I’m in a stupor. And you would too if you had just spent (maybe ‘survived’ is a better word) five days with four high-energy kids. Love those kids, but I also love coming home. Having been ill with a nasty cold and cough the week before, I was already feeling rundown before I even got to Lille.

Highlights were taking the kids to my favorite tea salon in the Old Town of Lille for hot chocolate and discovering an independent DVD store where I bought one of my favorite movies, Dead Man directed by Jim Jarmusch. We watched it later that day. To my surprise, the kids liked it (they no longer run out of the room shrieking because a film is in black and white.) On another day we also rewatched, with some of their friends, the excellent Alice in Wonderland with Mia Wasikowska, directed by Tim Burton. Two other favorites are The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.

One rainy morning the eldest boy (15) and I closeted ourselves in the kitchen and made homemade lasagna from scratch. He did all the work, I supervised. Aside from the bechamel sauce which was a bit lumpy, it turned out well. Later, I took the 4 year old to McDonald’s (his choice, not mine) where he insisted on placing the order himself. His little head barely reaching the counter, he recited “Je veux un hamburger, des frites, un grand Coca et un jouet.” (I want a hamburger, fries, a large Coke, and a toy.) “S’il vous plait,” I prompted. “S’il vous plait.” he added. I also told him that “je voudrais” is nicer than “je veux” (“I would like” instead of “I want”), but that didn’t stick.

And, lastly, I helped the 12-year old girl with a poem she had to write for school. Not easy! The theme had to be travel and the discovery of islands. Six stanzas.

“Je plane au-dessus des îles qui scintillent les couleurs de la mer…” (I hover over islands that sparkle the colors of the sea) I suggested. When I proposed the words “vert clair” (light green) in the second line to rhyme with “mer”, this apparently was not allowed. “Why not?” I said. “Because the first and third lines have to rhyme with each other, and the second and fourth lines. Plus we need to use linking verbs (or something) and it has to be written in the present subjunctive form.” Huh? Suddenly all my inspiration drained away. I hate rules, especially when you’re trying to be creative.

I’m back home now, in an exhausted stupor. I have one day to relax before going back to work tomorrow. And there’s only one thing to do when you’re in this state. Watch what’s called ‘real estate porn’. You sit in front of the screen, comatose, glass of wine at your side, and chill. No effort required. Here are a few of my favorites.

This house above was completely destroyed by a mudslide.

https://www.hiltonhyland.com/videos/

I am sickened by the images and news coming out of Syria, especially Aleppo. So sickened that I can no longer listen to the radio or watch the television. When the topic comes on, I need to turn it OFF. 

Unfortunately they cannot turn it off: the airstrikes, the barrel and cluster bombs, the chemical weapons used against civilians, and the shelling of hospitals … all committed by Assad’s government and Russian planes. What sort of depraved mind systematically engages in such wanton death and destruction? On innocents. On children, babies and women; ordinary men, boys and girls … civilians like you and me. Here are two depraved minds: Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin, just to name a few. The Syrian regime is also accused of using starvation as a weapon of war, considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. We do not see, however, any institution claiming breach of these Geneva Convention treaties. The apathy and inaction of the UN General Assembly, not to mention certain world “leaders”, is stupefying.

Syria’s civil war has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Half the country’s pre-war population — more than 11 million people — have been killed or forced to flee their homes.

I am filled with disgust and loathing for a number of reasons, one reason is that, as usual, we will never see the perpetrators prosecuted and judged for war crimes at the ICC (International Criminal Court) in The Hague. In fact, what purpose does the ICC serve? In my mind’s eye, all I see is an empty building with an empty courtroom. As we’ve seen, over and over and in other countries, these mass murderers carry out their crimes with complete impunity.

