Sunday concert

My friend Marcel told me about a series of free concerts hosted in Paris by retired American opera singer Rebecca Tepfer and her husband David. The Tepfers invite musicians to play in their studio which holds about 50 people. Reservations are required and at the end of each performance they pass the hat. All donations are given directly to the performers. Each concert ends with a glass of wine or apple juice, allowing the spectators to mingle with the performers and each other.

Last night's concert of piano and flute was delicious. The pieces ranged from the lyrical and well known "Afternoon of a Faun" by Debussy, to a modern, edgy, and haunting piece by Taiwanese composer May-Tchi Chen. It took my breath away.

Virginie Martineau-piano, and Jeanne-Marie Savourat-flute

Beginning my second year in Paris

One year ago today . . .

I stand at the gate, waiting to check in for my flight Denver to Paris clutching my ticket and passport. I am alone this time. I have come full circle.

How different the scene when I first came to Paris with a one-way ticket in 1972. There was a large crowd at the airport. Tearful parents clinging in one last hug. My best friend Inge and I were flying together, planning to pick up her sister's VW in Germany then touring Europe with no particular itinerary or destination - au pif. I had my life's savings in traveler's checks - maybe $2000? Enough to last for three months if I was careful.

Charlie was there too. He had quit his job, liquidated his assets, and had purchased a ticket on the same flight - despite the fact that we had been divorced a few months before.

I didn't know then that I would end up staying for 6 years - back together with Charlie, giving birth to two sons.

This time I'm alone. Charlie and I divorced a second time, our sons are grown, independent. I need space to heal, to find myself, to start over.

I feel guilty leaving my mother and my siblings with the burden of caring for my invalid father. But I know I have to go . . . and I don't want to come back.

My friend Robin sends me off with a poem by John O'Donohue:

"For a New Beginning"

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, to learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.


This post is dedicated to the group of women who gave me the wings to fly . . .

Cindy's visit

I'm going to miss Cindy. She's on her way home to Ithaca, NY after spending three weeks in England and France.


I first met Cindy Gration in Paris in 1976. She came here to study French during her junior year abroad. I was a new mother looking for a part-time babysitter. Cindy answered my ad and in addition to her spending a few hours a week with my son Philippe, she and I became fast friends.

Cindy returned to upstate New York, graduated from college, and then enrolled in the Denver Publishing Institute. When she arrived in Denver she called my mother and was surprised to learn that I had just returned to Denver. Following the publishing seminar, Cindy returned to Ithaca, NY where she began her career at Cornell University Press. Cindy later met Bob Geyer and they were married in 1988.

Charlie and I joined Cindy and Bob on several vacation trips over the years. We went to Mexico twice, and also visited Yellowstone, Glacier, Bryce and Zion National Parks. Cindy and Bob had a daughter, Julie, born in 1992. Sadly, Bob died of stomach cancer in August, 2001. Julie was only 9 years old and Cindy's life has been devoted to raising Julie since then.

On September 11th, Charlie and I had our bags packed to fly to NY for Bob's memorial service. We were scheduled on a flight from Denver to LaGuardia at noon. We were having breakfast when we learned of the attacks on the World Trade Towers. As the morning's events unfolded, we realized that we would not be leaving Colorado, and we missed Bob's memorial service.

Ten years later, Cindy's daughter is now in her first year of college in North Carolina. I convinced Cindy to leave her empty nest for a few weeks to come and revisit our old haunts in Paris. My studio apartment provided plenty of space for us to catch up and renew our friendship.

After dinner Tuesday

Cindy and I had a delicious dinner at the Rotisserie du Beaujolais on Tuesday evening. The restaurant is next door to its better known and more expensive sister restaurant, the Tour d'Argent. Notre Dame is just across the river, and it was a lovely evening for a walk.

View from the bridge

I rushed through dinner on Monday evening to go to choir practice - only to learn that practice was reserved for the alto section (I am a soprano). Elated to have a free evening, I walked back home via the Mirabeau bridge and just had to stop and take a picture.

Can you see the statue of Liberty in the foreground in the middle of the bridge?

Sunday in Paris

We've been blessed with sunny weather for Cindy's visit to Paris. Today's walk took us to a new Chagall exhibit at the Musee d'art et d'histoire du Judaisme in the Marais. The exhibit featured several works borrowed from the Chagall museum in Nice which I visited last April.


Afterwards we crossed the Seine and went back to the left bank where we visited the Institut du Monde Arabe - a spectacular example of modern architecture. The south facade is made up of panels which include geometric motifs. The motifs are actually 240 motor-controlled apertures, which open and close every hour. Here's a closeup.


Oh, and there's a great view from the roof of the building.