Happy Anniversary Weekend!


Today, Eric and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. We like to plan our summer vacations around July 22 to make our anniversary extra special. Since our honeymoon in Hawaii in 2005, we have spent our anniversary in Key West, Newport, Mystic Seaport, New York, Toronto, Montreal, Québec, and Niagara-on-the-Lake. This year, due to a new job, we aren't able to take vacation until later this summer. Yet, we had a lovely anniversary weekend, right here in Milwaukee.

Friday evening we had a sunset picnic on our boat and watched the Festa Italiana fireworks. Saturday, we finally went sailing! With a 10-15 knot breeze from the west, it was absolutely beautiful on the lake. Dotting the horizon were sailboats of every shape and size, including the 3-masted Great Lakes schooner, Denis Sullivan and a fleet of boats competing in the 104th annual, 333-mile race from Chicago to Mackinac Island. I have followed the the Chicago-Mac race since I was a little girl, enjoying my dad's stories and photos of when he participated in the 1940's and 1950's.

This morning, we had a lovely Champagne brunch at Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro, my favorite French restaurant in Milwaukee. Our table was beside the windows, overlooking the bluff and Lake Michigan. The views and the food were extraordinary! After brunch, we visited the art museum for the Posters of Paris exhibit. As much as we would have liked to travel for our anniversary, being on the water always feels like a vacation, and the food and art almost made me feel like I was in Paris!

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Our "staycation" was a feast for the senses:

Sight: The soft hues of the blue sky fading into a golden pink sunset; the brilliant colors of the fireworks reflected on the water; vibrant text and images of 19th Century Paris posters...

Sound: The whoosh of the waves against our hull; the crisp snapping of the wind in our sails; the booming fireworks echoing across the lake; the screeching of the seagulls; the iconic songs of Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, and Charles Trenet...

Smell: The familiar, if sometimes unpleasant, scents that indicate the direction of the wind; the lingering sulphuric fumes of the fireworks; that distinctly summer smell of sunscreen; the delicious aromas of freshly brewed coffee...

Taste: A lime in my boat drink; a galette with sautéed mushrooms, savory ham, and creamy Gruyère; a velvety mousse au chocolat; and of course, sparkling Champagne (can't you taste the bubbles?)...

Touch: The warmth of the sun on my shoulders; the cool breeze blowing through my hair; the wet lines tugging at my hands; the cleat that "bit" my shin; the pinch of my 4" Kate Spade peep-toes (my feet are in summer mode - Sperrys & Repettos!); and most of all, my husband's warm, strong hand holding mine...It was a happy anniversary :)
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For more pictures of our weekend, follow me on Instagram

Joyeux 14 juillet!


Happy Bastille Day to all of my French and francophile friends! I would love to celebrate La Fête Nationale in Paris, to watch the military parade along the Champs-Elysées and this year's disco-themed fireworks display at the Trocadero. Even the cool temperatures and the rain sound good to me this year! However, if I can't be in France for the 14th of July, Milwaukee is actually a great alternative. The 31st annual Milwaukee Bastille Days celebration is taking place in Cathedral Square this weekend, featuring live music, cooking demonstrations, food and wine tastings, a "Storm the Bastille" 5K, street performers, and an international marketplace. The pièce de résistance is the 43-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower, rivaled only by the Eiffel Tower sand sculpture created at this summer's Lakefront Festival of the Arts.  To add to the Gallic ambiance, Intouchables is still playing at the Downer Cinema, and the Milwaukee Art Museum is featuring an exhibit of Posters of Paris, showcasing the work of Toulouse-Lautrec and his 1890's contemporaries. Vive la France à Milwaukee!
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Je viens d'écrire comment on peut bien fêter le 14 juillet à Milwaukee, mais grâce aux bons amis et à la technologie de FaceTime, j'ai eu le grand plaisir de regarder le feu d'artifice en direct de leur balcon à Paris! Cette année, le spectacle rend homage au disco avec les plus grandes tubes et une énorme boule à facettes, suspendue de la Tour Eiffel.

Voici le spectacle y compris la musique:




Talk about the weather...

When most people think of Wisconsin weather, they imagine "The Frozen Tundra" of Green Bay Packers' games. After all, Wisconsin is "Up North." Wisconsinites joke that there are only two seasons here: winter and road construction. Our winters are so brutal that our highways are often destroyed by ice, salt, and snow plows. When the weather warms up, orange cones appear everywhere, adding precious minutes to our daily commutes. Vacationers, many from neighboring states, must endure heavy traffic and seek alternate routes to access Wisconsin's miles of shoreline and acres of forests. Yet, people rarely complain about Wisconsin summers. Wisconsinites of hardy Nordic stock (I'm an Olson-Larson) bravely endure the brutal winters, knowing that summer will bring long, lovely days! The average high temperature from June through September is 78 degrees Fahrenheit with about 3.5 inches of rain per month. In the evenings, temperatures often dip into the fifties, perfect for a pleasant night's sleep with the windows open.

I absolutely love summer! I was married on a glorious 80 degree day in July with a gentle breeze. And yes, I know I have almost three months off of teaching, but I hope you don't believe that teachers don't work during the summer. Nevertheless, I look forward to cultivating my flower garden, reading on the deck, taking my nephews to the beach, the park or the zoo, and most of all, sailing. My husband and I purchased Sail la Vie a year after we were married. It may seem like a risky prospect, since sailing is so dependent on weather conditions, but for several years we enjoyed fair winds and sunny skies, sailing on Lake Michigan.

