Photos (Most recent posts are on top ...)
Here's me celebrating America's (near) victory in the knock-out round of the World Cup. We (almost) won. U S AAAAAAAAAAA. Posted June 28, 2010.
Ah, Paris. Where even the horses' tails have a French braid. Posted March 15, 2010.
So few people realize that writing is a DANGEROUS profession where we writers RISK OUR LIVES on a daily basis. Posted February 13, 2010.
My recipe for turkey takes all of about tens seconds to prepare. Posted December 30, 2009.
Um, I'm definitely going to order some perspiration; I just don't know which one yet. Posted October 28, 2009.
Here's a picture of me "sitting around" in Iran from back in April. Posted September 13, 2009.
View from the hotel in Nice. Okay, view from Bruno's room in the hotel at Nice; my room was in the basement. Posted August 28, 2009.
I tried to figure out why there was a gigantic man - in a fetal position - glued to the side of this building. I didn't succeed. When did Paris decide to put giant people on its buildings? This is the kind of thing that could be avoided by ASKING ME FIRST. Posted July 6, 2009.
I'm at a loss to explain how the library is any better now that it has a gigantic cartoon character on it. On the other hand, it isn't any worse. Posted April 10, 2009.
Oh, great. Now people have started double parking their carriages. Actually, I saw these people making a movie in the fall, then I saw the movie on TV the other night! Posted March 7, 2009.
Deborah, Alain, Coco and I braved the FRIGID temperatures to celebrate Chinese New Year, Paris style. Posted February 10, 2009.
Holy Quacamole! It's been so unusually cold in Paris lately that the Canal St. Martin froze! I've never seen that before. Posted January 14, 2009.
Favorite sporting event of 2008 is .... the Masters Series in Paris. Suprise ticket courtesy of Fabulous Alain. Posted December 29, 2008.
According to Le Figaro newspaper, this was an "unidentified" American celebrating in the streets of Paris after the Obama victory. It was meeeeeeeee!
Tamara's Halloween Party was a smashing success! Posted November 3, 2008.
Vote early, vote often - that's my motto! Here's my absentee ballot just before it starts ZOOMING its way towards the United States. Posted October 8, 2008.
The construction craze that has SWEPT through the apartments on my floor seems to have seeped downstairs too. Look what they did to the arch out front! Posted September 10, 2008.
Recently I've been seeing these old-fashioned buses around Paris. I wonder if they'd let me on with a nice, old-fashioned tariff? Posted July 20, 2008.
I snapped this pic the other day on a walk. Extra credit to anyone who can tell me where in Paris it is. Posted June 7, 2008.
The Alainator gets a free hug near the Trocadero. Note that he's riding one of Paris's free, self-service bikes. Really, what doesn't Paris offer? Posted May 11, 2008.
This is my favorite shade of green. The Place des Vosges seems to understand that spring has arrived, even if the weather refuses to cooperate. Posted April 19, 2008.
Here's my badge from the Salon du Livre. If I knew that being an author would get me into the Paris Book Fair for FREE, I'd have done it a long time ago! Posted March 18, 2008.
There isn't much to do in Paris in February except turn up the heat, makes some mulled wine, and watch Les Simpson ... Posted February 27, 2008.
OMIGOD! A SECRET ADMIRER gave me these BEAUTIFUL roses for my birthday! Ok, I got them for myself. And they're fake. But they were on sale at the BHV and I just couldn't say no. Posted January 18, 2008.
My sister was going to adopt a highway, but it seemed like too much effort, so she adopted a cat instead. Meet Chester! And Happy New Year everybody!! Posted January 3, 2008.
I made these cookies from the "Recipes for Disaster" cookbook. Strangely enough, though, they turned out okay. Posted December 9, 2007.
These are the least helpful microwave cooking instructions I've ever seen on cream of mushroom soup. They basically say, "Dump the soup in an appropriate vessel and heat it for a bit." Hey, thanks. Posted December 3, 2007.
I tried to make three-cheese tarts, but something went HORRIBLY wrong. Plus my kitchen now looks like a crime scene. Posted November 12, 2007.
