Beth Arnold

Letter From Paris: Bringing in 2010 with A Beautiful Bang!

Image via Wikipedia

Good morning 2010!!

Most of you know that I've been in the U.S. celebrating daughter Bret's college graduation and the holidays with family and friends.  But one dear friend I haven't gotten to lay eyes on during this visit--or in way too long--is Ellen Kennon.  I just read Ellen's blog for today, and it's so powerful that I wanted to help spread the word so we can all bring in 2010 with a beautiful bang! 

So here it is.  From Ellen:

NYE Alert! Lunar Eclipse of Mythical Proportions!

I am a big fan of psychic astrologer Michelle Karen and have had several very accurate readings with her, am on her newsletter mailing list, and just had to post this interesting info on some special cosmic alignments happening this New Year’s Eve! Here’s a flat out “copy & paste” from Michelle with some great advice as to how to capitalize on this special energy:

“2009 is ending with cosmic fireworks. We are blessed with a Lunar Eclipse of mythical proportions.

Anything said, felt, wished for, thought about today, is hugely amplified. A most powerful portal is being opened enabling us to create a whole new reality. Let our feelings be of love, our thoughts be of peace and our joy overflow, as everything we are experiencing today on an inner and outer level is redirecting our course for many months to come.

Letter From Paris: Christmas in The Real Paris 7

The 2009 most fun Christmas tree delivery in Paris:

for an ecological Christmas  (photo by Carlyn Snell)

So charming.  The tree got a bird's eye view of Paris on its way to its holiday home. 

And who wouldn't want a tree to be pedaled to their door? 

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Letter From Paris: Christmas in The Real Paris 6

On one of my favorite streets in Paris:

Pied de Cochon at 6, Rue Coquilliere

Do you know it?  Have you made any memories on this street or at this restaurant?  One of Julia Child's favorite shops, E Dehillerin is just down the way.

 Photo by Beth Arnold

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Letter From Paris: Christmas in The Real Paris 5

Merry Christmas, everyone!  I want to wish you the most beautiful Holiday Season, filled with peace and warmed by joy!  One thing I hope we're learning in this global culture--wherever we live--is that we're in this world together.  We're all part of the same energy, and it's our choice whether we want to fill our days with happiness or hate.

Let's spread a little love around!  

On The Way to The Madeleine

Isn't Paris always pretty in red and pink?

And if you need a good laugh, check out the South Park Christmas.  It always gives us a good politically incorrect haw-haw-haw!

Merry Christmas!  God bless us every one...

With love,

Beth & the Lone Wolf

Blair & Bret

Photo by Beth Arnold

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Letter From Paris: Christmas in the Real Paris 4

Snow in Paris!  Everyone says it doesn't snow in Paris, but I've seen snow falling from Parisian skies many times. 

 

Photo by Carlyn Snell

So I wouldn't miss these beautiful flakes, friend Carlyn Snell sent me this photo.  Is anything better than snow at Christmas--a fire in the fireplace, jingling bells, and Holiday Inns?

I believe it was last year when we returned from the U.S. in January, and France was covered with a blanket of snow as far as we could see from our aerial viewpoint.  It was a serene and lovely White January in France. 

Do you have good snow stories?  Do tell! 

---Beth Arnold

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Letter From Paris: Christmas in The Real Paris 3

Where is the real Paris for you?  Over the holidays, we're exploring this theme--and showing what Christmas looks like throughout our City of Light.

If you missed the beginning of this series, check it out here.  And add your two cents worth here and there!

on the rue de Temple

This photo was taken by Beth Arnold with her Canon PowerShot SD750, which she loves.

                                                                          ---Beth Arnold in Paris

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Letter From Paris: Christmas in The Real Paris 2

  on the rue des Pyrenees

The flower shops in Paris are divine.  Their window displays are pieces of art--living tableaux--and I have a hard time walking by without stopping to gaze at the floral still-lifes.  

And you?  Do you have favorite shops?  What sugar plum fairies does this conjure in your head?

This photo was taken by Beth Arnold with her  Canon PowerShot SD750, which she loves.

