8/11 through 8/19: Paris

Dear blog readers, I am so sorry it has taken so long to post this latest entry, what can I say . . .

8/11: Goodbye to Karina and Georgios on Paros, Greece. What a wonderful two weeks I had with these two wonderful people.

8/12 through 8/13: The Seine, Paris, at sunrise

Paris is, in my mind, the most beautiful city I have ever been in. Everywhere you turn there is such spectacular architecture. I was here for one week in both 1983 and 1985, but remember very little from those trips, and, or course, Paris has changed so much since then. I love the little alley ways, the cute shops, the outdoor cafes. And even though French pastries are made everywhere, there is no other place where they are this delicious.

It still has delicious and very picturesque fruit markets.

Beautiful and interesting architecture

But so much is new - these smart cars are everywhere

As are these three-wheeled motorcycles (I like to think of them as tricycles).

There are so many motorcycles in the city - all shapes and sizes.

This was very cool - the city has invested in bicycles which the Parisians can use - they can check them out of one station and return them to other stations. I don't know exactly how it works, but it is an effort to reduce congestion, reduce pollution, and help to create a healthier life style.

I saw a number of homeless people in Paris. During my early morning walks, I would see people going through the garbage. With my mind and heart still "in Asia," the stark difference between the rich and poor was pretty shocking as I am transitioning back to Western culture.

Reflection of a building in a building - I just liked this image.

Quote for the day: I am reading a beautiful book by Kathleen Dean Moore called Wild Comfort - The Solace of Nature, which explores the relationship between happiness and sorrow.

"Failing to notice a gift dishonors it, and deflects the love of the giver. That's what's wrong with living a careless life, storing up sorrow, waking up regretful, walking unaware. But to turn the gift in your hands, to say, this is wonderful and beautiful, this is a great gift - this honors the gift and the giver. Maybe this is what Hank has been trying to make me understand. Notice the gift. Be astonished at it. Be glad for it, care about it. Keep it in mind. This is the greatest gift a person can give in return.
"This is your work," my friend told me, "which is work of substance and prayer and wild attentiveness, which is the real deal, which is why we are here." (p. 19)

For me, the concept of "living a careless life" hit home. "Carelessness" is being sucked into the future and into the past. So how to remain conscious of the ever-flowing present, the "now" which continues to stretch from moment to moment, which is, of course, the only thing that "now" does, if you let it.

Notre Dame from the East

Notre Dame from the South

Notre Dame still

Notre Dame from the West

Close up of the beautiful stone work on Notre Dame

Eglise Saint Eustache (Notre Dame is not the only beautiful building in Paris)

Inside the church of Saint Eustache (hard to see in this small photo, but I love the image of the two people in the aisle looking up into the vastness of this space)

Sunset on the Seine

Quote from Wild Comfort, p. 36: "I confess: Wonder is easy when you travel to desert islands in search of experiences you have never imagined, in search of something you have never seen before, in search of wonder, the shock of surprise. It's easy, and maybe it's cheap. It's not what the world asks of us.

To be worthy of the astonishing world, a sense of wonder will be a way of life, in every place and time, no matter how familiar: to listen in the dark of every night, to praise the mystery of every returning day, to be astonished again and again, to be grateful with an intensity that cannot be distinguished from joy."

8/14 through 8/19: My sister-in-law Sheri and her 9-month old daughter, Poppy

For Sheri's 50th birthday, she offered to spend it with my family in Paris, so I met her in Paris. Being abroad for the past year, this was the first time I met my new niece, Poppy.

My son Noah

Sheri, and her partner, Eric, flew my wife, Christy and my son, Noah from Seattle to Paris (Natan, my younger son, opted to state in the States, for the trip to Paris coincided with a national Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Minnesota - his Seattle team lost in the finals).

Christy, Noah, Sheri and Eric at a falafel restaurant

Delicious French food - duck in honey sauce

Lamb in prune sauce

The Thinker - Rodin museum

Quote from Wild Comfort, p. 36: "And what is sand? - black urchin spines, fallen stars, unimaginable time."

Sacre Coeur church

Eiffel Tower at sunset

Quote from Wild Comfort, p. 64: "Prayer is when the night falls over thought." (by the French philosopher Alain)

Poppy - the star of the show

The sisters Christy and Sheri

Goodbye to Paris: Christy, Noah, Sheri, Eric and I - all focused on Poppy

Quote from Wild Comfort, p. 60: "I don't know any other way to move through darkness, but to put one foot ahead of the other and listen for the exact sound of our footsteps."

Sometimes this is where I feel that I am - in the darkness. There is no light illuminating the path ahead. At each foot step a multitude of paths exist. At each foot step a multitude of paths disappear. But what else to do other than keep on walking, trying to be as conscious as I can with each step.