An Interesting Parallel

Prior to our California family vacation this summer, including to my husband's favorite city in the United States, San Francisco, we discussed with friends which cities were our favorites. After quite a bit of thought, I realized that my favorite city in the United States was (fortunately for me) Washington, D.C.. Bear in mind, I haven't been to every wonderful place in this country, but I have been fortunate to travel to a number of places. This figuring of favorite locations got me to thinking. What was my favorite city in all the locations that I have been able to visit?  It didn't take long for me to come up with Quebec City in Canada. Then it didn't take long for me to realize that there are similarities to Quebec City and Dinan, France, where I will be living in 49 days! Both are French speaking, I can find delicious crepes in both locations, cobblestone streets are the order of the day, they are both walled cities, and there are lovely old stone buildings everywhere. To see more of Dinan, you may go to this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCdMpGDvPt4&feature=player_embedded  I am getting more and more excited! That said, I am also getting more and more nervous. As I am typing here, my son is watching Looney Tunes (I'm watching too, of course) and Pepe Le Pew is on. I can't understand ANY of the French from a cartoon skunk. What am I going to do with real people?

There are lots of moving parts to this trip. I am now figuring out how to pack my art supplies to carry on the plane with me. I know that you may wonder why I am not shipping the supplies. Well, the cost for shipping the supplies would be around $700.00. I call that prohibitive when I have to consider having a GPS for the car that everyone says I MUST have. The $700.00 can go toward that all-important GPS. I am in the process of booking a room in Giverny for my friend Sarah and me to stay on the first night of our journey. We are getting to see the Monet Foundation by the skin of our teeth since Giverny is closed from November through March. I still need to find and book a room in Paris for the end of our stay. I need a waterproof coat since I am expecting rain and lots of it. I am thinking that if I get the waterproof coat that it may ward off the rain! Fortunately, I stopped obsessing about the invitations to the reception that I will need to host at the end of our stay. This ensures that there will be other things to obsess about right around the corner. With that in mind, I have included an image here of a work that I have in progress for my show at the Workhouse in November. I have included images of this painting in my past post. The pieces that I am making are inspired by that family trip that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. So, rather than obsessing about France, I will obsess about having work ready for the show in November!