TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN

I took a break from everything: singing/performing, appraising, blogging, cleaning, landlording and all the other things I normally do in a week and went on vacation. Europe in April for 3 weeks was a vacation BUT I did some work via the internet. For 5 days last week I did none, so I'm calling it a real vacation (but La shouldn't a "real vacation" be no work or nothing for, like, 2 weeks? Well, yes it should, but in my world that ain't gonna happen soon!!).So in that spirit here's a break from my current blog theme of Europe and a post on our week in MI. We are fortunate to have dear friends (like family) who live on Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City. It's a bit like Diana Vreeland's famous quote "first you must arrange to be born in Paris" (paraphrased)- first you must arrange to know great people who live in this gorgeous setting, with the East and West Bays of Lake Michigan on either side, and have them invite you every summer to come and stay with them. It's even nicer if they love your children and have plenty of room for everyone; a bonus if they own 2 adorable dogs and a boat. And so we do and so we go.... It's an easy 6 hour drive thru a rather long state and the further north you get the more it looks like summer camp: blue skies, green pines and lots of shimmering lakes. Old Mission Peninsula juts into the lake and is simply super picturesque: vineyards and wineries, small old churches, a general store dating from the 1800's and lots of flowers in riotous color growing wild and in gardens. We saw a sweet set of scarecrows: a couple dressed in old fashioned dress clothes, each with a hat, he sporting a suit and she a lilac swing coat. We ate at Fleet Street which is a small bar that, in the front graveled ex-parking lot, has about 7 food trucks: sushi, pulled pork, salads and wraps etc. One sells margaritas - grapefruit, strawberry, lime - all made with freshly squeezed juice. Everyone chooses their current favorite and settles at the picnic tables to share and enjoy. We ate at J&S Hamburg - an old fashioned diner with excellent food. The owners are a couple, she runs the front of the house and he's the chef. Best: BLT; any breakfast - the pancakes are divine, the fruit stuffed french toast delectable; and don't miss the chili. We ate there 3 times in 5 days. We ate (see a pattern here?) at Patisserie Amie and it's also highly recommended. As the name implies it's a French bakery - didn't sample, but the display case looked as good as those we just saw in Paris! We did have an assortment of crepes: crab for my son, asparagus/ham/bechamel for me, foie gras for my husband,eggs benedict for one daughter and baguette with confiture for the other. Cafe au lait and fresh peach juice too. You will eat well in TC. The Cherry Festival was the week before we came, which is fine as the crowds are not to my liking AND the cherries were actually at their peak the week we were there. Stores such as Cherry Republic and American Spoon sell (and sample!) salsas, jellies, candies - and much more - that feature the wonderful produce that grows in this fertile area. We returned home with honey and assorted salsas and jams that will remind us of our trip for months to come. Another stop was Northern Latitudes Distillery a hand crafted small batch distillery with spirits created from Michigan's bounty! We sampled limoncello, horseradish vodka (Bloody Mary anyone?), Ginger liqueur and Jack Pine gin. Had a salad/sandwich lunch in the adjacent restaurant and then choose several bottles to bring home. Of course we spent time on the beach - Lake Michigan is crystal clear, a gorgeous blue of varying shades that is reminiscent of the Caribbean. We made s'mores over a fire. We simply talked and laughed and enjoyed one another's company. The only problem with a full on vacation is returning to the inevitable build up of work upon returning home - but I love my home and my life so all's well here in Paris on the Cuyahoga.

