The Weekend in Black and White

I found these brides and grooms at a great Paris store 
(one of several on rue Montmartre, near les Halles) 
with a good selection of cake pans, candy molds, 
and all sorts of baking supplies.  I was happy to see 
an (almost) all-embracing selection of 
wedding-cake toppers—no groom/groom or
bride/bride couples, but who knows?  Maybe next
time I'm there I'll see some of those too.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]  

In St. Germain des Prés

The sky really was this (non) color for much
of the time I was in Paris this month.
The good news? That hardly ever meant rain.

[I'm linking back to Skywatch Friday and
to Orange You Glad It's Friday?]

Thursday Challenge—signs

It's the thought that counts—
not the spelling.
Happy Thanksgiving!

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

ABC Wednesday—T is for "traffic"

And also for Thanksgiving, of course.  If you're going
somewhere this holiday weekend, I hope you
don't get stuck in a mess like this!  I also hope you
have lots to be thankful for—I know I do.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.] 

Christmas at Cartier

No, it's not the "red light district"—it's the
high-rent district!  The Cartier store on
the Champs-Elysées is awash in holiday color.

[It's Ruby Tuesday. To see more, go here.]

French flowers

Despite the frigid temps in Paris last week,
florists all had flowers on display outside.
I snapped these gorgeous roses at a
shop on rue Beaubourg.

[To see more Monday Mellow Yellows, visit Gemma's meme.
For Mandarin Orange Monday posts, visit LoriK's meme.
And for more Macro Mondays, go here.]

Paris shadows

I'm just back from a wonderful week
 in my fave city with two very special people
(and fellow bloggers). One of them will
recognize herself—and her shadow—in this shot 
taken on the roof of Galeries Lafayette.

[It's Shadow Shot Sunday—to see more, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

After a week in Paris, I'm coming in for a landing
back at JFK today—then a good night's sleep, and who 
knows how many photos to put on the computer before
rejoining the working world on Monday.  (sigh)

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

Leaving all this yumminess tomorrow.
{Insert large sigh here.}
Some of these things look pretty hard to resist,
but that fellow passing by the window
didn't give them so much as a glance.
For me, it lends new meaning to the French term
for window shopping: lèche-vitrines (window licking)!

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

Thursday Challenge—attractive

Very fitting category—since I'm in Paris,
where it's not too hard to find lots
of attractive people.  Case in point: this
waiter at a café in St. Germain who
managed to be cute, flirtatious, and
efficient all at the same time.

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

ABC Wednesday—S is for "Sacré Coeur"

Don't know if I'll make it up to Montmartre
this trip—but even if I do, I doubt the
church will be set off by a beautiful blue sky
like this one.  (This shot was taken in July.)
Frankly, I'll be happy with lots of clouds and no rain!

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Ruby Tuesday

It's early in the A.M. and these chairs are ready
and waiting for any intrepid cafégoers (like moi)
who are willing to brave the November weather and
enjoy the passing Parisian scene from the terrace.

[To see more Ruby Tuesday posts, go here.

happy little angels

Here are some more sweet Parisian faces; these two
angels are part of the hardware on a massive door.
 If they look pleased to be there, maybe it's because they
are installed in the upper chapel of the Ste. Chapelle, and
 have been enjoying those gorgeous stained glass
windows for almost 800 years.

[To see more Monday macros, go here.
For more Mandarin Orange Monday
 posts, visit LoriK's meme.] 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Can't tell you much about this sweet face—
only that it lives in the crypt under the Pantheon
in Paris, where such French luminaries as Voltaire,
Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, and Marie Curie are buried.

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

Et voilà!  I'll give you two guesses where
I landed today (and the 2nd one doesn't count).

I'll get to spend some quality time with 
Virginia, of Paris Through My Lens, and Genie, 
whose blog is Paris and Beyond—two 'Bama gals 
who are here now too. They both blog beautifully 
about the city all three of us adore and take 
me there through their posts every day.  I'm 
so excited that we're all here at the same time!

