Bon anniversaire France... et Kevin

Bastille Day, 14 juillet 2008, is now in the history books. We celebrated the rights of Man, liberte, egalite, fraternite, etc., etc., along with a semi-major milestone for one man with champagne and fireworks on the Champ de Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower. Kevin has now successfully completed 50 orbits of the nearest star, but is feeling none-the-wiser and (so-far) only slightly older for the experience. Still, it was very kind of 500,000 of our closest friends here in Paris - as well as Anders and Karin - to gather together with us for such an historic event.

As for the significance of turning 50, I've recently been offered two conflicting opinions (anonymity protected herein). The optimist points out the "Fifty is the new thirty...", but then the realist mentions that the difference between turning 50 as opposed to 40, for example, is that "it is no longer possible to (reasonably) deny that you are more than half-way.... done." But, as wise as these friends may be (ahem... both are over 50...), it is probably best to get perspective from a true philosopher who has thought deeply about the subject. So, we turn to George Carlin (who denies writing this, by the way):

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!

And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21. . . YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED, we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 . . . and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.

And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I was JUST 92." Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!


All I can add is to note that, at this point in my life, turning 50 is a lot better than not turning 50. And its not so bad to do that in Paris, especially with the ladies pictured here. Finally... dreams are not gone at 50 - maybe, just redefined a bit.


Thanks to all for the happy wishes; we'll see many of you stateside soon!

Bon Voyage, Brian and Janine

Our last Oak Park visitors, Brian and Janine, have just departed for the airport and the long trip back to California, and we have a beautiful, sunny Sunday to look forward to - our last in Paris, at least for a while :-). We'll be joining them back in Oak Park pretty soon now, in only 3 weeks!

Brian and Janine arrived in Paris via Sweden and Italy - so they did not need any time to rest! This was good, as they arrived during a party we were having for our friends from the LEME (Laboratoire d'Étude de la Matière Extraterrestre) and then got up the next morning to begin the 'vertical' Paris tour -- top of the Eiffel Tower and , here, at Notre Dame. Of course there were also the Louvre, l'Orangerie, Champs Elysees, numerous gardens, and Sainte Chapelle to visit. At the latter we can find Janine admiring the stained glass.

But this was not all about medieval Paris - not this time - since on Friday night we all five went to see Paul Simon in concert. The venue was the Palais des Sports - about a 20 minute walk from our flat - it sounds big but was, in fact, a very nice comfortable place. We had excellent seats and the concert was fantastique! Simon played many tunes from Graceland but also some of the old favorites, including a solo version of Sounds of Silence and a funky Me and Julio (down by the schoolyard). Two encores and we all had a great time. This was the start of the birthday weekend, culminating the first half-century of a still-living boy from NY. Here's a snippet of the concert:

Last evening, we got to have dinner with Charlu (of Malibu) and Janine's sister, Nita. Dinner was good and dessert was memorable --- and there are still 3 more opportunities to top it!

EABJM friends do Paris

Hey everyone! It’s Kathleen. My dad asked me millions of times to write about my big, fun week with all of my friends for a while now, so I decided why not today? I don’t really know what to say about it. The whole point of the ‘special week’ was because a lot of my really close friends from my school, EABJM, were leaving and we wanted to like say bye to everyone with tons of fun. Sadly, one of my friends left even before school was over, so on her last day, we went to Champs de Mars, which is the big park right in front of the Eiffel Tower. At the time, there was this HUGE festival/carnival going on, because the beach volley ball competition was going on there, so there was a big stadium, and a bunch of food bars and games and what not. We went on this one ‘ride’ which was just standing on a surf board and the conductor made it spin and toss and turn, and you had to try and stay on. It was really fun; I felt like I was back in California, except I never surfed before, and I was standing on a big blow up ocean thing with the Eiffel Tower right in front of me…..  If you stayed on for a certain amount of time, you got a prize, which was a toilette freshener. Goodie. We haven’t used it yet. ;) Maybe we will leave it for our land lady to take care of. So, that was how we said ‘good bye’ to my friend Lili, who lives in Alaska.

Then the next Monday, the fun began. So what happened was my friends Maeva (from Urbana, Illinois), her sister Lucy, Mary-Claire (Cork, Ireland) and I got together at around, I suppose 10ish. We went to a big shopping street called Rue du Commerce, and we started doing what teen girls do best! We started at H&M, where we looked around for ages, and then started picking out clothes and trying them on. I only got one shirt there, but also a necklace. We were all under a budget because we were spending our own money, and things aren’t always cheap, especially in Euros. After H&M, we went to Pimkies, and we were more in the mood and were quicker at getting stuff. :) I bought a blue shirt and capris. Then we went and had a quick lunch at a Bakery/Café. After eating our baguette sandwiches, we went to my place and hung out for a while, and then went to school for our play.

Our French class was performing ‘Alice in Wonderland’, but of course it was in French, so it was actually called ‘Alice au Pays des Merveilles’ (translated directly it means: Alice at the country of wonders….or marvels if you want). We had too many students for each of us to play one sole role, so I played the king, or le roi, in scenes 7, 8 and 9 where as in the whole thing. We got in our costumes, mine just being all in black with a belt and boots, and a red cape and crown. We then did a bunch of rehearsals, and watched French group 2’s play, ‘Le petit prince’. Finally, we performed what we had been working on for so long. Everything went well. I almost starting laughing at one point when my queen, Mary-Claire, starting making funny faces at a witness during the tribunal scene, but thankfully, I didn’t… :) When it was all over, we said our good byes to our french teacher Mme. Buille (it is not pronounced like Bwheel, it is like Bwee, sort of). Then Maeva, Lucy, Mary-Claire, and Lulu (my other friend from french group 2, from Providence, Rhode Island) came over to my place for dinner, and we talked and laughed and did silly teen things in my room, and then watched Aladdin! :) After watching the last of Genie’s jokes, and Aladdin’s “heroics”, they went home.

The next day was just as full and fun as Monday. At around 10 again, we all (Maeva, Lucy, Lulu, and Mary-Claire) went to Notre Dame, and waited for around and hour and a half to climb the tower. We did some souvenir shopping while we waited, and then finally started to climb. We counted the steps, and giggled as we tripped occasionally, or messed up our counting and had to count previous steps. After that tiring climb up and down, we met up with my mom, who chose to stay on the low grounds, and we went to the park right out side of Notre Dame. There we played on this wheel that is at a slant and turns. It was SO much fun! Maeva and I both got small teddy bears which we named Nina and Naboo. We took pictures with them everywhere. Then on a search for Falafels, we walked into the old parts of Paris. We bought purple bunnies for Lulu and Mary-Claire whom we named Ninja and Nibbles, and finally we found food. We all had Falafels at this restaurant, but mine fell apart, so the last bit was in piles on my plate!