                                                                  ---Beth Arnold in Paris

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Letter From Paris: Christmas in The Real Paris 1

Image by SaZeOd via Flickr

When the Lone Wolf and I moved from the 2nd Arronissement to the 20th Arrondissement, some friends and acquaintances started saying to us, "Now you're living in the real Paris."  What did they mean?

My take:  They said this because there aren't as many tourists outside the center.  (And I've been told that things aren't quite as expensive since one isn't paying tourist prices.)  The neighborhoods are chummier.  There are even houses with yards, neighborhoods in the sense that we Americans know them.  The diversity includes more of a cultural and financial range, including working men and women.

Some are saying this to justify their own residence in neighborhoods which aren't in the center of the Paris, where they don't walk out their doors to be in the midst of St. Sulpice or the Louvre.   Some prefer the outer arrondissements of Paris because they were part of the countryside longer and truly are greener--places where people have more balconies and terraces and the outdoors seems more a part of their lives--and the parks and plants are wilder in a sense. These green spaces and architectural planning make Paris more a part of "nature."

When people said this to me in their well-meaning way--and that our old address was in the bourgeois Paris--my typical response was that I loved being in the bourgeois Paris of the 2nd.  By the way, a friend once used this word against me though not about this subject.  "I never thought of you as bourgeois before, Beth, but now I see you are."  Takes one to know one, buddy.  I was less concerned with appearances than he was and is.

But recently someone said to me, the real Paris is all of Paris.  Upon quick reflection, I thought this was indeed a thoughtful woman.  In fact, she'd hit the nail on the head.  Every part of Paris is as real as any other.  Each arrondissement has its charms...and its bothers.  

*

I am in the U.S. for my daughter Bret's college graduation.  Lone Wolf and I are here to spend the holidays with our family.  So most of my blogs for the next few weeks will be photos I took before I left, photos of the real Paris at Christmas.  

on the rue des Pyrenees

Paris Art Market Buzz

Image by xiquinhosilva via Flickr

11 December 2009

Paris Art Market Buzz

By columnist Paul Paradis, Art Historian, Specialist Consultant in French Furniture and Decorative Arts.

A Scandal

The art world in Paris was shaken by a police raid at the Hôtel Drouot Tuesday of last week.  According to the French press, the office responsible for monitoring illicit trade in cultural artifacts (OCBC) had been observing Drouot for the past ten months based on suspicion that works of art were “disappearing” during inventories and shipments.  The police arrested twelve people on suspicion of organized trafficking of works of art, including one Commissaire Priseur (auctioneer) and 8 members of the union of commissionaires (UCHV), those responsible for moving and storage of the works of art as well as the day to day functioning of the auctions.  One source mentioned that a judge had requested an extension of the usual holding period for several of them.  

The 110 commissionaires are a distinctly French phenomenon, the remnant of the corporatist system established centuries before.  They wear a Mao-like uniform of dark grey with a red collar, each bearing a distinct number.  Sharing equal stakes in the profits of the company, they are all from the Savoie region of France exclusively. (People commonly refer to them as the Savoyards.)   Benefitting from a de facto monopoly since1860, the agents pass down their posts between family members at village level.  They basically run the show at Drouot despite their status as manual support staff, and one has the impression that the auctioneers would prefer not to cross them. 

The Hôtel Drouot, Paris

Letter From Paris: Old Parisian MacDonald's Farm

Image by gamp via Flickr

Two days to go, and I'm off to the USA for the holidays and daughter Bret's college graduation.  Cool, no?

You better believe it, sisters and bros!

But this morning I was meeting my friend Martin in the Place Gambetta to deliver some things back to him.  He lives in my neighborhood.  In fact, he found this apartment for us.  His knee was somehow gimped up, and he had surgery and was hobbling.  It was the least I could do.

But when I walked up, I didn't even notice him, because there was a farm show going on in front of the mairie (town hall) of the 20th.  Mom and Dad with daughter and son--the perfect farm family--with little ones dressed as miniature farmer and farmerette with pens full of rabbits, geese, ducks, and chickens, a big goat or two and two precious baby goats, two little lambs, huddled ducklings, one chick, and a darling piglet.  (I've most recently seen little piglets in the butchers' windows, and it was all I could think about.)