Today was the first time since Tasia arrived (3 days ago) that she’s been well enough to leave the house. We had arranged for Maïte (the neighbor’s daughter) to come over for a few hours so we could go exploring. Tasia’s friend, David, is also here visiting (he has other friends in France) and it was Dana’s last day so we really wanted to get to have an outing all together.
Since Tas is still quite sick, we drove downtown and then meandered around, starting at the Vielle Marché, near Place Jeanne d’Arc. Tasia and David were just transfixed looking at all the different vendors with their seafood, meats, candied fruits, even one just for butter. (The butter here is seriously to die for. We’ve had many conversations about how to smuggle butter back to Portland!) After a little while Tasia needed some food (and the rest of us are all pigs and quite happy to stop for food anytime), so we went into Printemps for a light lunch. The French really have the food thing down. We had a bottle of cider for the table (minus Tasia, of course) and everyone got little open-faced sandwiches on thin-sliced, toasted bread. Mine was roasted aubergines (eggplant) with tomates and fromage. Trés delicieux.
After lunch we walked around some more, spending an inordinate amount of time in chocolatèries. I also bought yet more xmas gifts for Anna. (I just can’t resist art supplies. Total projection! Thank god she’s finally starting to get into crafts.) Sometimes I feel like I am single-handedly (single cardedly?) keeping the economy from total collapse!
After a few hours Tasia had had all she could handle and we came back home. The two Davids went in search of fixings for latkes for dinner tonight (did you know it’s the first night of channukah?); Tasia, Anna, and Dana napped (separately); and I got in an hour of work on the annual report.
With the exception of an ugly, lingering cough, I seem to have gotten over all the mishaps of the previous few days (thanks to all who sent well wishes!) and I’m encouraged that Tasia was able to get out today. And now it’s time to get this party started. This is what I envisioned when I was back in Portland imagining our time here.
Happy Channukah everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment