« Mettre tout en équilibre, c'est bien; mettre tout en harmonie, c'est mieux. » — Victor Hugo
« Le virus nous rappelle à notre humanité et à notre condition d'êtres profondément sociaux, inséparables les uns des autres. » — Edgar Morin
Fermé (photo prise en octobre 2019)
Due to outbreak of le virus corona — le Covid-19, France, like many countries around the world, imposed a lockdown to protect citizens and to prevent the virus from continuing to spread at an astonishing pace. Le confinement was initiated on March 16th and lasted until a gradual déconfinement began on May 11th. As the French begin to ease into a new “normal” that includes continued practice of la distanciation sociale, all cafés, restaurants, and terraces remain closed until at least June 2nd. Yet, despite the closure, l’apéro (short for l’apératif) remains an important cultural tradition. During le confinement, l’apéro became a welcomed respite from isolation as friends and family shared un verre via Zoom, Skype, Facetime, or Google Meet. As further proof of the importance of this evening ritual, some French markets are now offering a un panier apéro, a basket containing beer or wine, cheese, hummus, and fruit, available for home delivery within an hour. Now more than ever, we eagerly raise a glass to each other’s health — Santé!
Fermé (photo prise en octobre 2019)
August 3, 2017 (215/365)
"Coffee is a language in itself." - Jackie Chan
As a nod to my Scandinavian heritage, I occasionally enjoy a fika. This Swedish coffee break usually includes something sweet -- a simple pastry or a conversation with friends.
November 14, 2016 (319/366)
“Her antiquity in preceding and surviving succeeding tellurian generations: her nocturnal predominance: her satellitic dependence: her luminary reflection: her constancy under all her phases, rising and setting by her appointed times, waxing and waning: the forced invariability of her aspect: her indeterminate response to inaffirmative interrogation: her potency over effluent and refluent waters: her power to enamour, to mortify, to invest with beauty, to render insane, to incite to and aid delinquency: the tranquil inscrutability of her visage: the terribility of her isolated dominant resplendent propinquity: her omens of tempest and of calm: the stimulation of her light, her motion and her presence: the admonition of her craters, her arid seas, her silence: her splendour, when visible: her attraction, when invisible.”
- James Joyce, Ulysses
May 8, 2016 (129/366)
cosmos [ˈkäzˌmōs] noun:
1. the universe seen as a well-ordered whole.
2. a system of thought.
3. short for cosmopolitan; pink cocktails made with vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, lime juice.
4. an ornamental plant of the daisy family with single dahlia-like flowers.
5. a lovely Mother's Day gift from my mother-in-law. Thanks, Lynn!
April 1, 2016 (092/366) "I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am most certain of the first time." - Josh Billings
