Here are some reviews of the movie "Buck" which I saw on Sunday and heartily recommend. And if I were a good writer I would have written what Joe Williams and Roger Ebert have already written.

And here are the previews and trailers.

Don't miss it. It won awards at Sundance and is showing at Cinema 21 right now.

The neighborhood

A wonderful pastry and chocolate shop about three minutes from my door!

One of their pastries---wonderful!

Here's a photo of a street cleaner (on a Sunday) cleaning with his strange looking broom. I could hear the sound of the broom from my apartment. They drive around in green little carts and can turn on a spigot that sends a small river of water down the gutters and into the sewers. I had zero desire to tour the Paris sewers! Why would anyone do that?

This is the stair case in the apartment building. On the far left is the elevator which I used when I had a lot of groceries or suitcases.
The front entry with two doors with buttons to unlock them and the outer one had a number pad for putting in the pass code.
My apartment was on the second floor without the balcony.
Longer view of the apartment building.

Neighborhood shopping streets.

I shopped at this bakery a couple of times and the first time a French customer helped me with my questions. The second time I knew what to ask for in French. Easy to say "I would like two croissants, please". I also understood why the customer had helped me earlier. Not only did the clerk not speak English she had a speech impediment. The croissants were good but the pastry was not.

Apartment pictures

My friend Mary requested photos of the apartment I rented and here they are. I didn't have a photo of the second bedroom. The view from the second photo was of a 1970s apartment building. The photo below was from another window and required leaning out a little. I was on the second floor and the building had an elevator. About the size of a small broom closet.

From the kitchen into the living area
Tw0 small photos of the living area from the apartment site.


Kitchen cupboard.

Laundry and storage room.
Bathroom. Really enjoyed the rain shower head. Guess where the electric plug in is. It's behind the medicine cabinet door on the left!

Parking in Paris

The the first picture is an example of creative parking in Paris. The second photo is the car just in front of the more creative example in the first photo. Even the smallest cars have problems parking.

This park below is by the nearest Metro to where I stayed. This photo shows a family having a child's birthday party on the left and on the bench on the right some homeless people sleeping. The time was about mid-afternoon. And this area is considered a very upscale area so go figure.

Joan Mitchell DVD

I recently watched a DVD about Joan Mitchell which I checked out from my local library. It's a film called "Portrait of an Abstract Painter" by Marion Cajori. It was by Arthouse Films, 53 minutes long or so. I highly recommend it and there were some good photos of her work too.

Copper

I ordered this 5x5 set of patina sheet samples recently and can't wait to try them in some paintings on board!

Luxembourg garden

Here are some random pictures of the Luxembourg gardens. The buildings overlook the park.

There are cafes, tennis courts, fountains, pools for children's boats, bee hives, an orchard, pony rides, live music and chairs to sit in. But you are not allowed on the grass. Notice how great the grass looks. There is a dim photo of the park police striding off after blowing a whistle at some people who had wandered onto the grass.

I had to get a photo of a woman strolling along all dressed up and in four inch heels. Did she come to the park for exercise? I'm so slow sometimes.

And the French do jog and wear colors other than black especially on a Sunday morning in the park. There were tons of joggers that day.

First day in Paris and Paris birds

The first day in Paris I did a lot of walking because I wanted to see everything and still didn't feel brave enough to take on the Metro system. I stopped to rest and look around on the Pont Royale and various photos are of this area. The very large Musee d'Orsay in front of me and the Louvre behind and abundant traffic and the traffic cop's whistle all around. Tourist central. The other photos are in the courtyard of the Louvre. Note the group following the bright colored umbrella. They were American teens and very, very noisy.

While I looked around I saw this crow or raven--I don't know the difference--looking as if to see if anyone was paying attention to him. The garbage "cans" are all over the city but still the citizens don't seem to understand how they work. But the crows know how they work! Tear and peck a hole in the bottom and have a meal.

The day I went to the Rodin I had lunch in an outdoor area in their garden. I watched a mother with two small children eat their meal and leave the table. Within two seconds their table was covered in what my brother calls flying rats. Very large healthy pigeons descended and tore the table apart. The sparrows hung back and waited. Almost immediately someone came out and cleared the table. Wish I had reacted quick enough to take some photos.

My apartment was very near the Luxembourg gardens and early in the morning I could hear the owls and mourning doves. Lots of bird talk.

The Rodin Museum

I highly recommend visiting the Rodin Museum in Paris. It was a warm, sunny day and the gardens were perfectly cared for and the roses scented the air. Such a nice change from our weather here because our roses hadn't even begun to bloom. It's a large garden and sculptures are placed all over. The building was built about 1760. The insides show a lot of wear and tear. Discolored walls and ceilings and patched wooden floors. The ceilings on the first floor are about 30 feet high and very grand with many windows. The carved paneling in one room was gray and cracked and the plaster was very cracked with holes in many rooms.

But the pieces in the rooms were wonderful. I especially enjoyed seeing the work by Camille Claudel. Too bad she didn't live longer.

I did not go to the Louvre. I was in the building because I had lunch there and did a little shopping. All very busy and jammed with people every place I looked. Many large groups with the leader carrying a brightly colored umbrella or a large plastic flower. One group all wore ugly bright yellow baseball caps. Lots of people were just shuffling along and looked to be in a daze. The place is so overwhelming.