Friday Favorites, vol. viii

This week I'm loving...

1.  long summer days 

We've not had much planned this week, and I started to feel a little twitchy about how relaxed I felt at one point.  But this is of course silly, especially considering that we're about to begin the moving process.  This will involve cleaning and home improvement projects and having all of our belongings delivered from England at last, so I leaned in to the slowness.

stopping to smell the proverbial roses,

which bloom all over Paris this time of year

2.  Art for Kids Hub

My kids have enjoyed these draw-along- with-the-artist videos off and on for several years, and they literally drew and colored their creations for a good five hours yesterday.  Pokemon, Star Wars, and Phineas and Ferb characters abound in our home now.  It's a great indoor summer activity, and you can find even more videos on his YouTube channel.

Notice Ella is still "colouring," not "coloring."

3.  special treats

Finding "sugar free Mountain Dew" at the local British bookstore may be my favorite thing from the week.  I love Diet Mountain Dew, and you just can't find Mountain Dew very often in Europe, much less the diet version.  While this wasn't quite the same formula, it was citrus-y carbonated goodness on a hot day that made me so happy.  There were also a lot of exotic flavors of Coke Zero, including Mango.  In my overflowing joy about my Mountain Dew I let the kids choose something, too.  We all felt more energized for the walk home leaving the bookstore. 

May all your summer days be so pleasantly caffeinated.  How was your week? 

Sherlock's Coffee House

It's a rainy, cloudy day in Paris, fitting for finishing up The Hound of the Baskervilles (which I just did) and sharing some photos of the cutest little place we discovered in Whitby.

I caught a glimpse of that familiar Sherlockian profile on a sign while walking up the street, and I knew it was a place we needed to visit.  The atmosphere was all you could hope for, and the food was so delicious that at the time we visited, they only accepted cash.  K.J. said  you a knew a place had good food if they deny you the convenience of a debit card.  It's probably worth walking to the ATM.  

I was sold when I saw the violin. 

There was hot chocolate with marshmallows and milk for the kids, and the pancakes and bacon got the Ella seal of approval.  I had a delicious coffee and egg...I was going to say McMuffin, but of course it wasn't that exactly.

I highly recommend going for breakfast or brunch like we did.

It felt every inch a Victorian-era boarding house.

"...the only safe plotter

was he who plotted alone."

- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 

Jours de Mai

The days of our May were filled with sunny weather, thunderstorms, books, friends, a fever virus, Mother's Day, an anniversary, my first photography gig in Paris, finishing up school, our first French road trip...I guess May was more full than I originally thought!  What was your May filled with?

May 1 - beautiful yellow flowering tree

May 2 - Petit Garcon, Grand Palais

May 3 - Blossoms and Cobblestones

May 4 - A Basement of Books

May 5 - A Mystery Read for Book Club

May 6 - After-Church Picnic

May 7 - Ma Famille at Giverny

May 8 - Normandy Coast for V-E Day

May 9 - The American Cemetery looking over Paris

May 10 - Silly Selfies

May 11 - French Toast for Supper

May 12 - Iced Coffee All the Time

May 13 - Sick Baby James

May 14 - A Quote from The Secret Adversary

"She felt morally battered to the ground after her conflict with Julius's vigorous personality."

I've felt that way; have you?  But still, the world needs people with vigorous personalities, too!

May 15 - The French garden designers of old loved straight lines.

May 16 - A View from the Louvre

May 17 - An Evening Reading Picnic

May 18 - A Colorful French Village

May 19 - Book Exchange/Royal Wedding Party

May 20 - Most Impressive Monument

May 21 - Golden Light

May 22 - Anniversary Flowers

May 23 - Morning Lego Play

May 24 - Lovely Friends

May 25 - I don't want to post a picture of my feet, but let's just say I discovered the joys of reading in the sun on the balcony this day. 

May 27 - Memorial Day Fly-Over

May 28 - I ordered an angel food cake with cherry pie filling from an online American shop for K.J. for our anniversary.  It's his favorite.

May 29 - The American Library in Paris keeps us so well-supplied with reading material.

May 30 - A Beautiful Morning

May 31 - We've had so many blue-sky mornings followed by evening thunderstorms.  They've been delightful.

Friday Favorites, vol. vii

Yay, Friday!  We've had a really good week 'round these parts enjoying having Seth here with Lua and enjoying Paris together.  After lots of walking the kids and I are looking forward to a day at home.  I need to catch up on laundry and housework and prepare for the weekend ahead.  Our host here in Paris works for the American Battle Monuments Commission, the government agency that honors the sacrifices of American Armed Forces in part by caring for American Cemeteries in foreign countries.  There are a lot of big ceremonies taking place this Memorial Day weekend in France, and I'm helping by photographing at two of the ceremonies outside of Paris on Sunday.  It will be a full day, but I'm really looking forward to it.

