Daily updates

Today was my last full day in Paris. It was another beautiful day. I updated my blog while drinking a delicious cappuccino at a café around the corner from the Montparnasse cemetery. Then I had a nice long wander through the cemetery, finding graves of people such as Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Bouvier,…

Today I got out of Paris and took a bus trip to the Loire Valley where I got to explore two castles and a medieval town. It was awesome to have a break from the busyness of the city and let somebody else do all the work of figuring out where to go.  I splurged…

I had a nice wander around the sixth arrondissement this morning, noticing lots of interesting artwork up on the walls – including an alien, C-3PO and Chewbacca from Star Wars and my favorite, the figure of a retreating old man in a long coat. I also found a few cute little alleyways and the ornate…

Woke up this morning with a little bit of a sore throat so after getting my stuff ready for the day, I headed out to find a pharmacy. That proved to be a much more difficult task than I had anticipated. I am used to the US where everything is open seven days a week…

One thing that I have noticed, which I didn’t remember as much from my first visit to Paris, is that there are lots of people smoking everywhere! Young and old, fashionable or not, smoking hand-rolled or manufactured cigarettes, e-cigarettes. People seem to be able to juggle a cigarette, a dog, a phone and a kid…

Today I flew to Paris! My day started with Mom dropping me off at the airport and enjoying the sunrise on the drive to SFO. I had a short flight to Seattle, then transferred to another flight that took me to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. I had friendly seat mates on both flights,…

I’ve been enjoying post-rain walks around the neighborhood, checking out the raindrops clinging to flowers and grasses. Today I hiked to Cascade Canyon waterfall in Fairfax. I’ve hiked around that area before but I don’t think I’ve ever been to the waterfall. It was lovely, a wonderful spot for contemplation, which someone was doing when…

Sunday was my last day hanging out with Margot, we had a nice long play at the park where she found a huge branch to play with.  While we were playing at the park, I got some very happy news. My son, Kieran asked his girlfriend, Kourtney, to marry him last night! They recently celebrated…

I am spending a few days house and dog sitting in the Midtown Terrace neighborhood in San Francisco near Twin Peaks and Sutro Tower. My charge is Margot, a very sweet lab who is doing much better since the last time I looked after her. At that time she had done something to her hip,…

I’m getting better at listening to myself, paying attention to what’s going on for me, physically and emotionally and allowing myself to move at my own pace. Last week when I was sick I accomplished very little, I didn’t have the energy or motivation even to do things I really liked and my walks were…