I've had a busy and social few days with evening visits cutting into my blogging and personal journal time. It's lovely to have some friends to meet up with, however. I had a marvelous dinner with one old high school acquaintance (and more recently friend) and her husband. They took me to their favorite neighborhood reataurant, and it was marvelous. As was the visit.

Anyway, I'm a little behind on posting. Above is one sketch from the Luxembourg Gardens, a favorite spot of my sister who loved here.

I went there Sunday morning after going to St. Sulpice to hear the organ concert that's a standing feature between services. I sang in the choir for years, and that church and its organists played a prominent role in 20th Century music.

Here's a quick sketch I did while listening.

It's been cloudy more often than not lately, which makes for less than ideal art weather. Monday morning was gorgeous, however, and I headed to Notre Dame to paint.

The cherry trees had burst into bloom since I had been there, and I couldn't resist.

I also painted it from the bridge crossing to Ile St. Louis, a view I had noticed while walking the day before. It was fun to stand and paint, using the wide stone parapet as a work table.

This is my favorite part of Paris. I live the neighborhood on and right around these two islands.

After a good morning of work, I treated myself to some marvelous fallafel at L'As du Fallafel in the nearby Marais district, another spot recommended by a friend. It's a tiny hole in the wall, one of my favorite kinds of places, and the fallafel is amazing. I had fun sketching as I sat.