"Between the curving garden path a stream of red salvia wound between banks of grey-mauve Michaelmas daisies. Golden butterflies flitted as if it were summer and the scent of chrysanthemums, strengthened by the hot sun, was wafted into the garden-room. A yellowing birch tree trembled in the wind above beds of tea roses, where the last of the bees still were busy." (page 53)
"Thus, for a long time, she mused over her future, veering between alarm and resignation... She saw day follow day with clockwork monotony, and herself beside Charlotte Peloux - their spirited rivalry helping the time pass. In this way, she would be spared, for many years, the degrading listlessness of women past their prime, who abandon first their stays, then their hair-dye, and who finally no longer bother about the quality of their underclothes." (page 121)
"...he recoiled with unspeakable repugnance from the idea of the two of them living together in a home where love no longer held sway. His childhood as a bastard, his long adolescence as a ward, had taught him that the world, though people thought of it as reckless, was governed by a code almost as narrow-minded as middle class prejudice. In it, Cheri had learned that love is a question of money, infidelity, betrayals, and cowardly resignation. But now he was well on the way to forgetting the rules he had been taught, and to be repelled by acts of silent condescension." (page 259)
... it's Sunday morning! Corny, I know, but let's blame it in on the humidity. It's a hot, muggy, sticky morning in New York City. Perfect museum weather. Our itinerary includes the (air-conditioned) Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters, and, with luck, the Tenement Museum. I'd like to find time for Housingworks Bookstore, too. 
On the reading front, I finished The Last of Cheri, and will post a review later this week. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more titles by Colette today.
A Year in Japan
"People were kind and friendly and amusing, but they though that companionship and conversation were synonymous; and some of them had voices that jarred in your head. There was a lot to be said for dogs. They understood without telling you so, and they were pleasing to look at, awake or asleep..." (page 2)
A one sentence summary of "Farewell" by Guy de Maupassant might go something like this: As two old friends reflect on aging, one recounts how the process went unnoticed until a chance meeting with a former lover sparked the revelation of his own decline. Simple, yet there is much more..."The two friends were getting near the end of their dinner. Through the cafe windows they could see the Boulevard, crowded with people. They could feel the gentle breezes which are wafted over Paris on warm summer evenings and make you feel like going out somewhere, you care not where, under the trees, and make you dream of moonlit rivers, of fireflies and of larks."
"As one sees oneself in the mirror every day, one does not realize the work of age, for it is slow, regular, and it modifies the countenance so gently that the changes are unnoticeable."
"And the women, my friend, how I pity the poor beings! All their joy, all their power, all their life, lies in their beauty, which lasts ten years."
"At night, alone, at home, I stood in front of the mirror for a long time, a very long time. And I finally remembered what I had been, finally saw in my mind's eye my brown mustache, my black hair and the youthful expression of my face. Now I was old. Farewell!"
On my most recent visit to New York City, there was an opportunity to browse the cozy Shakespeare & Co.'s Broadway location. Lately, I have fallen into the habit of perusing the "Z" shelves. Without fail, the only titles available in my city are Therese Raquin, Nana, and Germinal, so I'm always curious to see what else might be out there.
"Is the girl who loves me a fine lady dressed in silk and lace and jewels, reclining on a sofa in her boudoir, dreaming of our love? Is She a marchioness or a duchess, as light-footed and dainty as a dream, languorously trailing her long flowing white gown over sumptuous rugs with a charming pout, softer than a smile, on her lips?"
Good morning! The heat wave has finally lifted and it's a beautiful, sunny morning in upstate New York - perfect weather for the Boilermaker Road Race that kicks off as I type. No, I'm not running, but my husband is one of nearly 13,000 in the 15K race that winds through the neighborhoods of Utica and ends with a big party at the Saranac Beer brewery. My morning plans are a little quieter - another cup of coffee, a Sunday Salon post, visiting a few of my favorite blogs, and walking the dog.
Today I'll spend time with The Last of Cheri by Colette and listen to the audio version of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot while I walk the dog. Later this afternoon, most of us will celebrate my niece's sixth birthday. I'm assuming hubby will be tired after the race, but maybe I can convince him to watch Gigi with me later tonight. Did I mention how much I'm enjoying Paris in July?
The House at Sugar Beach:"When we climbed aboard Pan Am 150, we were privileged, elite Congo People. When we arrived in Knoxville, we were African refugees."
There's a passage I came across this week in A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg that perfectly reflects my family's recipe philosophy."Recipes were made to be shared. That's how they improve, how they change, how new ideas are formed and older ones made ripe. They way I see it, sharing a recipe is how you pay back fate - in the karmic sense, if you believe in such things - for bringing you something so tasty in the first place. To stop a recipe in its tracks, to label it secret just seems mean. And isn't cooking about making people, on some level or another, feel good? It seems to me, then, that it only makes sense to give people the means to continue feeling good. By which I mean the recipe." (page 177)
Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone with a food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button, head over to Beth Fish Reads, and link up anytime over the weekend.
Welcome to Paris in July! Karen at BookBath and Tamara at Thyme for Tea have joined forces to host a blogging event that celebrates their love of all thing French and Parisian. They write:We are two friends with a deep interest and love of French culture and way of life - although we experience and demonstrate this passion in very different ways. Karen has only recently discovered the magic of Paris - the city, the architecture, the fashion and the literature whereas the French experience has been a part of Tamara's life for a long time, leading her to learn the language and experience the culture in a deeper way. But for both of us as Australian's, the reality of traveling to France is a costly and timely experience - so we need to find ways of bringing France to us!So, in order to help us do that we will be jointly hosting a French themed blogging experience running from the 1st - 31st July this year called "Paris In July".The aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through reading, watching, listening to, observing, cooking and eating all things French!There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of Paris In July - just blog about anything French and you can join in.