With our stomachs full, we set out again to go back to Notre Dame to have Berthillon, which is really famous, and really good french ice cream! Then everyone else went to an old prison, called the Conciergerie, but I already went there just a little while ago with my sister, so I didn’t feel like going again. I went home and just hung out for a while until they were done and Maeva and Lucy came over and we had drinks, AKA juice (pineapple… or anana in french) and soda. We went on the computer and watched stuff on You Tube. Then I went over to their house for a sleepover. We finished watching Aladdin, again…. :) Then had dinner which was the famous pasta and meatballs and tons of baguette! And after dessert, Maeva and I watched Aladdin 2, which we HATED so, then we decided to watch Aladdin 3, praying it would be better, and stayed up to 1 in the morning finishing it! The next morning, we had to wake up at around 8 so we could go to the Eiffel tower and climb it. We were exhausted, but after pastries for breakfast, we got going. At the tower, there was absolutely no line, so we were quickly climbing to the second level. There we took the elevator up to the top, which was packed, but there was almost no line to get in. At the top, we took pictures of Nina and Naboo and the view of Paris. When we got back down, we met up with my mom again, and had a picnic lunch of sandwiches and fruit, and what not.

We soon met up with Lulu and Mary-Claire, and went to Les Invalides, and Napoleon’s Tomb. Mary-Claire and I had fun laughing and talking and we took a bunch of pictures with all our stuffed animals. Then we went to the Opéra house but the auditorium was closed, so we decided to go shopping instead…. :) We went to Lafayette, where they were having sales, so we had fun looking through stuff. Maeva got the most, and spent around 30 euros! I only got one shirt there, but after that, we went back to H&M, and I bought yet another shirt, and a summer dress. After exhausting ourselves from shopping, we went home, and got ready for the next day. So Wednesday morning, I got up and went to the metro and we all went to l’Arc de Triomphe. After taking tons more pictures with our animals, we started walking down Champs Elysées and looking in shops. We picked up baguette sandwiches at a Deli, and ate them at a small park along the way. We made some movies on Maeva’s camera full of us acting goofy and laughing around in the park. Finally we made it to Les Tuilleries which are the gardens right in front of Le Louvre. We had ice cream, and then, after walking and talking in the gardens, we caught a bus and took it back to Lulu’s house. We walked to Rue du Commerce, where we were going to go shopping, but instead we decided to go to Mary-Claire’s house to get her stuff, and then Maeva’s house to get her stuff, and then go back to my place. Mary-Claire, Maeva, Lulu, and I were all having a big bash out sleep over that night. We played on the computer and then had home made pizza for dinner. After goofing off a bit, we got our beds ready, and started our big plans of the night…….. watching Star Wars!!!!!!!!!!!! Maeva was addicted to them, and none of us had seen them all before, so she wanted to pass on her addiction. We watched the fourth one, and when it finished, we of course had to watch the next one. Mary-Claire fell asleep in the middle of the 5th one, and was asleep the rest of the night. But Lulu, Maeva and I were having SO much fun watching the movies, and laughing at certain parts we were afraid we would wake her up with our laughter! We decided to watch the beginning of the 6th, but when we realized that it was 2 o’clock in the morning, we thought it best that we should finish it later. And that’s exactly what we did.

When we finally woke up, we finished watching the movie, had a quick breakfast, and then we had to go. We all trooped out to the metro, and went to The Museum of Natural History and Le Jardin des Plantes. There, we met up with my Dad, who works there, and we got into the Grand Gallery (for free….) and looked at all the awesome animals. We took tons of pictures with Nina, Naboo, Ninja, and Nibbles in mortal danger; such as in a stuffed shark’s mouth, or in between the teeth of a killer whale! Then Lulu and Maeva got in the normal hyper mood, and starting singing, but a while later Maeva had to go, so we all said our good byes for then, and went on to the ‘special exhibit’. It was all about dolphins and whales, and for those people how know me, I love dolphins, so I was very excited! 

After looking at all the pictures and watching movies on them, and me begging and getting a stuffed animal dolphin called Nala, we went and got crêpes for lunch. We waited a while for Lulu’s mom to come, and then we went into the Gem Museum and got to go ‘behind the scenes’ into the storage room and looked at the meteorites. They were very cool and really interesting! After that, we looked around in the museum, where Lulu freaked out every time she saw a purple mineral because that’s her favorite color!  Later, Lulu went shopping with her mother, so she said good bye to Mary-Claire, who was leaving the next day. Then Mary-Claire, and I went to the Eiffel Tower where we met up with Maeva and Lucy again, and we went on a bateau mouche. We got to talk, and laugh, and look at Paris from the Seine, while taking pictures with Nina, Naboo, and Nibbles. After that finished, we went to Mary-Claire’s house where we said our sad good byes to her and gave plenty of hugs. Of course, the parents took tons of pictures of this, but we finally had to leave.


Maeva’s family had to go to dinner with friends, so we said good byes until the next day. Then Saturday, which was two days before Maeva had to leave! ;( So I went over to Maeva’s house at around 12, and we watched star wars, again with Lulu. At around 2, we went to a park called André Citroen and had a lunch full of chips, pain au chocolat, pretzels, and juice. Then, Lulu had to leave, so Maeva, Lucy, and our parents went on the ‘balloon ride’ which is a big hot air balloon that goes up around 2/3 of the Eiffel Tower. It was tons of fun!! It was really windy too, so we were rocking, but we could see a lot of Paris. After giggling and being a little freaked out, we were firmly back on the ground. I went over to Maeva’s house again, and we finished watching more Star Wars. I then had to leave, to go to dinner with some scientist friends of my Dad’s. After having a delicious dinner, and playing games with their daughter, we went home. The next day, Maeva’s family was packing and went to their last Museum, so I only got together with them at around 2ish. Lulu and Maeva both came to my house. And how does Maeva choose to spend her last day in Paris with her friends? Watching more Star Wars of course! 

