Paris Becoming A Zen Experience

We've been here for 33 days now, which in dog-terms means 100 trips to the park across from Saint Sulpice church! There's a Zen saying (which I am sure I am mangling) saying 'before enlightenment you do the laundry, then enlightenment comes, then you go back to doing the laundry'. How does this semi-Zen saying apply to us in Paris? This morning I took Cassie for her AM walk and as usual we went to Saint Sulpice. The things I noticed on this particular morning were the construction crane 18 stories up renovating the church, and that street sweepers (think Zamboni machines) clean the area in front of the church. Somehow I missed the fact that I was in front of Saint Sulpice church, one of the more interesting ones in Paris, and that people make a special trip to see this. I'll try to reopen my eyes!

We've had friends visiting. Maxine's friend D arrived yesterday -- the two of them are going to Provence this coming week long cooking class. The night before we had J&L over. They'd just come from Provence where they'd met Peter Mayle. Our friend interviewed him because the movie based on his book "A Good Year", with Russell Crowe, is coming out this month. (Peter Mayle has also written "A Year In Provence").

Another 'dogs life' story. This morning when I was out with Cassie we passed a cafe with a half dozen guys inside having a morning coffee, and a yellow lab too.

Yesterday I went to the City of Paris Modern Art Museum (city museums are always free). One of the pictures on this blog post (Eiffel Tower) is from there. The other art sight there that I particularly enjoyed -- alone worth the effort of visiting the museum -- were 2 Matisse dance paintings. They are each are about 80 feet wide by 20 feet high. The photo (on this posting) of the one with pink has been with the city of Paris since it was done in the 1930's. The other one, "Dance Interrupted", had been rolled up and forgotten until 1992.