Barry, just to say, I fully enjoyed this and all the pictures. Curtis, this is extraordinarily beautiful. I think I'm going to have an orgasm - that's how much I love this.
Now, to all, I did want to leave on a positive note, so there ya go - doesn't get more positive than that for a 50 year old single woman. Feste - being here requires sacrifices in time - it is true. It is time again to attend to the rest of my life. Catch ya on the flip side. Emily. >________________________________ > From: curtisdeltablues <curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com> >To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com >Sent: Sunday, April 7, 2013 5:20 AM >Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Free Man In Paris, v2.06 > > > >The pictures added a lot, thanks for the great report. > >My Nigerian musician friend just came back from Paris, so,I'll get an update >from him on the Parisan music scene today. He'll be back in Paris at the end >of the month. He is worth looking up. We've been busking on the same >boardwalk for years here. One of the really exceptional people I've met out >there. We will be out today for the first nice busking day of the season. >Hope your day in Paris is just as bright. Here is my brother Kuku's site, >check him out. > >http://kukulive.com/ > >--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: >> >> I know that a few here have been hoping for more of a travelogue in >> these epistles than a rantalogue, and today I may be able to provide >> one. So far, I've been literally commuting to Paris -- working here >> during the week, and going home to Leiden on the weekends. But this >> weekend I decided to stay, because I have to look for a more permanent >> apartment, and it's difficult to do that while working. >> >> Yesterday I did just that, and hopefully have found a place that is >> PERFECT for my needs -- it's a one-bedroom apt, with a full bed but also >> a remarkably comfortable sofabed that accommodates two more people, >> should any of my extended family choose to visit while I'm there (and >> they will). Just outside the door is the Metro stop that will take me to >> work, and the area is just littered with great cafes, restaurants, sushi >> bars, and hangout bars. Steps away is rue Mouffetard, one of the great >> streets of Paris, full of markets, shops, and even more bars and >> restaurants. I hope I get it -- the only issue is that Paris landlords >> are pickier than Judy Stein (imagine that!) and want you to document >> everything about your life before they'll rent to you. I felt >> comfortable signing the agreement to provide her with my first-born male >> child if I default on the rent (since that's not likely to happen >> anyway), but one can never be sure she'll go for it. I hope she >> does...it's a great place in a wonderful location. >> >> Right now I'm staying a little further away, in a lovely (but tiny) >> apartment in the 5th arrondissement. The building is old and historical, >> and used to be (get the irony of this) a cloister for the nuns and >> priests who taught at L'université de Cardinal Lemoine. These days it >> has been converted into upscale apartments: >> >> [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8626604507_d9a0713621.jpg] >> >> although the rooms are still nun-sized. Fascinatingly, next door is a >> cabaret/strip joint: >> >> [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8525/8626603253_ae77774192.jpg] >> >> so the nuns must be restless in their graves. I think one of them may >> have visited me in the dream plane last night. I turned her down...she >> was old and gnarly and frankly far too frustrated from a life of denial >> for me to even think of trying to rectify that situation. :-) >> >> The apartment-hunting hopefully over, I decided to walk along the Seine >> this morning and find a nice cafe with free Wifi (often here charmingly >> called "Wistro") at which to write this over un petit dejeuner of cafe >> creme, jus d'orange, croissants and tartines. On the way, I walked over >> the Pont de l'Archevêché, now famous because lovers have decorated >> it with padlocks with their names inscribed, as if to declare their >> undying love. Color me unconvinced; in one particular area I saw at >> least ten padlocks inscribed with the name Pascal, each one with a >> different woman's name on it. Pascal got around, and his sense of >> undying love seems to be a lot like Maharishi's idea of how long >> promises to his TM teachers were to be kept. >> >> [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8122/8626606361_5f9f6d7e34.jpg] >> >> Then I walked past Notre Dame de Paris, celebrating its 850th year. I >> didn't go inside, having been there done that far too often; the photo >> of me in the FFL Photos area was taken on its roof. But I did pause for >> a moment outside the front entrance to photograph one of my favorite >> mini-monuments to the French mindset: >> >> [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8384/8626608325_62d317266e.jpg] >> >> This is called "Point Zero." It is the point from which all distances in >> the known physical universe were measured. In other words, not only did >> the French consider their country (and thus themselves) the center of >> the universe, they had an actual point in space that was the *exact* >> center. It's sorta like how Buck thinks of the Men's Dome in Fairfield. >> :-) >> >> After that I walked over to St. Michel, always one of my favorite >> people-watching areas, and settled in this cafe, which is right outside >> one of the exits from the Metro/RER stop there: >> >> [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8103/8626608551_d573287d07.jpg] >> Yes, it's touristy later in the day, but at this hour it's 1) mainly >> empty, 2) has heaters on the terrace so I can sit outside, and 3) has >> Wistro, so I can post this if I feel like it. (Although I'll probably >> wait until I get back to the apartment because I have photos to process >> and include.) >> >> This is My Kinda Heaven. Buck can have his "heaven on Earth" in >> Fairfield. Sipping a cafe creme in Paris, watching people walk by, >> writing about what I see, and smiling big-time. Spring is as late here >> as it is in most other places (global colding), and it was 0 degrees >> Celsius this morning, but now the sun is starting to come out and warm >> things up. It's all just so PARIS that I have a tremendous smile on my >> face that I do not seem to be able to remove: >> >> [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8537/8627720330_2354db4318.jpg] >> Some people here seem to get uptight when I write shit like this, >> claiming that I'm bragging about my life or making myself seem more >> important. That is honestly not how I see it. What I do in these cafe >> writing sessions is (wait for it) WRITE ABOUT MY LIFE. >> >> It really IS my life. I do not embellish it or try to make it sound any >> more spectacular than it really is. I have been one fortunate frood, and >> my luck seems to be continuing well into my Sixties. My suggestion to >> those who get uptight reading these raps about my ordinary, >> non-important life is that they might try writing a bit more about the >> ordinary, non-important events of theirs. Doing so might reveal to them >> that their jealousy and uptightness is misplaced, and that their lives >> are just as exciting as mine is, wherever they are and whatever they're >> doing. >> >> When it comes to life and how wonderful it is, it ISN'T (as much as >> realtors like to claim otherwise) about location, location, location. >> It's about attention, attention, attention, and how much of it one can >> bring to living. Do more of that, and you'd have more to write about, >> too. Just sayin'... >> > > > > >
