Year: 2010

George Bernard Shaw, the playwright who wrote Pygmalion – the basis for “My Fair Lady” – made this often quoted statement:

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

While the traditional grammars are very similar and pronunciations very different, there are lots of everyday vocabulary differences between the two. For the foreigner learning “English,” this can be … amusing.

Because the car is omnipresent, automobile and the vocabulary of transportation is one of the themes where differences show up every day.

Americans say trunk … the British say … boot

In North America, the windshield; in the UK, the windscreeen

Trucks use the highways and interstates …  across the states … while lorries travel motorways …

For more, here’s a link you ought to appreciate:

Of Loos and Language. By Roger Cohen.

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One of the remarkable things in our highly possessive society is that no one “owns” words … we just adopt them. Because they’re alive, they never belong to anyone … but are always ready to be … yours.

There are those words that are our friends: we like to see them from time to time, they smile at us, we smile at them. They talk to us, we talk back, small talk, a little lunch chat … maybe more.

There are those words we read, those we think we understand, those too abstruse for our time, too.

And … there are those words and those expressions that we take a fancy to, that we really like. In the same way, we like to wear these jeans or that sweater or those funny socks or that old scarf … When you come across a word or a phrase you really like … why not adopt it? You’ll be giving a whole new life to those few letters who’ll make life for others more colorful!

Adopt a word today! They’re everywhere … just waiting for a little TLC.

TLC ? TLC = tender loving care … (something like love)

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While A. was walking down to the river from the Mirabeau bridge on this cool May day,

there were a few people getting their morning air

together or alone

Admittedly, there’s less traffic down here … than up there …

but as this one was heading under one of the 22 bridges crossing the Seine, Arnoul was focusing on detail

and shapes and textures

here’s a still life

or perspectives … as he patiently waited for the metro to cross the Bir Hakeim Bridge

which it finally did

sometimes I imagined we were far away

but then, if you  walked just a little further and raised your eyes, you’d see what some architects imagined long before we were born

You know what happened on this bridge? It’s written right here

The links of friendship and solidarity and shared values persist- they were cast in bronze and shared

so that we could walk along the Seine on a Sunday morning and then share these pictures !

PS.

Once we’re walked up the stairs

and had a marvelous view from that bridge

Once he got to the other side of the bridge,  Arnoul shot this one

I think he likes this place where cats probably hang out at night.

Then as we walked, we talked about where we were November 22nd, 1963

The Kennedys loved France and France loved the Kennedys.

This is the story of our Sunday morning “Photo Hunt”

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You see how obedient Parisians can be? It must be forbidden to park on the cobblestones.

The English word  “bicycle”  has two current translations in French: bicyclette and vélo.

Bi-cycle or bi-cyclette comes from “two” + “circle” or “wheels.”

“Vélo” is the root of speed … as in velocity.

Not far from where this photo was taken was a place called the Vélodrome. Or more precisely the “Vél’ d’Hiv,” the Vélodrome d’Hiver.  Built on the concept of an ice-skating rink, the Vel d’Hiv (Winter Bicycling Rink) was a place where people could ride their bikes (i) in the city (ii) on a smooth surface-rather than over cobblestones and (iii) in inclement weather.

The Vél d’Hiv no longer exists.  As history illustrates time and again,  what was built out of a good intention can be usurped by those of ill will …  If you want to know the whole story … I suggest you read Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

When you start out on a photo hunt … you never know where you’re going to end up!

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If you’re driving across the bridge,  you won’t see her. You won’t see her if you’re ecologically bicycling across either.

If you look straight ahead, you won’t see her … and if you look up, you’ll only see the sky. To the left, to the right: cars & buildings.

However,  if you’re boating on the Seine, you’d see her back  … but …  looking down from the bridge as a pedestrian … you see this bronze decorating the Pont Mirabeau.

Tomorrow there’ll be more. I suspect that Arnoul took some good ones.

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Across the street from the Petit Palais, the Grand Palais was built for the World Exhibition of 1900 as was the Eiffel Tower. For years, the extraordinary glass dome roof  of the Grand Palais was broken and leaking so much, the space inside could no longer be used for exhibitions. Heating costs, too, were prohibitive. The glass roof is now repaired and there was a music and light show inside last night.

At the Petit Palais, there was an exhibition of fashion in hommage to the late YSL … until late last night.

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How many museums are there in Paris?

We all know the Louvre, and like the city of Paris, we can never know all of its treasures … We know the Musée d’Orsay and the Impressionists there and probably at the Marmottan Monet, too.

You may know the Arts Décoratifs housed in the Louvre, too and Guimet for Asian Art with its vast collection of Buddhas at Iena. Close to there is The Musuem of Modern Art and the Palais de Tokyo.

On the Rive Gauche, rue de Grenelle, you’ll find the Musée Maillot. Its permanent exhibits of Maillol’s paintings and sculptures are always complemented by exceptional temporary exhibits.

Cross over the Seine and you’ve got Branly for ethnic art. Cross back to Trocadéro for the Musée de la Marine and its exhibit of boats of all ages … Don’t forget Galliera for clothes and fashion nor the Museum of Natural History and the Musée de l’Homme (et de la Femme) …

We can’t forget Picasso or the Centre Pomipou or La Villette for Science. And what about Rodin and Les Invalides nearby?

Tonight’s the night! Museums are open … they’re free … and the link is on

the Paris Savannah Connection.   Written with you in mind.

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“La Nuit des Musées” in English and in French. Tonight’s the night!

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A newsletter is both letter and news. This comes in part from a taste for writing letters which I inherited from my father’s elder sister, Dorothy who was the very best letter writer I’ve ever known. I was exceedingly lucky to have her as an aunt. This was long before email. Her letters were handwritten and were usually one page long.

She was the letter writer in the family. Her husband, my Uncle Harold never wrote. Instead, he communicated with the world by telling stories, many of which he invented and all of which made us laugh, smile … or blush.

Dorothy’s handwriting was extraordinarily beautiful to see – as was my father’s, by the way. Aunt Dorothy filled evety inch on the blue “aerogram” with news of family, friends, events. She would always end a letter with a question which was, of course, an invitation for a reply.

And most of the time, I did answer. But there was a time when I must have been “too busy” to answer. I received one letter, then another and a third. At the end of the third letter, there was no question. But there was one word written in someone else’s handwriting. It didn’t take me long to realize that it was Uncle Harold’s. You know what that one word was?

Reciprocity.

The news is on today’s Paris Savannah Connection !

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There’s a proverb that says: “Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it!”

So it’s raining. That’s nourishing the earth.

Burt as the French say: “Après la pluie, le beau temps.”

So be it! The sun and fair weather will make our gardens grow!

Another proverb that came up today was one of my mother’s favorites. Sorry … From now on, I’m going to write it this way: Favoritz. Well it was this one:

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

Mothers like to talk about their children. In the same way that when a woman sits in the passenger seat of a car, she checks the quality of the mirror when the visor is pulled down. Just checking…on the children in the back seat?

Necessity gives birth to invention. When you need something … you find a way to get it, to do it, to solve the problem. We burst with creative power. Inventiveness.

After reading today’s news, good news! We have a very creative and inventive future just ahead of us.

And for a major boost of inventiveness …

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