Sunday Mornings in Paris

I am currently enjoying the pleasure of helping my sister-in-law plan her trip to Paris and other parts of France.  

I could do this for a living!  

Before our first trip to Paris so many years ago I studied so hard for so long, learning the city that when we came up the stairs out of our R.E.R. stop I walked us straight to our hotel, without even using a map. I was only 25 and it felt like quite an accomplishment.

The city is burned into my brain.  

One suggestion I will give my SIL in our next round of correspondence is to be sure to enjoy Paris on a Sunday morning.  Sure, it would be fun to groove the night away at the Bain Douche or even some dumpy little local club like Club Z... but if you save enough energy for Sunday morning... you will have Paris all to yourself.  It's a photographers dream.  The bistro chairs will be stacked atop each other in the café windows and the only people you will encounter are a handful of indulgers stumbling home and the hotel keepers washing off their front door step with a mop and a bucket.  You can walk right out into the middle of the Blvd. St. Michel and snap a photo like I did here.

I hope to go again with my whole clan in the next two or three years... 

Any plans for Paris??

The Engagement Session...

Now, I never did get that call from Will and Kate to do theirs...

 BUT I have the pleasure of capturing the adoration between my sister and her betrothed last week!  

Six more months!  

I have not updated my website in forever which is a shame cause in the last year or so I think I have improved a bit but "for all your photographic needs"...

Angela Joy Photography

People. Places. Things.

Have camera will travel! 

 Yes, even to Paris... if I must!  HA!

Can you imagine being a Parisian wedding photographer?

I think I just peed my pants even thinking about it!

Happy New Year All!

This coloring is a bit jacked... if I would actually take/find the time to learn Photoshop for REAL and not just fart around with it... sigh.

FOURTEEN MORE DAYS!

Yes, I know. It's cliche - the whole "hand heart" thing.

Tried self-portrait belly shots today.

What a pain.

Where is Juile Harris when you need her?

Some turned out pretty but I had to edit them to high heaven cause I was out of focus. That's what happens when you are running back and forth from the front to the back of the camera.

I tried to get some with the kids on either side of the belly.

Ya right.

Mayhem.

As much of a horrible pregnant person as I make I do love the look of pregnancy and I just wanted to capture a couple photos that I had rigged up in my mind. Let's just say I did NOT capture them - and though I wasn't nu it's not like you can run around SHOWing people the photos so maybe I am a bit let down.

Might try again if a poof of energy comes my way...still have to make the belly cast...why I do those when they are just laying in a closet...guess I have fantasies of gesso-ing them and hanging them up like some sexy, feminine piece of art...where? I don't know but I have one for the other pregnancies so what am I gonna do ... pass this time?

Today Aidan asked if we could name "Le Troisieme" - "Junior".

We have all got it pretty bad around here. Even, just-turned-two Amélie has been sleeping with her #88 pink sock cap on - hilarious.

Just how many more days until Daytona anyways? Gonna have to get this one a little Junior onesie - the only one we have has little red #8 cars on it.

Sorry these posts are so lame.

I am just waiting and waiting ...

Mon Jardin et le fin d'été...

Je suis un peu triste...j'aime mon jardin et je déteste l'hiver...

Voila mon jardin et tout son colour á le fin de l'été.

Color is hanging on...even this late in September.

Blue eyes more handsome than any flower.

Savez-vous planter les choux...ils sont faux, ils sont faux. (Should I give a prize if you "get" this?) I removed my crispy, half dead "toonies" and opted for some mums and cabbage. I really don't care for mums but they were trés cheap and say "late summer." Can you tell I refuse to say the "f" word yet?

Letting the purple bean pods dry for next years seeds.

How to disguise ugly outdoor children's furniture. They loved it.

Terra Cotta. I don't have alot and could never get enough.

One of my favorite looks in the garden is roses with herbs. Roses with lavender, Roses with Ladies Mantle and Roses with Sage as seen here. If I could plow the entire thing under and start all over it the combination of roses with herbs would be my first choice

Entrez-vous.

Gravel path lined with Thyme. Again, something I could never have enough of (pun intended!)

Gardening shoes for pregnant ladies with ultra flat feet. SO UGLY I KNOW!

Got Leeks?