On to my favorite things this week!

1.  watching the royal wedding with a newly-formed book club I'm part of

Weddings are just beautiful and special in all they represent, and I was glad I tuned in to watch.

2.  walking around Paris Sunday night with Seth and Lua

We typically try not to keep the kids out too late, but with the long summer nights kicking in and the nice weather and Seth having arrived, we made an exception to the rule.  It was such a gorgeous night and totally worth it.

Emily P. Freeman's The Next Right Thing podcast is always a weekly favorite for me, and last week's episode was about taking a hometown tour.  Paris is obviously not my hometown in the sense that I'm from here, but it is my hometown for this season, and I appreciated her gentle words:

"Whether you just moved to where you live now,

or if you were born in the hospital down the street--

the place where you live is part of who you are now.

This place holds your story, at least a piece of it.

This is the place where God wants to meet you,

for better or worse."

And her closing prayer was so good:

"Remind us that even as you are the God of Israel,

you are the God of our own hometown, too."

It reminded me of one of my favorite passages from the book of Acts.

"From one man he has made every 

nationality to live over the whole earth 

and has determined their appointed times 

and the boundaries of where they live.  

He did this so that they might seek God, 

and perhaps they might reach out and find him, 

though he is not far from each one of us."

- Acts 17:26-27 -

All the places you and I have lived, and where we live right now, are purposeful.

3.  meeting a couple from Denmark on Sunday

Speaking of all the nationalities and boundaries on earth, one of the joys I'm finding of being part of an international church in an international city is meeting people from all over the world as they are passing through Paris.  I'd never met anyone from Denmark before, and the immediate kinship you feel with other Christians is such a sweet thing, as is hearing about how God has used the places they've lived to cause them to seek him.

4.  anniversary date!

We abandoned the thought of a fancy Paris outing for Five Guys and a summer blockbuster.  I don't think we're fancy people.

5.  a long talk with my mom

This time difference thing makes it so difficult to connect with family back home, so I was grateful when K.J. took the kids out for the afternoon this week, and I had some quiet time to "phone home."  FaceTime makes you feel like you're sitting on the sofa for a nice long chat, and it was such a treat.  

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

14 Years

One of the best things I ever did was edit our wedding ceremony down to 12 minutes that I can watch every year.  It is such a delight.  

This year I felt really aware of those who took part in that special day who are now with Jesus:  my piano teacher, Mrs. June, K.J.'s Pop and my Papa.  

Wedding Highlights from KJ Pugh on Vimeo.

I'm so thankful to my parents who have "given of their sons to bear the message glorious."  I'm thankful for my mom who made all the wedding day decisions because choosing things stresses me out.  I'm thankful to my dad who loves surprises.  I still laughed with joy when the cannons blew out streamers and confetti.  

And most of all I need to be thankful to a loving God, a Father who chose K.J. Pugh for me because decisions stress me out, and I couldn't have chosen so well on my own.  It's a gift to be his wife.

Summer Vacation - Monday Musings, vol. iii

This week is an exciting one for us because it's our first week of summer vacation.  My 14th wedding anniversary is tomorrow, which warranted a day off from teaching school, and our friend and Lua's husband Seth is here this week.  Both of these things together made deciding to end school a week earlier than I planned seem like a good idea.  So we are!

But here's the truth about a home-school summer, you still kind of do a lot of the same things, but with the freedom to not do them.  We'll still read books and do some creative writing.  And I'll make the kids do a page of math now and then, and maybe we'll even do the occasional science experiment?  Who knows?!  But we'll be free to enjoy the most beautiful time of the year.  It will also give us time to really take advantage of living in Paris proper for the next month.  If all goes well, we expect to be moving into a place of our own in a suburb of Paris in the next month or two.  All the moving logistics that will need to be taken care of are another good reason to be done with school in the month of June.  I just realized I'm giving all kinds of reasons for ending school at the end of May because when K.J. let that drop to a French man we were speaking with, I felt like he thought we were irresponsible parents since French kids go to school into July.  I promise we haven't been taking all these holidays French kids have had the past couple of months!  I kind of felt like I needed to say.  

I can't believe it's our last week with Lua.  She feels like part of our family, and she's been such a blessing to so many in our community here.  We thought she would be here longer, but hallelujah, her green card interview has been scheduled for early June so she'll hopefully be joining her husband soon, which is where she belongs.  We'll let her go right after she babysits for us so we can go out for our anniversary.  😊

"If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.

If ever wife was happy in a man, 

Compare with me, ye women, if you can."

- Anne Bradstreet -