Hard to believe--we left Paris two weeks ago! In some ways, it seems like a dream, however we do have pictures to bring all the memories flooding back over us! Sooo.... a few more blog entries to complete our story...
I have always taken great delight in lettering, fine calligraphy, pictures with words, and just handwriting in general. It is rather amazing that we can make pencil, chalk or ink scratches on paper and have those scratches become letters and icons which are then symbols we can read for ourselves or share with others. The great books of the Middle Ages are so fascinating, the Book of Kells, the Lindisfarne Gospels, etc., but there is also lovely everyday handwriting, unique to each person, it is said. In French cities and towns many, if not most, restaurants have a blackboard, or "ardoise" sitting just outside the entry door, listing the day's "formule" or "plats du jour" in handwritten letters. The amazing thing is the handwritten letters are all very similar--a great tribute to the teachers of penmanship in the schools across the country. Many of the older folks say that today it is not the same--the young students are not learning to write the old standard Upright French Cursive, and soon there won't be people who can write on the restaurant ardoise. But for now....
Looking through our pictures I found these pictures of ardoises:
this one is a mixture of block letters and upright cursive in pink and white..
a smaller board affixed to the doorway..
a Coca Cola sponsored ardoise? all sorts of colored chalk here...
Peut-etre, might I have some of that creme brulee?
On one of our last days, I spotted a children's workbook for l'alphabet and les chiffres (numerals) on an outdoor table at a neighborhood bookstore. Only 3 E! In my spare time I will have to get right on this and get fluent in writing some neat French Upright Cursive.
pas de probleme, only 80 pages !
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