Happy Halloween

Each year my daughter Katie has a 
pumpkin-carving party, where everyone
has a good time and goes home
with their own jack-o'-lantern masterpiece. 
(I just stopped by for wine and photo ops.)

[Linking back to "Anything Goes" Pink Saturday.]

Weekend Reflections

Monet filled his house in Giverny with art—
even the bathrooms have paintings on
the walls.  I don't recognize the large work at
left [now I know it's also a Cézanne], 
but I do see a couple of Cézanne's still 
lifes reflected in the mirror.

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"plants"

This is my old office space.  The real challenge
here was how I would move these 
plants—which have been thriving and growing
and taking over for 4+ years—when I had 
to move to a new cubicle this week.

Anyway, here are the new digs.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—P is for "Pont Neuf"

and for "Paris at night."
If I were in charge of lighting the 
bridges of Paris, I wouldn't do it any 
differently here—would you?

[To see more ABC Wednesday "P" posts, go here.]

au nom de la rose

This flower shop in the Marais features
roses and more roses, all beautifully
and inventively displayed.  And yet the
thing I chose to focus on here was
this old door.  If it were yours, would you
paint it or leave it as is?

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

daisies

"The daisy's for simplicity and 
unaffected air."

—Robert Burns, "The Posie" (1791)

[Linking back to Monday Mellow Yellows, 
Macro Monday, and Blue Monday.]

inSPIREd Sunday

Notre Dame is gorgeous in all seasons,
of course—but for me maybe most of all in
the fall.  Here it's seen through the autumn
leaves along the Quai de Montebello.

[To see more churches from
around the world, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

This past Wednesday, I posed a rather snarky
question to the NYC Transit Authority.
So in all fairness I should also show you this 
fabulous skylight—a prominent feature 
of the new Fulton Street subway station (which
I've featured here once before).

[To see more b/w photos, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

Cherubs decorate the rooftop of the
French pavilion in the gardens
of Marie-Antoinette's Petit Trianon, 
at Versailles.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"cooking"

I always thought that Hungarian goulash was
a kind of stew.  But when I went to 
Budapest last year, I was treated to this bowl 
of the real thing, prepared by a real 
Hungarian.  Anyway, it's actually a soup—
and it made me feel just a bit sorry for vegans.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

Odéon metro station

Question for the NYC Transit Authority:
If a Paris metro station can be this 
clean and colorful, why can't any of ours?

[To see more ABC Wednesday posts with the letter O, go here.
To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

fall flower

"More exquisite than any other is the autumn rose."

—Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigné,
Les Tragiques: "Feux" (1616)

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday, Our World Tuesday,
and Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday.]

starting to turn

Not quite "leaf-peeping" season here
in Brooklyn yet.  (Usually, I
just wake up one morning to find
that it's happened overnight.)  
This tree, however, has decided to go
from green to gold in patches.

[To see more Monday Mellow Yellow posts, go to Gemma's meme.]

inSPIREd Sunday

I took this shot of the spires St. Patrick's Cathedral 
the day before Pope Francis arrived.  Already 
there were barricades set up along the length of this 
block (and many others)—24 hours later, I 
would not have braved the crowds.

[To see more churches from around the world, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

These beautiful etched-glass windows adorn
the Budapest home of my friends Jane and Lance.
It's as warm and welcoming as they are and
I'm hoping that I get to visit them there
again one of these days.

[To see more b/w pics, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Peek-a-boo!

Manolos on display at Saks Fifth Avenue.
They're beautiful, I admit—but my
little dogs would be barking after teetering
along for even one short block in those things.
Personally, I'd like to believe that we
don't have to suffer in order to be "fashionable."
How about you?

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

the color of daybreak

When I was in North Carolina last month,
the first sunrise I got up for was so
spectacular that I roused myself before dawn
and hiked +/- a mile to the beach
 a couple more times.  This was the start of 
my reward on one of those mornings. 

