Blogging in Paris

Moving on

Claude — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:25:18 +0000

I want to thank you all for the encouraging comments on my last post.
As the title of this post states it, I think it’s time for me to move on. I have never been much of a writer, but I guess that I needed to write about what I had been.
Now my life style has changed and although Blogging in Paris will stay online, with its five or so years of regular and irregular posting, I am moving to a new venture, one that started at the beginning of 2009, urged by one of my flickr friends and brilliant photographers, AuntieP, in which I try to take and post at least one photo a day.

I am on day 178 as I only started the project on January 2nd of 2009.
The result of my efforts will be posted at a new blog, one that I started a week or so ago, called, what else, PhotoBlogging in Paris.

Those of you who like photos can go there and I’ll be delighted to see their comments if any

Posted in Blogs and blogging, Photography

Some news

Claude — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:31:54 +0000

Got a mail from Millie Garfield yesterday. She made me realise how little I have been blogging lately.
I have been on jury duty since April 27 and still have three weeks to go.
Of course, there’s not much I can tell about this, except that my days are full, that I feel like I’ve gone back to work while I was a happy retiree.
When it’s all over, it will make me cherish my retirement even more.
Meanwhile, I am basically trying to focus on a minimum of physical exercise, mainly walking, and also trying to continue my taking and posting one photo a day on flickr .

One of them has seen me

So this is my excuse for not blogging, but I must admit that my blogging has been pretty lame for the last year, I do feel like I have little to say and that writing is not my favourite mode of expression.
When jury duty is over, I might just resort to just posting photos or dropping the whole thing altogether.

Posted in Photography Tagged: burnt out, jury duty, tired

Life size

Claude — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:27:23 +0000

This week, for some reason, I came across quite a few graffiti, pasteups and other forms of street art

He was as tall as me

and was there Monday and had either fallen from the wall for want of glue or been taken away on Tuesday!

Sitting on a wall

Notice the woman’s face on her dress?

She turned round to look at the cat

The caption says something like “the regular visitor that haunts the place”. I’m willing to accept any better translation

Posted in Photography Tagged: graffiti, life-size, Paris, pasteups, walls

Abandoned or forgotten

Claude — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:35:49 +0000

I was hurrying back to my jury duty session when I saw these, sitting on a ledge along the river Seine

Abandoned or forgotten?

No idea what they were doing there and didn’t have much time to check them out or browse. They did look pretty old.

Across the river Seine is Conciergerie, which is now part of Palais de Justice

Posted in Photography Tagged: books, Conciergerie, La Seine, Palais de Justice, Paris

Happy birthday, Norma!

Claude — Sat, 09 May 2009 17:24:56 +0000

Norma, aka Nonie Vogue is one on my oldest friends on flickr. Oldest because I “befriended” her in my very first flickr day, back in January 2005 and oldest because she just turned 86.
I already blogged about Norma, who’s always been an artist, here. She is an artist, a quilter, a photographer and of late, she’s taken up drawing people!

Self-portraits by Norma McGuire

I’m not sure which one, or if any of them really look like me!
It is my birthday today!
I was born in a house at Broadway and Heather Street, in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.
Some of my dear flickr friends know my age, but not many… so here goes.
The year was 1923. I am 86 years young!
I am truly blessed with three fine sons and their families. I have been given many talents.
I am amazed that two months ago I discovered I could draw people… With practice (lots of it) they are getting better… and I am enjoying a full life.
You, my dear flickr friends, add to my joy and happiness. With love. Norma.

This is so wonderful to me! It means that you should never think that you are too old to learn something new, to start new experiments.

Please go and visit Norma’s sketches and if you click on her self-portraits above, you’ll get to her flickr photo and can wish her a happy 86th birthday there.

And here’s a virtual bouquet that I know she’ll like, as she commented on flickr.

Happy 86th birthday, Norma!

