The Race for Paris

The Race for Paris by Meg Waite Clayton

This is a good one.  The Race for Paris is a story based on true life experiences of female photographers in Europe during World War II.  I’m usually willing to read most fiction set during World War II because I’m always looking for a twist, something I didn’t know or consciously realize before.   And I’m fascinated with photography and especially the women pioneers in the field.   This story covers both.

Jane is a reporter for a Nashville newspaper and Liv is an Associated Press photographer.  They are posted  behind the lines, where women were supposed to be, covering the war in France.  Driven to be in Paris to document the liberation of Paris, Liv and Jane decide to go AWOL and with the help of Fletcher, a British photographer,  they make their way through the French countryside and into Paris, always dodging the Military Police who are looking for them thanks to Liv’s husband, a newspaper publisher back in New York.

If you’re a decent cook you can taste a recipe when you read it.  If you appreciate photography you can see a photo that is described to you.  The author was very careful to make sure we can see the photos Liv shot.  The friendship forged between Jane, Fletcher and Liv was transformative.  But how could it not be when in the middle of a war they put their lives in each other’s hands every day?   We see wartime photos everyday but often forget someone had to be in the thick of the battle to take that photo.

This story is based on the lives of real female wartime photographers, Margaret Bourke-White, Martha Gellhorn, Lee Miller.  It hit the spot for me in both of my WWII criteria.

Friends indeed

That's not PH on top of that ladder, that's Friend Paul.  He and Sue came to see our new house two weeks ago and after Paul took one look at the grunge on the side of the house and the patio and the deck he said,  "I'll be back in two weeks with my power washer and we'll make this place look brand new."  Now, Paul isn't a "let's do lunch" friend that doesn't ever call back.  Paul is an "if I say it I mean it" friend.  The kind that you can count on through thick and thin and power washing.  This morning he was here bright and early and got to straight to work. 

 Not that I'm proud of the grunge but we weren't here while it was becoming grungy so .....
Look at the difference on the side of the house!!!

 This is the concrete back 'patio' and I was stunned when I saw the difference.  Stunned.

 There are a few stepping stones Paul thought were just concrete but when he put his sprayer to them they turned out to be nice stones!  Look at the difference in the one next to it!!!  Now they all sparkle.

 We didn't dare hope there was anything under the yucky front deck. But he took his sprayer to it

and look what we found!  It's an OLD deck and if we won the lottery we could have it replaced.  Until that happens we will put a sealer on it now that it looks wonderful again.

This was quite a day, the house looks bright and the outside area even smells cleaner.  I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of Friend Paul from the front, he's a good lookin' guy.  But we fed him and Sue a thank you steak dinner and he had a few beers to rehydrate himself and after a long, long hug from me, they went home.  Thank you, Friend Paul.

Powderpuff power

It was one of those days.  End of summer.  They've done everything on their to-do list and no matter what Elizabeth chose, Adelaide said no.  Adelaide choose?  Elizabeth said no.  Grandma pulled out the rainy day activity she's been saving.  We're going to make gourd birdhouses. 

 I showed them how to run the sander and they did it themselves, smoothing off the dried up gunky stuff from their gourds.

 Even Adelaide.

They balked at using the power drill to put the hanging holes and the bird door in though. They hid in a corner of the garage while I did that part.  Dang.  I would have loved a picture of that!

 Then we carried them up one of the hills, hung them from a tree branch, stood away from the prevailing wind and they painted the gourds white.

 Adelaide didn't have the strength in her spaghetti fingers that we did so she tried using the palm of her hand only to discover that wasn't a good idea. She went back to finger power and finished the job.

 They did it!  Time to go to the library and get some lunch while these dried.

 I have many pieces of Polish pottery that didn't survive the move so we used some of the bits to decorate the gourds after the paint dried.  I used the glue gun and they stuck them where they wanted a bit of  decoration.

 Elizabeth was happy she chose a piece that had a natural perch

 Adelaide found a piece that made a perfect hat.

Time to get away from little sisters and be alone with that library book in the secret hideaway.

Somehow we saved the day!  They kept some of the seeds that came out of the gourds so they can plant their own come spring.  Phew!

