If this seems like a curious title… “Ha, Ha, HAaaaaa!!” … it’s accomplished it’s purpose & caught your attention.

I added a new betta fish to the aquarium this week – It’s amazing how such an inexpensive little fish can add such a splash of colour and impact!

In and of itself, that’s by far the least important thing that I could tell you about the past week or two, but it’s the Spring Chicken that surpasses them all, in terms of importance…

Curious? Let me tell you more…

Bible School & a Birthday

Last Saturday was a Bible School day and just to shake things up a bit, Liz accompanied Dominic & I for the ride.

It’s the first time she’s done the day trip with us, but if she did, it’s because Saturday was also her birthday so we figured we’d take advantage of the day to do something different.

With all the protests in Paris of late, we wanted to avoid the downtown, so we started her Parisian birthday in an underground parking garage, beneath an IKEA.

Terribly romantic, I know!

We got there at about 8:00am, far earlier than their 10:00am store opening, so having left home around 4am, we took advantage of the dark, quiet spot to do a little cat nap. Following our nap, we went upstairs for breakfast and a stroll around the store.

Note: breakfast for two, including cheese, baguette, pastries, juice and unlimited coffee for only 7€. So cool!

Chateau Monte-Cristo – a Writer’s home

We decided on IKEA together, but after that, I took her to a place she didn’t expect… the home of French writer Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte-Cristo, etc.).

Dumas’ home is not actually in Paris, but rather in Port-Marly, roughly 25km (15mi) out from the city center, just north of Versailles.

It’s not huge, by any stretch of the imagination, but it makes up for the lack of size in it’s rich detail and the wealth of information on the life and career of the writer. Perhaps my biggest take-away, other than the sheer abundance of works that he wrote, was the decadence and excess with which he lived.

This went from the excessively decadent oyster omelettes that he was known for (I’d have literally NO interest in trying that), to the excessive decadence of his love life – he was married, but only had children with 5 mistresses (that we know about – he himself claimed to have in the vicinity of 500 children: obviously before the days of child-support).

A “Man-Cave” Worthy of its Name

I must say though… while I loved his house, perhaps what I loved even a little more was what I’ll call Dumas’ “man cave”.

This little house sits just up a short embankment, directly opposite the main house and where the main house was known as the Chateau Monte-Cristo (after the name of his book, the Count of Monte Cristo), this smaller house was known as the Chateau d’If (after the place where Edmond Dantes, Monte Cristo’s main character was imprisoned for a time).

The sole purpose of this house?
It’s where Dumas went to write.

The introvert in me loves this idea and forget the main house… I could gladly and easily live therein!

Supper All Together

Since Saturday was a long and tiring day, where Dominic, Liz & I were in the Paris region, Timo was working and Sophie at home alone for the day… we opted to wait until Sunday to go out for dinner all together.

After church, Dominic went to work (he works at a local restaurant) and we joined him when he was done for the day, around 7:00pm.

How strange it must’ve been for people whom he’d seated and served, to all of a sudden see him seated and eating, while others finished serving them. We had a lovely meal – even moreso because going out is pretty much a rarity for us.

Liz then, is our Spring Chicken … and a lovely one she is at that. What a joy to honour her and spoil her just a bit more than usual!

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Gonna end it off there for today.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing in our news.
God bless you & yours richly!