Dreaming of France -- Colored LIghts

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

I've never been in France for Christmas, but I've heard some stories, including the fact that everything is closed. In the U.S., you can usually find a gas station or grocery store open, although I try not to go to any stores on Christmas Day. And Chinese restaurants are always open on Christmas.
As we've celebrated today, with all of our children coming home to gather around the tree and open presents before a trip to Earl's sister's house for Christmas lunch, I kept imagining how different our celebration will be next year if we're living in France. I still hope our children will join us. We'll see what happens.
The closest thing I have to a Christmas picture is this colored-light reflection of stained glass.

Grace took this photo when blogging friend Linda Mathieu met her and gave her a tour of Montmartre, including Sacre Coeur. The light reflecting off the stained glass windows on these columns look like those new Christmas lights which shine on houses and rotate around in red and green. 

And here's another shot from Grace from the viewpoint of Montmartre, showing the far-away Eiffel Tower.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas day. Hope to see you all in the new year.

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your name and blog address in Mr. Linky below, and leave a comment letting me know what  you think about my love affair with France, or your own passion for the country and its people and cultures. Also consider visiting the blogs of others who play along so we can all share the love.

Hip Harley Rider

This blog post could probably just be a tweet, but, I'm sharing with all of you.
On my run this morning, I ended up running on the sidewalk along a street with a lot of businesses, so the traffic picked up.
I started hearing music, above the music on my headphones and figured a car must be coming up behind me with the windows down and the music jacked up. The fairly mild weather could encourage drivers to roll down the windows.
But as the vehicle got louder and passed me, I saw an older guy with gray hair pulled into a ponytail riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle. He wore no helmet, of course, and a black leather jacket. His feet stuck forward so that he could lean back and  hold onto the high handlebars of the motorcycle.
He looked like a typical Harley rider, except for the Christmas light that he had attached to the frame of his motorcycle. The lights shone pale blue.
I didn't get a picture. I should have because the lights were obviously a string of lights that had been wrapped around, up and down on the main section of the bike. But here's a photo to give you an idea.

Photo Credit: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/harley-davidson-motorcycle-dustin-k-ryan.html

So, an early morning Harley rider with his bike lit up might catch my eye, but the music blaring originally caught my attention. And then it hit me. I expected a Harley rider to be playing some sort of heavy metal rock. "Get your motor runnin', head out on the highway..."
Instead, the music coming from the motorcycle was a woman singing R&B.
And it made me want to laugh and remind myself not to stereotype people.

Saturday Snapshot -- Snow

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
I usually run with my friends on Saturday morning, but with a couple of inches of snow falling overnight and still coming down, we cancelled our drive to the running trail. I bundled up and went for a walk. The snow makes it so light outside that the dark morning is bright.
I captured this photo of the snow piling up on my neighbor's Christmas lights.

Hope you have a warm, dry day with lots of twinkling lights.

Saturday Snapshot -- Christmas Lights

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
I didn't manage to capture any of the Christmas lights that I really wanted to but I do think that the displays of Christmas lights are a good sign for the economy. People seem to be going all out this year.
I like the draping on the tree in this one:

 

In this one, reindeer are artfully spread throughout the scene. Those icicle lights are still haning on around here.

And this one, though a little blurry, the person went all out from the stairs at the bottom to the peak of the roof.