PARIS DAY 4

Today is the day to head to the northeast quadrant of the city, to the 18th arr and the 20th arr to see Sacre Coeur and Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. The area of Montmartre was once the outskirts of town, scene of vineyards and farms, but now a charming, rather hilly area of the city of Paris. There is still a small area with a few vines and - being beautiful Paris - the bistros are often in reclaimed buildings looking much like they always have! Exiting the metro at the Anvers stop we are greeted with sunshiny blue skies, flowers, greenery and crowds of people. One can basically follow the flow of the crowd to the Sacre Coeur Basilica, a Roman Catholic church built on the summit of Montmartre and is therefore at the highest point in all of Paris. Lots of upward climbing steps later we enter the impressive, dark and cool church to walk the interior and light a candle for my father in law who regularly did just that for others in his lifetime. We tried not to be annoyed by the constant photo taking of some of the other tourists but this was difficult given the prominent signage asking that one not take photos in this religious spot. We encountered this bad behavior everywhere, tourists viewing life thru a camera completely oblivious to other patrons and the works of art that they are slowly destroying with their camera flashes. For lunch we stopped at La Cremaillere, which translates to "the rack"(at first I was excited that it was an old dairy or some such thing!) where we had a cocktail and a bowl of soup in the interior courtyard. The courtyard was charming featuring old looking signage, light green arches, hanging baskets of flowers and a large tree that was kept in place by the designer. La Cremaillere gets mixed reviews on the internet so I won't actually endorse eating there and, while the courtyard was pleasant and cool and a nice place to relax after a lot of walking, my favorite way to dine in Paris is at an outside table so I can people watch! Following our respite we metro'ed to the 20th arr and Pere Lachaise, which has it's own metro stop. This ancient cemetery is a fascinating place divided on the map (recommended, buy it upon entry if you plan to look for specific graves) into about 96 irregular areas. On a beautiful day its a pleasure to wander thru the park like atmosphere and wonder about the people who lay in rest there. Some of the graves are very simple, some are monumental. You can peek into small colored glass windows of mausoleums and see old dried flowers and photos placed there long ago. Marvel at the names etched on the stones - I spotted one for Le Duc which is the surname of Aimee, heroine of Cara Black's novels which I've mentioned before in this Paris series. We rambled over to see Jim Morrison and take a photo in our GBDB tee shirts for the band website; Jim's grave is fenced and guarded due to excessive fan behavior. My other 2 must sees: Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. After a long day of walking and sightseeing we headed back to the 5th arr and rested a bit in the hotel. For dinner we chose "our" local bistro Petit Pont, located,not surprisingly, on the left bank side of the Petit Pont bridge and Notre Dame Cathedral. At an outside table we had a leisurely meal of steak frites with a dessert of wonderful cheeses. Jake looked quite the Frenchman doing his best Yves Montand, or was it Jean-Paul Belmondo?, imitation. What a wonderful day.

Vacation

Taking a week off, heading to beautiful Traverse City, Michigan to hang out on the beach, hit some wineries, great restaurants and, most importantly, spend quality time (no distractions) with my husband and children and our great friends who live there. Grand Traverse Bay and the peninsula is one of the most beautiful places in the world: all blue sky and crystal clear water. xo, La

Day 3 in Paris: Easter Sunday

The bells of Notre Dame begin ringing at 8:15 am and continue for 10 minutes. We take a leisurely walk around the Cathedral and the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St Louis. So beautiful and I am jealous of the people who get to live here! If you like mysteries and Paris you might want check out Cara Black's novels, her heroine Aimee Leduc, lives in an apartment on the Ile St Louis she's inherited from her Grandfather. I have enjoyed this series very much. Anyway, after strolling the Iles we head east down Blvd St Germain to my favorite area (I'm so not alone in that!) of the city: the 6th arrondissement. Rue Jacob, which was home to many historical figures: Colette, George Sand, Baudeliere, Victor Hugo, Jane Birkin(!) and both Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin when in France, is a typical Parisian rue with a narrow street, ivory stone buildings and blue street name signs. We actually stayed on the Rue Jacob in 1989, but at the time didn't understand the significance of this beautiful quartier and how lucky we were to be invited to spend 2 nights in a private apartment. My sister in law's good friend was married at the time to one of the Clarins (yep-the skin care line) family. Didier and Jane took us to Les Halles and pointed us to an adorable little street Le Rue du Cherche Midi for dinner at a bistro there as well as inviting us to stay with them! One evening Didier whipped up dinner for us in their typical and tres petite kitchen and we'll never forget how delicious the bowtie pasta in tomato, ham and cream sauce was. I remember the large, old mirrors that lined the high ceilinged walls. I can't recall the street number or the large wooden entry doors to the courtyard which would have had the omnipresent entry keypad. Unfortunately that marriage has ended and we've lost touch with them both. During our walk we stopped at the bistro Tennessee for a cocktail and felt very at home taking our time and people watching. We strolled the 1st A. as well: the Louvre and Tuileries on our way home to the hotel. For our evening meal we went to Rue de la Huchette around the corner from our hotel for ham and cheese crepes. Huchette is very busy, touristy and, some say, to be avoided - but we had a great crepe and sort of enjoyed the madness of this little street - vendors, eateries, packs of tourists and packs of local kids out for the evening. Another book suggestion, highly recommended if you are interested in the 6th, is Into A Paris Quartier by Diane Johnson. She's also the author of several novels, Le Divorce being well known and also very good. Into A Paris Quartier delves into the history of this historic area which was also home to Reine Margot and the real Three Musketeers (and Henry Miller, Oscar Wilde (who died there) and....on and on). Diane is an excellent writer and you will be enthralled to learn the history of this area in such an engaging book. Again, very highly recommended. bisous, La

Really: Day 2 in Paris!