In today’s Sunday OBSERVER, sister newspaper to The Guardian, there’s an important opinion piece entitled “Barack Obama’s presidency will be defined by his failure to face down Assad. How his abandonment of Syria empowered the Islamists.” (link below)

Last week, up to 250,000 civilians – 100,000 of them children – were trapped in east Aleppo when it came under siege. Many of them fled into government-held west Aleppo as airstrikes intensified, but tens of thousands are still awaiting evacuation.

With the help of the international community, food, shelter and medicine can be sent to them.

Here’s an idea for a Christmas present, the gift of giving. Syrian refugees need our compassion and generosity. If you make a donation with your credit card, however small, it would be a great gift to fellow humans in need. Links are below.

You’ll find some informative reading on the UNICEF link below. Below that is The Guardian newspaper’s 2016 Charity Appeal listing the three charities they sponsor: The Children’s Society, Safe Passage, and Help Refugees, to which you can donate.

Last year’s appeal raised £2.6m ($3.2m).

https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/syria/

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/09/please-help-us-help-child-refugees-survive-the-winter

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/17/obama-presidency-defined-failure-face-down-assad-syria

Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, Paris’s biggest department stores in central Paris, side by side on the boulevard Haussmann.

I had to push my way through the crowd to view the windows.

Is Christmas for kids only?

I don’t think so. I love the Christmas season … am I just a big kid at heart?

I do get nostalgic at this time of year. Like the big clocks in this window above, time passes…TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK. But my excitement for the season does not wane. It’s linked to my childhood, of course. Christmas in our house was magical. And outside, it was always snowing; there were heaps of snow in the Toronto suburbs.

One year I received a gift of blue ice-skates. Not powder blue or periwinkle blue, but a true robin’s egg blue. I loved those skates (everyone else at our neighborhood rink had white skates.)  I have no idea what happened to them.

More festive photos to come. Next week I’ll head over to the très chic department store in the 6th arrondissement, Le Bon Marché, to see their Xmas windows and visit their fabulous Food Hall.

All week the weather here has been glorious – cold, dry and sunny. And all week the air pollution has been so critical that public transportation was free … as well as free resident car parking. On Wednesday I went home for lunch to fetch my camera. I stopped off at my local boulangerie to buy a baguette and this delicious pastry, called a religieuse, for my dessert. After work I jumped on the free metro and zipped down to the Champs-Elysées to see the Christmas lights. Here are some random shots.

Night photography isn’t easy. It entails long exposures, a tripod, and lots of fiddling with your settings (aperture and shutter speed), which I can’t be bothered to do. So, again, I apologize for the less-than-sharp images. Here, I’m basically strolling down the “Champs” at 7 pm tonight and enjoying the cold, clear weather.

WATCH OUT FOR PICKPOCKETS!  I can’t stress this enough. The Champs-Elysées is a pickpockets’ paradise, as are other tourist sites. Here are two of them here below, Romanian gypsies walking in front of me. They turned around, saw me taking a photo, and demanded money. “In your dreams,” I said and walked on. They are quite brazen. Be even more brazen. Show them who’s boss.

It’s important to wear your handbag with the long strap crossed diagonally across your chest. Or a short-strapped one with the purse tucked under your arm. The worst is to walk with your handbag dangling from your hand as it could be snatched by thieves on a scooter.

• Keep your wallet at the bottom of your purse.
• Never hang your purse on the back of a chair in a public place, where it’s out of your sight. Keep it on your lap. If you must put it on the floor, tuck the strap under your thigh, or at least put the chair leg through it.
• Be sure your purse is in front of you as you enter revolving doors, board trains, etc.
• Never set your purse down in a shop and turn your attention elsewhere.
• In public restrooms, loop your bag’s strap around the hook and keep your eye on the bag. Dropped coins in the stall beside could be a distraction ruse.
• To prevent a drive-by bag snatch, walk far from the curb, on the side of the street towards traffic.
• Don’t be fooled at outdoor cafes, where the space is bordered by potted plants. Thieves can reach in between the plants and grab your bag.