Paris + Colette. I am having pangs of occasional guilt for trimbaler-ing (to borrow a verb from French) Colette this much. But this trip is family, starting with Xavier's sister Marie and Colette's cousins Jules and Louise. Marie always said to me about her children that she knew them when they arrived - like their presences were ones with which she was already very familiar. Her words rang so true when I first laid eyes on Colette. It is like that when meeting a baby in a family too - Marie recognized Colette and Colette recognized Marie too - her baby tiger noises and sprawling grin said so. Maybe she recognized the city too - since cities have recognizable souls as well.













Of course Colette was delighted to see her lovely sister, Marguerite, once again and was lucky enough to watch a performance this morning at her school - 80 kindergarteners singing away in French chorus (some more enthusiastically than others it would seem). The songs were all, apparently, classics - none of which I knew. I'm glad Colette will know these songs as classics too. The big sister will be with us all month - lucky us.



One of the cutest things at Marguerite's school ("Maternelle" in France - for kids ages 3-6) is the nap room:



Can you imagine the ataxia nap time must be? (But that is the American speaking...the French have it under control - just look at those beds...a post for another time).

Instagram.

I've only just joined. Funny, but I feel like I've been instagramming for years - here and elsewhere. I like it a lot. I'd much rather look at a visual stream/flow of updates than habitually boring words and descriptions. Tiny bursts of stimulation, if you will (and it somehow feels like instagram has so much more of a soul than facebook, if apps can have souls). I promise not to adulterate everything here by making it a replication of there (only occasionally).

So if you do instagram - join me: emiliejojo

Tongue out perpetually.

La Belle France.

Tomorrow we are off to France for 3 weeks. Colette will get to meet the French side of her family - les Joly - and in doing so we will cover a lot of territory: Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Saint-Julien-en-Born (Atlantic Coast), Baugé. All the while we will be with the very lovely Marguerite: two sisters together (the last time around Colette was not charming the world or her sister with her smile yet).

There is such a lot of world to see...

Driving along the coastal rode in Jamaica, where 8 year old boys drive motor bikes with no helmets and shack after shack painted in blazing reds/turquoise/green stirs with good people and kids in British looking school uniforms, we decided to pull over when passing a particularly resplendent beach near Negril. Bobby (featured above, holding Colette) came out to meet me at the car. I thought maybe he was going to say not to park here, or that we should move on, but no.

Bobby with the kindest eyed smile: "Hi Mon."

Me: "Hi, we saw your beach and thought we could pull over to take a look and maybe a swim."

Bobby without any hesitation and rare warmth - genuine and flowing: "Ya Mon! Ya, of course you should. Come on. Pull your car right here. Ya."

Car gets pulled over and parked, Bobby opens up the trunk to take out Colette and get us set up to enjoy the beach. We get there and he tells us about the great snorkeling just off the shore there and then feeds us breadfruit and fish. About his puppies - prancing about everywhere. Loves Colette. Smiles a luminous smile and says "one love" and we know he is truth-telling.

Colette 1 month -----> 2 months -----> 3 months.

Summer.

Stepped into Cape Cod felicity this weekend at John's. Colette had been once in gestational phase; she liked it much better in the unsquished version of herself - with her eyes wide open and her fists batting about. The weather was brisk - belied the month - but the Atlantic was still swum. Beauty about. Everywhere. Beauteous beings too.

These two look and sound alike.

Making friends in Provincetown.

Alisa.

We had some great visitors this week - my inspiring cousin Alisa and her family. Those boys are such charming fun - we wanted them to stay much longer. It was so cute to hear her boys' take on the city: "Why would anyone want to live here?" I totally got it - as we were stepping over trash and battling crowds in Times Square and Grand Central. These boys live with fresh mountain air and lots of room for running around...I am a wee bit jealous. For Colette.