Friday, March 20, 2009

Slices of Friday

 
This morning the calendar declared that it is not only our nephew's birthday - Happy Birthday Julian!! - but also the first day of spring. The sun happily obliged the season and shone all morning. I worked away hummingly, every now and then thinking up a new reason to [1.] take another picture of the sun on daffodils, [2.] the sun on James, the sun on the floor creeping towards the wall. I saw some white flower blossoms drift by and felt what good timing that was too - the fruit trees all in bloom and the wind catching their flowers to whisk them away and into our courtyard. How poetic. How springlike.

A little later I looked out the window and realized the flower blossoms were a flurry of snow flakes. Apparently I see with a different part of my brain than I think with. As a side note, there are no fruit trees in bloom in Prague yet.

To celebrate Friday, spring, JuJu's birthday and the fact that neither household benefactor had a meeting until well past noon, W and I went to lunch together at a new Korean restaurant* nearby. I have an unabashed love of eating out of a box with chopsticks, and ordered [3.] the bulgogi box lunch. Spicey kimchi, sweet bulgogi, sticky rice, miso soup, octopus and spinach salad. Yum.

Walking home and back to work, I ducked into our local bazaar to see if they had any Easter decorations. They were still scanty on the chicks but I found [4.] an oil painting I thought beautiful. It was suspiciously cheap, and the frame is 60s awful but I brought it home anyway. In a moment almost as surreal as the morning's flower blossom snow fall, I met a French grande dame examining glassware in the store. She pulled me over to inspect the painting. "Tres tres bien," she declared, and then went into a detailed discussion about oil painting which I could not in the least follow. "Bonjour madame, hesky vikend Pani" I said as I left, the painting wrapped in newspapers and tucked under my arm to protect it from the snow, still falling.

*Sami Grill Anny Letenské 1235/5, Prague 2
Phone: (+420) 222 524 666

9 comments:

Eleanor said...

Thank you for taking me along with you, it was a perfect day!

Almost as perfect as they day we went to the castle, or the day we baked cookies with Caroline, or the day I went in to work with you and sat at your window, or the day I just stayed at home and cuddled James for hours.

P.S. Is Ellen your twin??

Mary said...

I think the oil painting is indeed tres tres bien!

Ellen said...

Hi Eleanor,

I am indeed Julia's twin. (Does this explain my obsessive commenting?) And - I love your poetry.

Dear J,

JuJu went blahblahing happily to bed. He had a truly fabulous day too! Thanks for all the wishes!

Julia said...

Eleanor, as Ee says, she is my twin. And you can come and visit any time!

Mary, I'm so happy with my find! I've wanted a Czech landscape painting for a few years, and when I saw it tucked up above a bookshelf of old power cords, with a 12 euro price tag I really thought it was a print. Bonanza when it wasn't!!

Ee, tell that Jbird blahblah from me too.

Roderick Robinson said...

Careful about references to Korean restaurants. Your respondents (What is the best word? Commentators? Communicants?) include a lot of dog lovers.

Ah, the French lady was probably lonely and, recognising a polymath, felt confident of an intellectual conversation on the highest level. Yet you let her down lightly with a multi-lingual felicitation. I thought you didn't extemporise.

Eleanor said...

I'm so excited to meet your twin....and JuJu! Thanks Ellen!


Barrett Bonden makes me laugh and feel like an ignoramus, simultaneously.

Roderick Robinson said...

Eleanor: If you laugh you can't be an ignoramus.

Julia said...

BB, I think the lady didn't even notice I wasn't talking. But I did wish that I could have asked her how she happened to be in a dusty basement bazaar in Prague. She was quite an intrigue to me!

taniad1992 said...

Oh yum...Korean food! We spent two years in Seoul...love the food. Once again I'm realizing that Asian food does seem to exist in abundance in Europe!