Running out of ways...

...to say that I'm behind in the pictures, but that I'm slowly putting them up.

By the way, for my Facebook peeps, click on "View Original Post" below to come over to actually see the pictures. If you're reading this on the actual blog site, ignore the previous statement.

Saturday of museum week in Paris: I went on a walking tour of Belleville with a volunteer Paris greeter for Parisien d'un Jour. It was a great experience and I saw a part of Paris I might not have gotten around to otherwise. As always, click on the title below the picture to see the rest of them.

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

After my walking tour, I went home and ate a leisurely lunch. Paris leisurely. Four hours leisurely. Which meant that I only had 1 1/2 hours to go to the Museum of Arts and Trades:

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

After which, I had about 2 1/2 hours for the Pompidou Centre:

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

I think it would have been enough time if I had started on the 5th floor. There was plenty of stuff on the 4th I could have avoided seeing.

Sunday was my last day on the museum pass. Only 134 photos left to sort. From that week.

How green is my garden?

A few years ago, Aged P gave me an Aerogarden for Christmas. I used it to plant herbs, and it was neat, but I haven't used it since. I've been on the fence about whether to sell it or keep using it, because it takes up quite a bit of space on my counter and you have to buy their seed kits and replacement light bulbs to keep it going. It could get expensive to maintain. However, I figured I should use up the seed kits that came with it before I got rid of it, so I've had lettuce and tomatoes growing in it since January. The lettuce has come to the end of its life, and I don't even like lettuce that much -- spinach would have been better for me -- but the first tomatoes are ripening. I'm really happy to have fresh cherry tomatoes.

After looking at the website, it turns out the light bulbs aren't as expensive as I thought, and they do sell replacement soil pods so I could probably plant my own seeds later. No doubt I will remain on the fence about getting rid of it. I still have two tomato plants, a few more lettuce plants, plus a whole kit of flowers to grow before I make my decision. I hope next time I'll remember to prune the tomato plant. And figure out a better way to keep it from falling over.

Getting on with it...

The Friday of museum week was wild. Five, count 'em, five monuments/museums in one day. Plus a long walk down les Champs-Elysées and gawping in Faubourg St.-Honoré. Not to mention the little bit of excitement at the beginning of the day.

That translates into a hundred or so photos to cull, rename, resize, and comment on; I've finally managed to upload them. As always, click on the name of the album below the picture to see the rest of the pretty pix.

I went to l'Arc de Triomphe, l'Orangerie, les Invalides and l'Eglise du Dôme, Musée Rodin,and the Panthéon. The pix start here:

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

You can see the pictures of my strolling here:

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

There are still two days of museum week left! I've promised myself macarons when I finish the Paris photos. But I've also promised myself gelato when I get a certain set of physics tests marked, and so the photos may have to wait a little longer.

Pareidolia

I learned a new word this week, and I need to share it. To quote my friend Craig: "It's a situation where you interpret a random pattern as meaningful. Examples are seeing animals in clouds, a face on Mars, Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich, etc."

This is about several random somethings. Is there a pattern?

Baby steps

I finally uploaded my Loire Valley and Versailles photos. You can see them here:

Loire Valley 2010	Versailles 2010

I'm a little behind on the rest of my Paris photos; the Loire Valley and Versailles pix only take me up to April 13th of last year. I still have a thousand or so photos to cull, name, resize, and comment on before April 18 if I'm going to stay on track. Somehow I doubt that will happen.

However, baby steps. Look! Pictures!

With all due respect to Mr. Eliot...

...so far April has been just lovely.

At the risk of bringing on another snow storm, I've thrown caution to the wind and done the annual shoe and clothes swap, whereby I pack my (freshly cleaned) fall/winter clothes into the bins under the bed and bring my spring/summer clothes out of hibernation. Tempting fate, I know, but I'm so happy to be done with the sweaters and see some new clothes. Okay, different clothes. Who needs a shopping spree?

(Well, actually, I'd love one, if you're handing them out; but this system does keep my wardrobe feeling fairly fresh. Mostly.)

I've even put my skates and winter boots away. It's on!

And the saints went marching in

Last night, my choreography class from Bees' Knees Dance performed at Dovercourt House. It was fun and I didn't mess up too much. I'm sick though, so I had to spend rather too much of today recovering.


Video credit: Bees' Knees Dance

As fun as it was, I've decided not to continue with the class for the next round. I've had to not do a bunch of stuff that happens on Wednesdays because as it turns out? It's a school night and I seem to have energy for only one extracurricular activity. I'd like to start attending the Corktown Uke Jam more regularly -- although that might lead to dissatisfaction with my pretty green uke.

Sigh