The Harsh Reality of the End of Daylight Saving Time
There’s something therapeutic about turning the clocks back in the fall—harsh reality therapy that makes us aware of our own dwindling time... and the arrival of All Saints Day. November 1, when Catholic tradition in France invites people to place chrysanthemums on the tombs of loved ones.
My French Life, the Interview
Dec. 2011. Some much appreciated recognition came knocking at my screen this month, one via from California, the other via Melbourne, Australia.
First the California-based North...
The Cranky Parent: Maman, Bébé and Unsolicited Advice
Children in Paris: Bringing up bébé has its dark side in the City of Light when maman can’t go wheeling through the supermarket without a stranger telling her that she hasn’t dressed her precious one properly for the yogurt aisle, as Melinda Mayor, aka Meshugeneh Mama, recounts with vitriol and humor.
The Weatherman, a poem
The Weatherman, March 3, a poem about early springtime in Paris by Gary Lee Kraut.
Dunkin’ Donuts and that cute little village in the Loire Valley
An New Jersey intersection with a Dunkin' Donuts, a Lukoil gas station, a 7-11, three barbershops and a laundromat is the American equivalent of a café in a village in the Loire Valley.
Travel and Travel Writing Beyond the Clichés, the Lecture
Award-winning travel writer and editor Gary Lee Kraut lecture on the subject of “Travel and Travel Writing Beyond the Clichés: In Search of the Perfect Travel Moment in France” at the Mid-Manhattan Public Library on Feb. 8, 2013.
Destination Brittany, part 3 of 5: party clothes
Destination Brittany, travels with Henri, part 3 of 5: My brother Jon would have loved Dinard. He liked anything with the word resort in it: beach resort, ski resort, island resort, tennis resort. Wearing “smart casual” or “resort casual” came natural to him. After he died in a plane accident in 2006 my three other brothers and I inherited his clothes.
You know you live in Paris when a striker …
... texts you at 10pm
Him: Good news, I’m on strike tomorrow.
You: Good news for whom?
Him: Us. I can come by in the afternoon.
You: But I’m not on strike.
Spotlight on the National and Religious Cultural Centers of Paris
Paris beyond French culture: a look at the Irish, British, Swedish, Russian and Polish cultural centers and other national and religious centers throughout the capital.