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

I'm getting on a plane tonight and
heading east—for 7 days of fun
and photography with a couple of
my fave blogpals.  I've scheduled posts
for the week ahead and will try to keep 
up a bit with my iPad.  Hope you'll 
stop by while I'm gone.

[Am linking back to Skywatch here.
And to Tina's Ein Stück Himmel here.]

Thursday Challenge—patterns

This pattern set into the pavement of the
Piazza San Marco, in Venice, seems slightly
off-kilter.  I don't know why that is—but you
might not even notice it at all unless
you go up in the campanile and look down.
(They were experiencing some aqua alta  in 
November two years ago.  The circles
in the pattern are drains, but they won't 
do their job until the tide goes out.)

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

ABC Wednesday—R is for "rose"

I just loved this bright pink rose blooming
in November (and trying to give the
turning leaves a bit of competition maybe?).

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

At the Cloisters

This 15th-century limewood carving of Jesus
on a Palmesel (German for palm donkey)
was used in Palm Sunday processions reenacting
Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a donkey.
(One curious thing about this statue: I don't
 think I've ever seen Jesus depicted with
 a receding hairline—have you?)

[It's Ruby Tuesday; to see more go here.
For more of Our World Tuesday, go here.]

Autumn Orange

"Autumn is a second spring
when every leaf is a flower."
—Albert Camus

To see more Monday macros, go here.
For more Mandarin Orange Monday
posts, visit LoriK's meme.]

The Bucolic Bronx

My friend Lisa, who lives in the Riverdale section
of the Bronx, took me on a tour of her
(often maligned and misunderstood) borough.
When you think of the Bronx, is this the image in your head?

[It's Shadow Shot Sunday. To see more, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

These fall flowers do come in some awesome
seasonal colors, but I think they speak for
themselves even in black and white.

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

One last sunset

This was the last great sunset I experienced while
crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on my way home before
Daylight Saving Time went into effect last weekend.
Unless I leave work an hour early, my weekday commute 
won't feature something like this until March of next year.

[To see more Skywatch Friday posts, go here.
And Orange You Glad It's Friday?  I am!]

Thursday Challenge—city

As you might imagine, considering where I live,
my problem here was trying to decide which image to
choose.  I finally lighted on this one, taken recently,
of downtown Manhattan.  You're looking south from the
Brooklyn Bridge at the financial district (and the
blue-and-silver building 2nd from right was for a semester
 my daughter Lila's snazzy NYU dorm-with-a-view).

[To see more "city" pics, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—Q is for "quilts"

These were on display—along with about 30 
more historical quilts—in an exhibit called
"Workt By Hand," at the Brooklyn Museum.
That dark graphic design really stands out, doesn't it?

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

autumn in miniature

The trees around here took their sweet time
going from green to yellow/orange/red—but this
bonsai on display at the New York Botanical Garden
got with the program in a more timely fashion.

[It's Ruby Tuesday.  To see more, go here.]

Kiku—The Chrysanthemum Festival

Last week I showed you some nice chrysanthemums—
pretty much what you'd expect to find this time of year.
But then I visited the New York Botanical Garden
to see their spectacular chrysanthemum festival . . .  

with blooms arranged in the shape of bridges,
bonsai, and waterfalls.  On the left is an
example of ozukuri:  A single plant is trained to 
produce hundreds of flowers in a huge dome-shaped 
display. (This one was started a year ago.)

[You can see more Mellow Yellows at Gemma's meme.
To see more Macro Monday posts, go here.] 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Can't imagine why I'd never visited The Cloisters
(maybe because it's way up there in the Bronx),
but finally went last weekend and it was
as wonderful as I knew it would be—kind of
 like traveling all the way to Europe on the A train.

[To see more Sunday Shadows, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

I went into the "vault" for this shot that I took at
the Vatican 46 (!) years ago.  (I've never seen any part
of the place this empty at any time since then.)

[To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.]