Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, March 22, to:

Reese Witherspoon
William Shatner
Stephen Sondheim
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Mathew Modine
Lena Olin

and ME!!!
( in good company)

Celebrating by welcoming Spring!!  All dancing, champagne, caviar and chocolate, catching a hot air balloon to Paris...and then... 


http://www.minblu.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/lynxny

Tourists

YESTERDAY, BROWSING AND
PUSHING DUST ALONG NEGLECTED
BOOK SHELVES, I CAME ACROSS A
memory jogger. Is it possible that such
a time existed..when a book, "Europe On
$10. A Day", by Arthur Frommer, was
actually published, actually popular?
x
I'm not going back to the early 20th
century..I'm holding a rather heavy tome,
the 1979 edition of, "America's most popular
money saving guide". I remember being
quite grateful to have had someone pave
the way up and down those stairs, helping
me to take the proper (cheap) steps to
a fun filled, whirlwind trip to EUROPE!
x
Random selections will be chosen.
I'm curious to know if any of these hotels
and restaurants are still in operation,
and how present prices compare to those of
1979.
x
LONDON RESTAURANTS: Soho..big splurge-
The ASIA INDIAN,44 Frith Street,
(chicken curry) $3.75.
THE MUSEUM TAVERN, opposite the British
Museum, hot plates/steak and kidney pie/
mashed potatoes..$1.50. PUB at BOLTON
HOTEL,326 Earl's Court Road, pub lunch:
.50 cents to $1.50.
HOTELS: ST.GEORGE HOTEL, 46 Norfolk Sq.,
$9.61, single with breakfast. LONDON
MUSICAL CLUB, 21 Holland Park/ full board,
$8.64 a day. THE SUTHERLAND, 90 Sutherland
Ave., $8.65 per day.
x
PARIS RESTAURANTS: LE DROUOT, 103
Rue de Richelieu, $ 2.50 full meals,
vegetables, cheese. GRAND RESTAURANT
ST. MICHEL, 10 Blvd. St Michel, prix fixe:
$2.08...
HOTELS: HOTEL RACINE, 23 Rue Racine,
single/$ 15. (this is Paris!) Highest rated!!
HOTEL des BALCONS, 3 Rue Casimir-Delavigne,
double(with breakfast), $11.
x
Could go on..looking for time machine..
will adjust more than prices. Which
actually seem to add up to more than
$10.a day. How did I do it? Memories!
x
x
Happy Birthday to Jon, my lovely son..
can still see your funny little face at birth
time..look at you now!! How did you get
to be so terrific?
Good luck, good love, good karma..

Listing

CHOCOLATE. JUST BECAUSE.
WELL REALLY, BREAD AND CHOCOLATE.
AND DANCING ON THE BEACH.
THAT SAYS IT FOR ME.
x
Not having an original thought today, I have
had to resort to "lifting" a list. When in
doubt,"LIST".
x
Thank you Willow, thank you Poetikat,
for providing the meme for me to cadge!!
Always grateful for the inspiration you provide!
x
The photos somehow may weave into the text.
I sort of mean them to. Oops, one just
disappeared.
x
1. Current Obsessions:
a. American Idol. Can't help myself.
b. Inventing a time machine.
x
2. Item from closet wearing most often:
Faded blue denim work shirt from 1990's.
x
3. What's for dinner:
Lentil soup, with big chunks of new
potatoes and carrots, thick. Levain Boule
bread from Balthazar. Ginger tea, mini
chocolate covered donut. Carb freak.
x
4. Last thing bought:
Blue and white striped Capri's from
V's Secret, because I had a gift card.
x
5. What am I listening to:
Album Francais/ Amarcord. One hundred
years of French vocal music. A Capello.
x
6. Favorite vacation spots:
Paris, Fire Island, Rome, Moscow.
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7. Vacation spots I must visit before I die:
Fire Island, San Francisco, St. Paul de Vence
x
8. Four words to describe myself:
Hopeful, ready, artsy, reincarnated.
x
9. Guilty pleasures:
That I never have guilt.
x
10. First spring thing:
Getting ready for my birthday, the second
day of spring.
x
11. Best thing I ate or drank lately:
Strawberries and champagne. At noon.
x
12. Who would you like to have dinner with?
Living, or gone:
Julia Child, and she does the cooking.
x
13. Care to share some wisdom:
" A writer is a person for whom writing
is more difficult than it is for other
people". Thomas Mann/ 1875-1955
x
x
Rules if you want to participate:
1. Rework.
2. Answer questions on your own blog.
3. Replace one question/ add one question.
4. You can tag if you wish, or leave it
up to fate!

REMEMBER: Eat chocolate, eat bread,

and dance on a beach!

