What is the Sunday Salon? The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.
We spent the weekend in Paris, Texas, and what a fun weekend it was! We ate pastries at the Paris Bakery, shopped at some Paris stores, traiped through a Paris farmers' market, got a library card from the Paris Public Library, and, of course, visited the Eiffel Tower.
What I Read Last Week:
Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift
What I'm Reading Now:
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (Book Club)
Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer (Nonfiction)
The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood (Fiction)
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff (1001 Children's Books)
What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:
I delighted this month in celebrating Paris in July. I enjoyed being in Paris this July by:
(1) Reading books set in Paris...These are listed in Enjoyment Order, from Most to Least...
Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift
Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola
Remembering Paris by Denis Tillinac
In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse, and the Birth of Modern Art by Sue Roe
The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwartz and Iva-Marie Palmer
Claudine: A Fairy Tale for Exceptional Grownups by Marian Grudko
Picasso and Minou by P. I. Maltbie
Fantômette et la maison hantée by Georges Chaulet
The French Art of Living Well: Finding Joie de Vivre in the Everyday World by Cathy Yandell
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
A Bakery in Paris by Aimee Runyon
La Vie, According to Rose by Lauren Parvizi
(2) Watching...
Maigret (1992) on BritBox. (Mystery series)
Maigret (2018) on BritBox. (Mystery series)
Odette Toulemonde on Kanopy. (Movie)
(3) Practicing my French on Duolingo.
(4) Eating at Brasserie du Parc,
a French restaurant in downtown Houston.
(5) Baking croissants.
(6) Visiting Paris...Paris, Texas, that is.
I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:
Good Thing #1:
G-granddaughter Lucy loved
having her 3rd birthday party
She found a beautiful (imitation) ammonite
in the dig-for-fossils pit.
Good Thing #2:
We had a great time at
A Wrinkle in Time,
a play put on by children at
nearby
Alvin Community College.
Good Thing #3:
My friend Janet and I,
in our search for
a reported Northern Bobwhite
in our area, arrived
at a private bird hunting area.
The only bobwhite we found
was on the sign. Ha!
Your Paris month has been fun to read! I especially liked seeing Paris, Texas, as I didn't know they had their own "Eiffel Tower." I've always enjoyed participating in PiJ the past but this month was too busy with a trip to Greece. Thanks for hosting Sunday Salon, it's always interesting.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Oof, something you enjoyed less than A Tale of Two Cities?! That sounds pretty unfun.
ReplyDeleteThat birthday party sounds awesome. I would've loved a dig-for-fossils thing. I probably still would, ahaha.
Hard to believe July is already over! Glad your granddaughter enjoyed her party, it does sound like a fun location for a party. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Lucy! What a great idea for a birthday. Paris, Texas looks like a lot of fun. Have a wonderful week ahead Deb.
ReplyDeleteI am sending the link to your post here to my friend who lives in Paris. Well, just outsode of it but she works there. What a fun trip and to combine it with Paris in July is a bonus. Thansk for the good book suggestions and happy birthday to your g granddaughter.
ReplyDeleteI've read some birdwatcher mysteries, among them one with Bobwhite in the title.
ReplyDeleteI remember the long ago "Maigret" television series with Michael Gambon in the title role. He was the perfect Maigret! I grew up in the countryside of northeastern Mississippi and Northern Bobwhites were plentiful there at that time. Their song was a part of the constant background music to my life. When we moved to our current home some forty(!!!) years ago now, there were bobwhites around and I would hear their calls whenever I was outside. Now, of course, the area is so full of humans there is no room left for the bobwhites.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun way to end Paris in July! A trip to Paris, Texas sounds fun. I wonder if Paris, Kentucky has an Eiffel tower as well. Happy birthday to Lucy and I would love to see A Wrinkle in Time on stage. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteThe Farmers Market sounds fun. The croissants look good.
ReplyDeleteWhen Paris in July ends, I know that yet another month has absolutely flown by. Looks like you had a great time!