At around 6 or so, Lulu went home and Maeva’s family and I went to a fancy restaurant for their last dinner. We had great steak and then I had chocolate cake and we all devoured chocolate from our parents’ coffee! The waiter really enjoyed having three kids and plus we had Naboo with us, so he even gave us an extra spoon for him!  After a filling dinner, we started walking home, but right below an apartment, Maeva almost got hit in the face by a flower dropping from the sky. Some people were trimming their flowers and dropping the bad ones down. We started collecting them! We were running around catching flowers dropping from the sky! After collecting an entire bouquet of flowers, we started walking to Maeva’s apartment.

Maeva and her mom were going to come over to our house to say a final good bye, and they need to get something on the way back. So we asked my dad, who was up in their apartment watching a soccer game, to throw the keys down….from a four story apartment. So, of course he did because he didn’t want to miss too much of the game. And I can bet you can guess what happened then. He threw them too far behind me and they broke. Praying that by putting the battery back in, it would still work, we walked to our apartment. Considering the fact that that was the only key we brought with us we would have no way to get into our apartment building if it didn’t work. Of course, it didn’t work, but when the game was over, Dad came to our apartment and worked his magic. We finally got in, and up stairs, Maeva and I said our final good byes!  And of course so did Nina and Naboo. And that was how our special week ended. Maeva left the next morning at 6. But at least the week ended with a smash! 

It started with Lili, Lulu, Mary-Claire, Maeva, Lucy, and me, but then as the week progressed, we lost Lili first, Mary-Claire second, Maeva and Lucy third. Now the EABJM group is down to just two; Lulu and me. Soon it’ll just be Lulu. But the EABJM group still exists in emails, skype, phones and memories. Throughout the world; from Alaska, to Rhode Island, and Illinois, then Ireland and California, we are all best friends of PARIS!

Chez de Chambost

We had a nice, restful day in the countryside (near Paris) and a lovely BBQ dinner with Emmanuel and Michelle de Chambost. Emmanuel designed the ion optics on the 1270
ion microprobe (serial #1 at UCLA) and we had the pleasure of visiting him, with Mom Meeker, in 1992. He also visited us in 1995 in Oak Park, and it was funny to think that Kathleen wasn't around for either visit. We had salad and fruit from their garden and a very nice magret de canard cooked over coals; Kathleen was excited to see the cheese tray come out after dinner - she is turning into a bit of a connoisseur. After dinner they drove us back into Paris where the fete de la musique was going on all night. Thousands and thousands of people wandering around the Trocadero and Eiffel Tower. There are many bandstands set up in the neighborhoods as well with people crowding the streets and dancing. In typical French style, however, the street isn't really blocked off and occasionally buses, cars, and scooters make their way through the dancing mob. Loosely organized, borderline chaos - the way the French like it!

Work... Work.... Work....

For a while now, I've thought that I should add a few words about some interesting results that we've obtained in the UCLA MegaSIMS lab. The "MegaSIMS" is the new million-volt mass spectrometer that Kevin and his colleagues have designed and assembled for the GENESIS mission to measure the isotopic composition of the solar wind. There is actually a little bit of the Sun (literally!) in the lab at UCLA and we have been working to determine the relative abundances of the three isotopes of oxygen (16-O, 17-O, and 18-O) which will tell us something about how the planets formed from the original swirling mass of gas and dust that we call the "solar nebula". How that works is a bit complicated, but you can hear more about it (if you want - it's at least 20 minutes long) at this podcast, which is from an interview that Kevin gave following an astrophysics seminar at the University of Manchester (broadcast at jodcast - an astronomy podcasting site at UM, created "by a bunch of astronomers for anyone who is interested in things out of this world").

Our first results indicate that the Earth and all the planets of the inner solar system (at least) are fundamentally different than the Sun, which must represent the average composition of the original starting material. The difference is due to a major chemical processing that happened (probably) just before the accretion of planetary materials. Since oxygen is the most abundant element in rocky planets like Earth, this is a big deal. Kevin presented these data at a well-attended talk at the Lunar & Planetary Science Conference in Houston in March and the story was picked up by several high-profile science magazines as well as the BBC and a few other places. He has also lectured about these results a couple of times in France, as well as England, and last weekend in Wisconsin. There are a few loose ends to be tied up, but the first detailed paper ought to be submitted for publication by early fall.

Well- that's enough work for now; after all, it is Friday night!

au revoir à l'école

Tomorrow is le dernier jour for Kathleen at EABJM, except for a play on Monday. The teachers are busily engaged with exit exams for the high school students and so there is no real curriculum planned for the next 2 weeks. So, it was decided at family council that Kathleen's time would be better spent cruising around Paris with her new buddies than being babysat all day. They have put together nice plans and hopefully I'll have them blog some of their adventures ... so stay tuned! In the meantime, I detected a note of sadness today when I mentioned something like 'last school night' after dinner - it has been a good experience that, I suppose we all realize, will not be repeated. Bonne nuit.

Tu peux garder un secret?

Bonjour from Paris! A huge gap has occurred in our blogging efforts and it is entirely my fault! We have just ended a rather long stretch of either visitors or travel and I have failed to keep up the blog! Thankfully, Kevin and Mark jumped in and blogged for me but they missed a very important visit. A day or so after returning from our travels in England and Ireland we received a much anticipated visit from Kathleen’s very best friends, the Gordons. Some of us knew about and anticipated this visit much longer than others as it was kept a secret from the girls until after Becca and Rachel’s B’not mitzvah.

When you visit Paris in the spring you must have two plans for each day…what to do if it is sunny and what to do if it is rainy. During the Gordon’s visit we had a wonderful week and a half of beautiful Paris weather (with only an occasional rain shower at night and on the last day)! There was no need for a plan B, although we did choose on many occasions to move at a leisurely pace….some of us were on vacation! The gardens were in full bloom as the pictures in Kevin’s slide show demonstrate.

Our train ride out to Giverny was beautiful! First, a train ride through the lovely green countryside. Next, a bicycle ride along an old train bed (some of us were going so fast that they did not even notice the quaint country cottages and beautiful flower beds!). Last, we were rewarded by a gorgeously maintained and well planted garden that inspired Monet towards many of his masterpieces! Some of us were even caught trying to imitate the artist near the serene lily pond.

