Remember, Remember November

For the past four years that I've had a newer iPhone I've taken more pictures of our daily lives and put them all together each month, mostly because I realized I probably took at least one picture a day without even trying.  It's a fun way to be reminded of all that has happened at a glance.

I'd forgotten how many sunny days we had this month until I put these pictures together.  Ella and I joked that we could probably post a picture of beautiful fall leaves from every day this month because we took so many pictures whenever we went out.  

November 1 - Current Read-Aloud with the Kids

November 2 - Picture of Fall Foliage #1

November 3 - Sunny Saturday on the Seine

November 4 - A Favorite Quote (and justification for buying more books)

November 5 - A Little Frolic in the Forest 

November 6 - Walking the Dogs

November 7 - From the Outside Looking In

November 8 - Fall Foliage #2

November 9 - Making my own half and half 😊

November 10 - Pork Roast, Butternut Squash, and Broccoli in the pressure cooker (I put the roast back in for a few more minutes.)

November 11 - A Rainy Day Drive to Church

November 12 - Finally found the oatmeal and brown sugar in our local store!

November 13 - Fall Foliage #3

November 14 - Walking to the Grocery Store (Fall Foliage #4)

November 15 - Found a Charming English Bookshop

November 17 - Book Club Treat

November 18 - Bathroom View (Fall Foliage #5)

November 20 - A Cold Sunny Walk (The fall foliage has fallen.)

November 21 - Staff Thanksgiving

November 22 - Thanksgiving Fun

November 23 - All the leaves are gone.

November 24 - Reflection Pool

November 25 - It's Christmastime!

November 26 - Brought down the Christmas boxes from the attic

November 27 - I love my red wreath on my green door.

November 28 - Girls' Night

November 29 - Backyard Sentinel

November 30 - A Walk in the Park

This is our 310th day in Paris.  The year has felt full and good and fast.  I love this month of thankfulness before the calendar rolls over to all the Christmas sparkle and fun.  It's like a quiet pause, a chance to catch your breath.  

Something Different

Living in a different country than the one I was raised in gives me a heightened awareness of the things happening around me.  I notice what is the same and what is different, how what is different can usually be connected with what is familiar in some way.  

We've all had the experience of passing the homeless or down-and-out person on the street.  If you're from the southeastern United States like I am, it's probably been in your car.  If you're in a city it's outside a subway or on a crowded street.  We all struggle to know what to do in those situations and respond differently depending on how prepared we are or in how much of a hurry.  Sometimes we give money or pray for them as we go by.  In Alabama you might give them a bottle of water and a burger, a Coca-cola.  In Paris you often see such a person with a baguette and a bottle of wine.  

There's a man who sits outside our local supermarket.  He's nearly always there when I go inside.  I don't know his story, but I see him sit, and I watch people be kind, stopping to pass the time of day in a language I only understand the smallest fraction of.  Small towns are like that all over the world, I guess.  People slow down and care for one another.  

Some days I see a smattering of coins around him, sometimes that ever-present baguette or other food offering.  But one day as I was leaving the supermarket I noticed something I'd never noticed before in a situation like this.  There he sat, a fixture in this small town, surrounded by small houseplants and flowers.  I don't know who first left an offering of beauty, but for this day on the pavement there were flowers, bright spots of color on a grey day.

Friday Favorites, vol. xv

These are a few of my favorite things from this past week...

1.  Paris being home for a season

K.J. was away at a conference for the International Baptist Convention last week, so after four days of solo-parenting I was happy to get out of the house on my own.  I had a few errands to run in Paris, and as I walked by Notre Dame where hundreds of tourists maneuvered for the perfect angle for their picture it hit me afresh that this is where I live, that many of these streets feel familiar, and I know my way around, and I felt thankful.  

2.  The Christmas line at Marks and Spencer's

Speaking of places that were home, I also felt immensely grateful for the feeling of home I had in this English store Sunday night, filled with things that reminded me of so many memories in North Yorkshire.  When we first moved to Boroughbridge, the local supermarket carried a chocolate orange spread that delighted my husband because we've always loved the chocolate oranges my parents gift us for Christmas (unbeknownst to us, first created in Yorkshire!)  K.J. was ecstatic because not only could he buy said chocolate oranges for one pound, he could spread a delightful concoction on toast in the mornings.  A few months later this chocolate orange spread was discontinued but look what Marks and Spencer brought in for Christmas!  Christmas came early for K.J.

3.  The Canon remote shooting app

I haven't had cause to use it very often, but on a whim decided to take a picture of the four of us that wasn't a selfie.  I've used a remote before, but with my phone I can actually see us on the screen before taking the shot, which is a definite bonus. 

4.  A Child's History of the World

This copy has a super-weird cover, but I love referring back to this book when I want to discuss a topic we're not currently studying in school but is really relevant, e.g. this Sunday is 100 years since the first world war ended, and I wanted to give the kids an overview.  It is well-written and easy to understand.  I highly recommend it.

5.  Crash Course on YouTube

Before looking for a link to give you I didn't realize these two guys were brothers, which makes these even more amazing to me.  If you want a fun, quick overview of something in history or a refresher on something you forgot from your science class, I love watching these.  I often use them to supplement our science and history lessons.

6.  Usborne Illustrated Classics

I love illustrated classics of all kinds, but I mention Usborne because I bought James Treasure Island for Christmas two years ago, and he's just randomly picked it up to read on his own.  I think these beautifully illustrated books make classics much more fun to read aloud together or on their own because the pictures encourage them along through the challenging text.  Two years ago, I also bought Ella this copy of The Secret Garden with illustrations by one of our favorites, Lauren Child.  Plus, who doesn't love a beautiful book on their shelf?  I want to send my kids out into the world with a nice start for their home library.  

What are some of your favorite things from this past week?

Le Grand Trianon

Visiting the palace in Versailles is a popular touristy thing to do when you visit Paris, and we wanted to give K.J.'s parents a glimpse.  They got the more intimate tour because our favorite areas are around the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon, and Marie Anotoinette's hamlet.  It's a great place to ride bikes, so while the kids and our husbands went on a cycling adventure  T and I went inside the Grand Trianon, a smaller palace commissioned by Louis XIV.  I love this pretty blue room!

It has been a few years since I last walked through the Grand Trianon, and I was excited to see the terrace again.  It opens up to gardens on the left and a courtyard on the right and is so beautiful!

There's something about that open, light-filled space with that black and white floor that is stunning.

My other reason for preferring this back corner of the Versailles property is that there are gardens with flowers and grass.  The more formal gardens are all shrubs and perfectly trimmed trees along straight dusty paths.  

Our intention was to walk through the gardens to the hamlet Marie Antoinette had built so she could play at life as a peasant.  Unfortunately, I have long had a bone to pick with arrows on French signs.  They twist and turn and point in directions that don't always seem to indicate the direction they want you to go.  All that to say, we took a wrong turn at a sign and missed the hamlet.  We were treated instead to gorgeous fall trees in a quiet space devoid of all other visitors, so we weren't complaining.

I'd be happy to be lost here any day of the week.