I now have two half finished watercolors, abandoned temporarily for weather issues. I have it on reliable authority (a busker friend who has made a living playing on the streets of Paris for 20 years and therefore pays close attention to the westher) that it will be nice the next two or three days. I hope to get back around and finish the ones I've started as well as do a couple more. I'll also take time to hang out and hear Rene play tomorrow. With luck he'll be playing somewhere with a view so I can both listen and paint.


In the meantime, I've been sketching my food a little. I think about food a lot in Paris. I hit two of my very favorite bakeries today, one with fig bread (makes amazing toast) and one with a chocolate "fondant," a sort of brownie with pear slices on top. Just amazing. Dinner was lovely.


I also took time to hit the brocantes. A brocante is anything from an antique store to a garage sale that sells second hand goods. This is, hands down, my favorite French word, with the treasure hunt it implies. I went to the Marche Puces this morning (only open on weekends), and on my way home later I stumbled on a five block brocante, with tents lining both sides of the street. I had been intending to find a cafe with some shelter in case of further rain and paint, but I surrendered to the siren song of the brocante instead. I bought silk scarves made from old saris, soft gray leather gloves, and a French art book on Constable, my favorite painter, with the best reproductions I've seen of his paintings.


After all, it was a Saturday. And I'm in Paris.