I spent quite a bit of time while we were in Europe trying to get a decent internet connection (with a 3 week itinerary I HAD to do some work!) and on day 2 we headed to the Apple store. I was able to get some satisfaction, but seriously when I needed a dependable source of internet I headed to the nearest Starbucks. Starbucks is plentiful in Paris, non existent in Rome. After the Apple store, which is near L'Opera we had lunch at L'Entreact, a very typical bistro. Two thirty five-ish Frenchmen sat next to us, they had the full on lunch ascribed to the French ending with small cups of espresso. Jake commented on the lack of: overweight people, tattoos and piercings, saggy pants! Not everyone looks like a fashion plate but they look quite presentable. In the evening we took a series of metro trains to the 19eme where an exhibition of David Bowie paintings was showing at the Philharmonie. The 19th is not what most people think of when envisioning Paris, very working class and immigrant heavy. Architecture not as stunning. We did a ton of walking as my husband was in charge of this particular outing and the long and short of it is: we never found the exact exhibition hall! But we did see a side of Paris we'd never seen before and we mastered the metro system. We met, once again, several very helpful Parisians. Giving up on the art we made our way back to the 5th and had a lovely dinner at the La Fountaine St Michel. Jake enjoyed a platter with salmon, ocean terrine, pate and I had quiche (I know!). Our waiter was the doppelganger of our friend Pete George who used to play guitar in our band and is now a successful comedian and actor living in L.A. xo La

Paris day 2

Or actually more of day 1! I think I'd better start abbreviating some of this or we'll never get thru our trip on this blog. On our way to the O'Kari we stopped at the newsstand to buy a Pariscope which is a weekly magazine that covers the current and forthcoming entertainment events in Paris over the coming week, including theatre, music and films. Again with the nice Parisians - we hadn't exchanged our money and had no Euros - the vendor said "allez" - he gave it to us!! We did return later to pay him. We stopped at Monoprix (an inexpensive chain store that sells a little bit of everything,the clothing and accessories looked very cheap to me) for bottled water for our room. You may know that the French love their mineral water and they have probably as many brands of bottled water as they have cheeses. We chose Volvic with lemon (citron) and both loved it. Not carbonated (or sans gas as they say). It became our 'go to' water while here but not everyplace carried it. We also hit the Pharma for some arnica gel.If you are not familiar with arnica look it up and get some, it's terrific for bruising and sore muscles. The pharmacies are marked with green neon crosses. The Tabac (busy as lots of people smoke in Europe) is marked with a red neon cross. The pharmacy is where you have to go for pain relievers, prescriptions etc. A parapharmacie more closely resembles a drugstore in the US with other products besides medicines available. The Parisians apparently have real problems with cellulite as the shelves are full of lotions for combating it! And scarves are for sale everywhere, along with mini Eiffel tower key rings. We passed. But we did end up with a selfie stick :)

Learning a language

I heard about a news feed on PBS yesterday and I thought it sounded really cool: newsinslowfrench.com and newsinslowspanish.com that's news in slow french or spanish in non url speak! what a great way to practice. I haven't had a chance to check it out. Please let me know if you do! Bon chance, La

