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!