In which more pictures are posted...

My week 4 Paris photos are online! This quickness is entirely due to several facts. First, I posted my annotated pictures of Mont St-Michel the day after I got back. Second, I had renamed the rest of the photos, which is a way lengthy process, sometime last summer. Third, I spent most of that week vegging out since I had been on the go every day the previous week.

However, I did manage to grab some cards and tour a new part of the city: Palais Royale and the Opera quarter.

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

I also took a trip to Brussels and Mons to visit two old friends from my exchange days: Magritte and Laurent.

Brussels/Mons 2010

And just for good measure, even though they've been online for over a year, my pictures of the trip to Mont St-Michel.

Mont St-Michel 2010

I am nearly done renaming the pictures from my last week in Paris, which included the bike trip to Giverny. I can nearly taste those macarons...

And she sighed in relief...

It's not quite the end of the school year, but, despite being laid low last weekend by the flu, I finally got my marks in. I can now turn my attention to trying to get my pictures done. I am pleased to say that I've finally finished winnowing the nearly 1300 pictures from my Paris museum week down to just over 1000, and then further down to about 800, all with somewhat pithy commentary. It was a major mental hurdle. I still have two more weeks of Paris to go, but fortunately I took far fewer pictures since I spent much more time hanging out in cafes and less in museums.

Sunday of museum week was spent revisiting Arts & Métiers, the Louvre, and the Pompidou Centre, while also going to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Nifty design stuff there.

The pictures are uploaded. Click on the album title to see all the photos.

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

Off to do week 4, which fortunately has already been renamed and resized. And the pictures from Mont St-Michel are already dealt with.

All about the knee

The stitches came out, rather unwillingly, today. I managed to remember to make an appointment almost as soon as I knew I needed one, and left the world's longest farewell assembly* half-way through to go to my doctor's office.

I'm not so encouraged by the fact that she said "I've seen better." However, I will not pick at the scab, I will not. And I will apply the scar ointment faithfully.

Plus, according to one of my dear friends, "guys dig scars, right?"



*I am not even mildly joking. I left half an hour after the thing should have ended, well before lunch and when I got back, which on an ordinary day would have been shortly before the end of lunch, the second sitting had just ended. Ye gods.

This post has no title, except for this one

A year ago this coming Saturday, I was on a train coming home from New York, thus ending my epic European adventure. My laptop and camera were full of photos to edit and post online for all to gaze and and wonder at. And I said I would have them up by the end of the month... summer... year, and finally settled on the anniversary of my return.

I'm fairly certain I won't be making that deadline.

However, I might make the end of June. I've gotten over the worst mental hurdle, which was Paris Museum week, and I've (mostly) gotten over the other major hurdle, which was the huge pile of marking that I'd been assiduously avoiding. I still have a few assignments to finish up, but my final exam is July 17, and I have no excuse after that. My evenings will be fairly free. So the pictures will be done.

I Mean It This Time. I've got that Look on my face.*

In other news, my knee seems to be healing. Not nicely, if I'm honest -- I'm pretty sure that the edges near the top aren't making a perfect join, and other bits are kind of black. It's pretty sore. I had to give up a dance class this past weekend. However, I hope that I'll be getting the stitches out on Wednesday. The road rash on my left thigh has healed; I was having fun picking off the tiny goosebump scabs for a while -- better there than on my knee, right? Since the wound on my left elbow has stopped weeping ("non-adherent" gauze pad, my eyeball), it seems to be reaching the thin, laminate scab stage. I've got flakes of dead skin coming off it now. You're welcome.

Scar ointment is at the ready.



*That Look is the look I occasionally get when I'm determined to get something done. Now. Or at least, after I have another cup of tea...

Why PhysicsGirl did not bike to work on Bike to Work Day

I do believe this is called irony.

So, yesterday was the May Cupcake Ride (which was the April route, only not rained/snowed-out). We started at Dlish on Queen, then took the Western Railpath, which I have always meant to try out, up to the Junction, then down to the south end of High Park, going through it up a mother of a hill, and finally going back to the Junction to finish at Bunner's Bakery. It was a gorgeous day; thunderstorms were threaten but held off until evening, and I wore my long blue skirt as a test of the Opus's skirt guards. They worked perfectly. The cupcakes were yummy. It was a great afternoon.

I left early because I needed to get home and set a test and mark others. I decided to go home directly along Dundas, which is always a bit hairy because there's lots of traffic and the parking lane, which usually becomes a de facto biking lane, is quite narrow. Then there's that weird left turn at Roncesvalles. South of Bloor, the street is riddled with streetcar tracks, every cyclist's nightmare.

Especially the left turn onto College. There are six sets of tracks (2 going straight, 4 turning, which means lots of metal triangles where the rails intersect) and four lanes to negotiate.

View Larger Map

Weirdly, there's a bike lane over the bridge, but nowhere else on Dundas. It sort of continues after the turn on College, but stops a short block away. If there's a lot of traffic, I sometimes wait at the side until there's a suitable break and then cross over. This time, however, I did a quick shoulder check and saw that the cars were stuck at red lights on both sides, so I opted to take the turn immediately. I've done that turn before, and I usually manage the streetcar tracks well. The trick is to hit them not too quickly, at a greater than 45 degree angle, and not leaning to get the maximum traction from the tires.

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.