The Bard In The Garden

LA can't compete with Paris for cultural offerings. The things that are available in LA are usually far away from where we live, since the city is so spread out.

I would take the metro or a bus for an hour to attend a cultural event in Paris, but consider an hour's drive on the LA freeway system much too long to go to a museum, play or concert on a regular basis.

Evidently for me, proximity counts. So, when a flier fell out of my newspaper a few weeks ago advertising "The Bard In The Garden", a Shakespeare play in a nearby botanic garden, I immediately called for tickets. "Nearby garden" is still a 30+ minute drive, especially in Friday night traffic -- practically in our backyard!

I'd never been to the venue before, the South Coast Botanic Gardens in Palos Verdes so I was doubly excited to see "As You Like It" en plein air (outdoors).

I planned and packed a picnic dinner. We have a nice picnic basket that has everything needed for an elegant meal. We discussed what to wear. Do we dress for the theatre, albeit outside, or for the beach? A happy medium seemed to be the answer, with a sweater and blanket thrown in. We packed the car with our beach chairs and we were off.

I anticipated a crowd and worried that we would arrive late and not be able to see. We hit traffic and were later than we had planned. But, we weren't late at all and got a good spot for our night's activities. Other people filed in and set up their temporary camps as the sun set. It was quiet, calm, warm, relaxed.

The performance started. Just a bare stage with actors in everyday clothes. The performance was a modern production with songs and some new scenes. I'd read the play and studied a synopsis so I could easily follow the plot, picking out the new from the old. I enjoyed every minute of it.

The night air, the performance, the picnic. I guess LA has more to offer than I've given it credit for.

The Squat

Leave home for ten days and squatters will move in. Even though we locked the door, closed the drapes and the windows, it was obvious we were gone.

So when we came home from Cap Ferrat, the plants in my window boxes were a mess. I immediately started watering, pruning and nurturing them back to life. One plant in particular was very odd looking, even dead.

We'd had a long day, and as I was pulling the dead twigs from the planter, it took me awhile to realize that a bird had moved in to my planter box, building a nest.

Now I'm guilty. I pulled it apart before realizing! I quickly put it back together as best I could and unpacked.

About an hour later, perched on the ledge, a large pigeon was looking in at me. We made eye contact and she flew away with a whoosh. But, she was back. In an effort to ease my conscience, I put some offerings out there, crackers and bread. Eventually we went to bed.

In the morning, she was back, having re-made the nest. Sorry, but I have to open the windows, little bird, so if you can co-exist with me, I can enjoy seeing your babies. But it was not to be. When she realized that the apartment was inhabited, she moved on, leaving this nest.

Sunday Shopping?

It's in the news today, if the Senat approves this new law, more shops will be allowed to open on Sunday in Paris as well as some other parts (not all, of course) of France.

The "no shopping on Sunday" law has been in effect since 1906.

It seems that many people are against this new law. I hear from French friends that Sunday is a day of rest, for family and church. But, it passed the Assembly Nationale last week and will surely pass in the Senat after three days of debate.

Some stores have been able to work around the law, or simply stay open and pay the fine for breaking the law. It is expected to encourage spending. I can honestly say I'll do my part.

Every Saturday that we're in Paris, I wake up with an electric feeling. It's the busiest shopping day of the week because people work Monday through Friday and the shops are closed on Sunday.

My strategy, to get out early and buy enough for Saturday through Monday has worked. If I'm ever caught at Monoprix at 5 PM (or, God forbid, later) on Saturday, I consider buying from the local alimentation for a couple of days. The lines extend down every aisle, people are jostling for position, cutting in line and it is general chaos.

There are some stores that are open on Sunday morning, but they are all far away. The stores on rue Cler are open on Sunday morning, normally an easy trip on the 82 bus except that the 82 bus doesn't stop in our neighborhood on Sundays, evidently a street nearby is designated as pedestrian only on Sunday. My other choice is Champion in our old neighborhood on rue de Seine. I could walk or take the 58 bus. The bus runs every 30 minutes on Sunday morning, so if it's not too cold or too hot I can wait. But the store is packed, it is confusing, a last resort.

Even though I don't have a really good market nearby, if they were open, I would go. Then, I could spend my Saturday as I please, perhaps a day of rest for me.

Dinner at 9...

The hotter it gets and the lighter it is outside, the later we have dinner.

Darkness has always been a que that it's time to start cooking dinner. In the middle of summer in Paris, it is not dark until 10 or 11, so this is no good, I've got to look at the clock. And, it's hot outside, so it's not inviting to cook. No bar-b-que here, of course.

So, we've been having dinner between 8 and 9 these days. I can see how the French get into this habit.

In California, it's normal to eat dinner around 7 PM. Sometimes earlier if you can manage. If you make a reservation at a restaurant (even the nicest restaurant) for 8 PM, you end up being the last table seated. Every other table is finishing and paying the bill. The watiers are eyeing you, hoping you'll eat quickly and leave.

In France it's just the opposite. If we arrive at 8 PM, we are often the first people in the restaurant. When we're finishing up, even if it's 10 or 10:30, people are still arriving, looking fresh and ready for dinner. Even the local pizza place, which is really casual, doesn't open until 7 PM.

With the summer heat, we started choosing restaurants for the air conditioning rather than the food or service. Even though people are sitting outside, it's not very pleasant to eat with the sun beating down on your head while you're eating. We found one restaurant that seems to be the "early bird" place in Paris -- Bistrot de Breteuil. It is a nice place with a prix fixe meal. When we got there at 8, the place was packed. Not many tourists but a lot of seniors. I think they all arrived at 7, which in French terms is early. We had a nice meal and the tables vacated by the early crowd were replaced with the later crowd, so all was well.

Now that we're back in the US, I notice that we are eating earlier and earlier. Back in the rhythm of the place I guess. I've even gotten the bar-b-que ("grill" to my sister) going and have been consuming lots of turkey and chicken (to be detailed in another post). Bye to veal for the summer, hello to the turkey and dinner at 6:30 PM until September.

Heat Wave

A week-long heat wave is making life difficult.

Our previous apartment on rue de Seine was on the top floor and it had a very big skylight. So, when it was hot, the apartment became unbearably hot. We figured out how to cool the apartment down. We bought a room air conditioner, put the hot air vent out the window and covered the partially open window with a sheet to keep the hot air from coming in. It worked pretty well.

At night, we boosted our chances for cool air by putting a fan in front of the air conditioner and sending the cool air to our bedroom. It wasn't very nice to look at and the room was dark most of the time, but at least we were relatively cool.

On rue Madame, we are on a lower floor and we have more windows. Often all we have to do is open the windows to let the cool breezes through. But, this heat wave, combined with the long days of summer has got us running in circles trying to stay ahead of the heat.

The temperature has been hovering around 90 degrees for almost a week. The sun shines in the front of the apartment in the daytime hours and then it hits the back windows mid-afternoon. Normally, we're happy to see the sun, but now it's the enemy. We're leaving our shutters closed to keep the sun out.

The fans are going all the time, moving the air around seems to make it seem cooler. We've tried to leave the windows open if there's a breeze and close them when it's still.

So far, we've been pretty successful in staying moderately cool.