Sushi en Rue Cler

Our family is full of

Examples...and Crêpes Citron

I just have to say that I have the best kids ever!

Ever!
Do you know what they did tonight?
They were thoughtful,
kind
and great hosts...
I was SO impressed with them tonight!

Let me tell you about it:

Our friends from Ireland, Zélie, and her two kids, Aaron and Inés, who recently moved to Paris, came for their first visit to our house this evening. We had just finished a walk around the neighborhood and showing them around, when it was getting dark and it was time to wrap up the evening.

As we entered the kitchen for a brief sit down before they left, Joshua and Sasha, who had made crêpes for breakfast this morning and had leftovers, offered to cook some up! Who would turn down homemade crêpes by Joshua and Sasha? So Sasha turned on the stove, cooked up the crêpe itself and Joshua dressed the crêpe with a very old family favorite:

le crêpe citron - butter, sugar and lemon.

I watched them as they organized themselves,
as they served Zélie and her kids,
making sure it was just they way she wanted it,

and I was just so impressed,
and so proud.

Maybe I'm being
presumptious, but...

It warmed my heart tremendously
to think that they really are watching us,
and they really are learning
...even when we're not paying attention.

Oh, the pressure.
Not really.

Just a reminder.
To be aware...

that while they learn about the world

from the perspective of their

own individual and

unique selves

our impact
as parents
is tremendous.

and we do them a disservice
to underestimate this.

I have long believed that
we are the lense through which our children learn to see the world.

Raising a child
is such a gift.

Raising a child
to become a wonderful human being

is an honor
beyond belief.

I love my children.

E.T. and the Writing Workshop

We drove in to Paris Friday night to take Joshua to a writing workshop for kids age 12+ at the American Library, which as it happens, is a block from the Eiffel Tower! As we drove in, we passed this incredibly cool Art Nouveau builting just as we were about to turn the corner to park at the Library. I had to walk back down the street and take some photos! After a little online research I discovered that this is called the Lavirotte Building, designed by architect Jules Lavirotte, and is one of 9 of his buildings in the 7th arrondissement. It was built between 1899-1901. The photos just don't do it justice:




As I turned around to meet meet up with the family who had already entered the Library, this was the view which greeted me:

Dropping Joshua off at the Library for his class, we crossed the street to enter the park, the Champ de Mars where lies the Eiffel Tower. It was about 7pm on a Friday night. His class was only two hours and I didn't realize we had a little treat waiting for us. It was simple, it was sweet, and if I hadn't been paying attention, I would have missed it.


Walking through the park, I marveled at the activity at the foot of this world renowned monument. People picnicking in the mood of the Friday night end-of-week/beginning of weekend joviality, two guys, literally, walking a tight rope on a strap they tied between two trees and the guys selling their miniature Eiffel Tower key rings on huge metal rings, making them stand out a mile off.




Walking up the path toward the Tower, it struck me, how on a Friday night at the end of September, this place was still packed...the line to get into the Tower was still a mile long, folding on itself multiple times until they reach ticket counter.


We wander up to the Tower, under it and through to the other side. It was all very simple. We headed straight for the carousel and crêpe stand on other side of the street. The festive mood reached even across the street.
Such a funny guy, looking high above him, with food in his mouth, swinging his arms...the Eiffel Tower is E's moniker for "Paris"....while driving to Paris...he's looking for the E.T.!

It couldn't be helped.
This was Paris, after all.

As twilight approached and the sun set
the lights of the Eiffel Tower
came on



I buy some crêpes

and I look over to Paul who had just purchased tickets
for Elijah to ride the carousel.

Joy
Beauty
Sweet
and Simple

All this even despite the Angry Crêpe Guy,
who really was just ready for a career change.
So I didn't take it personally.
Angry crêpe guy's associate kindly gave me my savory crêpe for free.
He understood.

So I go back to my family with my
free crêpe and share.

Night is falling
Festive mood ensues
All is well.


Happy children
decent crêpe
Carousel rides.

Under the Eiffel Tower, I played with my husband, daughter and son as the sun went down [while the other son is being intellectually enlightened]. The lights take on a dramatic feel as the sun sets and the sky blue of the day turns to dark indigo, then black.

Set against the night sky, the Tower is so striking.
Awesome.
If you think about it, it's really just a pile of iron.
Oh but really,
the magic, the awe
it's tremendous.

I saw people taking photos of themselves with the tower in a way that previously hadn't occurred to me. I thought, oh why not! Being a generally modest person, I didn't do things like this, but hey, this was Paris and I was at the Eiffel Tower! So I took a photo of myself against the Tower!
Then I grabbed Sasha! Magic...I could feel the joy in the moment. I loved my daughter so much! This was one of those grab moments. Take it before it's gone.

Back to the carousel, we jump on, trade off with the little guy for his 5th ride! He knew the joy, and needed no words.

Trading back and forth, I'm now waiting and watching Paul and E going around and around. Sasha was chasing them around the carousel while it spun, the night was falling and the magical carousel had us under it's spell.

Almost time to return to pick up our big brother in his writing workshop. We begin to head back, walking under the Tower once again, the line and crowds as long and packed as ever.


As we get to the other side and by now it's dark, I'm struck again at how many people are still picnicking at the foot of the Tower, and they're not necessarily the same people as before!

Some came prepared for the mood. We passed a couple with a little candle on their blanket as they ate their dinner.

This must be Paris.
And this fact gets by no one.

As we leave the Tower and park behind us, we return to the Library to find Joshua having thoroughly enjoyed his writing workshop. The teacher was a published author and walked the kids through the process of finding their topic, and researching their subject. We didn't know when we dropped him off if this would be a one time thing or not. We were thrilled to discover that he really liked it and wanted to return.

I guess this means we'll have to come back next Friday.

Darn.
Oh well.

Paris we love you!

See you next Friday...

Life Essentials - Clean Dishes / Dry Clothes

We've experienced two things in Ireland and now France which a typical American lifestyle doesn't always accommodate.
These are things which are completely optional, which are known to happen and are not shocking to your average American,
but...when you look around you, it's just generally not done.

Washing your dishes by hand.
Every night.


Air drying your clothes.
on dryer racks
or outside (preferable).
everything.
sheets, socks
and underwear included.


IOW - no electricity is consumed for either activity.
Inconceivable.

Oh, but it's true, madame!

#1
Washing Dishes
Together

for our family this has come to mean spending time
Together

Often it's crazy and I just wish I could throw
the dishes in the dishwasher -
like last night.

But most of the time
if I'm organized...
we go straight from dinner to the dishes

it's a rhythm
the children have come to expect

and this makes it easier
to get them to do it...
because
it's just what you do...
you know?

dinner
dishes
shower
bed

or some variation
thereof.

unless
homework has not been finished.

A recent revelation this year
was the fact that the two oldest kids
ten and twelve
are old enough to WASH and DRY
so I can go and do other things...

oh why didn't I think of that sooner?
(I was too busy doing it myself)


et voilà

REVELATION!!

The next and more beautiful benefit of this
SERVICE TO THE FAMILY
has been to discover that

Elijah

loves to wash dishes


if that's where his brother and sister are...



actually
he loves to wash dishes no matter
who
is washing with him.

and he has his vinyl covered apron
with Irish cows and sheep
to prove it!


and it keeps him dry!

but to see them interact with him
is so beautiful.

Many beautiful moments are created
in the course of

washing dishes
together.

For this -
I am very grateful.

#2
Drying clothes.
We don't have a dryer.
Neither do the neighbors...
except the neighbor down the hill
(in Ireland)
who runs a B&B
B&B owners MUST have a dryer
but not anyone else.

And so it is

in Ireland and France.

Much more mundane.
but
as with the dishes

essential
critical to life

dry clothes.

and
as with the dishes
getting the kids to participate
has been

beautiful to watch
critical to life

theirs
and mine
and ours.

To know that the wind
doesn't just

mess up our hair or
blow down our fences

(though it does
power our sailboats-
most critical if you're a sailor
which I am
(was)
as a teenager)

but

it dries our clothes
and is

fresh
and beautiful.

I love hanging laundry.
It makes me slow down.
It makes me pause

to enjoy my children.

and even though I sometimes miss the
convenience
of the machine dryer

I'm still glad
I don't have one
because...

I have to stop.

and the clothes still
need
to
be
dry
.

And so we hang them
and breathe deeply,
smiling.

a walk in the woods...

Yesterday morning, Elijah and I took a little walk

through the woods near our house.

Autumn is here...
and we've been enjoying ourselves.

heading down the road we stop
to enjoy
the old railroad station
from the bridge...

just feet from our house.

E loves the bridges
and moving water...

and on we go
over the river
and through the woods...

I love the cobblestones...
under the tarmac.

and the doors...


and the signs
telling us the season is turning...

onward we go
into the woods...

Lusciously smooth brown chestnuts popping
out of their prickly seed pods...
oh boy!

Autumn is here...
though in Paris it's still warm, except
when you're standing by the rushing brook,
feeling the cool air
rush through narrow spaces creating
negative ions.
freshness.
life.
vitality.

The forest of Verrières
is so beautiful
le bois de Verrières
est si belle

the way back home...

back home...

Sasha and E and I went to Paris on a field trip with her class this past Wednesday.

Barring the day's long accumulated pain from wearing the boy on my back all afternoon, while walking hither and yon (albeit beautiful!!!), it was a very fun day!

How many class field trips are to Paris?! Obviously if that's where you live, that might be where you go!...we're still pinching ourselves and I wanted to share:

The teacher's goal of the trip as far as I understood it was to give the children the sense of the landscape, structures and streets that they walk as they correspond to and are reflected on the map they see in their hand...

We walked from the school to Igny, a neighboring town, connected by beautiful paths...

...took the train (25 mins) into Paris and were dropped off just a the northern tip of Jardin Luxembourg. From there we walked and walked...Sasha's teacher, I learned in an earlier outing, is a very fast walker and kept the kids at a very good clip. Today's destination was Notre Dame. It was wonderful walking through the streets, which at 10am on a cloudy, rainy day in April, weren't crowded in the least....until we reached Notre Dame Cathedral.

The approach was quite spectacular... (not this photo, camera was still buried in my backpack...) Inside, hundreds of people milled around. It was a shame it rained. I think we entered just to get a break from the rain. That said, the stained glass was spectacular, hundreds of years old and so beautiful!
Hundreds of people were in the main worship area...I say this cautiously, as they were selling little do-dads inside, headphones for the tours, etc...I wouldn't normally put the two in the same breath, worship and sales, but this is what it is. That said, it's a spectacular piece of gothic architecture and construction. Back in November we had taken a tour of the cathedral...it was amazing!
Here is Sasha's teacher, Emmanelle Bialas on the left, talking to some of the mothers who accompanied the group, and the kids as she is telling us about the history of the rosette windows...

When we leave Notre Dame, it's time for lunch .so we go to Hôtel Dieu, the oldest hospital in Paris (maybe france?), it was built in 671!
We ate there because it was pouring rain and they had a long hall with benches which they gave us permission to use. It's still in use today. You can see Elijah in the lower right hand corner...Much of the history is illustrated down along the walls of this hallway.

...the hall above is where we ate, it is actually through those windows to the right of this photo below. As we exit, we see more of the hotel, which was still a fraction of what there is, I'm sure:

Here we are exiting the hospital literally through the center out through the front. The exit is straight ahead, through the doors and to the left is the courtyard and Notre Dame itself. They're neighbors. The blocks Sasha (above) and the kids are walking on, I'm guessing, are ceiling windows to a floor below...giving natural light...I'm sure one of the more modern upgrades done over the years. Below, as we're exiting out the front, I turn around to take a photo...we had exited from the left out the center, where the two trees were.

Below, turning back around, we exit out the doors ahead, and enter the courtyard shared with the front of Notre Dame.

Hôtel Dieu was very cool!..a bit scary too, to think you're in the same place where you KNOW there were cholera (and who knows what else) outbreaks and hundreds/thousands/millions(?) patients over centuries were brought there. All that aside, they've kept it up beautifully.

As we left the Hôtel Dieu hospital-not hotel, we walk down along the northern side of the island, Ile de la Cité, heading west, we pass several bridges the last of which will be Pont Neuf, the bridge that crosses over the tip of the island. It was here the teacher pointed out the point at which the river splits. Ile de la Cité is the oldest and original part of Paris.

At last it was time to head back home...after arriving at our stop, we still had a 30 minute walk back, but it was a beautiful winding path alongside a bubbling brook, so I don't think many complained. We've been loving this area!


How cool is it to say you went to Notre Dame for your class field trip that day?!

