this morning,
an exhibition in the park.

happy weekend  !
.

i love the monolithic, untheatrical back end of parisian facades







+

this book about a lion which, 

bored with the savannah,

takes a trip to paris.

no one seems to notice him 

until finally the city's dwellers 

warm to him

and he decides to stay.

if only all immigrant stories

had such comfortable endings .  .   .

. 

a soggy, child-free playground
at a.'s nursery school today






+

HERS + hers

unpacked + waiting for a sunny day

.

:

:

:

i won't pretend it was easy
a. had her own agenda
like chasing pigeons in the squares

so we didn't go to the bibliothèque national
to look at the miniatures flamandes
or to le petit atelier de paris
to see the ceramics
or to the cinema to watch
les adieux à la reine

instead we took the batobus to the jardins des plantes
and saw orangoutangs and snow leopards
and to a corner of the louvre
to smile at the mona lisa
to the musée de cluny to greet la dame and her unicorn
and the guignol du luxembourg
pour 'un moment féerique pour les enfants et leurs parents'
(and to parks when it wasn't raining, and children's bookshops,
and the columns of the palais royal)




'so what did you like best about paris?'
'our little home'

shh, we haven't yet told the hotel management
that we've appropriated one of their apartments







.

even if the trees said spring
paris was cold and wet and grey


but still, we were there.







[a walk in the marais]

.

we came back to a pool of sadness

a little light has gone out

and we've lost the signposts to the 'normal' everyday.

only today with a. on my lap

on my old swing looking at the sky 

we laughed and for a moment drifted towards joy.

+

we found our rosa damascena in full bloom

and i'm drying the petals to make tea.

if you'd like to try it just drop me a line

i'd love to send you some.

.

Κ  Α  Λ  Ο      Π  Α  Σ  Χ  Α  !






                                               +

there aren't many footsteps left in these

we'll spend the rest on the streets of paris

and hopefully bring back a new pair.