Other highlights of their visit were: the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, crepes, the Luxembourg garden, crepes, playing on a big chess board, not going to Euro Disney!, cafes, crepes, pastries, sleepovers, the Louvre Museum, the Jardin des Plantes, the Zoo, the bones, crepes, having the girls meet Kathleen’s Paris school friends, pastries, bread, getting portraits done by the great grandson of Leonardo de Vinci (maybe??????!!!!... he really caught an interesting expression on the girls faces!....maybe they will be famous some day!), sleepovers, train rides, Harold not checking his email (I was very impressed!), crepes, pastries, and bread! The crepes, pastries, and bread were a huge success! There were many other typical Paris sights thrown in as well!

Some of the fun (and not so fun) mishaps were: those lovely pastries which ended up upside down in the metro station (they remained in their bag and still tasted delicious!), the Catecombs being closed the first time (the crepes we had instead were delicious and the Luxemborg gardens were fun), Becca doing a face plant in said gardens (she was fine although her pride was a little bruised), being unable to visit Marie Antoinette’s little hamlet because we arrived too late (maybe it was the ice cream cones we stopped for on our way there?), the elderly gentleman, whom Marcia and I thought was just being strange but who ended up having a seizure on the Champs Elysee (thanks Harold for being so calm and collected…you should work with children…oh you already do!), Rachel testing her parents handling of an allergic reaction (thankfully, Rachel is fine and they had everything necessary to handle the situation including a very nice French pharmacy employee who pointed the way to the nearest hospital and made sure they were alright), Becca wading through water in her shoes, everyone getting drenched trying to find shelter in a down pour at the Zoo, saying good-bye until August.

Thanks Becca, Rachel, Marcia, and Harold for coming to Paris!

au revoir Mendenhalls

We are happy to report that the Mendenhalls survived Paris ..... and vice-versa. We had a wonderful visit with Mark and Mary (excuse-moi .... Mare) and they are today visiting the canals of Amsterdam. Highlights of the week included some of the must-do's (Notre Dame, St. Chapelle, Montmartre, Louvre, Tour Eiffel...) and a few cultural excursions. Along the lines of the latter, shopping at the Sunday market followed by a visit to the 7000-pipe organ of St. Sulpice was fun - especially when the shopping resulted in a late afternoon feast. St. Sulpice is an interesting cathedral for its art (Delacroix) and astronomy and da Vinci code references ("rose line"), but the highlight is being invited up into the organ to watch a master play for the Mass and afterwards. Here you see him sharing a laugh with a fellow keyboard player. An evening stroll through the Musee Rodin (free because of 1st Sunday in June!) and its gardens helped work off the excesses of the extended brunch. In fact, our intrepid travelers did much walking around Paris, and even at the labyrinth at the cathedral at Chartres.

With the departure of Mark & Mary, we have no more visitors scheduled.... and all of a sudden it looks like our time in Paris will wind down quickly. Kathleen has only 2 weeks left in school and Kevin goes on a quick (6-day) trip to the States. First, it's to UCLA for Ming-Chang's thesis defense and then returning to France via a 2-day meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. At LAX, Kevin will be picked up by Megan who will soon be home for the summer. Hey, someone has to go to work!

---- Check out the newly posted slide shows ----- and watch for more updates to come!

Back to the Blog

Finally.... I've managed to upload a few new photos. The SpringTime in Paris scenes are from our local garden, the national garden (Jardin des Plantes - right where Kevin works), a nearby park, and our day trip to Giverny with the Gordons. More on that and other fun times with that special visit soon. If you scroll down, you might also find a few more additions to the previous couple of postings. More coming soon.....

Special Guest Blog

Bonjour bloggees !

Monsieur McKeegan has graciously consented to let me fill in the blog for a day or two.
That is unless I’m too boring ..Name an eight letter word for “inhabitants” . If you answer correctly ,there’ll be a prize for you ,crossword puzzlers ,donated of course by Kevin , I’m thinking a pair of those earphones the Airlines give you for movies … Yes, here we are with the McKeegans working a book of fifty crossword puzzles by night and riding the Paris Metro by day.

How totally fun and relaxing! To all of you who live in Oak Park, a warm and hearty hello. If you blog ,Skip, the above question is for you. The weather here in Paris is about as perfect as one can ask for- 16-20 degree C ,no burning days, perfect walking temp.

My wife, Mary, has decided we could live on crepes. She’s undergoing changes to all of you who know her out there and has decided her name is now “Màré”. I’m not sure she knows who I am anymore but that’s another story.

We really enjoy going out with Grace or Monsieur “Kevìn” shopping for dinner. As Grace said,”We’re zigzagging our way home”. One store prosciutto, one store fromage, one store “le vin”and on and on……and on – really rather fun. I told a lady I spoke Farsi today and she rattled off to me for a while … breaking off from her was a bit difficult but I think we both enjoyed our “conversation” nevertheless. All part of the Parisian experience. If there’s a real antipathy towards Americans here I have yet to feel it and I would heartily encourage anyone out there considering a visit to come and enjoy. The McKeegan’s apt. is cozy. Nighttime is spent at dinner, conversation, reading and “blogging”.

The River Seine seems to spend a great deal of time being the key reference point to all walkers. If one is able to find her, figure out what way you’re going ,then just continue walking, one can see a great deal of Paris. What can I say about the shops .Viola! Mary –a.k.a. “Mare” has met many fun, helpful, people. The lady at the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school was a case in point . Australian by birth , she shucked her perfect French to talk to us in English, selling Mare some cards for Bridge in the process. Speaking of bridge, can someone out there definitively explain to me why it is bad to bid one no-trump with a singleton ace and honors in the other three suits ? Could be another pair of earphones for this one . Monsieur Richard Gallivan did it and went down to stunning defeat when his partner showed a paucity of pts. Enough of bridge. I must save my really brilliant material for later. How do y’all know –I could just start writing boilerplate from Oak Park , Ca . Do you think it would take a ph.d to catch me ?

Love and keep blogging—Mark and “Mare”

Spring Break

Again the time has slipped away! We returned on Sunday from more than two weeks of travel through England and Ireland and are already in the midst of a visit from the Gordons. This blog is dedicated to detailing our spring break travels.