Back in time

Monday we went to a new museum.  It's the Michigan Heritage Museum in Whitehall, Michigan and is set up as different site dwellings,  so you can walk through time from no dwellings to a 1900s farmhouse.  What was most impressive was the careful research - this place isn't cute and hokey - and there was nothing kids couldn't touch or take part in.  Very well done.

 As soon as we walked onto the grounds and saw the mastodon skeleton  Elizabeth said, "this is MY kind of place!" and they picked up a paint brush and started cleaning mastodon bones. They would have spent an hour doing this if we didn't direct them to the next place.

 This native home was complete with fires burning outside to skins on the bench inside.  Adelaide knew what the animal pelts were.  The only one she was stumped by was the rabbit pelt!  She knew the beaver but not the rabbit!

 The interpretive boards were colorful, informative and easily imagined.

 Inside Adelaide is explaining something to the interpreter.  She is not a shy child and really got into this experience.

 Elizabeth was pounding corn in the large mortar and pestle.  There was a spear for fishing, a net for catching fish made of woven plant parts, this mortar and pestle was carved.   Absolutely everything here was hands on.  And on a Monday, we had the place almost to ourselves. 

 Elizabeth drew a picture of each dwelling we saw in her book. It was "research."

 While Adelaide said the Native American wigwam was her favorite, she really took to this log sawing station outside the lumberjack cabin.  You can see sawdust at the bottom so they were really making the saw work.  But she didn't leave this alone.  After Elizabeth worked with her for a few minutes Adelaide asked one of the interpreters to do it with her. We toured the cabin only to come out and find Adelaide sawing with yet a different interpreter!

 She has skinny little duck legs and even skinnier arms and she worked this with all her might. It wasn't easy.  See the sawdust?

Here's my latest project.  Boy, it feels good to say that!  I am doing two of these table runners so each  scene is done four times.  I absolutely loved the background fabric.  I don't do sparkly fabric at all, but on this those little dots are gold and it looks like stars in the sky. 

Happy Birthday

Our Ceci turned five last week and Saturday we went to her party.  

Her birthday party was at her dance studio and her little friends came ready to dance.  They all had a fantastic time dancing, doing the limbo, and for me the highlight was watching Ceci tap her friends with a lighted wand and 'freeze' them to the song from Frozen, "Let it Go."  Way too much fun.

Five year old Ceci flanked by Elizabeth and Adelaide.  Happy to you, sweetie.

Stick dolls

Summer is winding down.  There's still a whole month before school starts but the kids are getting tired of it, though they would never admit that, especially Elizabeth.  During summer I have them on Thursdays.  When I was unpacking I discovered the wasi tape and tongue depressors and we set to making "wasi people."  Wow.  What an activity!  I showed them how to wrap the tape once around the stick and make a face and feet and legs.  Off they went!  They spent every minute they were here working on their people.  Adelaide even made a horse and a car!

 These are Adelaide's people. She started naming them and wrote their names on the back.  She chose names she could spell.  Bob. Fifi. Annie.

 These were the boys.  Max and Ace.  Notice how she cut the tape so the legs looked like pants and the bows on their shoes.  She really took off with this project!  Don't they look like they're wearing golf togs?

 Elizabeth's facial skills were very precise.   She also named hers but chose to name them things that pertained to their look after she finished.  Rose. Lily. Georgiana.

 These were the ones I made as examples when showing them this morning how to get started.  We practiced faces, hair, legs before they made their own.  The one on the far right has a pony tail, per Adelaide's request.  "Make it come in front like it's over her shoulder, Grandma.   You can do it!"

I've started a project.  It's a nativity table runner.  In the middle in a star, with a manger and angel on both ends and various animals, sheep, cow, camel, donkey in the middle.  I'm making two simultaneously so when I am finished, they will both be finished.  Well, this was a wool project.  Anything patterned for wool can be done in fabric.  But I don't fuse or machine applique.  I do needle turn.  Let me tell you, the pointy ends of the straw in the manger(s) is trying my patience to the max.  I will do the other two tonight watching what may prove to be a raucous Republican debate tonight.  If it goes like these two went, I won't finish both tonight but I sure would like to move on!