ReplyDeleteI love all your photos and so lovely to see smiling faces, too! How wonderful to visit Paris! I have heard their food and pastries are amazing!
ReplyDeleteHow fun that you want to Paris, Texas to end Paris in July.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 of those Paris books so will dig them out as I've not read them yet. Need to plan my books to read on holidays in Paris and Venice....
ReplyDeleteOh, I think I linked to the wrong post. It's been one of those weeks.
DeleteWant to check out the movie, Odette Toulemonde and read two or three of the "Paris" books you mentioned. Thanks for hosting the Sunday Salon and be well.
ReplyDeleteI love how you fully embraced Paris in July in a variety of ways. Thanks for sharing all of your experiences with us! :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a wonderful month celebrating France and all things French, especially Paris. I wish your great granddaughter many happy returns of the day.
ReplyDeleteLove your photos!
ReplyDeleteParis, Texas sounds like such fun. What a great trip. Hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteYou had a great Paris in July! The A Winkle in Time play sounds like fun too.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a fabulous week.
Looks like a wonderful trip to Paris, Texas! I really enjoyed The Love of My Afterlife. Hope you do, too!
ReplyDeleteWow you seriously did Paris in July! I only read one book, but it was a fun one (Piglettes). I started another but did not get on with it, so it shall remain nameless. I keep meaning to read A Tale of Two Cities, even though it comes low on your enjoyment scale.
ReplyDeleteYour visit to Paris TX sounds fun! What a great trip -- and with PIJ, a perfect time to do it! You had some terrific reading too. Lots of those books went on my list!
ReplyDeleteYour weekend in Paris, Texas sounds like it was a lot of fun, Deb. I have been wanting to read The Love of My Afterlife and hope you are enjoying it. Your Paris in July looks like it was a great success! I always enjoy seeing what you read and watched to celebrate. I hope you have a great week, Deb. My daughter has registration this week and will begin high school on Friday. I don't think any of us feel ready. Take care!
ReplyDeleteI should visit Paris, TX since I don't see myself ever being able to go to France lol.
ReplyDeleteI wish my daughter and I had gone to Paris, TX when we were living near Fort Worth. We talked about it, but never did.
ReplyDeleteWow! Your book club is reading a chunkster of a book! I think my group would require 2-3 months to tackle that one.
My book club is actually reading James, but I took on the additional tasks of reading Huck Finn and a bio of Mark Twain since I'm leading the group discussion.
DeleteEnjoyed your Paris in July posts very much!
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you had a wonderful Paris in July. I love that you got to visit, Paris, Texas that is. We have a Paris, Ontario up here.
ReplyDeleteoh wow, you read and did so much more for Paris in July than you reported! Glad you enjoyed it. Next year, please share more with us as you go along
ReplyDeleteI've been traveling this July so much that I didn't have time to properly add links and visit others' posts, sadly.
DeleteYou had such a fun weekend! I love your photos, especially the one of you in your pretty colorful dress! I love how you immerse yourself in all things Paris! Happy “traveling”.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a lot of fun, Deb. As I am thinking more about Paris, Texas, I think a soap opera I used to watch had decades ago had one of its characters escape to work in a small diner there. Lucy is adorable. Enjoy your week.
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/08/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-and.html
Sounds like you had a great time. I love that you got a library card.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had such a lovely time in Paris, USA - how cool there's even an Eiffel Tower there! As for A Tale of Two Cities... it definitely isn't one of Dickens' better books! I think he wanted to make a huge point about how awful the French Revolution was - and that got in the way of the character development and the plotting, to be honest. I winced in sympathy when I read your review of the book and have huge admiration for you sticking with it and getting through it! Have a great week, Deb:).
ReplyDeleteLooks like you are having so much fun doing your Paris in July. Paris, Texas, looks great. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteParis Texas looks like fun. I remember reading Rosemary Sutcliff many years ago. Not this one which actually looks tempting to me.
ReplyDeleteParis Texas must be a long road trip for you since it's northwest of Dallas, but it seems fun! You can't go wrong in Paris. Enjoy the Mark Twain bio .... seems a complicated but talented man.
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