a beautiful day

I just heard from Don Bastian, the publisher, that the book is being published right now and will soon be available through Amazon, maybe even in a week! Much sooner than I'd thought. Major excitement.

And I just had more excitement - Skyped with Anna and Eli, and he called me by name. He called me Blamma. Does it get better than that? I'm Blamma, and my book will be out in a week.

At dinner tonight, the bread and chèvre were so good, I could not stop eating. Bread, cheese and a fantastic bottle of 6 euro wine. Not to mention the tarte au citron for dessert. Today was really spring here - hot and lovely all day long. Every single person in Paris was sitting at a sidewalk café today. Except moi - I drink my coffee at home, and when I want to people-watch, I walk. Today, I got the fabulous number 27 bus about as far as I goes and walked most of the way back. But first - I went into Galeries Lafayette, because it's the most beautiful store in the world.

That's not a cathedral, it's a STORE. But the place is grotesque these days; the whole ground floor is crammed with people from Japan buying designer handbags. It's almost funny except it's not - they were actually lined up at Louis Vuitton. I pointed at one ordinary little bag and asked what it cost, and the woman said 985 euros. That's $1500. Some of the people did not look wealthy - some were young couples. It seems to be a Japanese honeymoon thing - you go to Paris and spend $1500 on a handbag. Incomprehensible. The makers of luxury goods must be screaming with laughter. All the way to the bank.

After I'd asked about the price, I turned around and saw that a security guard was eyeballing me. I guess I don't look like Louis Vuitton material.

Next door is Le Printemps, which is even more expensive. I didn't go in.

This is not a temple, it's Le Printemps, a STORE.

Started walking back toward the river - past the humble little opera house.

Passed a store called La Canadienne, maple leaf above the door, and went inside to find out what they sold - maple syrup? Mukluks? It was full of leather and suede jackets, so I asked the anorexic young saleslady about the connection to my homeland. The store, it turns out, is based in Lyons and has nothing whatsoever to do with Canada.

Walked and walked - a heavenly day - until I got hungry and jumped on the bus home. I know, there are a million cafés in this city, but I love sitting in my dining-room, in silence. Was going to work afterwards, but the day was just too too too beautiful, so I walked down to the Jardin des Plantes to commune with Dad.

His tree is transformed.

It felt so good to sit on a bench in the sun and share Paris with my dad.