And I don't know about you, but when this time of year comes around the way we appreciate all of this naural beauty is to...well, be indoors, typically with friends or family...and more typically with a lot of food in our bellies.   

Small world moment!  Vive les expats!  So turns out that the small, Redmond, Washington-based software company that I work for sends more than one lucky couple to Europe each year.  And we know the other one!  Naomi and Jeff York...where do the coincidences begin, and when will they end!??  Jeff and Shannon living across the street from each other at UW, Naomi and myself working together at Microsoft, both being proud residents of Greenlake area, both taking international assignments in Europe during the same year, both having an un-ending passion for Nutella (okay, that's just me)...I could go on.  But the most relevant one in this moment is a common appreciation for Portland-based group Pink Martini, who played an outstanding show in Paris.  Naomi and Jeff came from their new home outside of Lisbon, Portugal, to see the concert...and here we are, the four of us, outside of the big event:

And here is a snapshot of the band in acton -what seems like 20 of them when they are all on the stage at the same time.  For anyone who has listened to Pink Martini's Sympathique album (highly recommended), you will know that most of the songs are elegantly performed in french, and even beyond that - capturing essential realities of french culture (translation for one song: "I don't want to work, I don't want to eat lunch...I just want to smoke"). The comforting realization of this concert was that, in fact, it is very possible to sing in french - without necssarily being able to speak it!  As we listened to the band members attempt to introduce their songs in french - Shannon and I looked at each other saying "we can actually understand this stuff!!"...this gives me tremendous optimism for becoming a french pop-star afterall... 

The Newlyweds!  But enough of all of this expat-talk!  Here we find ourselves over steak, frites, and a bottle of red with Shwu and Bernard (you may recognize them from the mai and juillet blogs) at a neighborhood café.  The reason?  These two lovebirds just tied the knot in October and it was time to celebrate, and counsel them based on all of the wisdom from our years and years of seasoned marriage (in french, of course...)

Family Segment!  As I recall way back when I lived in the US, November represented not just friends and good food, but something about families as well.  And after not one, but two seperate family visits last month - I can say with confidence that families are something to be thankful for!

First up:  Herr Doctor Professor Johnson, stopping in during work travels for his second Paris checkup since we first moved in.  In doing so, Dad joined the elite list of "return rue Cassette visitors", and learned that he could actually spend time enjoying our fine city instead of installing mirrors and assembling furniture.  That got him to smile for a classic father/son pose:

And my-oh-my there were soufflés!  Think cheese soufflés, meat soufflés, mushroom soufflés, chocolate and salted caramel soufflés.  Let's just say if it was puffy, and light, and delicious...we tried it all!  Here we are pictured after the soufflé victory at nearby La Cigale Recamier.

All of this good eating and adventuring through Paris' more scenic avenues made my dad a pretty happy customer - and with a slightly more colorful scarf (and a removal of the North Face backpack) we may even get him to pass as a Parisian local!