Vacation started with a very swift trip under the English Channel in the very speedy Eurostar train. We had a little scare as we showed our passports to leave because I did not renew my visa after three months. That is because the birth certificate that had been acceptable to get the first visa was no longer acceptable. I was surprised to find out that my birth certificate does not name my parents. Oh, well! They let us go and our only worry was our return (would France let me back in?) But we had time before we needed to worry about that! We stayed in a friend's apartment in the center of London for the first few days. Very nice, very convenient! Kevin gave a talk at the Museum of Natural History to earn our keep! Kathleen and I toured, briefly, the museum as well as the Science Museum. We walked in the windy cold to Kensington Garden and saw the palace and the lovely gardens. Then to warm up we went back to the Science Museum to view an IMAX movie on Mummies! Later we all had beer at the Queen's Arms and dinner at the King's Arms. We got a quiet night peak at Buckingham Palace to end the day. The next day we went to the Tower of London, managed not to get our heads chopped off! and then dashed over to Victoria Station to see Wicked! The next day our only mission was to get up to Manchester. This was not as easy as we thought. We had already purchased Britrail passes, validated them at Eustus station, boarded the very nice train, located three seats together at a table, unloaded and stowed bags, when the announcements began. First there would be a delay and the 10:00 to Manchester would now be the 10:36 to Manchester. No worries, we have our passes. Next we were told that no trains were leaving Eustus station at the present time but just remain in our seats and be patient. Next, there is an announcement that those who are going to Manchester may want to go to Kings Cross station and take a train to Leeds and then to Manchester. We wait......then another similar message with no hope of this train taking off so we decide to bail! Along with many others we make our way to Kings Cross (Harry Potter fame) and watch the boards for the 2:10 to Leeds! The platform gets posted and we make a mad dash with everyone else to board what will be a very crowded train. We manage to grab three seats together and relax! When this train actually starts moving we breath a sigh of relief! But our adventure is not over! When we arrive into Leeds there is another mad dash to the platform for the train to Manchester! The train arrives and it is crystal clear that not everyone will get on BUT there is another train in 10 minutes. So finally the conductors get as many bodies squished into the first train and out it goes. We patiently wait for the next train. As soon as it arrives it is obvious that it will be a challenge to get the remaining passengers on. We shove Kathleen on and push our way on with our three large suitcases! Success! Well, we are on although we are standing shoulder to shoulder with total strangers. Fortunately, everyone is in a good mood. Unfortunately it was not a short trip! The first stop was entertaining as some people from their seats needed to get through all of the standing people to get off! Anyway, we finally arrived at Manchester and actually did manage to see some nice scenery on the way. In Manchester we were put up by the University since Kevin was going to give another talk! Some of us have to work for a living! Actually, I believe he very much enjoyed spending time in the different labs and talking with different colleagues. One colleague even pulled out Kevin's Thesis to show Kathleen who was sufficiently impressed with the massive written work. The science didn't make a lot of sense but the bibliography was immense! While Kevin worked, Kathleen and I walked around Manchester, a very university town, and did some of the homework that Kathleen brought with her. We also tagged along when the scientists went to the nearby pub for some beer!

The next day we left England behind and traveled to Ireland on the very cheap Ryanair. All went well and Megan was at the airport to meet us. We scared the rental car lady with all of our bags and she talked us into a very big, very expensive, upgrade. We could have squeezed in but the upgrade included automatic shift which made driving on the wrong side a little easier to do. Kevin handled the transition very well and successfully drove us all around the Emerald Isle. The first accommodation was a self catering apartment which was attached to a B&B Farm house. It was beautifully decorated and fully equipped with dish washer and washer/ dryer! We used it as the base for the next three days and visited close by. Kathleen's favorite part was the 4 adorable kittens and the very demanding cute Yellow Lab named Jake! Everyday she would greet them and then have to come in and wash her hands and her clothes! The first night we all went to Bunratty Castle for a medieval dinner with all of the trimmings including singing and playing music. The next day Megan needed to attend classes so Kevin, Kathleen and I visited the coast, Cliffs of Moher, and the Burrens. Very wild and picturesque landscape. We met up with Megan that night for a concert. All of the study abroad students who had taken Irish Music classes performed a dance or a song to demonstrate what they had learned. We were the token parents in the audience and dutifully recorded the moment! Megan had learned the Bohran(sp?) drum and played with about 19 other students. You could tell that they really enjoyed the experience. They tried to impress upon the audience the uniqueness of the experience because usually only one Bohran will accompany the other musicians. The other group Megan played with was the flute group which consisted of just her. So she and her instructor played three very rapid complicated numbers together. It was beautiful! Megan was very impressive! Now she wants a wooden flute only they cost thousands of dollars so she will settle for her metal flute! The next day while Megan again attended classes we visited Galway and scoped out the boat ride we would take the next day. Megan spent that night with us so we could get up very early and make our way north of Galway to take a ferry to the island of Inish Mohr. As soon as we arrived we settled into the B&B and then headed out to rent bikes. Seven miles of incredible landscapes later we found ourselves on a trail to this massive, extremely old, fortress build on the edge of a cliff. It was extremely cold and windy and there was a small sign that warned that people have been blown off the cliffs! Lovely! Grabbing onto the wall I ventured as close as I dared to this incredible cliff at the edge of the stone circular fortress. We took lots of pictures of the island but the landscape was very hard to capture on film (or digitally!) The road back from the fort want all along the north coast and was lovely. We saw cows and horses and seals. That night we were too tired to stay up and catch live Irish music in the small town. The next day we took the ferry back to our car and headed north and then east through more incredible landscapes until we reached the next B&B in Enniskillen. We tried again to find some music but the town was a bit of a let down. The next day we headed north to the Giant's Causeway, Dunlace Castle, and finally Cushendall. We stayed with distant cousins in their lovely B&B which we had also stayed at when we visited 10 years ago. This time we spent a lot of time walking through graveyards and looking for McKeegans, McAuleys, and Quinns. We also walked through the glens and along the coast. There are lovely small towns where a lot of history could be felt. We ended our travels in Dublin where Megan and Kathleen took a Ghost Bus tour and Kevin and I went in search of real Irish music. We were not overly successful but enjoyed walking around. The next day we got Kevin to the airport via the Irish National Stud farm!!!! We saw foals that were only two days old! Did I mention that we saw LOTS of baby animals on all of our travels. It was the perfect part of spring for that! The trees were not quite in bloom but the cows had babies, the sheep had adorable little babies, the horses had babies!!! We had fun watching them! The next day Kathleen and I joined Kevin in Bristol where he had given yet another talk! Megan hopped on Ryanair with four of her roommates to fly to Paris. In Bristol we stayed with old friends. Their two children were very little when they left LA so we had a great time getting to know them. While the kids went to school, Kathleen did more homework, I read my book, Kevin went to work with Chris and his wife tried to get some work done as well. The next day we took to the trails! We took a ferry ride and then the back roads to get to this big estate. Chris and Rachel were not impressed with the house but it is situated on many acres of fields and woodlands which we meander through. Ben kept wanting to go to the playground and Chris and Rachel couldn't remember a playground on the property. Then the light went on when we discovered that the "playgound" was an old log!!! The bluebells were gorgeous in the woods. We discovered a makeshift stick teepee that was a lot of fun. We saw deer, dogs and lots of wild garlic! Very nice! That night Kathleen had her first paying babysitting job while the adults went out to a party to hear Chris play the saxophone with the band. We were sort of crashing someones 50th birthday party but the entertainment was good. Then next day we made our way back to Paddington station then to St. Pancras station and then back to Paris! Yes, they let me back in! We rested one day and then had two sets of visitors! I will end this long missive and fill you in on the next adventures later!