Aidan's new trick. Jumping out of the giant burning bush. We are headed into an entire new chapter of boyhood. I am holding on for dear life.

No words.

It took 7 years but I FINALLY have "Love Lies Bleeding" aside from my Purple Globe Thistle...well, they are both so unique.

An old mirror reflects my waterfall so you can enjoy it coming or going. Yes, I should have windexed it before the photos but there are a lot of things I "should" do.

I am thrilled about this late color. We have a very nice amount of it this year. Years of strategy are finally paying off.

The main path.

Black Opal and Sweet Basil.

Concrete Coleus.

Long Shadows and the Wellies. (Worn before my feet began to ache.)

Flagstone terrace...and the neighbor's car in the background...ugh.

It's been mentioned in posts long since past but this is the fountain we found for forty dollars a few years ago. Still unbelievable. I am trying to convince dear husband to bring it into the front porch for the winter. He has choice words for me every time I bring it up...and reminds me what life will be like for us if he has to have hernea surgery again. :)

Thank you for strolling thru my late summer garden. I am going to enjoy it until the last petal falls...

A Franco-American Breakfast

The Man of the Place has been working again and I find myself truly appreciating Saturdays. This morning, though much, much too early we awoke to find the earth covered in gray clouds and much needed rain.

Surely now the pole beans will produce!

But this morning my mind was not in my Potager. It was in Paris.

How I love Paris.

How I miss Paris.

Five years and counting but the smell of diesel still makes me swoon and a dreary rainy morning puts me right on the Boulevard Montparnasse, watching the resident cat and laying aside my ridiculous desire to charm that one cranky waiter who works under the awning at...

Le Select.

I love Paris when it drizzles.

Le Select is an old Hemingway haunt but never mind that. It's an old Parisienne Farmgirl haunt and on rainy, drizzly mornings it haunts both myself and The Man of the Place. We can almost feel the buttery croissants between our fingers and taste the best chocolat chaud on that side of town. None of those little wussy cups that leave us fat and sassy Americans longing for more. At Le Select you can order a private little pitcher of hot chocolate to sugar yourself silly. Avec Chantilly, mais bien sur.

This morning a little memory making was in order - Stateside. And I thought a Franco-American breakfast would do the trick. So, with every window in the house open to hear and enjoy the drizzly Parisian rain we enjoyed scrambled eggs and bacon (for the American in us) and sliced and toasted (longways of course) baguette with freshly homemade Lemon Curd and Confiture de Myrtilles. Blueberry Jam.

On Pandora we enjoyed Claire de Lune (Parisian type jazz not Debussy) and with a piping hot French Press the stage was set.

When visiting Paris many café's will advertise "American Breakfasts" but promise me you will never order one. Instead, head on over to Le Select and order a typical French breakfast of fresh croissant, baguettes, jams and café au lait or chocolate chaud. Bring your notepad and try to have a Hemingway moment or sit and enjoy some of the best people watching in town.

Pardon the photo quality - all my Paris photos are prints - pre-digital and I just can't bare to get out the scanner so I just take photographs of my photographs. Nerdy, I know.

Les Photos...

Yesterday I had my first official wedding.  Oh boy.  What alot of work!  I had Mom with me MERCI DIEU!  Here are a couple photos, after I get more done on this old dinosaur of a computer (that has crashed four times since I started!) I will put the link up to my Photography blog so you can see the rest...now you can stop stalking me Juls!  :)

No, seriously.  Mom, Juls, Jen, thanks for your support and your answers to my forty thousand questions.  It's going to be a learning process but I think I will get the hang of it!

Changeons le Sujet

Hopefully that is correct French for, "Let's Change the Subject"

Alors, A breath of Paris preserves the soul. 

While a fanciful statement, I need a B.O. break. How about a look at me experiementing with my new camera lens...et tous mes Tour Eiffels.

A vintage watercolor given to me by my beloved cousine Jennifer.  I can't imagine how she might have liked to keep if for herself.

An old earring from High School attached to my chandelier.

2000 Trip - yes, me with Madonna blonde/red hair.  Yikes.

2000 Trip.  Cluching Joel in sheer excitement.  My first moments in her presence.

My desktop collection in black and white.

Another grouping.  This one I got at "Epcot" in their mini "France"

My desktop collection in color.  Oui, some of those are antique pencil sharpeners.