home

I said we were settled in at home the other day, and Peter said ‘define home’.. which is an interesting point. We certainly still call Australia home (!) but we are missing Paris too, the people, the places, the things to see and do and of course the food 🙂 Our little bit of French is harder to maintain out of context and we will have to work harder at it again when we go back. It’s been great to see everyone and we have been relishing the city, beach and bush and even the suburban life.

Plenty still to do here, but work drives Lionel’s schedule so he is going home to Paris this week, and I am staying home in Sydney until mid March.

bush

It can be difficult to explain the ‘bush in the city’ idea to non-Australians, especially in the context of bushfires. We do still appreciate how easy it is the enjoy the outdoors in and around Sydney though, and spent a lovely day getting some sun at Bents Basin with family last weekend.

Time is flying as usual, still lots to do!

weather

more so than usual, the weather dominates the news and many conversations in Australia at the moment. The bushfires in Victoria are a continuing tragedy, and floods in the north are causing huge problems. We were fortunate to arrive after the very hot weather here in Sydney so it’s been comfortable but has hardly stopped raining. We would send it south if we could..

Making lists of things to do, catching up with family and friends, and not too jet-lagged this time so it is good to be home really.

sad time

We have returned home to visit earlier than we expected, to sadly farewell Lionel’s father who died last Monday. He lived a good and long life, as attested to by the many family members and friends who gathered for his funeral yesterday. We greatly appreciate the sympathy and support we have received from our friends and colleagues.

We will be staying for a few weeks and look forward to catching up with some of you soon.

1st Sunday

The first Sunday of each month is free day at the national museums in Paris, and many of the city museums have free times too. Although they can be crowded, taking advantage of these schemes is important because it supports the idea that art should be accessible to everyone. I believe we need to contribute too, and making a donation or buying a catalogue if you can is a good idea. Mind you, I think we could spend every first Sunday at the Louvre for the whole 2 years we are here, and still not finish!

We visited l’Orangerie with friends, and then on to the Louvre on Sunday, moving quickly in the freezing wind from museum to cafe to museum and home for hot chocolate! Sure enough on Monday there was snow again, although this time it turned to rain and slush and was all gone by the end of the day. I managed to take some nice photos, one of which is now hanging on our wall (still working on printer settings though!).