Après Midi Goes To The Dogs

We seem to attract the dogs! More and more of our readers come to Parler Paris Après Midi with their pups in tow…of all shapes and sizes…and as you can see, very well dressed and normally well behaved! They don’t do much of the talking however, and it’s a good thing, because for some reason, yesterday’s gathering was by far, the noisiest, rowdiest ever!

Past attendees such as Canadian PATRICIA MITCHELL, who is here indefinitely and is looking for her final destination, came to say hello…along with EVA LEE, author of our soon to be launched column “Crème de la Crème, who is leaving us next week for her home in Tranquility, New Jersey…and PATRICIA LAPLANTE COLLINS (of Paris Soirées, the Sunday night networking dinners) who regularly comes with her Black Lab and smiling face. Regular ERIC TOLBERT and his pup was caught drinking beer — he stopped by on route to an appointment at the Vet!

VICTORIA STRONG hadn’t graced our door in over a year, but she was back with print-outs of her new Web site about Erotic Paris! And BARBARA OWENS, one of our past conference attendees, who moved to Paris last July is now looking to start a business. ANA ESCOMEL comes from time to time — she’s back in Paris to see what Winter here is like and to figure a way to stay (job, apartment, etc.)

We discovered that KRISTIN SHANNON and CYNTHIA and JOEL PELAEZ are neighbors, living just two doors away on the quai de Bourbon on the Ile Saint-Louis. Kristin is from San Francisco, but is here doing a book of short stories. She had a gentleman named RICHARD with her, and we never learned his last name or how they were related! Cynthia and Joel and pup, “Toulouse,” realized their dream to live in France by buying the apartment on the island and spending 2 1/2 months renovating it — now to the point they’re not sure they want to rent it out! (I assured them I rent mine all the time while I’m gone and have wonderful success…next dates open are March 10 – 24, BTW).

CLAUDIA and LARRY FRAME “moved” to Paris…he’s a retired broadcasting and engineering designer who worked in Paris on and off for the last 20 years. Now that the kids are grown, they sold everything they owned…their house, car and furniture back in Seattle. They claimed to be “homeless” at the moment and enjoying it immensely! HELENE MARKS, one of the participants in last year’s Paris Poetry Workshop, came to say hello now that she’s part of the neighborhood. She moved into an apartment on rue des Minimes near Place des Vosges and says it’s heavenly.

ANNA HAYES recently bought an apartment in the 14th and is trying to divide her time between Paris and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Our only French representative was CHRISTIANE CROISIEZ who is a member of Parler Parlor — a native Parisienne speaks English well, but loves to practice and meet Americans. Towards the very end, DOLORES LILLEY came with a friend. She lives here part-time from Canada and we hope she comes back to spend more time with us.

We hope you do, too.

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
E-mail: [email protected]

P.S. The next Parler Paris Après Midi is March 9th, 2004, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. This is your opportunity to meet the IL Paris staff and other readers and friends. You are invited to come for drinks and share your questions and comments about what it takes to create a life here, own property and enjoy what France has to offer. It is also an opportunity to network with other Parler Paris readers. For more information and to see the pictures from yesterday’s meeting, visit /parlerparis/apresmidi.html