Rats in the Cafe

Sometimes I'm not sure which photos I should be posting, the most recent or the oldest... Decided to go somewere in between with these unrelated bits and pieces from my walk on 2 July.

I thought these round cafe table posters for Ratatoiulle were clever, although I don't suppose you actually want to be thinking of rats when eating out. I passed by the cafe and they were gone today. I love the idea of Parisian cafes but the reality is that many of them are on very busy, noisy streets which doesn't help the romance of the situation any.

Another bit of clever advertising. A Smart Car seems like a toy to me anyway, but tint it pink and throw a fin on top and it is just adorable.

Dragons door handle.

I haven't seen many of these signs painted on the sidewalk, but I had no idea what they were until I read the book Old Scores by Aaron Elkins. They are meant to tell dog walkers where their charges are meant to do their business. In other words, dogs are supposed to poop in the gutters, many of which are flooded every day. For the longest time I thought Paris was having problems with their sewage system, but no, it's intentional.

Not a very practical system since there are almost always cars parked in the way, and the dogs just go on the sidewalk. And from what I've seen, not many owners bother to scoop it or even shovel it over into the gutter.

And lastly a gloomy pic of St Augustin.

Got another batch of DVD rentals in the mail yesterday. First, another excellent sampling of Freaks and Geeks, which I love and highly recommend (especially to those of you who were also in high school in the early 80's). Second, the first disc of Hex, a witchy teen drama/comedy which isn't even as good as Charmed, let alone the fantastic Buffy. There was many a time I was ready to throw in the towel and not even finish the disc, but I am rather pathetically desparate and it was good to quilt to. Have to say the last bit of episode 4 was intriguing, so I may just cave in and get the next few episodes.

Speaking of quilting, I finished the hand quilting on one of my small patriotic quilts, but haven't attached the binding yet. Now I'm deciding whether to move on to the next small one or go back and put more quilting on Liberty Blooms (it's definitely lacking some oomph).

I finished reading A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire. Loved it all the way through, although the first and last chapters were my favorites. Another quote:

Before the invention of synthetic dyes, there had been periods when the wheel of fashion had not favored bright color. Yet even when color was temporarily eclipsed, it had remained for most people an unquestioned symbol of wealth and power--and sooner or later the elite, tiring of subtlety and simplicity, had always returned to it. But the invention of factory dyes fundamentally altered the equation. They made color cheap, in every sense of the word. To many people in the upper classes, color became hopelessly vulgar. Its very ubiquity made it declasse.