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There Is Never Any End to Paris
Literally.
We walked and walked, stopped for wine and food, walked again, stopped for beauty products, walked some more…I got back on Saturday toned and smelling of French cosmetics.
It was great. (Pictures forthcoming this week, I promise.)
Finally, Literature
Courtesy of our buddy Hemingway, here’s another Paris quote. (I know I’m always promising and not delivering, but this comes as part of a longer passage at the end of A Moveable Feast which I will indeed quote here someday. If I come back.)
There is never any end to Paris, and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other
(The image is of the hotel where Papa Hemingway would write, when he lived in Paris. He would walk over from his flat in the mornings. The French sign says something along the lines of, ‘Paul Verlaine died in this building January 8, 1896. Born March 30, 1844.’ Vive the internet!)
This Is All About Paris
This Isn’t About Paris
But it is about birds. (I forgot the book I wanted to use today, so bear with me. They could be Parisian birds.) I just found this. Good old Emily Dickinson.
A Bird came down the Walk—
He did not know I saw—
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,
And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass—
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad—
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought—
He stirred his velvet head
Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home—
Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam—
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim.
It’s Paris Week!
Actually, it won’t be a full week, as I leave Friday to see what everyone’s talking about. If the blog doesn’t resume the week of the 22nd, we can all safely assume I decided to stay and start my novel. Here’s what Willa Cather (of all people!) has to say about it:
“Paris is a hard place to leave, even when it rains incessantly and one coughs continually from the dampness.”
Some History
Because it is, of course, el Cinco de Mayo and I have access to the all-encompassing internet, here’s some history on today’s holiday and on pinatas. (Hey, I didn’t know about either of them. It’s an educational blog today.)
Guess What I’ve Been Reading?
More Mark Strand, of course. This is from Dark Harbor, and is notable not only for a non-silly use of “alas” in a modern poem, but also the inspired choice of “compassionate” to describe the wind.
“Is it you or the long, compassionate wind
that whispers in my ear, ‘Alas, alas’?”
(The whole section is worth posting. Maybe tomorrow.)
Why I Love It Here, Part I
Three words: Rocky Mountain Raceways. They are host to events such as the “Discount Tire Midnight Drag,” the “Jet Car Spring Nationals,” “Funny Car Fever,” and somthing called “Fuel and Fire,” which I can only imagine. Buy tickets here. Go, have a drink, watch jet cars, see the light on the mountains, and be happy where you are.
Band Stuff
Two more Potential Band Names Found in Everyday Conversation:
1. Crawl On Down The Wall
(From talking about “those gummy spiders you throw at the wall and they stick until they start to crawl on down.”)
2. Co-dependent Consumptive
(From when I’d had a sneezing attack and then put on powder prior to going out. I asked my roommate–since the powder was a little pale and my eyes were red and puffy–“Do I look consumptive?” And hilarity ensued, and we ended up deciding I should write a personal ad that starts out “co-dependent consumptive seeks same…” and see how many dates I got then.)
Other Band Stuff:
Neko Case is playing Suede in Park City on June 17th.
Even More Band Stuff:
If you’re looking for the archetypal bar experience, you can go to The Republican on Sunday nights and listen to the house band. And drink lots of beer.