This is the end, Beautiful friend.

I know — it’s a little dramatic.
From November 7, 2010

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes…again

“The End” by The Doors

Greetings, Readers.

This coming week marks one year from the date I last posted on An Alien Parisienne. This month marks the fifth anniversary from my very first visit to Paris, France in 2008. Today marks the end of An Alien Parisienne.

On August 1, 2012, I arrived at Denver International Airport at about one in the morning. Disoriented, and arriving late having been placed on an alternate flight because the customs line in Detroit, Michigan was too slow and several on route to Denver missed their plane, including me, my first ex-husband (“UnEx”) picked me up and drove me to the place that had been my home from 1995 to 2000 and which has since become my home again, temporarily, until I get on my feet again. (No, UnEx does not live here now, but it is a three-bedroom condo we owned together and which he still owns, renting out a room to a guy who has lived here for 10 years as well as the place where our son — my oldest —  lives since it is only a short distance from his high school.)

It’s taking me a while to find my feet. They have gone somewhat comfortably numb. I’m figuring it out, though.

I had decided in February after a couple of months of rumination that at last I would need to write a closing post for this blog, and I started composing in my head what such a post would say. I still get quite a few subscribers to the blog and also quite a bit of daily traffic to the blog — I don’t want to entirely shut it down as it still seems to have a readership. But it was realizing the significance that the month of March has played in my Paris Journey that made me think, “Hey, I need to bring some closure to this thing” and do so at this meaningful time. Interestingly, this March also marks other endings as well, and it is now wholly appropriate to write this post.

Please read on if you are interested in knowing the rest of the story, and also find out about a new blog I am starting: Do-Overs in Denver.

Christmas (in Paris and out)

Greetings, Readers!

I’ve just returned to Paris in time for Christmas after being in Anitbes, the town in the South of France between Nice and Cannes where my best friend lives. The “South of France” sounds like it ought to be a warm place, but is really not in winter. My BFF and I froze our keisters off at the beginning of this past week. There might be palm trees and sunshine in Antibes, but balmy it is not in wintertime. It’s chilly.

It beats being in Paris, just for views like this one, though:

From the Old City and the Fort Carré to Cap d'Antibes - click to enlarge

Or this one:

Old Antibes, with the Alps in the background

Or this one:

Sunset at the Winter Solstice - La nuit la plus longue de l'année

Even in winter, the colors of the South — Mediterranean blues, terra cotta reds, sandstone yellows, sage greens — make me feel terrific because they uplift the spirit so! No Paris grays are to be seen anywhere.

Alas, I am back in Paris, and I am posting because it is time for me to wish you a Happy Holidays!

Yes, it is those bears again. Remember them? They are in the windows at Microlithe, the association at 59bis rue Olivier Metra, 75020. I have blogged about this window here and here in the past. Adorable, eh?

I’ve got some more Christmassy photos I’d love to share with you, so if you’d like to have a look, keep on reading.

Preserving the Soul

 

Hi everyone!

I have been trying to commit to monthly blogging, and I just realized it’s been a month. Thing is, this is kind of a non-post. For those of you who like the “old school” alien parisienne posts, this will be up your alley, though.

I’ve been so busy of late! I’ve had a special assignment this past week, playing Karin Poppins to two wee ones, whose mother happens to be this person. Some of her besties are in town, and she’s needed someone to mind the fort while she goes out and has a final hurrah in the City of Light before she heads back to the City of Flowers or the City of Goodwill, depending on if you would rather go with the 1942 Resolution or the 1990 one (see here).

A total aside —

Check it! The Peerless City (yet another motto!) has a song. A few of the lyrics, for you:

Hail to the Peerless City, Metropolis of the west, The gateway to the Orient, Whom grandeur hath caressed!

Her bosom’s gemm’d with pearly lakes, The mountains tower near; The fir tree forest skirts her bound; The beauty of earth is here.

Wow.

That is, like, a really sexy song. Caressed… bosom… forest skirts her bound… Yeesh. For 1909, that is some pretty racy stuff. Go Seattle!

So yeah, that’s one of the things that has been going on.