a little sunny

september 7th, 2010


Wells, Boys and Girls, it was like 1/4 to 1/3 sunny at daybreak.

The courageous Reporter went to get, in view of the weather a pair of her fav sneakers at Autour du Monde, rue de seine.

She got them in awfully chic navy, see below

It's just that the Reporter, contrarily to what might be thought, the Reporter, in all wisdom, finds that anything which is scented from parochial school, appears to her, in a subtle way, eminently sexy.

We are not talking here of what Madona did to free the catholics. We are talking of this subtle allure of the parochial school elegance, like navy skirts and white shirts. Probably because the Reporter was not born into a catholic family but in a loose, liberal thinking and frugal french protestant one. The french protestants are very different from their american counterparts.

First they are a minority, then they tend to think that church attending is not that important. But talking and giving advice to God is paramount to them. In one word, they can be very zen like which is why they tend to become buddhists after a while.
They are an interesting bunch and I think there's less and less of them.

There are a bit like the colors of lip stick, the good ones tend to disappear.

But we digress. So the Reporter never having gone to a parochial school with navy skirts, tended to regret that, so with the pressure of Dear Old Friend [ not a protestant that one ] she sent her children to a parochial catholic school which had the desirable effect to instill in them a sane rebellious spirit. Again the kids have been unintentionally blocked from commenting on that page too. The Vatican has enough problems as it is.

So she got herself a nice pair of navy sneakers in the parochial spirit.

Then she went home as she had to prepare herself to get on a flight to Perigord, la maison decrepite, [ i.e. The Decrepit House ] since the trains were on strike as they should be, in france.

So she stopped again at her purple fav flower shop to admire and cry, seeing that she might never create on her own such beauty :

and here, just closer,

So, next posting will be from la Maison Decrepite,
with love and sneakers,
the Frog

Back to a shade of grey

September 6th, 2010

Well Boys and Girls,

the Frog has hopped over the pond, and is back in the city of lights, which is today of a delicate dark shade of grey.

So, after a leg of chicago- paris in coach as she was not upgraded for once in the more comfortable unit of the plane, she has to say that there should be only one class, and it should be business for everybody. Except for her kids as it is very salutary for children to live frugally. Fortuitously, her children will not be able to post comment on this page as they have been unintentionally blocked.

So she arrived in the tiny apartment in the hope to get a good shower, and erase the stress of falling asleep in a figure 8. But it was to be thwarted.

She had hoped, since Dear Old Firend had passed by a few days before that the bath tub and sink would be scintillating with shine and cleanliness, but she suddenly realized, after thirty years of matrimony, that some french men are not attentive to bath tubs at all.

So it was time to arm herself with her green froggy gloves and plunge in the depth of her addiction to the " Ajax Frais ", and here I am not kidding you, Boys and Girls, I am seriously thinking of fedexing to LA a case of twelve bottles of " Ajax Frais " as it smells like you have no idea. Short of turpentine smell, and, to the horror of her son, her own little abercrombie perfume, there is little scent that is more appealing than that of her dear " Ajax Frais ". See pic.

Then you can see the results here,

and here,

Sparkling shininess.
To reward herself she did a little cupa,








Then, since there was like a light, light, light shower of rain outside, she decided to put on her boots, which gave approximately this view.

Boots are black, they look blue but they are black, and the pants look blue but they are green, i am just saying.



She then went to La Grande Epicerie, to get some Echire butter, oranges and Poilane bread for her breakfast next day.

Then, the consequences of the figure 8 sleeping attitude made itself felt again, and she walked home to get a little nap, and hopefully follow the quarter final match Monfils-Gasquet at Flushing Meadows. [ Monfils won !!! Yes !!! ]

But before she got home, she stopped rue de babylone to have a look at her favorite flower shop, and Yes, it was desperately adorable and luminescent as usual, see below pics.

and here, and you should click on that one and see how ethereal these damn flowers are,

So that was all for the first day, Boys and Girls, as the frog catapulted herself on the sofa,

with Love from the City of Grey Light
the Frog

north coast

august 16th


Updating in a sort of late late way.

The Reporter went the preppy way to Maine mid August, since, where is it that you will have good weather mid August.

