The Voice of East Bay Living

Exploring life outside my front door, I recently stepped into the elegance of Lyon, France- a city that has rivaled Paris for centuries both in terms of its culture and culinary skills. Why not visit Lyon?

WOW- watch the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge & Mt. Tamalpais or BBQ in the private landscaped gardens. You can stretch out & relax in this gracious mid century contemporary -all level living, versatile spaces, updated kitchen, hardwood floors, close to AC transit, Tilden Park, Gourmet Ghetto & U.C. Campus. Open House on Sunday, Jul 17, 2016 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM If you are interesting in learning more about this listing or others in the area, please email Sheila Sabine at ssabine@grubbco.com

"It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen"- Brigette Bardot The floors floors in the beautiful chateau where  I am staying were beginning to look a little sad.  On top of that, there was a fire in the house caused by an electric wire so the walls of some of the rooms had to be repainted. Gerard and Monique decided to close their bed and breakfast for several months, and like many homeowners, roll up their sleeves, remove the hundreds of items from the cabinets and shelves and get to work. Besides painting, the 150 year old hardwood floors which had never been touched got a facelift. The process was tedious - workers did not show up- it cost more than planned,and the complete disorder of the rooms was indeed - pas plaisant ( not fun) . Ah- but the result was fantastic - -all new, all fresh and like a young woman ready for the ball, the doors swung open and the bed and breakfast danced with a fresh and ripe appearance. Oo-la-la- it is showtime.

"deep in their root,all flowers keep the light ."--Roethe Being a lover of nature  and Ikebana student, I always travel with my cutting scissors and accessories.  Having fond memories of an abundance of hortensias (hydrangea in English) filling the gardens of Le Guet de la Roche, I brought along powdered alum and gold Japanese ribbon. Flower tip-  if  you dip the ends of the flowers in alum they will last longer. The gold ribbon adds an elegant touch.  My French family loves to display my arrangements in various corners of their lovely chateau.

After being up for twenty four hours and not knowing if it was day or night, I pulled myself together with red lipstick, a splash of chanel # 5 and piled into the family Volkswagen for dinner in the country. Chez Roger is one of those special restaurants  à la compagne that scarcely  exist anymore. In the old days, every village had a small restaurant,family run with simple recipes, tasty plates, and reasonable prices. Sadly, many those restaurants have been replaced with McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and other fast food (a term that has been added to the French vocabulary) chains. The owner of Chez Roger, Roger, took time to be with us and is excited that his newly opened restaurant will prosper.  I wish him,Bonne chance- please no McDonald's in our lovely French countryside.

After buying train tickets on line, printed copy in hand I raced thru the dense traffic in Paris to the train station - I gave the cab driver an extra 10 Euros to get me their on time - vite.. Vite.. At the station I gave up the idea of buying water, sandwich and bathroom stop in favor of plowing thru the crowd, finding train car 11, and heroically stashing my heavy bags on the train - I do not have the reputation for traveling lightly - not in my vocabulary. Whew!,, I just made it on time -- all aboard - off to Limoges..

After the usual mad dash to pack for France and amidst warnings of terrorists, bomb threats, security checks I managed to sit next to Christophe on the plane - a handsome Frenchman with tremendous positive energy .We talked all night about the world, the importance of generosity and passing out love whenever possible. He showed me pictures of camping trips with his sons - french people love to camp out in the most primitive of situations - he said it started when the French government gave paid vacations so everyone went camping. He made the 10 hour flight pass very quickly.  And maybe I will try camping in the French countryside with the gypsies.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is in formally known as the Whitney -it is an art museum located in Manhattan and founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt, a wealthy American socialite and art Patron. The Whitney focuses on 20th and 21st century American Art. Its  permanent collection has more than 21,000 sculptures drawings etc. with works by more than 3000 artists. This museum really expanded my view of art – I encourage you to add all kinds of Art in your home environment.

The old Whitney has become the new Met Breuer , located on Madison And 75th in NYC.  This great space opened in March of 2016. My favorite exhibit is called Unfunished: thoughts left visible - it asks the question when is a work of art finished? You ask yourself the same question when you're decorating your house -adding furniture or taking out furniture – it is a never ending dance.