Late Spring Evening, near Lindsborg

It was a very pleasant evening and after being cooped up in a hospital since Thursday Sheryl took full advantage of the opportunity to enjoy a nice sunset from Coronado Heights. There was a cloud that looked big enough to eat Lindsborg, but by sunset it had mostly dissipated.

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Earlier we visited Lakeside Park in McPherson where we observed a mother duck along with a dozen ducklings, paddling their way up and down the lake. Seemed a bit like a training cruise as we watched them for a bit.

More and bigger photos on flickr.

really try your patience. Today for example.

It started at 2am with the sounding of the storm sirens. Thankfully, no damage in our area, but after getting back to bed at 3 I never really did sleep well.

At work, after checking a minor bit of work, I confirmed that what I had done was OK, but the system had a different problem; add it to the list.

Shortly after that Sheryl called. No, she wasn’t coming home today; hopefully on Tuesday. She’s definitely getting better, but still, this wasn’t what I wanted to hear. (She went to the hospital last Thursday due to severe vomiting; it turned out to be diverticulitis.)

By mid-morning, my attention has turned to the air conditioner. It seems like maybe it’s not working quite right. After a bit of analysis and troubleshooting, my suspicions are confirmed; no AC. The good news is that we can have it replaced this week, and for less than anticipated. Still, it’s going to get hot tomorrow!

After a few quiet hours, including a good meeting at work and the visit by the AC repair person, it was time to head to the hospital to see Sheryl. I guess I was in a hurry, but as I was making my way from the car Sparkle jumped/fell out of my arms on to the hot, hard pavement. Long story short, he may have a mild concussion, he was definitely dazed, but along with Sheryl is well on the way to a full recovery. I was devastated as we waited for the vet to finish his checkup; Sparkle means so much to Sheryl …

But hey, the very bad weather passed us by tonight, and you know, if all the above represents the worst of my problems, I am very lucky indeed.

The Louvre, the world’s most visited museum, is also one of the world’s largest, housing over 35,000 objects over an area greater than 1/2 million square feet.

We visited in the middle of May this year and barely scratched the surface in terms of seeing the available exhibits. The Louvre is definitely worth repeated visits!

We both took lots of photos; below are a variety of exterior shots as well as some of our favorite scenes and paintings from inside the museum, including some cool antiquities and a number of ceiling shots.

Larger versions of the 20 shots below are visible in my Paris 2009: Louvre Favs flickr set. In addition, an expanded set of 75 images is visible in my Paris 2009: Louvre flickr set.

The entrance to the Louvre is via a lobby beneath the larger of the two glass pyramids. It was inaugurated in 1988 and designed by American architect I. M. Pei.
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First of many dramatic ceiling shots.
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Looking across to the other side of the Louvre. Simply put, the Louvre is HUGE!
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Striking sculpture; they’re everywhere in Paris!
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I first became aware of this painting a number of years back; it serves as the cover illustration for Zelenka’s Orchestral Works CD. It was cool to see the original painting!
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What an imposing frame!
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Two views of a lovely display, highlighted by the detailed blue background.
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Two more views of ceiling art.
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No words required.
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Some striking examples of antiquities.
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Marble lined walls as far as the eye can see. There’s no doubt the words opulent and extravagant come to mind when visiting the Louvre!
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Walk like an Egyptian.
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Final two shots of some more wonderful ceiling displays. Just look at how the gold braid is draped from sculpture to sculpture.
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Two great shots from outside the Louvre.
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I’ve made this a few times now and it’s a keeper!

Quick Mexican Stew

Ingredients

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 poblano pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 lb beef (flat iron works well)

15 oz can whole tomatoes

15 oz can hominy, drained and rinsed

1 C beef stock

spices to taste:

cumin
chili powder
salt
red pepper flakes
salt
black pepper

Preparation

Saute onions, peppers, garlic, red pepper, salt and cumin till the onions are limp and starting to change color.

Sprinkle a little cumin and chili powder on the beef and then grill it (optional) before slicing it and cooking it with the onion pepper mixture. Add the rest of the garlic, along with the rest of the other spices, when adding the beef.