Many happy returns, Norma and keep learning new things (big hug)

Posted in Elders, Photography

From Passerelle Leopold Senghor

Claude — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:46:24 +0000

This is just one of my favourite places in Paris. I have posted quite a few photos taken from Passerelle Leopold Senghor, which is across the street from Musée d’Orsay.
When you stand there, wherever you turn, you have a great view over the river Seine and Paris. And the sky is often stunning

In the sunset, the glass roof of Grand Palais

This was taken at the end of the rather chilly day, when suddenly, the sun decided to show its nose

Posted in Photography

At London Zoo, back in April

Claude — Sun, 03 May 2009 22:00:46 +0000

I love zoos but photographing animals is a real challenge.

sad-looking marmoset

Marmosets are such small creatures, always in movement and you have to catch them so that you don’t see too much of their cage! Not much light for photographs there either.

friendly llama

Llamas are easier to catch. They are bigger, and are not in cages.

Standing guard

I find meerkats almost impossible to photograph. They’re always moving about and are so quick!

Posted in Photography Tagged: llama, marmoset, meerkat

Susan Boyle

Claude — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:36:41 +0000

What I love about this video that I got through Chanteuse on Plurk (thanks Chanteuse) is how because Susan is neither young nor pretty, the judges AND the audience all think she can’t have talent.

Susan Boyle

This is an extract of Britain’s got talent, which, I guess is the equivalent of American Idol.
We have the equivalent here in France, but I can’t remember what it’s called.
If the video doesn’t show, please click the link to see it directly from YouTube Sorry! Had forgotten to post the link

Posted in Vlogging Tagged: Britain's got talent, great voice, Susan Boyle, youth and beauty vs talent

The Reader

Claude — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:13:20 +0000

Remember that not long ago, I told you that I hadn’t been much of a reader lately?
Well, I still spend a lot more time walking or surfing the Internet than I do reading. But I do carry a book in my rucksack and will read a few pages while on the bus or the métro.
The other day, I had forgotten the book I was currently reading (still haven’t finished it) and stopped by this bookshop to buy a small book.

Village Voice, in the Latin Quarter

I browsed around, didn’t know what to buy. It had to be a small book as I don’t want to carry heavy books around. So I picked this novel by Bernhard Schlink which I didn’t know anything about, only attracted by its size and the photo of Kate Winslett on the cover. Can you think of a more shallow way of choosing a book?
Well, I can’t, but it turned out to be the sort of book that I couldn’t put down, although it took me quite a while to read.

The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink

I only realised that Bernhard Schlink was a German writer and that I could easily have bought a translation of the novel in French. But it doesn’t matter. I like reading in English, if only because I am a fast reader and books will last longer when I read in English.
So I started reading, knowing absolutely nothing about the book. I got totally sucked in and was led from one surprise to the next till the end of the story.
In case you haven’t heard anything about it, which is unlikely, I don’t want to mention anything that might be a spoiler.
I’ll just copy a short paragraph.

At first I wanted to write our story in order to be free of it. But the memories wouldn’t come back for that. Then I realized our story was slipping away from me and I wanted to recapture it by writing, but that didn’t coax up the memories either. For the last few years I’ve left our story alone. I’ve made peace with it. And it came back, detail by detail and in such a fully rounded fashion, with its own direction and its own sense of completion that it no longer makes me sad. What a sad story, I thought for so long. Not that I now think it was happy. But I think it is true, and thus the question of whether it is sad or happy nas no meaning whatever.

A must read.

Posted in Journal, Photography Tagged: Bernhardt Schlink, books, fascinating, reading, The Reader

Happy sixty-eight!!!

Claude — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:00:08 +0000

Happy Birthday, Ronni

And many happy returns, and many more years of brilliant blogging! Without you the blogging world wouldn’t be the same.

Sending this from London and fighting with strange keyboard behaviour

Click here to go to Ronni’s blog, Time Goes by and wish her a happy 68th birthday

Posted in Blogs and blogging Tagged: congratulations, happy birthday, many happy returns, Ronni Bennett