more survivor tips

I considered my situation in which I have no responsibilities to feed anyone except Miss Murray and I don't cook for her and then I created the following order: one dozen tubs of yogurt, 16 oz of raw almonds, pound + of proscuitto, 2 cantaloupe and some feta cheese. I think I can dine quite successfully on these foods for a month without having to cook until Kate gets home. Of course there is that cute little piccolo cafe which has warm croissant at 8 am every morning....But I an't doing no cookin'

and I'm reading Kathryn Stockett's The Help which I had long avoided. While it's terrific it also makes me uncomfortable because although it is set in Mississipi --how do you spell that? -- there are enough women in this book who remind me of my mother and how I was raised...How did I get to where I am today? Who cares. I'm just glad to be here.

This is my first weekend alone and I plan to stay up until midnight reading this book. Believe that?

keeping Body and Soul together

I gotta change these photos from last summer and replace them with some shots of Paris which probably means that I have to learn how to upload pix rather than ask for someone else to do it. There are many things I don't know how to do, don't really want to know how to do or don't want to do. Does this make me a bad person? i think not. Our housekeeper is going on vacation for 2 weeks and I, poor darling, will be faced with using the damn vacuum cleaner-- there is always a first time -- doing laundry which I won't do, I will hand wash stuff and in general taking care of the apartment. If there is anything that sends me into a dead faint it is housework.

Cooking, even in the summer, is fine. Although this summer I've discovered a wonderful little cafe that is half a block away from the house and so I can swan in there at 7 or so and go home with a delicious dinner that I haven't made. I am now stock piling recipes for our week in Maine because that is the time that I do what I would call Mommy cooking. Arnie will do some cooking but it's basically 3 meals a day for the girls - Kate plus Lile, Arnie, me and Grandma Dot.

camp

Now know why my parents sent me to camp: good clean air, sports, learning how to be a team player and lots of activities for two months. Oh, but here's another reason: time away for everybody.

Arnie will be here this weekend to help me get Kate off to camp on Saturday. We will have the weekend together in the City and summer city weekends are my faves and then next week it's downtime with Miss Murray in the big city.

What else can I say?

It's hot, hot, hot here and News Flash: I'm actually wearing a dress.

where Kate goes to Paris, eats escargot and gets patted down by Security

Okay, okay, I haven't blogged for days. A girl deserves a vacation! And off we went to Paris for a week and although we didn't meet the Queen or Mr. Sarkozy, we had a gorgeous devine time. 5 wonderful days in a borrowed apartment-- a quick stroll from the Marais and the Place de Vosges -- that was haunted by Musika and Chausettes, 2 rather large and spoiled cats which made me feel more secure about leaving Miss Murray in New York. While we were in Paris, Anne LaGarrigue and her family were living in our New York apartment and seeing the sights.

We were a travelling foursome: me, Kate, Lydia and her Mom Anne. We arrived in Paris on a hot and sultry Sunday morning and within 24 hours were able to map out a military type assault on the cultural institutions of Paris. Actually Anne and Lydia spearheaded these invasions and Kate and I were grateful to grab our Museum passes, bottles of water and step right along. Our first stop was the Louvre and after we saw La Pyramide, the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and the world's camera toting hordes, I felt that I had completed my cultural obligations to Kate. Lunch and a Batann type death march in incredible heat from the Louvre all the way up the Champs Elysees completed most of our day and we topped it off with dinner at one of my favorite left bank restaurants but oh, woe, it was way too hot to eat real food in a space without AC or what the french call climatization. Which few places that we frequented seem to have had.

We saw other Museums -- Kate said oh wow when she first saw the interior of the Musee D'orsay --ate in other restaurants, learned that buying stamps at the post office was incredibly complicated and sweated on a great boat ride along the Seine. Finally the heat broke and we were able to get over our jet lag and actually enjoy being tourists. We selected a local cafe as our morning start -- we didn't want to cook and frankly I had no understanding of all their high tech stuff --and then set out to see the sights. In retrospect I realize how amazing the girls were : They saw the Museums that they and we wanted them to see, really seemed to have appreciated them and walked for miles without whining. Lydia spearheaded a tasting of escargot and Kate tried one too. Garlic, she said, they taste of garlic. Of course

So we also saw Notre Dame, the Rodin Museum which was featured so prominently in Midnight in Paris, spent some time in the Pompidou Center -- not me because I thought I had a rendez vous with destiny -- went up to the 16th arrondisment to visit the Musee Marmottan and then had a great lunch at a neighboring sidewalk cafe with the best madeleines ever. Mid week we met up with Corinne, Juanita and Corinne's sister Brigitte at a restaurant near L'Opera which was great fun and then the next day we straggled into Galeries Lafayette which was so busy that you wanted to run screaming from the building. Or that was my inclination. Sacre Coeur took up the earlier part of the day. Oh, yeah, I remember now that we walked from Sacre Coeur to Galeries Lafayette.

Friday Anne and Lydia went back to the Louvre but Kate and I decided on a day of sybaritic pleasure: shopping. Unfortunately that morning I had trouble finding anything to wear that wasnt saturated with cat pee. Bad day there and I spent some of my morning washing clothes and trying to be light hearted. Ever tried to do that when your clothes stink. Well, I wans't entirely successful. Of course, here again, I had no idea how to use their washing machine but to be honest I don't know how to use washing machines anywhere. That's what Eva does for us! Then Kate and I were off to stroll through our neighborhood which was lined with small cheap dress shops which said that they sold only to the trade. then we hit big time which was my favorite square which has St. Sulpice and the Dior store. Or had. The square is still there, the waiters are still surly and slam your coffee down on the table but the church has been cleaned and is now so sparkly white that I thought I was in the wrong place, and the Dior store is no more. While that wasn't our destination, Dior that is, anyway we strolled through some of the Luxumbourg Gardens because for me exploring is the real pleasure of Paris.

Kate and went shopping and bought some great white walking shorts for her and two replacement back packs for me. Then a romper with Turkish pants for Kate but nothing so exciting for me. A serendipitous lunch choice at some smallI Italian place so we could sit outside and then off to buy Arnie a gift. A perfect day which we capped off with a dinner at Ma Bourgogne at Place des Vosges. Oh my god that square is so beautiful especially when they shut it and all the tourists have to leave. What a mellow place.

What have I left out?

We got home safely! And then had dinner with Anne LaGarrigue, her husband and daughter on my roof on Thursday after we returned. Very charming people who really made the most of New York and loved it. We love that.