Sunday, October 03, 2004
Fall in Paris
Every Fall I start reminiscing about my childhood in the Northeast. Fall was a wonderful time of year. The weather was chilly, but not cold. Fresh. I always felt so alive. The leaves were changing colors. The apples were ready to be picked (or picked up... I had a few apple trees on my property). Halloween wasn't far away, so I was picking out pumpkins and choosing outfits that my mother would make. It was just a great time. Of course, I didn't appreciate it back then. But now.... how I miss it and also miss it for my children. I host Halloween parties every year. I have a friend who gives stores candy and asks the sales people to hand the candy out when her "party" shows up. More on that when the party occurs... But another thing I've tried to relive is apple picking. When I was a child I had to pick up the apples and throw them into the orchard behind our property as a weekly chore. Now, 20 years later, I find myself paying to pick another persons apples. Our family went to a farm outside of Paris yesterday. What fun! The kids picked apples (20 euro worth!) and green beans. At the farm store we picked out a wonderful pumpkin. The farm is only 15 minutes outside of Paris and it was packed yesterday.
Today we went to the Bagatelle Park in the Bois de Bologne. I go to the Bois every week, but it's a huge place and this was our first time in the Bagatelle Park. The Park had a special exhibition going on about CABANES -- little shacks. After spending nearly 2 hours in the Park looking at these cabanes I still can't tell you much about them, why they were special or who made them. However, it was another beautiful day here and we rode our bikes there, brought a friend for my son, and had a nice time walking around looking for the cabanes... some in trees, other in water, some made of sticks and others of mud.
This week starts the Bloom Where You're Planted program, an orientation program for newly arrived English-speakers in Paris. I'm very involved in the program and have to move my schedule around to make sure I can stay the whole day for the two Tuesdays it runs. I also have my nephew coming this week. Tomorrow, the week starts and I have a partent teacher meeting. I'll let you know how it goes.
-- said Auntie M in Paris
11:03 PM