As a matter of fact the little city of Portland, Maine, had a sky which was the hip shade, this winter :

DU CAMEL SINON RIEN !

that's the title on french Elle for September month. Well, no, the sky in Portland was not camel but GREY,
and then the french Elle, rational as all that Gallic country is, in the same issue titled that ;

http://www.elle.fr/elle/Mode/Le-guide-shopping/Automne-hiver-2010-2011/Gris-trendy


So the Portland sky looked trendy like that :









and like this










and I loved Portland, the only city where you can't enter the Museum,










but then the weather some miles north of Portland turned like this :












and then like that,












and then it turned frankly like "la canicule," which is " the scorcher" which in Maine looks like that :













and no this alluring young woman is not checking the thermometer, but the post office next collection, for this is on an island where news and mail are rare.



but thank God there was the end of the days where it looked like that,





and that glorious evening crowned the last day of The Reporter in Maine,


With lots of love and lobsters from Maine,

The Frog

last days in france

August 8th, 2010


Well dear Reader,

we are getting close to the end of this french stay so, here are just a few pics of a very normal run of the mill.

First there was the wonderful spinach / bacon tart, that has had a little following of guests,









Then there was breakfast, well, the next day,











Then it was time for the exhausted hostess to put up her feet and read.... about the french revolution, which was at times pretty gross,










Then the long brother of the Reporter did some ivy work under the trees,










and then the day closed on so much work with a brilliant sky,











But never fear dear Reader, there will be one last report for this summer chapter;
with love and sunset thoughts,

the Reporter

where there is staff and staff

july 15th, 2010


Today was a day of reflection. As you can see on the next image, the Master of the House decided to clean up the newly restored pond. These little things need care.

Here with a staff in hand, the Master is mastering the murder of a few weak butterflies and bees who managed to get too close to the water level.

In the Ancient Puritan Victorian Times, the Master would have given this menial task to one of his slaves. He would have ordered " Le Petit Personel " or " The Small Staff " to practice fishing out the adventurous coleopterans, but today, as Le Petit Personel presence is severely dwindling, the Master, sometimes without lower Saff, has to take himself the staff.










But then he was rewarded with " Le Cafe " or " The Coffee " which as you will see below, is always accompanied by a the little dark thing behind, which of course is " Le carre de chocolat " or " The square of chocolate " which is in fact not square but rectangular.








Then the Master, who is always one for innovation, decided to renew with one of the more traditional ways to bring light in his life. And there it is :












As you see above, it is an oil lamp, it works, it has no electrical thread, no silly bulb, and it makes an awesome smoke.

The Reporter, to find some solace from the smoke, was happy to taste the only goat cheese she really loves, [ she is very picky ] which is " Le Sainte Maure de Touraine " or " The Sainte Maure from Touraine " and tastes something like heaven, in matter of goat cheese of course, as there are lots of different heavens everywhere. This is what is looks like, and in the center there is a straw, a real straw.










There are some Sainte Maure which are " fausse Sainte Maure de Touraine " or " fake Sainte Maure from Touraine " for they have, oh horror, a PLASTIC straw inside. So Folks, always go for the real true stuff.


With Love from the deep heart of France where there are oil lamps and real Sainte Maure,
the Frog

transported by transportation

july 13th, 2010


Well the Reporter took some days off as there was lots of people where she was, and she was running errands to farmers markets and cooking exquisite meals and cleaning things and day dreaming as usual.

So here below in deep center of france where no one lives but she and Dear Hubby, here is a view of the newly scrapped pond which looks pretty good, I say.








and from the other side,








and then as the Reporter's Dear Old Friend has a Dear Brother who loves brand new transportation, there was the visit of a crazy group of Brits, the Lagonda Gang, and they were like a really weird and pretty charming bunch,









And here are the pilots,








and here are the means of transportation,
these are like dating from early twenties,








and some more, the latest ones being around the late thirties,

































And the Reporter who always has great ideas, said to one of the gang, " You know if you get a 2 cv, it does use less petrol "
and that was greeted with interest too.
Then the Reporter went with Dear Old Friend and Dear Old Friend's Brother to have dinner and it was mellow and while they
had dinner at a farm, there was another mean of transportation there and that one didn't use any petrol at all. They were 2 cv too by the way.









So there, with much love from the farm and the two horses power,
the Frog

where there is a view

july 8, 2010

All right Children, so there will be only three pics on this one, the Reporter is packing her painting gear.


First a view of the lake nearby our convent, cool and calm as ever,








Then friends from the Reporter's Tall Daughter,









then last because you Children have been so patient, the very rare view of yesterday's clear skies, albeit three clouds, and the Mont Blanc, you may click on the pic to see that austere mountain more clearly












If you People, are very nice, you may get when Marlena will be kind and free enough to e-mail the pic to me,
you may get to see the Mont Blanc at Sunset taken by Mel, as Marlena was holding Colyn and Soso, the dogs, during
our after dinner hike.

With all love from the very busy and important painting Reporter,
the Frog