The Rugby World Cup final between England and South Africa was held on Saturday night. We watched it at my place with Philippa (in honor of England) and some South African wine (in honor of South Africa). It took me until the next day to figure out what was very weird about this wine. How long will it take you? Posted October 21, 2007.
Bill and Dennis - the original 'mauvais garcons' were in New York, and they saw this fab exhibit at MOMA and, naturally enough, immediately thought of Design Flaws! Posted October 15, 2007.
Ali and I were at Cat's fantabulously tiny new apartment to watch the rugby match between New Zealand and France. I asked hundreds of stupid questions about the rules, but nobody got mad at me! France plays England next Saturday; it's no laughing matter! Posted October 8, 2007.
Central Paris was overrun by gyrating youths this weekend. Naturally, I thought it was the apocalypse, but it was only the 'TechnoParade.' These lads and lassies took advantage of some scaffolding just off the Rue de Rivoli to shake their groove things. I wisely counseled them to rock on. Posted September 17, 2007.
Jake the dog has always thought that humans suffer from a design flaw. He thinks we should've been wired to never, ever get tired of throwing sticks for him to fetch. Posted September 12, 2007.
Here's a picture from Ashley's visit to Paris at the beginning of August. We'd asked for a Coke while having lunch at the restaurant behind us, but the waiter just said, "No, I don't think so." Posted September 2, 2007.
Shrimpy Bruno just got back from 16 months in Darfur and who do we run into? Nandi and her Mom having a drink downstairs with friends! Needless to say, we muscled our way right into the merriment. Fab photo by fab Nandi. Posted August 14, 2007.
A pipe broke in my kitchen and I had to clear out all the cleaning supplies so the plumber could get at the pipes. (The plumber never calls even though the agency keeps swearing that he's going to call me any second now.) I was mystified to see how much cleaning stuff I had because I think my apartment generally rates a "C-minus" in cleanliness. But then Peter told me that the number of cleaning supplies a person has is not a function of the cleanliness of their apartment; it's a function of how clean they wish their apartment could be. Posted August 8, 2007.
I asked Deb to give my flowers 'a drink.' I guess I should've seen this coming ... Posted August 5, 2007.
Fred the Cat checks out Design Flaws in Montgomery, Alabama. People, is this a pattern? Am I to receive literally thousands of cute cat pix with DFHC featured prominently? Just asking. Posted August 1, 2007.
Miss XaXa, habillée en peignoir and of Amuse-Biatch fame, reads Design Flaws while exiled in Arkansas. Where will this madness end? Stay tuned to Amuse-Biatch to find out! Posted July 31, 2007.
Albertine the Cat checks out Design Flaws of the Human Condition. "It's both funny and philosophical," she says. "Kind of like the way that cats can't work can-openers..." Posted July 31, 2007.
I was home trying to get some work done when Deborah and Tamara kicked down my door and then forced me to drink champagne. I think I might have vowed to get revenge, but everything gets a little fuzzy after the first bottle... Posted July 30, 2007.
The Alainator sent me this pic from his recent vacation in Corsica. He stayed right near a regiment of the French Foreign Legion! Little known fact - most people join the French Foreign Legion in order to get residency papers or to get their criminal records expunged. Needless to say, I'm getting my application ready ... Posted July 27, 2007.
The Dudster chooses between: (1) pondering the great existential questions in life; or (2) licking his own nose. He wisely chooses the latter. Posted July 25, 2007.
Otetsudai sent me this photo of her son Hugh ... A French person would see an artistic photo like this and say, "Ah, c'est cool." There. Now you know some French too! Posted July 24, 2007.
Brian Spence, owner of the Abbey Bookshop, officially launches Design Flaws of the Human Condition on Bastille Day, 2007!
Fab photo of 'Sa with her son John. Lisa has known me since high school; she'll let you in on all sorts of good gossip about me. For a fee, of course! Posted July 18, 2007.
Baby Theo demonstrates his ability to hit the high notes. Bravo Theo!! Posted July 13, 2007.
Jean and I took Gus for a walk around Ramapo Reservoir a while back. Oh wait, I have that wrong. It was Gus who took Jean and me for a walk around the reservoir! July 13, 2007.
