I can't stand it.

I Told You!

In my last post I promised that this wouldn't turn into a yoga blog. And it hasn't. Here's something cool I want to share with you.

One of my photos was used on National Geographic Traveler's Intelligent Travel blog today!

This week the blog is featuring Paris, and here's a link to the entry that uses my photo.

*blows on fingernails*
*shines nails on shirt*

Cameraphone

When I moved here, Allan got me a cell phone and put me on his plan. I decided that since I had a really nice camera, I didn't need a cell phone with one.

Almost a year later, during a trip to France, I got a new cell phone. I've kept my SFR subscription up, you see. And since I've had it for nearly eight years, they like me. I got a really cool phone for a nominal fee. This time I wanted a camera, so my shiny hot pink Sony Ericsson phone has a 2 megapixel job.

This thing is great for snapping photos of bumper stickers and other things I happen to see when I'm out without my D50. Last night I dumped a bunch of photos from the cell phone to my hard drive, and uploaded the better ones to Flickr. This isn't the first time I've done this, of course, but it's the first time all the cameraphone pictures are in one place: my cameraphone set.

After the jump, you can see one of the photos, if you don't want to click through to Flickr.

But More Seriously

Famille Cheynier de Noblens, originally uploaded by Alison.

Today was what we used to call Armistice Day. Now it's Veterans' Day, and between all the department store sales and football games, we are supposed to remember the soldiers.

I took this photo during a three-day field trip with 40-some 9th graders back in 2004. We visited the D-Day beaches in Normandy, and then we went to the Picardie region of France, where we visited a Canadian memorial to World War I, as well as the cemetery where I took this photo.

There was much to learn at those places. I saw the tunneled landscape at the Canadian memorial. Eighty years later, the ground is still scarred by the bombs and the trenches. And this, all over the region. There are still unexploded bombs there.

And at this cemetery, I saw headstones that weren't crosses, but crescents with Arabic names and plain markers with Chinese characters on them. Not all those who died in the horrific battles were French, but this family lost three men. I don't know if they were brothers, or father and sons.

What I should have done was find the CD with all my photos from that trip on it. What I did instead was cooked up a storm. I guess I was trying to celebrate life.

It's a wonderful life. But I don't forget the fallen.

Girly, Part 2

Girly, originally uploaded by Alison.

Okay, sportsfans, here you go!

I applied makeup. I tried to do what P. did the other day.

It's subtle, but then I'm not really an in-your-face kind of person.

Deluxe Diner, Crystal City

Deluxe Diner, Crystal City, originally uploaded by Alison.

This is where we ate brunch this morning.