Still Here

I can't believe how time slips away! It has been nearly a month since our last blog! A lot has gone on. First, and sadly, we bid farewell to my mother. Emy Meeker died on March 27th surrounded by her children. We sang in celebration of her life and all of the love she gave to all of us. Fortunately, I got to New York before she past and spent a week with my brothers and sisters preparing for the memorial service. Thanks to all the people who were so kind to us through all of this. She will be missed.

Well, it is April in Paris and everything is blooming! I was surprised when I went back to New York and everything was gray and barren. In Paris we have had the spring flowers bloom; tulips, daffodils, pansies. The flowering trees have also been in brilliant bloom. Now the fresh new green leaves are coming out. Can you tell that I have lived in California too long and have missed a true spring? We have a court yard behind our building and it is beautifully planted and has been a joy to look out on and walk through. Most of our neighborhood is apartments and shops so you have to walk a bit to find the parks. On the way to the big park nearby there is one beautifully tree-lined street that I just HAVE to walk down! Kathleen and I took a lot of spring pictures but they are on Kevin's computer so I will bug him to get them on the website.
Visitors come and go and prompt us to get out and see the sights. Several colleagues from UCLA came for a few days although they stayed around the corner in a nice hotel. We did dinner and they did some sight-seeing. Kevin's grad-student came for a few days while I was in New York and did much the same...a little dining and a little sight-seeing. I guess they also did some work! When I returned from New York we had Carol and Richard come and stay with us after their tour of Italy. They were great visitors! They bought us croissants for breakfast, wine for dinner, went touring on their own and also allowed us to join them on some of their tours. And Richard did all of this with a fractured foot (tendon?)! We took advantage of the free first Sunday and went to Musee d'Orsay. It is nice to get in free but you have to get there early to really enjoy the museum(which we did!). I also joined them on their excursion to Versailles. I had done the building so I went quickly through. The gardens were not quite in bloom so we hopped onto the little tram and went out to see the Petit Trianon, Grand Trianon, and the Hamlet! I could have spent all day at the Hamlet alone! This was Marie Antoinette's little get away. The buildings were adorable and the landscaping was free flowing. It was an active farm and there were animals there to entertain us! It was still pretty cold and the flowers and trees were only in early bloom so I will gladly go back there again with our next visitors! While Carol and Richard were here we found ourselves back on the Seine but not to dine. We just went on a sight-seeing boat at sunset! It was perfect. We started in the daylight and ended with all of the city lights on and the Eiffel Tower sparkling! With each visitor we try out new places to eat! The place we tried after the boat ride was one we will not visit again but one night Kelsey Nolan joined us for a dinner and chose a place in her territory which was very nice!

We are now in a lull between visitors and spring break. In three days we hop on the train and dash over to England. Kevin will give a few talks and then we will head over to Ireland. After a little sight-seeing with Megan we head back to England for another talk and then back to Paris. Two days later the Gordons arrive! Hopefully, it will not take me another month to write!

Paris is beautiful in the spring but we miss all of our friends and family in the States. Thanks for reading the blog. Happy Spring!

New Pix Uploaded

Hi blogees-
Don't have much time to write, but did manage to upload some new slide shows of our Spanish adventure and (a little) of Danny's visit. We'd love to get some additional pictures from Lilly (hint, hint!) to add to the collection.

All's well here. More tomorrow, including the sidetrip to .... Houston (? huh?).

See:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mckeegans/DannyVisit

and
http://picasaweb.google.com/mckeegans/Figueres
http://picasaweb.google.com/mckeegans/CostaBravaBeuda

Enjoy.

Time Flies

I don't know what's better...lot's of little blogs every other day or big long blogs every other week! I may not know what's better but I know what you are getting!

Spain: First thing we notice is how much French we had actually learned! We all found ourselves using French even before English and in place of Spanish! The first restaurant we went to assumed we were French and offered us the French edition of the menu. Next thing we noticed is the Figueres is a larger town than we had imagined. Unlike Paris with its excellent mass transit everyone in Figueres has a car! The tiny narrow streets are difficult to maneuver through, especially when you haven't driven a car for three months(the fact of which Kevin is enjoying tremendously!). Kevin did a marvelous job. Finding the house was a challenge since we arrived in this bustling little big town after sunset so reading street signs was a challenge. Eventually we happened down the correct street, spotted the house, located a parking spot about 5 blocks away, trapsed back with our bags and opened up Pakita's little Spanish house. It was obvious from the minute you stepped in that George and his family have put a lot of work into this heirloom. Thanks to Pascual Pesudo the place was warm, there were a couple of cold beers in the frig, and towels and sheets were laid out for us. Pascual was wonderful. He watches the place for George and Pakita and we needed to get in touch with him to get the keys to the parking garage. He personally made sure that our first Spanish experience was perfect.

I don't know what just happened but I lost the blog for a moment! Back to Spain...First Pascual gave us free passes to the Dali Museum (Teatre Museu Dali)as well as passes to the adjoining Museum that houses jewelry that Dali designed. Second he gave us ideas for road trips to the interior and to the coast. The Dali museum is the only draw to Figueres for most people and it was packed, even at this time of the year, and very different! It is so worth seeing! Dali was very big in this town and the surrounding countryside inspired much of his art. Going inland Pascual had advised us to take a meal (dinner is usually around 1:30-3:30)in this town called Beuda. He said don't be turned off by the size of the town, there are only 4 houses but there are two restaurants! We took his advise and had a very spanish meal without menus, itemized bills, or a waitress that spoke any English, for only 27 euros(for 3 of us)! It was very good and very entertaining! While on the inland drive we happened upon a very old town, Besalu, with a maintained front gate and fortress facade that was awesome. We also visited a lake and soaked in the countryside and the clouds and the rain! Fortunately, the rain ended and the next day was clear and beautiful as we braved the Costa Brava! We visited three coastal towns that were on three sides of land that jutted out into the Mar Mediterraneo. There was beautiful coast line, beaches and lots and lots of white houses. We found that we much preferred the coast way from the towns rather than the busy touristy towns themselves. Outside the second town we skirted around we happened upon Dali's house. It was unfortunately closed for the season but be got the flavor of it. The last coastal town, Roses, was actually very boring but it was the beach that you could get to by bus from Figueres. It was more like a beach resort town in Florida but it has a cool old fortress which we only got a peek at but it looked authentic.