I certainly hope this summer in Wisconsin is an anomaly. Since the last day of school, the temperatures have been well above average and we haven't had a single rainy day.  I long for a good all-day "soaker" or a great thunderstorm. Since June 18, the temperature during the day has been well above 90 degrees. I took this photo in my car on the 4th of July - 109! We haven't even been able to head to our boat to escape the heat because, in addition to the high temperatures, we have either had no wind or gusts in excess of 25 knots. Many communities had to cancel their holiday fireworks and have placed restrictions on watering. Thankfully, my town is not one of them. Roadways are buckling in the heat, requiring even more orange barrels. Campfires are not allowed in most state parks; but who would want to camp in this weather anyway? Many crops have been destroyed, including our legendary Door County cherries. Corn and apple harvests are projected to be at an all-time low, and even Wisconsin's dairy cows are producing 20% less milk. Our two leading industries, agriculture and tourism, have suffered the greatest losses.

Oscar Wilde said, "Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative." Maybe it's just too hot to image writing about anything else, or maybe Marcel Proust got it right:

Un changment du temps suffit à recréer le monde et nous-mêmes. - 

"A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves."

Paris is always a good idea!

Having just subscribed to Netflix for our  #frenchfilmchat on Twitter, I have also had the pleasure of revisiting the films of my favorite actress, Audrey Hepburn. Of course, I absolutely love Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday, but I never realized how many of Audrey Hepburn's other movies were set (and filmed) in Paris - 9 to be exact!  Like Audrey, I love exploring Paris, though unfortunately, not swathed in Givenchy couture, sparkling in Cartier diamonds, or arm-in-arm with Carey Grant, Peter O'Toole, Fred Astaire, or Gary Cooper.

My first memory of Audrey in Paris was in Sabrina (1954). Sabrina Fairchild is the daughter of a chauffer catering to a wealthy New York family. Sabrina's unrequited love for David (William Holden), the younger of the Larrabee brothers, goes unnoticed until she returns from a two-years in Paris. The scenes depicting Sabrina's stay in Paris are clichéd, complete with romantic vistas and Piaf's La Vie en Rose, but none of the movie was actually filmed on location in Paris. Nonetheless, the film emphasizes the idea that Paris is transformative: "Paris isn't about changing planes; it's about changing your outlook!" Sabrina leaves Long Island the invisible daughter of the Larrabee driver and returns the object of not only David's affection, but of his frosty older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart), as well.  Who can forget Sabrina's/Audrey's affirmation that "Paris is always a good idea"?

My next visit to Paris with Audrey was in the 1957 film, Funny Face. This time, Audrey plays Jo Stockton, a Greenwich Village book shop clerk, whose beautiful yet intellectual look lands her a modeling job in Paris. Despite Jo's belief that modeling is "chichi and an unrealistic approach to self-impressions as well as economics," she accepts the offer to go to Paris to associate with her idol, Professor Flostre, founder of empathecialism (a funny, beatnik-era philosophy). Call me girly, but I love the make-over scenes and photo shoots, especially the scene in the Louvre with Audrey Hepburn juxtaposed against the Nike of Samothrace. I don't know which is more beautiful and graceful, the Winged Victory or Audrey, floating down the stairs in her red Givenchy gown! Don't you just love her dance moves, especially remixed to AC/DC's Back in Black for the 2007 Gap skinny black pants commercial? "Sometimes a girl wants to dance! It's nothing more than a form of expression, and I could certainly use a release!"

The next Audrey Hepburn film set in Paris was 1957's Love in the Afternoon, with Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier. Audrey plays Ariane, a young French cello student and daughter of detective Claude Chavasse.  Ariane becomes involved with an American libertine being investigated by her father for having an affair with a married woman. This is not my favorite Audrey Hepburn picture, but I did enjoy the charming Maurice Chevalier, the music including Charles Trenet's C'est Si Bon, and of course, the lovely scenes in Paris (the Ritz Hotel, the Palais Garner, the Château de Vitry)! We return to Paris with Audrey and Cary Grant in 1962's Charade,  Audrey plays Regina Lampert, a recently widowed American in Paris. Reggie gets caught up in her husband's murder and an elaborate plot to find a "quarter of a million dollar treasure" (How much would that be worth today?!). She  is confused by her feelings for Peter/Alex/Adam/Brian (whatever his name is!), played by Cary Grant. Charade takes us on a fast-paced chase around Paris, including scenes along the Seine, in the gardens of the Champs-Elysées, on a bateau mouche, in the Métro, and in the Palais Royal.

The final Audrey in Paris film that I've seen is 1966's How to Steal a Million with Peter O'Toole. Audrey plays Nicole Bonnet, grand-daughter of a wealthy art collector/forger, forced to steal one of her grandfather's "masterpieces."  Again, my favorite aspects of this film are Audrey's wardrobe (M. Givenchy is even given a nod when Nicole is disguised in a scub woman's clothing: "Well for one thing, it gives Givenchy a night off!"), the cool 60's cars and fashions, and above all the scenes in the Paris streets, the Ritz Hotel, and the hotel particulier at 38, rue Parmentier, in Neuilly (16e arrondissement).

I have yet to see Paris When it Sizzles (1964), Two for the Road (1967), or Bloodline (1979), but they are definitely on my list. Audrey and Paris are always a good idea!