The Glamourous Life - Musée d’Orsay and other amazing things

My practice on this trip, this one to Paris, specifically, rather than the trip of life- mine, in general, is based on a statement made by a shaman in Wade Davis's -The Wayfinders -CBC Massey Lectures.

'I am still. It is the world that is moving to meet me.'

Meeting me, greeting me, embracing me, amazing me, offering- always- all these pleasures...

Eggs and ham on toast! Holy Yummy!

I have the idea that it would be great to eat at a restaurant every meal. Moderation! Because it would be a tragedy of epic proportions to have no desire for croissants or baguettes.

Around the corner, on almost every street is the local Alimentation General. Fortunately we are staying at an apartment. It has a kitchen.

Yesterday..(sweeping cello music from the song,please)

it was snowing. Here is a picture of snow in Paris. (for all of the people in the further northern climates that will, I am sure, not find it an exotic image at all, I can only say..Look at the amazing buildings! There is an exorbitantly high possibility that some famous dead person may have walked right past them. The ghost of History.)

Dwell on your dreams, give your precious energy to this moment rather than to a dying past.

Episode 2...

As I walked along the cobblestone streets beside La Seine, feeling the love, the gratitude, the beauty, that slight nip in the air that makes one's nose drip, admiring the view, I tripped, just slightly, on the uneven ground.

Wow,- I thought, looking down, -how do these women manage with such high he...hello! - A Gold Wedding Band!

Paris gave me a gold wedding ring. It fits perfectly.

(if you feel it is yours let me know I would love this story to keep unfolding)

There are more words in this post because I discovered that my camera had been quietly sitting in the 'on' position in the bag all night. Little Dickens. So it was very sleepy for the Musee d'Orsay and completely comatose for the Matisse-Rodin sculpture Exhibition, which is really to bad because the Musee Rodin edifice is just amazing as the work in it.

Apparently Isadora Duncan taught classes there. Matisse rented rooms. The grounds, even in the winter are amazing. TREES.

When I see the actual painting it is a breath-taking recognition, like when you unexpectedly meet with someone you know. This 'right here', where I can see so much more that I usually see from the narrow place of placid assumption.

The places, the paintings, the artists, Bonnard, Monet, Pissaro (which was quite mystical. There was one in particular that I could smell the paint and feel myself standing beside him, looking at the same scene, as he painted) Toulouse-Lautrec... but all of the work of Degas...was really the most amazing.

I am still. It is life that is moving to meet me.