Friday, January 6, 2012

Slip Sliding Along


There have been only a handful of days in the last month that have been anything but sunny and clear.  Our decision not to spend the winter in Paris has been vindicated in terms of weather, no question. Waking up to sunny skies rather than gray rain feels great.  And wearing a sweater rather than a heavy coat, muffler and gloves?  Priceless.

Our original thought in moving to Paris the first year was to see how it felt to live there all year round rather than the spring and fall visits we'd been making for years.  Californians to the core, now we know.  We're not big fans of cold, gray, rainy, snowy, slushy days.  Sometimes just being in Paris makes up for it though.

And sometimes the lack of bagels added to the weather tips us over the edge.  How I would kill to see a selection like this in Paris!


I'm kidding.  Bagels are great, but I don't actually feel the need to recreate Berkeley in Paris.  Perhaps Paris in Berkeley...now that would be a good thing.  Gerard Mulot croissants for breakfast...miam.  Although I was given a loaf of the best bread I've ever had last week, baked in the wood-burning pizza oven at Pizzaiolo in Oakland.  Not so bad as a croissant stand-in.  And the pizza if fabulous too.

Meanwhile, we are doing our usual cocooning.  We're spending much less time here going out and much more eating at home, reading, watching television.  It's a good version of life and a different one.
A pot of soup on the stove is just as nice if the sun is shining.

The holidays passed lightly over our heads, with a few parties, a few friends, a few relations; this year we had no feeling of Christmas overload, no annoying songs stuck in our heads, playing over and over.  We stayed out of stores, exchanged few gifts, just enjoyed the love and health we were lucky to have.  Gene had a long-scheduled surgery and has come out of it just fine.  We're happy.

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