So thanks to Pascual's advice we had a wonderful visit in Figueres but he wasn't finished yet. Our last night he and his wife wanted to take us out to dinner. For reasons not quite clear the first place they wanted to take us was closed so we ended up at his second choice. First we had drinks at Hotel Paris, which is neither a hotel nor in Paris. Then we had dinner at Restaurant Duran. This is when it became evident that Pascaul was important in Figueres. The Duran was the restaurant that Dali always took his family. There was a special interior room which was permanently reserved for the Dali family. Pascual, knowing the proprietor, arranged for us to dine in this secluded intimate dinning room with Dali paraphernalia everywhere. It was many impressively served courses served expertly and tasting magnificent! And if this guy hadn't impressed us enough after dinner he was taking his wife dancing! :) We had to go home so we could get up early and drive back to the airport! :(

Shortly after we returned to Paris, Danny flew in from Portland. While Kathleen was still on vacation we did a few touristy things with him. We went back to Montmartre and had beautiful portraits drawn of Danny and Kathleen. It was freezing cold but they sat nicely. Now we just have to get back with Megan and Kevin and myself. I love to watch these artists in action! We had to go to the precinct to extend our visas while Danny was here so he walked around the Latin Quarter and met us a Notre Dame. The crowd was not too bad so we decided to climb to the top of the tower! Very cool and a wonderful view. Now I have done it twice yet never with Kevin! One of these days he will get to the bell tower, too!

It was very nice having Danny here and we shared some family meals as well as dinning out a little as well. Then on Friday Kevin had to go to Houston for his annual conference and Lilly, Danny's girlfriend, arrived from Portland. Kevin and Lilly saw each other in passing at the airport but that was all because Lilly went back today and Kevin comes back tomorrow! It was very nice having Lilly here as well because the two of them could go out and do all of the touristy things we had already done without us tagging along. Two fun things they got to do was hook up with some young people. First, they went out on the town with Kelsey Nolan (from Oak Park here for a semester abroad)and then they met up with Kallie Celeste in Versailles. Danny and Kallie knew each other when we lived in Livermore. She is the older sister of Danny's first best friend, Nick. She recently got married to a Frenchman and the whole Celeste family had come to Paris (Versailles) for the wedding. Unfortunately, Kathleen and I did not get out to see her this time but we will!!!

I think I have said enough for now. You may feel caught up now! As I said above, Danny and Lilly left this morning for the longest day of their lives. They woke up at 8:30 am Paris time and will arrive in Portland around about 9 pm Portland time but which will really be 4:00 am Paris time! Kevin arrives home tomorrow from an exhausting week of talks and science. Hopefully, it was also satisfying!

Thanks for reading our blog! We miss you all!

Birthday Fun

Well Kevin covered the major points and the pictures tell most of the rest but I will fill in the details left out. Yes it will be a birthday I won't soon forget. It was so special to have an unexpected sister come here to celebrate with me as well as an expected sister-in-law, two nieces, a nephew and a daughter! I also felt like much of Oak Park was here with me since a package arrived that morning with a musical card and presents! The next day I received some of Oak Park in the form of leaves, acorns, and bark! Thanks to all of you who made me feel special as I crossed that quarter of a century mark! The dinner on the boat was very decadent. It was beautiful. I especially liked getting on it from the little island and not from a busy port. I also liked the way they gave us little samples of three or four appetizers and desserts. The kids were, for the most part, very brave at trying things. The lights of Paris were beautiful and the company enjoyable!

The most difficult part of these visits was that Kathleen had a major week of exams in all of her classes. The good part was that she had short days and even a day off. The bad part was they were all in French except the English Exam. She was also treated to two hours of concentrated French Lessons each day! She is being such a trooper. My favorite memory was riding the subway to Sacre Coeur and Kathleen was studying her study cards for her Histoire/Geographie exam.

We had done much sightseeing before visitors but their arrival prompted us to go further and higher than we had yet to go! Saturday, when all arrived, found us earth bound as we walked over to the Tracadero, the Eiffel Tower, and Napoleon's Tomb. Sunday morning some of us met again at the Eiffel Tower and this time we climbed 700 steps up to the second stage where we squished into an elevator (after a false alarm to evacuate the tower....kind of scary!) and rose to the top to view the sights. The Curry Family was still recovering from jet lag sleeping in at their hotel and did not make the climb for several days. Then while locating the major Paris sights Brooke asked "Where's the Eiffel Tower?" (she claimed to be having an "Amanda Moment")

Since climbing the Eiffel Tower was not enough for one day the group trucked over to Notre Dame and climbed to the tower there. Kathleen and I had remained at home to study Math! (in French!) Monday saw us scatter. Jeff and Sarah wanted to visit the Louvre but Dori wanted to painted so she stayed home with me and we drew and painted! Kathleen took her first test and came home and studied some more! Kerry and her crew also went to the Louvre and then onto the Arc de Triomphe and more steps! They were up at the top of the Arch and looked through this little camera at the people below. Guess who they saw? Jeff and Sarah!

Monday night we did a little bed swapping. Brooke and Sean stayed at our place and Megan and Sarah stayed at the Hilton with Amanda and Kerry. This made possible the late night partying by the youngsters who could get into bars in Paris. Fortunately, Kerry was chaperon. Unfortunately, they did not find a hopping town on Monday night but they did see some beautifully lit buildings and had fun just the same.

Tuesday found many at Sacre Coeur and Montmartre. Others finally made the climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Still others took tests and tried to study. Kathleen even took her study cards on the boat that night but I don't believe they saw the outside of her pocket! The boat ride was perfect. It was a pleasant walk over to the island where the boat would pick us up. The Eiffel tower was doing it's sparkly thing just as they were letting us on the boat. As Kevin mentioned I got the window seat and saw the lovely sights while enjoying a wonderful meal.

