Cézanne

Eli is waking earlier and earlier. Today, he got Ally and me up at six. We played in bed for a while, then took him out to breakfast. We wish he would sleep later, but the time together in the mornings is nice. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing open before eight or eight-thirty. At home, Eli's early schedule lets us get things like grocery shopping done by nine. That's not quite possible here.

We bought some amazing strawberries at a produce stand. They were very expensive but well worth it. Mary and Christopher said they can get strawberries about this good at the Union Square Market, but Ally and I are pretty sure there's nothing like this in Tuscaloosa.



Ally went to work. Mary, Christopher, and I took Eli to another park. It looked better on the map than it did in real life. There was a playground, but it didn't have much equipment and had a gravel surface. So Eli mostly wandered around. He actually liked walking on the grass in the rest of the park. He wandered over to some French adolescents who were smoking, listening to music, and playing some sort of game that involved tossing rings at beer bottles. I am pretty sure none of the activities are allowed. Anyway, Eli started dancing to the music. I don't think they noticed them because they were pretty intent on their game. French adolescents are pretty worthless in general.



We got tired of the park. Mary and Christopher wanted to return to Cézanne's studio so they could see it in conditions other than a tempest. I went home to run some errands, do some housework, and read more cases. Eli went with them and apparently enjoyed the studio.

When they came back home, Eli was asleep. This time I put him in his bed so he could have a proper nap. We made excellent tomato and mozzarella sandwiches. After Eli got up, we played with blocks. He can identify many of them, about ten. I ask him to give me the rabbit, and he looks around until he finds the block with the rabbit in it. Then I ask for the duck. Etc.

Ally wanted to make risotto tonight, so she got to work on that when she got home. Ally makes risotto that is excellent every time. I really think we had the best dinner of anyone on our block.

We talked about getting out of town tomorrow, and we decided to do it. There aren't that many trains or buses to places we want to go, and fares for four add up. So we're renting a car for the day. We think we'll go into the Luberon region, probably to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue or Rousillon. We'll let you know how that turns out.