OK mes amies My Assistant is making another Little Assistant.

picture by Susan Hale

Don't be confused. This is not my Little Assistant's mother. This is my Assistant, the August Bride who is doing this. 
The new Tiny Assistant-to-be will be the Little Assistant's cousin. She is voting for a girl. Can you follow this family tree? Our heraldic shield is a Christian Hacker in the upper left quadrant, a Gottschalk red roofed Gambrel style house in the diagonal lower quadrant, A tynie toy wing chair in the upper right quadrant, and a MiniModernista ribbon lamp in the lower left quadrant.

Hey, if Queen Elizabeth can make one up for The Middletons, so can I.

Shale and I saw this cradle in the Antique section of ( I will have to ask her the name) It is Port des Vanves. Man if you want to travel, take Shale she is a brilliant and fearless navigator!

Do you think it is good enough for my future grandchild? Perhaps too subtle?  Will Air France let me carry it on the plane? Cross your fingers, toes and eyelashes, my Assistant has 6 months to go.

Bonne Annee. Dolls or trains I can go either way. Plus I have the Marx Western town...Hmmm C

Susan has left ze maison!

She is back in Toronto with tales to tell. I will begin immediately with two. She lead me (a polite word) to every corner of Paris, places I had not been before. She covered BOTH marches de puces, the flea markets. The first Saturday we went to the less, eh, established. Yesterday we went to the "antique" one on the opposite side of town.

I am ready to re do my own house in Piere Deux style after seeing what was on offer there! Fortunately Air France would not let me carry any of it on the plane,so we continued looking for petite meuble, boulle.

The first shop I went into I asked the owner and he said he did not have any "boulle" then stepped aside revealing a vitrine full of it. I was very adult and did not actually start jumping up and down, no matter what Susan says. It was as expensive as on ebay and American dealers because it is an antique but that Susan can bargin! I hope she bloggs soon about the wonderful pieces she got.

We also found another little store that sold Susan all the owner had even though she had to guide us to an ATM, because we a. would NEVER have found it and b. would never have found our way back. Her friends guarded her store and giggled, (actually I think they were cheering because the economy here is just as stale as at home, and eveyone is worried about the Euro) about the Americans and the path to the ATM.

Then there was this incredibly rude restaurant owner in the middle of the market who wanted us to stand at the bar for coffee when were were dead on our feet and needed to refuel, even though his whole restaurant WAS EMPTY. We have our Paris legs now and marched out to a charming pizza restaurant. I love Italian food in France, another story.

What interested us was that some of the boulle were in pieces and deserved to be restored. Our antique guru Ann Meehan (see http://www.meehanantiqueminiatures.com/annbio.htm ) has knowledge and background, besides the best antiques ever (do not buy them I want them all) ... to help us with this endeavour.

                                                        All pictures by Susan Hale

 Eh, it looks as if Daphne and Colette still have glue in their hair from their hats from the Wedding... their last adventure...

              On their way to Simply for galettes et Savignon Blanc even though it is winter (red wine in winter, white in summer, unless it is poissons etc.) You can take the girl out of California, but you can never take California out of the girl...eh  SF mini amies?

                                                         In the Tulleries Garden

                                                  And of course on ze Metro!

                  
                                        Au revoir Daphne, Colette
Oh P.S. Susan I did find my black cotton beret in the bottom of the washer (european style washer) and I had to check it very carefully many times because I wanted to be sure I was not walking around Paris with black Costco panties on my head...

Grand Palais Exhibition: Guys and Dolls

 It was a blustery day in Paris today. The sky was dark, umbrellas were blown inside out. It even snowed for a second! Susan and I were caught in a down pour. Her elk jacket saved her, the Canadian!

 All these pictures are by Susan Hale, and the sunlight kept coming out from behind clouds like the hand of God lighting up the French monuments. I never appreciated the gold accents in the Spring or Fall, really, but in winter light they become electric.

 So we spent the morning in the Grand Palais exhibit "Des Jouets et les Hommes". We are the "hommes" all of us. For more about the exhibit go to my other blog http://Leftcoastmini.blogspot.com/

 Cleverly they had a playroom at the end for les petites and a candy bar.

 Who is that famous Canadian visiting the Stockholm House in the gift shop??? I know I've seen her before.

 On this dark afternoon Susan had the brilliant (and I mean that literally) idea to lunch at Le Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon Station.

                                                                   Ohh La La!

                                      A perfect day for the tourists we are!
                                                     CM

Tour Eiffel Glittering at Midnight 2012 video by shale

The video will self right n a second. Be sure to watch with a bottle of French champagne, Bonne Annee! CM  video by Susan Hale

Bonne Annee! 2012

All photos by Shale

Happy New Year!

Today we braved the rain and went to Marche de Puces de Port Vanves. We found some friends.

                                           Daphne likes red...

        then again... the more the merrier!   Happy New Year!

La Musee Poupee, Marais. Paris

How wonderful it is to go to a special museum with someone who shares your interest! I hear many bored spouses in restaurants discussing their unmatched museum plans over dinner.  

I love this sign because the first non verbal communication of babies is those little lifted arms that say "Pick me up!"

 Shale took 146 pictures and will be blogging in detail soon she tells me.

 This real baby was crying in one of the galleries offering true sound effects to the scenes. A toy room is offered at the end for children to color paper dolls and to play with a basket of toys. Then this little tot was happy.

Oh yes, we visited the gift shop... more about that later. xo CM

La Musee Poupee, Marais. Paris

                                         Our goal tomorrow.