Jeff, Dori, and Sarah headed off to London the next day. The Curry family headed to Versailles and Kathleen took tests and studied! Thursday was Kathleen's free day so we went to Montmartre with the Currys. The goal was to get a portrait of the three children as a gift for their father. This was a wonderful experience. It was not very crowded which allowed us to wander around looking at the many artists available to do the portrait. Kathleen guided us to one who's work was very realistic. For the next two hours I watched this very French, very talented older artist (beard and beret included!)transfer each child to the canvas. It was amazing to watch. This artist sketched lightly the entire head and then proceeded to add the details first to the left eye, then nose, then mouth, hair (left side only)then he started the other side. As he worked the picture came alive. It was amazing how he captured Amanda's left eye! It was her! The kids were great as they sat still for the artist. Kathleen kept on remarking how talented he was! Kevin and I will go back and do a portrait before we leave. We ended this day with some shopping!

Friday the Currys went to Euro Disney but Kathleen took more tests and French class. Saturday we met the Currys before they left for a final bit of shopping (at Longchamps) and a final meal at a very nice restaurant. Now the Currys are back in Connecticut, the Wolfes are back in Vermont, and Kathleen is officially on vacation!
Tomorrow we are off to Spain. We will write when we get back! Au revoir!

Ain't it nifty --- Grace is fifty!

A fun birthday week started with a great surprise for Grace: Dori, Jeff & Sarah came to visit and help celebrate! They joined in with Kerry and her kids, Amanda, Sean, and Brooke, and - of course - Megan who just 'dropped by' from Ireland for a long weekend! I'm not sure how many times before this apartment hosted 11 for dinner, but we did it a couple of times, and had a blast doing so. A week filled with laughter, food, wine, touring, bridge, bridges (& boats) made for time to remember for all. Some pictures will do better than words at this point (yes, its late), so here's a new slide show to give you an idea.

Sorry! We just had to let Kevin glow in the light of the Giants win! Life does continue.... Since we last blogged we have done some touring, socializing, entertaining, walking, reading, and studying. It is different when you are here for 6 months compared to a two week vacation. We have enough time to see the sights slowly. We did take advantage of the first Sunday of each month being free admission to national museums and saw the Louvre (well some of it) on the third of February. We went early to try to avoid the biggest crowds. That was a good decision! We got off the subway and walked right in with very little wait for security. When you first arrive it is over whelming! There are three major directions that you can head. So far we have let Rick Steves be our tour guide in Paris (he writes a popular series of travel guides that like to show you the hidden parts of cities) so he said to start in the Denon Wing with the Antiquites Grecques (Greek Antiquities). This was where Kathleen got a detailed lesson on the male anatomy! There were many displays of beautiful greek bodies! Mostly male and rarely clad. Then there was one woman who seemed to have everyone's attention (no not Mona, she is a little later in our tour!) The Venus de Milo stood in the middle of a room and begged to be viewed slowly from every direction! This was accomplished relatively easily compared to the viewing of the other woman I mentioned earlier. I don't get it! You are walking through this incredible palace viewing these fabulous works of art and then you come to this room that is packed with people pushing forward with cameras held aloft attempting to get a snap shot, if not an actual glimpse of the the Mona Lisa. When I had last viewed the lovely lady I was with my mom and was impressed with the small size of the painting. I now realize how lucky we were to actually get up close and truly look at it. This time I actually backed out of the rush and just watched the crowds pushing forward for their glimpse. Kevin and Kathleen fought the crowd but Kevin refused to take a picture! Crazy! We saw many other works of art and left many more to be seen on our next visit!

After leaving the crowds behind and finding a little cafe to have lunch in we wandered back to the museum to enjoy a free side of the attraction... the Tuileries Garden. Fortunately, we will still be here in the spring because although it was impressive this time it will be beautiful when the garden is in bloom! It was a beautiful sunny yet crisp day and many Parisians were in the gardens enjoying the fresh air. My favoritepart was the first fountain we came to which had little sail boats in it. At first you think that they are motor controlled boats like I have seen in the States but they are simple sail boats with long ballasts to keep them upright. They go where the wind sends them. Then you notice several children skipping around the fountain with sticks about four feet long and tipped with rubber. They use these sticks to gently nudge the ships back into the fountain when they bump up against the sides. Cool! Kevin and Kathleen's favorite part of the garden was the birds that liked to perch upon the pates of the beautiful statues situated throughout the garden. Hopefully, Kevin will add some pictures to illustrate their fascination as I do not have the pictures on my laptop.

I mentioned that we entertained and it was our first California dinner guests this time. We had the pleasure of serving Kelsey Nolan and her friend Kate, also from UCSD, an American Sunday Dinner. Kelsey sounds like she is doing great and eager to start her regular classes at the University. Her house parent is an elderly French woman who does not speak English at all. This will help Kelsey adapt but it makes it really difficult to get things like the internet going in the apartment. She will figure it out but meanwhile will continue to check out the night scene for the twenty year old crowd. Kevin was taking notes (about bars) and I am not sure why? He said something about March Maddness and needing to watch basketball games. :)

We all agreed that it is possible to get by in Paris with out using much French by using key words and lots of pointing and s'il vous plaits! We decided that Kathleen is by far in the best position for actually learning and becoming somewhat fluent in the language. Even the college girls said that their classes have been taught in English. Kathleen gets French thrown at her during every class except English! It is challenging because she needs to be learning academic concepts as well as regular vocabulary. I have not worked with her on her homework like this since third or fourth grade! She is doing an awesome job! Next week they have "compos" which are like final exams. This would not normally be a problem for Kathleen except she wasn't here for half the lessons and IT'S ALL IN FRENCH!!!! Only her French teacher is not giving her (and three other students) the test. Instead she will meet with them for intensive French everyday for two hours!!!! In between all of that she will try to spend time with her cousins who arrive tomorrow. We are excited to welcome and entertain Kevin's sister, Kerry, and her three children for their winter break! After that Kathleen has her winter break and Danny comes to visit! Enough for now! Take care!

Amazin': G-men 17, Pats 14

Grace and I stayed up way into the wee hours to watch this drama unfold --- I had to keep from shouting several times so as to not wake up the whole building! Congratulations especially to the old-timers: Amani Toomer, Jeff Feagles, and Michael Strahan.

GIANTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL!


And, also of course to Eli and our newest hero, David Tyree.

Unbelievable!