Through a Window...Je Regard

Last week, I was the flu-ridden one; now it is my husband's turn.

So much for my plans for a nice little weekend meal of filet mignon, mushrooms and shrimp and pepper kebabs.

I'll freeze the meat and cobble something together with the rest.

C'est la vie.

Toni of Daily Bread Journal, one of my favorites and a frequent visitor in my kitchen, has tagged me to reveal five more random facts.

I will tell you this: I will never tire of Paris. Neither will you, in all likelihood, or we would never have crossed paths, although there are far better places to go for information on the City of Light.

Paris is of course different things to different people. No two Parises are the same.

One of the Parises my husband and I viewed was from the window of our little 7th arroundissement apartment. When our feet were tired, we poured another glass of Provencal wine and sat at the little table in front of the window to watch the passing parade of Parisians and others.

The large office building across the street - so close you could touch it! - was an English company, we thought, which employed French as well as English workers. The Land Rover, we speculated, belonged to the head honcho, surely a Brit.

I was most intrigued with a woman who worked long into the night one night, probably on some report due at the end of the week. My husband liked watching the workers who took bicycles or motorcycles to work. As soon as we returned home, he vowed to take his own bicycle to work, which he did every sunny day for the rest of the summer.

Watching people is essential if you are to experience a Paris of your own. Sometimes, it is enough.

"Je regard," I have learned to say in shops where I can find nothing to buy - or nothing I can afford to buy.

Looking is enough, I have learned, and it saves you a great deal of money, which can be set aside for trips to Paris.

This winter has been a long and rough one. The snowfall and bitter cold were bad enough, but then everyone I know has been stricken with this dreadful flu. So I took myself to the local department store this weekend to look. Just look. There was no need to buy anything. I saw a few things in pretty pastels or bright colors that inspired me and made me feel better.

"Je regard," I said to myself, stashing my leftover ones into a jar earmarked for travel.

There must be five things about me buried in the text above.

What have you looked at lately?