My goal last night was to go to bed at 9. That’s 3 a.m., Central Europe Time, which seemed reasonable. But I forgot that with an 8-hour flight and the whole up ridiculously late trying to protect the glass bottles in the luggage thing that I might be done before that. Rudi lasted until he sat down in his chair at 7:30 and two cats piled on him. Then I watched as his head literally dropped right over to his shoulder in the course of a minute. We talked to his mom for a few minutes, and then Rudi was out.

I returned to the living room, drank a cup of tea, and curled up on the sofa to watch some Britcoms. I probably lasted until 8:15…

The side effect of this is, of course, that I was suddenly wide awake at 4:45 (10:45 CET) a.m. I don’t think this has ever happened before. I mean, I’ve woken up before 7 on my own before, but before 5?! Ridiculous!

Here’s where the betting comes in. How long until I return to my normal night-owl ways? It took me two days to find myself up past midnight in Paris… For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t mind going to bed earlier here, although I do think it will be problematic if I doze off before 8.

Now, I just have to wait for Rudi to wake up and then I can start doing laundry…

By the way, I’d expect France wrap-up/retrospective posts for another week.

I wish I could be there.

Instead, I send my love, with all speediness, to shower blessings upon the two of you today as you make formal the claims you had already staked on one another’s hearts.

Sometimes
   ~Sheenagh Pugh

Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man; decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you.

May your sometimes last a lifetime. And may you always look back on today with happiness.

In my grandparents’ Connecticut backyard thirty-six years ago, my parents were married amidst the fall colors. My uncle sang this song during the ceremony:

I can’t help but think of music when I think of my folks. PPM, Harry Chapin, John Denver, the Beatles, Babs, Sting. Think of your favorite love song and sing along…

Happy anniversary, Mum and Dad. May the years amble by gently with you and may you meet any challenges together, hand in hand.

I realize that I don’t know enough about Islam and should probably learn more to help me feel more confident about what I read in the papers and online.

However, I thought this article from Sunday’s Washington Post, “Spare Me the Sermon on Muslim Women,” offered a refreshing perspective from what I normally hear. I learned lots and will be doing more reading.

At least 25% of the world’s mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to the first assessment of their status for a decade.

BBC article
Science article

I suppose it ought not to surprise me that weekends fly past (particularly when I sleep past 11 each day), but it does nevertheless.

Friday night was the final night of jazz in the sculpture garden. The ground was sopping (it hadn’t rained for two days!), so we all sat on plastic bags on top of our ground cover, but still managed to have a nice night. Unwilling to admit that the season had come to a close, we stood around under the silver tree until the guards kicked us out. We’re mulling a Friday night game night instead for the chilly months, as that could still be an informal potluck type thing, but would still give us a nice way to end our weeks together.

Saturday was a nice, sunny day, so John, Rudi, and I walked down to the Smithsonian’s International Gallery to catch the final weekend of the Jim Henson retrospective they were running. It was a really fun exhibit, with many of the muppets we remember, clips of Henson’s original D.C.-area commercials, and a great interactive area for kids to explore their creative side. The only down side to the exhibit was that they wouldn’t let you take photographs, not even without a flash. The exhibit is a traveling one, so, if it’s going to be anywhere remotely near you, I encourage you to visit.

We followed that up with pizza up at the New Haven-style pizzeria in Columbia Heights. Pete’s Apizza does it better than anyone else in D.C. and I woke up the next day with a burnt roof of my mouth. Connecticut residents will recognize this as a strong testament indeed. John’s new condo is only a couple blocks away, so he let us come hang out and watch old movies on his giant t.v.

Today was a gorgeous farewell to summer (I hope), with 80 degree temps and bright sun. After a trip to the farmers’ market, I ended up at the garden, where Rudi and I got the lettuce plants into the ground and harvested some more tomatoes and beans. I swear, at this rate, I’ll still be picking beans at Thanksgiving. We concluded the weekend with an American’s sentimentalized view of Paris — Funny Face.

I do love weekends… How was yours?