The other day it sounded as if my house were being bombed. Turned out that it was only the French Air Force getting ready for the military parade fly-over that they do every year on Bastille Day. It seems to me like we might have to take up a collection and buy them some newer planes, n'est-ce pas? Posted July 12, 2007.
Here's a picture (from left) of Sophie, Bill and Kate on our recent outing to the Ave Maria Restaurant in the 11th Arrondissement. By the way, Sophie's not a hard-core alcoholic; she's just holding my drink while I take the picture. Posted July 6, 2007.
Dessert at the Ave Maria. It put up a fight, but I won. Posted July 6, 2007.
Here's Richard and Karen's daughter Sasha chillaxing on her recent visit to Aunt Nancy's House of Mirth in Washington, D.C.
Here's a picture of (from left) Matt, Nandi, Allison and me. We're dressed to the nines because we're at Marie and Alexandre's wedding in Burgundy in June 2007. They don't throw the bouquet in France, so we didn't have to fight with each other or elbow each other out of the way or knee each other in the back. Well, any more than we normally do. Congrats to Marie and Alex! Photo courtesy of Sophie Roux.
This is a picture of my sister Mary and me hanging around on the roof terrace of the Pompidou Center in Paris. Cheeeeeeeese! By the way, we took that picture right after she got back from tooling around Paris on the back of a motorcycle.
I took a picture of these boys on the beach in St. Louis, Senegal, near the border with Mauritania. They appear to be wearing sporty sneakers, but if you look closely, you'll notice that they're really plastic bags.
William and Patrick went with a subtle, subdued, minamalist approach to decorating their place in Hong Kong. Actually, this picture was taken in a floating restaurant in Hong Kong a couple of years ago. I was in that same restaurant twenty years ago with Regina. Funny how steamed pork dumplings seem to turn up at pivotal moments in my life.
Here is a well that Bruno's organization built. This is in the Ed Daien region of Darfur, Sudan.
Here's Shrimpy Bruno's tukul ... that basically means a 'hut' and that's where he lives! Note the presence of the loudspeaker right behind his hut that blasts the morning call to prayers. Lots of people pray that the loudspeaker will break.
Be very, very quiet ... Clowning around at the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris. Photo by Mary Frances Schmidtberger.
Here I am at the airport in Batumi, Georgia (the country, not the state). I'm not smiling because I'm particularly happy to be in Batumi; I'm smiling because there was smoke billowing up from the floorboards during the flight and I'm just happy to be alive. Also, I don't know it yet, but I'm only 12 hours away from the cheapest beer I will ever drink in my life.
Buddy keeps a sharp eye on the backyard to make sure there aren't any varmints.
Buddy keeps a sharp eye on the front yard to make sure there aren't any Philistines.
Rose never goes anywhere without protection. Paris, May 2007. Fab photo by Helena Ruffin.
I took a short trip to Berlin in April where I saw Knut, the polar bear cub who has captivated the hearts of all Berliners. I can confirm that he is, indeed, cute. The pushy people waiting on line with me - for an hour and a half - were not.
Cryptic Berlin graffiti, though happily in English.
Installation art at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
Here's Deb with Fred. Fred's a little challenged in the fur department.
Here's a picture of Deb standing in the streets of Paris wearing crepe-paper streamers. What's unusual about this picture is not that Deb is standing in the streets of Paris wearing crepe-paper streamers; what's unsual is that she's holding only one beer.
Here's a picture of me at the firm. You know, before they fired me and threw me out?
Here's a picture of Mutrah Harbor in Muscat, the capital of Oman, my second most recent travel destination. March 2007.
An example of Omani horsemanship. Standing room only! March 2007.
Good luck finding adequate shade in Oman! March 2007.
Here's a picture of Bill (left), Sophie (middle), and Shrimpy Bruno (right). We're just hanging around in my apartment on the P de V. You can't see my computer because it's being repaired. Again.
Here's a picture of Shrimpy Bruno looking contemplative.
Here's a picture of the intrepid little Santa Monica building on West 70th Street, a building that's prominently featured in the book. It valiantly holds its ground against the rapidly metastasizing Trump Place development.