Paris Day 1

Allright, back to the program! So here we are strolling thru the streets of the 5th. Stopping to kiss occasionally cause that's what everyone does! Boulevard St Michel is busy with locals and tourists - lots of people with rolling suitcases, couples - young, old and in-between, working singles moving at a good pace, families. We make sure to keep up with the flow or pull ourselves over to the side when we want to look at something or check our map (discreetly, bien sur) keeping in mind that is is a big, busy city and to stroll mindlessly in front of working people with places to go is not going to make you any friends. I think one of the issues that tourists have with Parisians is that sometimes the tourist doesn't keep this in mind and the French will cluck at you for behaving so rudely and being such a rube. I was so glad that I brought my trench coat - it's a uniform here! Mine has gold lame sleeves (see my profile pic) but most often I saw the typical khaki colored trench and often without the belt being worn, the coat just worn open. I had a reservation for 2 pm at the O'Kari Hammam, a treat I had arranged via email to decompress and kick off the trip. Owned by a lovely woman named Karima - who communicated with me only in french and kindly corrected my email mistakes - the hammam (french for steam bath) is located at 22 Rue Dussoubs in the 2nd Arr. Jake and I took the bus and had a bit of trouble finding the street and then finding number 22. I inquired of an elderly concierge and he so kindly took his big ring of keys, locked his big wooden doors and walked, in the fine rain that was falling, up and down with us till we spotted number 22. We buzzed the entry and were admitted to the private courtyard. O'Kari is located in the lower level - Karima warmly welcomed me, gave me a robe and a paper thong (!!) and showed me the steam room - gorgeous, tiled and very hot - and the serene blue pool outside the steam room to cool off between taking time in the steam. After I was properly steamed up I had a scrubbing - all over - whilst laying on a marble slab like some sacrificial lamb - and had to will my ever relaxing self not to slide off! The attendant showers you off (the floor has drains) and sends you to the massage room. There I did fall asleep - but I never fell off the table! Afterwards Karima gives you some mint tea and the choice of a pastry. She insists on 3 hours of your time saying that is necessary for one to feel the full effects and to fully relax. I had a nice conversation (conducted in broken English and broken French) in the steam room and again in the tea room with a french woman who actually called her daughter so that the daughter could talk with me and impress me with her good English :) Back in the fine rain I walked back to the hotel, again with a little help from some kind strangers. Seriously - if you ask, in your best French, they will stop and pull out a map from their pocket (happened more than once) and practically walk you there. Jake had done some exploring and cafe sitting while I was gone and now we went around the corner to a small resto for some dinner. My appetite was very dull and I had the onion soup which was just ok; Jake felt the same way about the mussels he ordered but we didn't care we were in Paris! Back to Hotel De Suez - very comfortable, clean and with the best reception staff - so friendly and helpful. Also terrific bathrooms - the shower was divine and the commodes have 2 buttons - 1 for #1 and 2 for #2 - very eco and not what you hear normally hear about European bathroom facilities. As a matter of fact all our hotels/apartments while there had excellent bathroom facilities. If you have any questions or want more details on anything just ask. xo, La

A break from my planned programming.....

Hello All. What follows is a copy and pasted Facebook post I made last night. I will return to blogging about my trip tomorrow, but this really got to me. Here is the post: I hope I can write this coherently. Tonight I was gigging with my group The PopTarts. As we were getting ready to start a man gave me the finger - I mean not flicking me the bird - but forcefully pushing his hand toward me with his middle finger up. I turned around thinking I must be mistaken. When I turned back he was still at it. It took me about 3 seconds to realize he was upset that we were wearing our rainbow boots and hats (an outfit we wear often and which had been chosen for this gig about a week ago and not to celebrate anything!). He started raving about having his granddaughters with him and he wasn't going to take this gay pride shit. He left with his, I presume wife, and granddaughters leaving me in a state of shock. Who thinks waving your middle finger at a group of women who sing 60s girl group songs is going to impress your grandchildren?? To the credit of the rest of his table and the other people at the club - who all stayed and had a great time - everyone said he was an ass and had been kicked out of 2 clubs already for his awful behavior. Still I was shaken. I have been in bands all my life. I have been in situations where I thought I might be raped or worse. Been pushed around by a would be boyfriend. But this was so shocking to me - more than anything that's ever happened to me. I was, by accident of birth, born a straight, white woman and have never been personally subjected to this kind of hate. It breaks my heart to think of all the people who deal with this hateful anger every day. All I can say is I will not stand for this in my life. It is time, people, for all of us who want to live and let live to set these hate mongers straight. We need to find a way to live in peace with everyone. The world depends on us to be strong and show respect to each and every person we meet. Thanks for listening and for showing up in your life and making a difference.

