Staycation

Sometimes the best vacations are the ones you spend at home. The first 6 days of our week off were spent in the garden. Now we can relax and enjoy the fruits (and flowers) of our labours.

Sunset in Waterloo

A New Puppy for Michelle

Our very good friend, Michelle, picked up her new puppy on the weekend. She brought him by for a visit. His name is Oliver.

Oliver likes to sleep . . . 

But he also liked the dandelions on our front yard:

Oliver is very handsome.

First Evening in Paris

This week, its back to vacation photos. Only one more city to cover: Paris.

Shortly after arriving in Paris, we made our way to Notre Dame cathedral. A concert of medieval choir music was held that night consisting of youth choirs accompanied by several period musical instruments. My ears have never experienced anything so beautiful in my life. We sat inside the immense and ancient cathedral where services have been held for over 800 years and listened to choir after choir proceed slowly down the aisles to the dais, singing as they stepped while the innate properties of the architecture sculpted the voices into something that can only be described as magical . . .

Waiting to enter the cathedral:

Waiting for the concert to begin:

Performing choirs constantly joined and left the central area singing without pause as they moved throughout the cathedral; their collective voices merging and fading for over 2 hours.

I thought this photo might be of interest to our friend Len who plays the bag pipes. I have no idea if this is some kind of ancestor to the modern pipes?

I looked way up from our seats to the ceiling of the cathedral and saw this medalion. It was lit exactly as you see it here.

Gothic yumminess is carved in to every square inch of the exterior:

These are the scariest statues I've ever seen. They remind me of the Black Riders from Lord of the Rings.

Visitors

We have a nyger seed feeder on our small deck in the backyard. Some days, its covered with up to a dozen of these little critters. They are a scream to just sit and watch.

Tulips

Tulips in the front yard: