Molettes

Conversations with Laurine never fail to entertain. As Colin commented after my lesson last week, "I never hear you laugh as much as when you're on the phone with Laurine." I'd like to say this is because Laurine and I exchange witty bilingual repartee, but in reality we're usually laughing because we're struggling to have …

The apocalypse

One house in our neighborhood has started sharing sidewalk chalk surveys to poll the neighbors on their feelings regarding the pandemic. Passers-by can vote with a stone, a sweetgum ball, or a stick—whatever they can find nearby. This survey - their first - was one of my favorites. "I thought the apocalypse would have more: …

Pandemic Picture Project, Installment 2

Is it just me or are the days and weeks blending together like a creamy French velouté? Not just me? Okay, bon, then let's just acknowledge that I may have missed a week of my pandemic photo challenge sometime during April, so instead of titling this post "Pandemic Picture Project, Weeks 2 and 3 or …

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which makes this year extra special. Not to mention, the tragedy of the pandemic is making clear in real-time how environmental health is directly linked to human health. The best time to build ourselves a healthier, happier, and safer society was decades ago, but …

Another milestone

Over the past two weeks, Laurine and I have met twice for a French-English language exchange. This works well for both of us: for about 30 minutes, Laurine asks me hard-hitting questions in French (like, you know, what I do on a typical day), then we switch and for another 30 minutes I pepper her …

A milestone

Over the weekend, Colin and I hit an important milestone in social-distancing: we rearranged our living room in a way that *only* makes sense for video chatting. The problem, you see, is that the only light in our living room comes from two sconces on the back wall, which makes it impossible to take video …

Pandemic Picture Project, Week 1

Over the past year, I've barely touched my camera. Life got busy, and I was never as inspired by the suburban St. Louis landscape as I was by central Paris (dunno why, they're pretty much the same). Photography was just one of those things that slid off my To Do list. Cue Pandemic, enter stage …

“I salute the effort you are going to make”

In one of last week's posts, I alluded to the fact that I've continued - somewhat - my French language learning. The truth is, for a while I was très motivée. I even enrolled in an online course! Then in February I began to lose my focus, and then March-which-was-200-years-long happened, and now it's been …

What to do at Lake Como if you aren’t a billionaire

*Note: This post is about a trip I took in September. No one should be traveling farther than their local grocery store right now.* After a week in Milan, Colin and I were both itching to get out of the city to someplace more scenic. In the interest of keeping things simple, we decided on …

One day in Venice

With everything that's going on in Italy right now, it's hard to think back to the lazy vacation days I spent there in September. But by the same token, now seems like the perfect time to celebrate the beauty and charm of northern Italy. Andiamo! Let's go! (First, an explanation for my long delay: Shortly …