Add tomatoes and “chop” using cooking spoon. Add hominy, beef broth and more water as desired. Cook down a couple of times, adding more water as needed. It will be ready to eat starting in about an hour and like most hearty stews, improves with age.

Serve with tortilla chips or tortillas.

To bed at midnight (5PM CDT) Paris time, and luckily to sleep soon after.

Up at six, out of the door by 7:45. Made it to the airport in plenty of time, and had no problems going from CDG to ORD and from there to ICT.

It’s now about 5am Paris time (10pm CDT), and I’m doing my best to stay up a couple of more hours before giving in to the inevitable.

Plenty of photos and stories to come over the course of the next few days, including some words about where we stayed, and the tale of our mini-bus trip to Giverny, complete with English narrative by Magnus, a young Swede now living in Paris, and more.

Suffice to say, we had an excellent adventure and it was a great way to celebrate our 35th anniversary.

On Sunday evening we took the short (one stop) ride down the block to visit one of the most interesting fountains in Paris, the Carpeaux Fountain. As I mentioned, we really, really like the area where we’re staying, and while we’ve ridden the buses all over the city, we’ve also spent a fair amount of time exploring the area within a few blocks of our hotel.

I was surprised at the lack of information I found online regarding the Fontaine de Carpeaux; there was so little info that I linked to the creator’s biography page in lieu of a specific article on the fountain. I did find this bit of info on a page that is otherwise devoted to postcards:

The four maidens, created by sculptor Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, represent the “four parts of the world”: an African; an American Indian; an Asian; and a Caucasian. They are posed as if they are turning the celestial sphere, complete with the signs of the zodiac, around the Earth. Interestingly, the sphere was not created by Carpeaux, but by another sculptor, Pierre Legrain. The fountain’s pool, not pictured [on the postcard], contains sculptures of horses emerging from the water, which were created by yet another sculptor, Emmanuel Frémiet. But it is only Carpeaux’s name on the fountain.

And if we needed further proof that this is a small world, of the synchronicity that we talked about back when the Dead were playing, check this out.

We talked for at least 1/2 hour about leaving so we could photograph the fountains before we finally took off. We spent a certain amount of time at the fountain, not too short, and not too long. We rode the 38 back up the street when finished, bypassing the stop for our hotel so we could explore our dining options at the next stop.

We had not gotten 10 feet down the street after exiting the bus when a booming voice rang out: “Hey! Mike Rodriquez!” It only took a few seconds to recognize a friend we hadn’t seen in over 15 years, Steve Jeck. Turns out he was staying in the same neighborhood and he and his wife had just finished dinner when we ran into them. We had a great chat as we caught up on the highlights of the past 15 years before it was time to move on. What a long strange trip it is!

And it got better after that. When we had finished eating and requested the check the owner of the place teased me regarding the payment. Now, without generalizing too much, I have noticed that on 3 or 4 occasions a French shop keeper has teased me during our transaction. The first time, I was surprised, but quickly recovered, and said something back in kind, and a good time was had by all.

Back to last night. He asked me if I wanted the check tonight, implying maybe I would have to wait for it. I said no problem, perhaps I could pay the bill tomorrow. Well, he seemed to like that so much that he comped us a dessert; he did that by telling his friend, “you’ll buy their dessert, right?” Oh, and it turned out to be tiramisu; Sheryl’s favorite.

Now’s as good a time as any to mention this. We’ve heard questions and comments about the difficulty of visiting France, where there are language barriers, and potentially, cultural differences. Our experiences have been very positive, with folks going out of their way to be helpful and answer questions. Anyway, moving right along …

Here are my favorites of the Carpeaux Fountain shots, with more on Flickr:

Here are a few photos from each of the past 3 days. I was doing great in terms of keeping up with the photos each day, but then we visited the Louvre on Friday. Between the two of us we took over 250 pictures!

Eventually I’ll post more photos from the Louvre, but here are a few for now.

The Louvre:

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On Saturday we took a tour of a perfume museum near the Garnier Opera House. That was interesting and fun.

Perfume bottles from the Fragonard Perfume Museum:

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On Sunday we headed back to the site of the flower shops near the Seine, and sure enough, there were at least 2 vendors selling exotic birds. Sure did make me miss Ginger all over again.

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