Poissons d'Avril and Fish...Happy Birthday to my Great-Grandfather 2nd April~!

Yesterday, (or if you're reading this from the US, today), it was (is) April Fool's Day! Happy April Fool's Day everyone! Not that this is a standard greeting one uses to acknowledge such a holiday, on the contrary, it's generally acknowledged that April Fool's Day is the day when jokes are played on one another, and if you had forgotten the date, you'll be quickly reminded if you happen to be the target of someone's merry pranking.

Here in France (read upcoming post on that new bit of news if you're not already aware...), as I was dropping my daughter off at school, we crossed the threshold of the classroom and were greeted by much happy noisemaking and found Sasha's teacher across the room covered with little pieces of paper. As she crossed the room to greet us, we could see that the little pieces of paper that covered her sweater had fish drawn on them...they were taped all over her! She was laughing and smiling, and the kids around her were busily laughing at the funny gifts to their teacher. She told us that today was "Poissons d'Avril"...of course that explained everything! In my mind I was quickly putting it together that today was April Fool's Day and this is how they celebrated it in France! Great!...so I communicated this to Sasha and went on my way. Poisson, by the way, is the French word for 'fish'.

Later, after Sasha had returned home, I heard more about the jolly mood of the day, then went to put E down for a nap. When I returned I found her cutting out little fish shaped pieces of paper with which she spent the rest of the afternoon trying to sneak (and tape) onto each of us! The trick, as far as my currently limited understanding has come to realize is to tape a fish to someone without them knowing it.

It was still later in the afternoon today that a series of emails between my mother, aunt and husband floated around regarding 'Poissons d'Avril' during which my husband pulled the following from Wikipedia:

"Poissons d'Avril is first mentioned in a 1508 poem written by Eloy d’Amerval, a French choirmaster and composer. The poem is titled Le livre de la deablerie. According to Wikipedia, it consists of “a dialogue between Satan and Lucifer, in which their nefarious plotting of future evil deeds is interrupted periodically by the author, who among other accounts of earthly and divine virtue, records useful information on contemporary musical practice.” (It seems that in 1508, Satan and Lucifer were two not one individual...)

The poem would only be of interest to historians of music, except that it includes the line, “maquereau infâme de maint homme et de mainte femme, poisson d’avril.”

The phrase “poisson d’avril” (April Fish) is the French term for an April Fool, but it is unclear whether d’Amerval’s use of the term referred to April 1st specifically. He might have intended the phrase simply to mean a foolish person.

In 1564 France reformed its calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. Those who failed to keep up with the change, who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools—and so the tradition was born."

Paul then included this from the Irish press (on 1st April):

"The origin of April Fools' Day is obscure. One likely theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar; the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, which it replaced. In many pre-Christian cultures May Day (May 1) was celebrated as the first day of summer, and signalled the start of the spring planting season. An April Fool was someone who did this prematurely. Another origin is that April 1 was counted the first day of the year in France. When King Charles IX changed that to January 1, some people stayed with April 1. Those who did were called "April Fools" and were taunted by their neighbors. In the eighteenth century the festival was often posited as going back to the times of Noah. An English newspaper article published on April 13th, 1789 said that the day had its origins when he sent the raven off too early, before the waters had receded. He did this on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April." (reference to come shortly)

...and so progressed this email exchange today, and now ends our broadened understanding of the varying traditions of an annual holiday the origins of which hardly anyone remembers. It was a fun day!

So here, at the end of the evening, by now the 2nd of April, as I closed my email to my mother, who reminded me it was way too late to be writing (yes, still up and will be heading to bed shortly...), she reminded me, that it's my maternal great-grandfather's birthday today!...born 128 years ago today!


Alfred Ernest Hefford...while I have never met him, my memory of him exists in the form of stories of told to me by my mother: How he was a marine biologist, how he loved to garden in his home in Wellington, New Zealand, how he spent 2 years in the 20's (?) in Bombay, India away from his family, doing marine research for the government of India, how he spent his career studying fish and how to manage fishing practices (and exports) in such a way so as to not deplete New Zealand's rich fish supply, how he became the Director of the Department of Fisheries in New Zealand and spent 20 years advocating for such practices. No fool by any stretch, I'm sure it's a fact that my great-grandfather loved fish and spent his career trying to ensure their longevity. Happy Birthday Great-Granddad!