Okay, one more non-France post

I'm watching SyFy (although I still don't know what was wrong with calling the channel Sci-Fi). There's a Star Trek movie on; granted, the crappy first one, but it's nice background while I do other things around the house. By the way, did you know that the woman who played Lt. Ilia (the bald hottie--for you pervy boys who like girls--in the movie) died in the late 1990s at the ripe old age of 47? Sad. Way too young to die!

But this isn't supposed to be a sad post. This post is about a commercial that has been running during breaks in the movie. It's for a show on SyFy called Merlin. More specifically, the post is about the guy who plays Arthur, because he is what got my attention. He's a British actor named Bradley James, and any time you want to get a present for Marc and me, feel free to tie a bow around this young man (or some part of him) and leave him here at the house, preferably in the bedroom, although "in front of the fireplace" wouldn't be a bad location either...






With his boyfriend? Okay, maybe not.

Some snowstorm photos

I'm taking a break from the France photos to share a few shots I took after one of our recent snowstorms. For this late January storm, I got up early and was out with the snowblower a little after 6am. I cleared our walks and the walks of our neighbors on either side. I also started our cars, so they'd warm up and the windows would be easier to clear. Then I went back in and got the camera as Marc came out to clear the piles of snow off of the cars. Here are a few of the photos I shot:


You can see how deep the snow had gotten


Here, you can see my path continued out to the corner--and I also went up to the steps of the neighbor's house


And off towards the neighbor on the other side





And my favorite photo is the last one. Not because it's Marc cleaning off the cars, but because of the mood and lighting...


I really think this one's worth clicking on!

Okay, back to the nice, warm south of France for the next post! :)

A good book

Okay, I'll admit that I was leaning more towards 4 stars instead of 5, but it is a very good book. I went with 5 after thinking about this book as compared to others of this genre. (Okay, plus I know Alex and helped edit the final version of the book. There, I admitted it!) :-)

The Secret Soldier by Alex Berenson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Alex Berenson keeps getting better as an author (and I already liked his work)! In a genre not known for its subtlety, Alex Berenson brings us an introspective but still very tough leading man, a tough-as-nails hero who can see his own flaws. There's nuance and subtlety in his story, and that's what makes this book special. It's not the simplistic good guy-bad guy story that usually dominates this genre; instead, we feel the complexity of the real world and the difficulty of truly deadly situations. The good guys don't always come out on top, and the heroes aren't perfect, but there's plenty to cheer for in this terrific book!



View all my reviews

The Sunday Flower Market in Nice

One of the delights of our stay in Nice was the Sunday Flower Market. It was half a mile or so from our hotel to the flower market, so we set out by foot, determined to visit the market before leaving for our next stop (Lyon) which was scheduled for that day. Had I planned around the flower market, I might have made the Nice-Lyon trip a day later.

Anyhow, in a trip that I've already milked for months of blog posts, I'll be splitting up the photos from this one market into at least two, so this post isn't too long.

I could add comments to these photos, but I think most of them speak for themselves. The one thing you may not get is how big this market is. It's huge, running for blocks, and it's wonderful. Anyhow, let's take a look at some photos.





















Before we went to the flower market, we'd already decided that we loved Nice. This market just cemented that feeling. We've since discussed the idea of someday renting an apartment in town for a month (this would be well in the future when we can take such amounts of time), and it really is such a nice thought. Sometimes I imagine how great it would be, taking day trips from Nice and making meals from items we bought at the Sunday market. One day!