It’s school vacation time in France, probably in a lot of places, and I’m on the top level of a high speed train careening south at 280 km per hour. That’s 173 miles per hour, by the way. At first it totally blew my mind that you could do an eight hour drive in four [...]

I would like to use this week’s post to give you some advice. If you haven’t already committed and shacked up, don’t marry a guy with kids. Don’t get me wrong; the kids aren’t the problem. Once you get over the initial horror of taking a rectal temperature or helping a little boy wipe himself, [...]

I have such a terrible case of writer’s block right now that it’s all I can do to write this sentence. It started a week ago, on the reception of some bad news, coupled with a small health issue requiring me to “take it easy” this week. Since then, I’ve (unreasonably) given myself permission to [...]

Last night I forced M to watch Stand by Me. I say forced because, it was already 10 pm, and we’d just watched Pirates of the Caribbean, At World’s End, full of squid-faced special effects and swashbucklery. But after that I wanted something, I don’t know, familiar? If I had been in the states, I [...]

Before I got to Paris, I was never much of a purse person. I liked something with good pockets and a nice shape, and the most I remember spending on a purse was $50 for a marked down Nine West at Macy’s. In Paris, I made a friend who had a beautiful purse collection, and [...]

Maybe you’ve been saying it ever since you studied French in high school. Maybe it’s a New Years Resolution, or you’re prepping for a trip to Tunisia. Maybe you’re looking for an activity to keep your brain sharp and you’re sick of doing crosswords. Whatever the reason is for wanting to brush up your French, [...]

You can learn a lot about a place from its supermarket, and when I first got to France I was overwhelmed by the sprawling, two story store that sold not just a narrow selection of food, but televisions, computers, appliances, clothing, DVDs, car tires, and toys. The selection of food, in my opinion, is rather [...]

France took the Christ out of Christmas long, long ago. The word Noël comes from the middle French nael, which comes from the latin natalis [dies] which means [day] of birth. To wish someone a Merry Christmas, one would say Joyeux Noël. There is no all-inclusive “Happy Holidays” greeting in France, but in keeping with [...]

The weather is finally starting to get cool here, average days in the 40s, which means winter is a-coming. What’s the best part about winter in France? The combination of damp cold and hibernation mode makes it acceptable to eat the many cheese-heavy dishes one would normally only indulge in during a ski trip to [...]

The brightly colored fingerpaint cover always caught my eye, and for a weeks I’d glance at it and say “Oh, it’s Room,” until I finally read the book description and found out that it’s told in the first person voice of a five-year-old child. That should be interesting, I thought, and useful for someone who intends to write for kids.