The Ashes

 

We walked through that famous cemetery on Sunday, after we got our boosters.  There's a grassy area near the back wall, where I could see flowers laying on the grass in random spots and long straight lines of gray gravel strewn about.  When I came closer I found these lines to be cremated remains. A whole new model for the cemetery experience.  I like the idea of spreading ashes on top of the grass somewhere, in a long line or maybe in a circle. I think I'll have Mari Homme make a line of my ashes across the front lawn on High Street.  You can think of me whenever you pass the house and toss out a flower or two as you drive by.

We found the shared grave of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.  I have always loved those two. Not sure how I missed the information about Gertrude collaborating with the Vichy Government during WWII, but this was news to me in my internetting when we got back to this apartment. I've read biographies in years of yore, but maybe I had some selective memory thing going on. At any rate, this reckoning resulted in another hero being brought down to the familiar level of flawed human being. I can't say I wasn't disappointed, but there's probably something to learn from this experience. 

This morning I took 2 subways to the Eiffel Tower.  First the 5 and then the C. I liked looking up at the huge structure above me and then looking down at tiny towers being sold by vendors on the grounds below me. After a good visit with ET, I walked on home.  It was a long walk and as I've told you in the past, I do not walk very quickly. I try not to compare my walking pace with others because as some unknown person once said, "Comparison is the thief of joy."  Slow or fast or somewhere in between, I focus on enjoying the marvels seen on my morning sojourns. Paris continues to please.