April in Paris

Jake and I had the great pleasure of spending the first week of April 2015 in Paris. We flew from Toronto to Charles De Gaulle airport, arriving at 8:30 am. We took the RER blue line to our hotel in the 5th arrondissement, the Latin Quarter. We stayed at the Grand Hotel de Suez which is where we stayed in 1989 on our honeymoon! What a joy it was to be back! I am going to make our trip the basis for the next blog entries, there is so much to tell - and after Paris we went to Rome, where we met up with our daughter, and we traveled on to Barcelona with her. We ended our journey in Belgium where Clementine's been studying for her junior year in college on the Loyola international program. Needless to say - what a wonderful vacation we had! I'll start at the beginning and hope you will enjoy a detailed account of our trip and what lessons I learned during our latest 3 weeks in Europe. I'll break it up in posts. We drove from home to Toronto which is a 4 1/2 hour drive. Flying Air Canada from Toronto was less expensive than flying from New York and NY is a much farther drive; additionally I wanted to fly Air Canada for comparison's sake. The flight leaves nightly at 7:30 pm and arrives early morning in Paris which is perfect. I enjoy driving with my husband, we tend to get a lot of interesting talk in. We left the day before our flight and arrived at Andrea's house in the Lesleyville area of Toronto. Andrea is an old friend who now enjoys dual citizenship and owns a record promotion business, she's an interesting entrepreneur and a lively lady. That evening we had dinner at a new, hot Mexican resto with A and her man. Toronto is a MUST - very international, very cool city. The following morning Jake and I explored the neighborhood - lovely cheese shops and boutiques and cafes etc. before leaving for the airport. For travel I dress comfy but chic: this time I chose to wear newer leggings - heavier material but still stretchy - and layered a tank with a few different tops over it, the final layer a dark denim shirt and my trench coat. Also my topper - a large scarf to be used as blanket, pillow, accessory, whatever it needed to be! I wore my new, but broken in (and ready for lots of walking!), waterproof suede ankle boots. We checked our bags even tho we had both packed only one carry on each! I do not like to lug stuff around, pas chic. Sometime I'll do a packing blog entry, we traveled for 3 weeks with 1 carry on sized bag each! Of course in my purse and the small bag I carried with me I had: earplugs, eye mask, ipad and some almonds, also toothbrush, wipes and water. It's been said a thousand times but be chic yet comfy - travel is exhausting and dirty; you may get cold then hot, need to sleep/relax in a fairly unforgiving seat etc and if you can peel off a few layers and then add them back as needed....you can at least be in charge of something!! The custom lines were ridiculously long but eventually we were on the aircraft - very last row!! I liked Air Canada, the meal was decent actually - a shepard's pie and then, with earplugs and mask on I actually got some rest. Arrival in Paris! We knew to take the blue line RER, but had to ask for help in getting the tickets from the machines. Everyone was very nice and helpful and I always attempted to communicate in french, which I believe pleases them. Tickets and luggage in hand (rolling actually) we took the metro to the stop at St Michel,just a couple of blocks from our hotel. Emerging from the underground into the beautiful light of Paris! The Seine and Notre Dame in view! So happy! Boulevard St Michel is bustling with tourists, locals and the stores and cafes that line it and we roll our bags to the hotel. They are glad to hold our bags until our room is ready so we use the restroom and freshen up and head out to shake off the travel and stretch our legs. To be continued..... xo La

A certain age

There is no denying it. No going back. No regrets? Well, the only thing we can really count on in life is that it will change and change it does. Because I've been gone from here 5 years I can't remember if I've ever written about black cohosh. If you are going thru THE change you may want to consider trying this herb for relief from some of the symptoms. Personally my biggest challenge was/is (hey they came back!!) the lovely sounding "night sweats". Recently they returned and my sleep became severely interrupted several times a night. Not chic. Then I remembered about the black cohosh. Recommended to take 2 capsules a day - I had relief the very first night after taking them! Black cohosh has worked for me and it might be helpful for you. Let us know if you try it and what your results are! xo La

La Rentree

I know it's not Autumn but I have just made a decision to immerse myself in what I love and it feels like new beginnings. What do I love? Well I have neglected this blog for about 5 years and reading thru the posts vividly reminds me of what. Writing, gardening, cooking, eating, reading,travel, Paris, music and more - it's what the good life means to me! So I'm back and making a promise to myself to keep writing and keep exploring what makes me happy in this life. Where have I been? Well my work life took off, my kids graduated high school and I've been living the frantic life of a crazy woman! Make money, keep moving, do what you think you need to do, not particularly what you love to do (don't get me wrong I love doing for my family, but all the rest of it? nuts!) Even so 5 years goes by like nothing. So this makes me realize even more that the time is now! What am I waiting for? Nothing this time. xo, La