Sunday, September 02, 2007

Gotta keep you guys guessing about what I'm going to post next. I think it's time for some more scenes of Paris. Those always seem to be buildings or architectural details though, don't they. I guess that doesn't take much guesswork. Hmmm, I am rather predictable.

Oh shoooot. I'm an idiot. It's 3:30 in the afternoon and I just remembered that today was the first Sunday of the month and some museums are free. Generally not the ones I most want to see, but still.

I took these pictures on my walk to the park on 26 August. I can't believe this is a Morgan Stanley office building, but that is what the plaque in front says.

I've started taking a closer look at the massive doors on a lot of the buildings around here. Some of them are the real old oak doors, like I think these are, but others are painted and one appeared to have veneer peeling off. This set of doors was in gorgeous shape.

I LOVE the carved lion above the address number. Or cat, or some kind of critter.


This is a detail from a different building, close to Parc Monceau in the 8th arrondisement. I would say this is a big cat of some kind. Lynx?

And on a completely different note, the only poop your scoop sign I've seen in Paris. And the park is a free wi-fi zone too.


I've been surfing the internet looking for cool Halloween sites. I like decorating objects for grown-ups, not kiddy marshmellow ghost "crafts". I discovered that one of my favorite artists, Debra Schoch aka HopHopJingleBoo, now has a blog as well as a website. Debra makes the best papier mache jack-o-lantern people, black cats, witches, etc. Take a look at this grouping here and there are some more here. Debra also does great Christmas and easter/spring critters too. She's been showing her Halloween decorating recently in her blog and it is an absolute hoot. I'm envious.

I actually bought a book on papier mache, some paperclay and fake papier mache (just add water), and Halloween colored acrylics with the plan of one day trying my hand at this. Hmm, been carrying that from one place to another for awhile. My excuse in Cairo was that I didn't have a good place to do it. Here I've got my own work table, but still have the cats to worry about. yes, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

ROZ, glad you tried the Stuart MacBride book. The next one in the series, Dying Light, is good as well. Have you read Ian Rankin too? Also excellent although his protagonist, Rebus, is quite a bit more disfunctional than Logan MacRae is.

3 comments:

Quilts And Pieces said...

I love the faces carved in those doors!

Unknown said...

Love that Lynx carving - I got a set of the first 10 Rebus books from an office bookseller and totally indulged myself this summer break reading one after another - bliss - probably why not so much sewing went on - must try and pick up his later ones now - there wasn't one I didn't like among them. BTW the vast majority of municipal museums have totally free entry in the UK - not sure how we managed to wangle that as local government isn't renowned for giving anything away but it's an excellent facility

Clare said...

That's one of the things I love about French architecture - the doors! Our front door is the original one. Would you believe 1776!

I love the Halloween crusty. France goes mad for Halloween. Wait for a week or 2 and then the decorations will start going up in the shops.