[Linking back to the Thursday Photo Challenge (orange),
  Skywatch Friday, and Orange You Glad It's Friday?.]

ABC Wednesday—N is for "night"

And also for northern New Jersey, which is 
what I could see all lit up at midnight as 
we made our way up the coast from NC to NY.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.] 

Buon appetito!

Helped a couple of friends celebrate their mutual
birthday here recently.  There really aren't
that many places in NYC that have been in business
for more than 120 years, much less owned and
operated by the same family. I hope this one
continues to be here for many more decades to come.

I managed to resist, but it wasn't easy!

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

up close and personal

I've been playing around a bit lately with
the macro lens for my phone.
This flower actually measures about an
inch and a half across.

[Linking back to Monday Mellow Yellows,
Macro Monday, and Today's Flowers.]

inSPIREd Sunday

I recently attended a christening service
(the two beautiful children of this couple), which 
took place in the Gothic Revival Grace Church in 
Brooklyn Heights.  It was built in 1847/48 
at a cost of $46, 737.52—which I suppose in those
days was a considerable chunk o' change.

[To see more churches from around the world, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

Low tide under the Oceancrest Pier, on Oak Island, NC.
The water was very warm, yet I encountered few
people—and, fortunately, no sharks (they've been a
problem in the near-shore waters off the
Carolinas this past summer).

[To see more b/w shots, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

The lovely Medici Fountain, in the
Jardin du Luxembourg—a wonderful spot
to stop a while and reflect (!) on how
lucky I was to be in Paris on a 
beautiful summer day.

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"car"

I saw this baby blue T-bird parked in front of 
my building recently.  While one of my
neighbors and I were admiring it, the owner came
along and we were able to satisfy our curiosity:
It's a 2003 model, made to look like its '60s predecessor;
the roof is removable (though the owner never has
since he has no place to store it); the person who 
owns this cool car is a hip grandpa who lives around the corner.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—M is for "mint tea"

and for Grand Mosquée de Paris. There's a 
wonderful café/restaurant there, and you can sit
in the colorful and comfortable garden and 
enjoy a glass of mint tea—the real deal, poured with 
a flair. (We also had couscous—yum.)

[To see more ABC Wednesday "M" posts, go here.]

Get 'em while they last . . .

then take a sturdy slice of bread (I like sourdough),
toast it a bit, slather on some good mayo—or 
butter, if you prefer—add a slice or two of these 
perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes, lean over the sink . . . 
and—go on—let the juices run right down your chin!

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

Blue Monday

One of my fave Paris pastimes is to spend a
while watching the little kids with these low-tech,
no-motor, no-remote-control sailing ships.
You can rent them to sail in the pond in the Tuileries ...

and also in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

[To see more Blue Monday posts,
visit Smiling Sally's meme.]

Today's Flowers

Yes, it is getting to be that time of year again.
Still, I just re-upped my membership
at the botanic garden in my neighborhood,
because I think there's something beautiful to 
be found there in every season.

[To see more flowers from around the world, go here.]

Shady arbor at Versailles

Once you move away from the chateau itself,
the crowds thin out a lot and it's much 
easier to appreciate the beauty of this place.
This arbor is on the grounds of the 
Petit Trianon, the (relatively) little home
that Marie-Antoinette could escape to from time to 
time and live a (again, relatively) normal life.

[Linking back to The Weekend in Black and White
and to Shadow Shot Sunday.]

Incoming!

Pelicans on a late-afternoon
fishing foray, that is.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"night"

Something new(ish) on the New York skyline: the tall,
skinny condo in the middle (which is now
pretty much completed) is 432 Park Ave., the 3rd-tallest
in NYC at 1,396 ft. (425.5 m) and the tallest
residential building in the Western Hemisphere.
It mostly comprises what they call "ghost apartments,"
occupied for only a few weeks a year by über-millionaires
—I hear that the penthouse has already sold for $95 million. 
(P.S. — you couldn't pay me to live up there.)

[To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, go here.]