"To Err is Human; to Loaf, Parisian" Victor Hugo

Photo by Sandra Busby
Edited in PicMonkey

As I'm leaving for Paris on Wednesday, I was drawn to this image with the quote from Victor Hugo.

Certainly, I'm going to loaf or to use a more elegant word, be "indolent."  Unlike almost every other tourist in Paris.

I've already sketched out my daily routine, so I won't go there again.

Musing on "indolence" sent my mind back to a book I have just re-read:  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO CHANEL by Karen Karbo.  Ms. Karbo has an ascerbic wit that so exactly matches Mlle. Chanel's character as I've read about it.

 Herself a master of the stinging aphorism, Chanel seems to have honed this inherent ability with one of her many lovers, Pierre Reverdy, "a professional, tortured poet,"  "Chanel loved his dark moods, his poetic soul, the fact that she couldn't have him," after he took himself and his beautiful wife to a Trappist abbey.

But---back to the book and my trip to Paris.  Karbo defines six qualities that make one feminine.

INDOLENCE
MYSTERY
UNPREDICTABILITY
INTUITIVENESS
WEARING PEARLS
BLAMING YOUR UNHAPPINESS ON LOVE

I can admit to only three of these which, I suppose, makes me androgenous.  I leave you to figure out which three.  (Just one clue:  I never wear pearls.)

Lane and Jon's House

Photo by Sandra Busby
Edited in PicMonkey

Tonight I'm going to Lane and Jon's house for Chinese.

This is one of my favorite things to do.

However, I don't have much to say.

Just look at the image and enjoy it.

"Life is the Childhood of our Immortality"

Photo by Sandra Busby

Edited in PicMonkey and BeFunky

It's such a gorgeous afternoon, sunny, cool.  But I've already been for my walk and tidied up my little garden in the back a bit.

That's quite enough physical exercise for one day for me.

There's a football game in town.  "Roll Tide."  So I'm more or less confined to my house until 6pm when the game starts and the traffic clears.

My house guest called and postponed her visit for a couple of days.

I have NOTHING to read.   (That has to be remedied after 6pm.)

I've had my lunch, and done all I can do to make myself look presentable.

Lane and Jon are getting ready for Bert's birthday supper tonight, for a dozen teenagers.  No chance of company there.

The quotation from Goethe could provoke some deep thinking, but I'm entirely too languid for that.
The picture is nice though, so I'm sharing it.

Le Train Bleu

Photo by Sandra Busby

Edited in PicMonkey

Le Train Bleu is a restaurant in one of the several train stations in Paris -- Gare de Lyons, I think.

As I look at my pictures, I am naturally drawn to the ones taken in Paris and the memories that accompany them.

Here the weather is fine, sunny, coolish.  Not much going on here until the next football game traffic arrives, when we -- those who are not fans -- will have to stay inside our houses until the fans disperse.  But now,  it's quiet, lazy.

Part of me is here, sitting in my chair, listening to the fountain, looking at the pattern of sun and shade on the lattice work.

But part of me is not here.  Where is that part?  In Paris, yes, most certainly when I look at the large crystal vase of pink and red roses against the guilt, carved woodwork and I remember the afternoon Paola and I had lunch at Le Train Bleu.  Lunch served by waiters in waistcoats with huge white napkins over their arms.  Tender meat and gravy over mounds of potatoes.  Crisp asparagus.  Fresh baked break with sweet butter.  And finally strawberries the size of your thumb covered in creme fresh, and served with a bite size almond cookie.  Red wine, of course, and afterwards a coffee.

But, part of me is somewhere else.  I must go and find her.

Instagram + BeFunky + PicMonkey

So, here is the original Instagram of Nicky.

And here it is turned into a watercolor on BeFunky.

Enfin, cropped, enhanced, framed, and written on in PicMonkey.

As you can see, each version has its strong points.  The Instagram with no enhancement is, to me, a wonderful image.

The BeFunky watercolor by itself adds a delicate touch.

Finally, using PicMonkey to enhance, etc.  I think I like it better to use PicMonkey as the last step.

And you?

BeFunky Watercolors

These are the same photos as in the previous post.  Only this time, I put the PicMonkey version into BeFunky and turned it into a watercolor.

Some things I like better about the watercolors, and some things I like better about the PicMonkey version.

I think this is my favorite watercolor version.  There's still plenty of color in it, and I love the yellow at the top.

This one, too, is quite interesting.  The colors are dark enough for my taste.  One difficulty is that the printing does not always come out readable.  Maybe I should wait and write on the watercolor?!?

What do you think?

Just Playing Around with PicMonkey on a Sunday Afternoon

There were wind storms in Paris and six people were killed that day.  When I got back to my apartment the police and firetrucks were there because a chimney had been blown off the roof.

Some streets are so narrow in Venice that you can touch the walls of the buildings on either side.

From the balcony of the apartment in Florence, I shot this view of the buildings across the Arno in the rain.

Zurich at Christmas time with Lee and Jacqueline looking for a place to eat in the evening.