April 2020 in Pictures

“April is a promise that May is bound to keep.” - Hal Borland

Links I Love • April 2020

“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” — Jane Austen

While we remain safely sheltered at home, it isn’t surprising that this month’s links focus on my two favorites forms of escape: travel (to Paris, of course) and books:

• How to Live the Parisian Lifestyle When You’re Stuck at Home - 5 simple ideas that I always try to apply.

• How to Experience Paris From Your Home — 6 more great ideas

• Traveling to Paris Once the Quarantine is Over — I’ll be back!

• Traveling by Ear: 13 Podcasts for Wandering Souls — featuring my favorite, The Earful Tower

• Paris Diary: Here Are 20 Photos Of A City In Lockdown

• Discover Paris on a Virtual Visit — Visit the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Opéra de Paris Palais Garnier, Musée du Louvre Musée du Louvre, Monnaie de Paris, Grand Palais, Eiffel Tower, Musée des Arts Décoratifs Musée des Arts décoratifs, Musée de l’Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle, Musée de la Musique, and Château de Pierrefonds

• Marie Antoinette’s Private Garden at Versailles Is Being Restored

• Paris Museums Online: Art You Can Enjoy From Anywhere

• A year after the devastating fire, here are 15 Surprising Facts About Notre Dame Cathedral

• The Paris Street Frozen in 1942 — a movie set abandoned during the lockdown

• 15 Easy French Aperitifs for Your Next Happy Hour — Perhaps one will become your next favorite “quarantini.”

• Paris Picks: Paris From Home — “What better way to dive into a culture than via the pages of a book?” - Kasia Dietz. I have read six of these already…

• Our Top 9 Books About Paris to Read if You’re Stuck At Home — six of these nine and #1 is my favorite…

• The Ultimate Francophile Reading List — …and seven of these twelve (#11 is my favorite).

• Why We Turn to Jane Austen in Dark Times

• Providing Solace and Hope — Poetry recommendations from the Marquette English department

• It Took a Global Pandemic, But Generation X is Finally Getting Love — “Sorry Boomers and Too Bad Millennials — Only One Generation Stands Out as Social Distancing Pros”

• Someday, We’ll Look Back on All of This and Write a Novel

April Fools

“Let me sing The pleasures of returning spring... Fools are made, by far the worst, on other days besides the First.” — William Makepeace Thackera, "April Rhymes," The Comic Almanack for 1835

How nice to be outside, enjoying a lovely cocktail on this sunny afternoon! If only I weren’t alone my deck with only a beagle and a glass of wine. This photo was actually taken on my birthday — the final day of February when I was blissfully ignorant of the challenges to come over these next few months. Nevertheless, we will strive to make the best of at least another 30 days of social distancing/quarantine. And to that end, this month, I intend to feature the happiest of hues to brighten our days. Here’s to a sunny, bright yellow April — no fooling!

Week 42 - Inspiration: Work, Work, Work

“The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.” - St. John Chrysostom

#dogwoodweek42 #2019dogwood52 #dogwood52

Stone Bank Sunflowers

“A sunflower field is like a sky with a thousand suns.” ― Corina Abdulahm-Negura

French Friday: Les Mimosas

« Véritables boules d'or parfumées, les mimosas en fleurs attirent le regard de très loin. Non contents d'illuminer le jardin à un moment où ce dernier préfère le repos, ils embaument l'air d'effluves incroyables. »

- Parfum du soleil, La Route des Mimosas - Grasse, France

One of the first signs of spring in France, is the appearance of the brilliantly yellow and fragrant mimosa. It’s the French equivalent to spotting your first robin. As early as February, you’ll find them dripping from branches in Provence and along the Côte d’Azur and offered in great bundles in the markets of Paris.