Watercolors

We were sitting on the beach in Cap Ferrat and made "beach friends" with the only other American within ear-shot. She was recently graduated from college and had the luck to work (as a "stagiere") in Cap Ferrat for two months. She was keeping a journal with small watercolors in a notebook.

I've always wanted to try watercolor, but since I'm barely learning to draw, it seemed like a big step. So, I bought a child's watercolor set, a small pad of paper and a brush. I've done a few things, nothing took long, but they are colorful.

Each time I try something, the watercolors seem to move by themselves, so they teach me something. Here are two from my small collection. More from Paris.


Scanning these was much harder than painting them, but I now know how to do it.

The Euro

The price of the Euro is killing us.

When we bought our first apartment seven years ago this month, the rate of exchange was .98. Basically 1 to 1. For every Euro spent, we spent $1. It was easy to figure out and the price of things made sense.

A lot has changed in seven years. While the exchange rate isn't at an all-time high of over $1.60, it is now in the $1.43 range. We have been waiting for the rate to drop before exchanging money and wiring it over to our French account, but we're running out of time (and Euros).

There was one second in the spring when the rate was $1.24. We sent a small amount of money, betting that it would stay in this range. We were wrong. My Euro 2.20 coffee will cost me $3.15. Maybe this is OK because tax and tip are included. But this is about 3 oz. of coffee when I can get a medium coffee (which is huge) at Starbucks for $1.95. I won't continue this mental exercise, I'll get too upset.

It's tax time in France and we will owe Taxe Habitation and Taxe Fonciere in addition to our normal homeowner's association bills, and the day-to-day cost of living expenses like food. I'm whining, I know.

From my perspective, it seems that when the US economy is in trouble, the Euro drops against the dollar and then the inverse is true. As the stock market rises, the Euro rises against the dollar. I'm not an economist, this is only my observation.

Feeling poor and frugal, we'll be wiring the dollars to our account as Euros, thinking about the good old days of an exchange rate of 1 to 1.

The Shooting Star

When you see a shooting star, does something special happen? Or is it just a momentary thrill?

I live in two places that both have a lot of light pollution. Maybe I don’t look up enough. I’ve never seen one before and wouldn’t have known what it was.

Last night I was having dinner outdoors with my sister in La Costa. All of a sudden I looked up and there it was. I remarked immediately to my sister by saying, “maybe it’s fireworks or a star” and she read my mind and told me that I’d just seen a shooting star.

It was quite spectacular. It was low in the sky, just above the tree line in the distance and it was yellow. It was moving away from us and had a beautiful sparkly tail. As fast as I saw it, it was gone.

I’ll remember this moment because I was with my sister, sitting outside on a warm, beautiful California summer evening, talking and sharing a cheese plate and a glass of wine (each).

Mistaken Deja Vu?

Hard to imagine that I'm using french words to describe something that happened to me today in California. Sometimes I know a word in french that I don't know in English. Rucher is one of them. I have to fumble to think of the word apiary.

Today I experienced what I think could be called mistaken deja vu. I felt I'd been there before and I was incorrect. Can this happen?

My sister and I were driving to our cousin's house this afternoon. I had her address and had been to her house once before (isn't this deja vu?). Even though I have no sense of direction, my mental GPS got us to the right street but we couldn't find the address. I really felt that we were in the right place, that I'd been there before, which, if I'd been correct, would have been true.

Up and down the street we went. We were enjoying ourselves, the neighborhood is very nice and we were a little early so we drove around for awhile, looking for her special front door. I knew we were close.

After several trips up and down the street not finding the house, we decided to call to get directions. It turned out were on the right street but across a canyon from her house. So, we weren't even close. With the directions and my sister's expert navigation skills, we made our correction and pulled up in front of her house five minutes later.

When I saw the front door, and my cousin's smiling face, I knew immediately that I had experienced mistaken deja vu in the other neighborhood.

When was I there before, if ever, I'll never know. Perhaps I'd gotten lost in that neighborhood before.

A Tangle of Cables

I'm leaving town tomorrow for a visit with my Mom and my sister for a few days.

For a weekend trip, I can live with just my iPHONE since I can get email, internet, music and have a simple camera. But, I can't write a long email and I can't search the internet very well. I can't access my files. For a longer trip, I have to take more electronic gear.

My iPHONE, laptop, Kindle and camera are going with me. Plus a couple of flash drives. Everything on this list except the flash drives needs to be charged. Four cables for four devices. I keep them all in the same place, in a tangled mess in a desk drawer. Some are long and some are short. They all have different ends to them which is how I can tell them apart.

All these devices are dual voltage so when I go to France, I just have to change the plug and I can charge them all using the same cables. So, the cables go with me everywhere.

I'm afraid to lose them, especially in France. Where would I get a replacement? So, I pack all the cables in my carry-on luggage along with all the devices.

I used to wonder why I always got picked for additional security screening at the airport. A middle-aged, nicely dressed white woman. I finally figured out that it's the cables. They probably look suspicious on the x-ray, perhaps like a primitive bomb.

It's a bomb, alright. A bomb of tangled up cables.

With all the technical achievement required to make these great devices, you'd think they could come up with a universal cable and plug system. It would save a lot of confusion, and the TSA could focus on the real terror threats.

H1N1

I haven't really spent too much time thinking about the swine flu until today. We had some interesting discussions at our conversation groups in Paris when it first hit the news. There were people that thought that you could get it from eating pork. If life were only that easy.

I was at the doctor's today and asked when they would have the flu shots for this new flu. The nurse told me that the shots will only be available from the health department (whatever that is, I have no idea) and doctors will not be giving them. They will be able to give the normal flu shots only.

What does this mean for us? Half the time, we catch something on the plane going to and from Paris. An 11+ hour flight next to a sick person is almost a sure-fire way to get a virus. I'm not paranoid but I hate to be sick and I am a very bad patient (meaning not very patient). A couple of times when I've flown next to a sick person, I've asked to be moved. Several times I've worn a mask when someone is violently ill near me. Perhaps with all this interest/fear in the "swine flu" I can complain in advance and get the person thrown off the plane. Not a popular move, but neither is getting on a plane when you're very sick.

We're prepared. Our doctors have given us Tamiflu and antibiotics. I have NyQuill, cough drops, and aspirin. The swine flu doesn't have a chance in Paris. We hope.