Orient Express

I am out of breath and looking over my
shoulder, as usual, as I try to mingle
with the crowd here at the Gare de l'Est.
Does my veil look too obvious?
x













The Count, my Uncle Vanya, roused me at an early hour,
opened the back gate of the Chateau Bonaparte, where I've
been held a virtual prisoner, thrust the Faberge Egg into my
trembling hands, told me to guard it with my life, kissed me
on both cheeks, and sent me on to The Orient Express,
where I will be guided by this little man, Mssr. something
or other, to my final destination, Istanbul.
x
My passport photo shows me as a simple
young woman, nothing, not a trace of my
past shows on my face. The name, of course,
is nothing like Anastasia. Just simple Greta,
a poor student from Paris.
X

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTHE EGG

X
BOARDING AT THE STATION

IS QUITE THRILLING,so much

hustle and bustle. A funny little

man is squinting at me. Could

that be Mssr. what's his name?

x

A huge coffin shaped box is being

hauled aboard the train. Could it be

a coffin? There is an odd insignia stamped

on top. Also metal bands encircle it.

As if anyone would try to get in or out!

x

At last in my room, I remove my veil, and

hardly recognise myself, red wig, red lips.

I unpack my blue velvet frock, I think just

right for lunch. I reach for my pearls, but no!

I am but a simple student!

x

A very handsome gentleman shares

my luncheon table. The bright, white

tablecloth casts a clear light on his face.

He introduces himself, "Bond, James

Bond. Something about you stirs me.

Why are your hands shaking?"

I want so much to trust this stranger. Dare I?

x

Again the funny little man is sitting opposite me. Aha,

the waiter calls him Mssr. Poirot. I do believe he is the

one Uncle Vanya told me about.

x

My word, what is that commotion at the end of the

dining room? Shouting, pushing..I must run..but

I am now alone in the baggage car...why did

I come this way...and that box, that coffin

in the shadows, can that be a tapping

I hear from within?

x

Of course not.

Senlis

xxxxxxxxCHURCH of NOTRE-DAME, SENLIS, FRANCE
x
x
I was reading an article in the paper about a French Cinema Series coming to Lincoln Center. One of the featured films, already acclaimed, was Seraphine de Senlis, about an early 20th Century artist. But "Senlis" started playing over and over in my head, I was remembering...what?....
x
I jumped over the hedge of memory.
x
We were strolling from the Cathedral, Pierre and I on the sidewalk, Gerard somehow straggling far behind, then running to catch up. "What's the matter with you two today"? Too hot to answer. "Have we fallen into a black hole or what"?
x
My last day in Paris, we decided to show me the 11th Century Church of Notre Dame at Senlis, not too far a drive from Paris. I always stayed with Pierre and Gerry, and when they came to New York, they stayed with me. We would walk along Park Avenue and try to peek into posh windows, reaffirm that one day we would buy a place like that together.
x
Gerry was an American from Boston. It was I who convinced him to give up his great career in New York, go to Paris, find Pierre, and for God's sake, be happy for a change. We met on a job. He was the greatest makeup artist in the world, and I was a makeup artist. It was love at first sight for the two of us. Figure that one out. We were just these utterly compatible strands of DNA that laughed all the time. I asked for no more.
x
I didn't know why we were all so picky in Senlis. I, as usual, fell into a deja vu trance upon entering the Church. Place me in an ancient church, or let me stroll a Gothic
Cloister, and I'm sunk in the thankless task of trying to retrieve my past. But only
in France. You can probably figure out what I believe.
x
The stone floor in the church had deep indentations, smoothed through the
centuries by a parade of souls praying for salvation from wars, famines, Kings, and plagues. I look back at the moments spent within, gazing upwards, past the illuminated clarity of the windows. I'm sure I asked a few questions of the cosmic air about my concerns, never letting a Holy opportunity pass me by.
x
How do you address the Plague? Do you cower, do you pray, do you deny? I do. I was leaving France, and I had seen the leering face of the Green Man lurking at my friends doorstep. So this was going to be the last time I saw Gerry? I didn't know that in Senlis. I knew something though. Pierre could be glum. He was French. Did Gerry know? He was always in a dream anyway, but a creative, beautiful one. His spirit had begun to hide. That day in Senlis had a prediction in it of days ending. Black hole indeed.
x
It wasn't immediate, of course. Another year. Blindness, mindlessness. A phone call from Pierre. Gone...but, Lyn, he just looks so beautiful, he looks so much like himself.
x
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www.minblu.blogspot.com

Costume Party

xxxxxxxxxxxxx
HALLOWEEn in PARIsxxxxxx
from/ Two Ghosts

Imagine being hungry in Paris on Halloween,
finding a pizza joint around the corner from
the Ritz on Place Vendome that serves
Chicago style..........

......I'm hungry, I eat pizza in Paris......
X
Two Ghosts/ poems
X
To order: call 888-795-4274 ext.7876

http://www.xlibris.com/ http://www.amazon.com/

http://www.bn.com/ http://www.borders.com/

At your local bookstore.