October's music videos

#7 Janis Joplin "Piece of my Heart"



Not strictly a music video but a clip of Joplin on TV live.

I knew it!

As soon as I wrote it... so now I am halfway through The Sun Also Rises and loving it... again, of course, and absolutely homesick for Le Dome and Le Select and La Rotonde, walking the streets of Paris in the soft, blurred evening... breaks my heart, every time. Damned Hemingway!

If I were in Paris... Friday, October 15, 2010

Autumn is actually my favorite time of year in Paris. The heat is gone, and there is a real season to be experienced. The temperatures are dropping, the air is crisp, and sundown comes early: nights are dark and cooooool. I'd already be wearing a jacket, sweaters, scarves, maybe even gloves.

Tomorrow's temps are going to be between 60 and 44 degrees. Crisp, cool, and stimulating.

On a normal day, I'd be tripping over to Tolbiac (here's my first ever link to the library, on the old blog). Most days, I'd take the Metro #14: a quicker ride than the bus.

I know that sometime during this fall I'd be visiting the new Greek rooms at the Louvre. Two whole new galleries, according to the website. There is also an exhibition on 17th century books: Musees des papiers--L'Antiquite en livres, 1600-1800.

The Cape Town Opera is presenting Show Boat at the Theatre du Chatelet. I saw signs for this in June, and just wondered about seeing this intrinsically American musical presented by a South African company to a Parisian audience. Would be worth getting a ticket just to see. And I've never seen a reallly good version of Show Boat.

One perfect autumnal day would include a morning spent with a book, coffee, and a croissant at a cafe overlooking the backside of Notre Dame as the sun crawls up the sky, followed by a slow, soft walk along the Seine westward (an old blog entry from 10.08). I'd head over to Eglise Saint-Sulpice to see the Delacroix mural. Then to the Musee National Eugene Delacroix, which I found this summer. It is a small museum based in the artist's home, with a back garden ripe for sitting and reading. The museum is located in a small, quiet square. Delightful. As I do this, it would be great to have Delacroix's journal to read.

And around the corner is St. Germain-des-Pres, Monoprix, Repetto (ballerines), Grom (gelato), the Village Voice (English-language bookstore), and Coffee Parisien, one of my favorite "American" joints. All within walking distance, all offering wonderful diversions. Tired? An espress' at Cafe de Flore provides a second wind.

I'd really like to finish the day by finding one of those cafes overlooking a busy square (where four or five streets come together) and, grabbing a table overlooking the square, sip a glass of robust red wine and watch les Francais exit from cars, busses, and Metro. We would all enjoy the end of the day with a little wine, a kir, a coffee while the darkness of the fall night settles in. Maybe a little bit of The Sun Also Rises--or is that too cliched? I haven't read it for a long time, but like Remembrance of Things Past, I bet it is easier to read in Paris.

This is also the season to take a final day-trip to Vernon and Giverny before Monet's home is closed forthe winter. Few tourists, small crowds, and the garden in its autumn glory--a very dfferent picture than we usually see.

October's music videos

#6 Freddie Fender "Wasted Days & Wasted Nights"

Stonehenge 2010

This summer I managed to get some great pictures of the ancient site when we visited as a group. This was my fifth visit, and for the first time I actually captured the feeling of the site.

The weirdest thing is trying not to get the two streams of traffic surrounding the peaceful stones, the constant stream of visitors (us included) circling the stones and clicking away, and in general the ridiculousness of the noisy, superficial 21st century crashing up against the solid constancy of the unknowable prehistoric past.

Our students, unable to walk among the stones, to touch them or to confront them one-on-one, can only snap camera-phone pix and chatter about the same old/same old as they circle around, thru the gift shop, and back onto the bus. Somehow, even the small distance of the grass here, keeping us out of their ring, disconnects us from their magic: they seem "not real," of course, but in a surprisingly unsubstantial way. The magical facts given by the headsets don't connect us.

But the stones are beautiful, silent, patient, and there as we pass through... 

In two years, I'll be back and they be the same, except for infinitesimal loss. Can I say the same? Would I want to?

October's music videos

#5 Roy Orbison and K.D. Lang, "Crying"



Originally made for the movie Hiding Out, an 80s classic.

This week's New Frugality: Savings and De-Clutter

I've been focusing on "frugality" for the past month. Not by not spending money, unfortunately, but by spending in a smarter way, trying to change my spending habits. The result: savings and de-cluttering.

Goals I accomplished this month:

• Pay off two credit cards
• Keep a record of monies saved and transfer that amount into savings account, week by week

The first goal was happily accomplished. Granted, I paid off the two smaller ones, using both monies saved from this summer's extra income and money owed me that finally arrived. This leaves me with two credit card accounts, one very large one and one not-so-large that got out of hand last spring. I plan to incorporate the $350 I was paying each month into the small accounts into the not-so-large one's payment--which means that by next March, it will be paid off completely. Then I can funnel all the payments into the largest one, and pay that off within the year. My overall goal: to eliminate the crdit card hangover debt that I have had for some time, paying dribs and drabs. Then that money can go into savings, partially for retirement and partially for emergencies.

The only downside here was that I used about half of my extra savings from the summer to pay these bills, together with the in-coming owed money. This means I will have to be more carefully budgeting through the fall to not use the rest of the savings too quickly.

The second goal was also achieved, happily. I had some lucky savings last month and I kept record of it. I dumped it all into my second, secret savings account. I keep record of my savings on a weekly basis, through savvy shopping, using coupons, and online eBates savings and Amazon sales; this is not earned money, but simply monies I save weekly by spending smart. My overall goal: save $1000, and use it to buy a new mattress and box spring. I am now $250.00 towards that goal.

Beyond that, this weekend I dropped off my October Goodwill donation: three super-size shopping bags plus extras. It included clothes, accessories and jewelry, kitchen items (including 7 kitchen towels), sheets, purses, house decor stuff, and a suitbag I hadn't used in ten years. Whew! I feel about 20 lbs lighter, which may be what the drop-off weighed. Plus, I came home and got a head start on November's dropoff with clothes, my big slow cooker, more purses (!), and videos. Photo'd each item for 2010 taxes.

I also have boxes and bags of books started for my December visit to a local used books place. I am accruing CDs, DVDs, videos, and books for that sale. This month, I sold $82 worth of same: 12 boxes and bags of old stuff. Happily, gone, gone gone with the wind!

Beyond that, I have started a consignment shop bag: the better used clothes, boots, and accessories (many actually never used) can be sold for cash, rather than donated. I also have vintage clothes I am thinking about taking to Buffalo Exchange here in town, which pays money or offers equal value exchange.

This week's goal: find a consignment shop in town to visit with these, better label clothes.