Monet's Debt to Flowers

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.--Claude Monet

Happy birthday to Claude Monet (1840). For some helpful travel information about, thoughts on, & photographs of Monet's garden at Giverny, visit The Clever Pup's Paris Notebook. She was there just last month & has the best ideas about how to visit Paris. Hint: Wear rose-colored glasses only part of the time or you will miss out. (Poplar (Autumn) series via here)

We're off to walk through some autumnal garden scenes, as well. Have a great Sunday.

ciao-bonjour-meow/GGCM

Happy Bastille Day

...or le quatorze juillet as it is informally (& widely) known. It is also the natal day of one of GG's aunties & we have humorous memories of sparklers & French treats--so as to do justice to both hallowed occasions. We are not French but Giulia is half-French & responds to French much better than English or Italian (she is scolded in Italian & this no doubt explains her language preference). Her editor went to school in Strasbourg, France & a major GG Central feature is our friendship with a Franco-American famille.

Maison Française (part of the French Embassy) in Washington, DC probably has room for you if you'd like to attend the party tonight. They publish France Magazine (which we love); we remember the good old days when it was free. Oh well. It's still worth the money.

Please remember, you can always make a donation to UNICEF or to Darfur Peace & Development Organization instead of buying the most expensive champagne. There are several lovely French champagnes that do not cost a fortune. Yes, there are, so do not argue! Oops. Sorry, got carried away there.

We're off to plan all manner of delightful doings (well, for the weekend, truth to tell), so we'll be back on Saturday for week's end. Salut!

ciao-bonjour-meow/Centre d'Activités de Giulia Geranium

[Claude Monet, Rue Montorgueil, Paris, Festival of June 30, 1878.1878. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.]

Tuesday at the Phillips with GG

GG is having a righteous rumpus. Her feline heart is set on becoming a patroness of the arts, particularly at the Phillips Collection. The day may come when we'll have to rent the café & throw her a big party. The Phillips Collection was voted Washington's best museum AND art gallery by City Paper readers recently. Some young'uns--the hordes of mid-20s-30ish folks recently descended upon our city--think they discovered it. Au contraire, nos amis. (Though we're happy to have you on board.)

The Phillips was a hang-out for GG's editor when she was still an official teenager, recently returned from France. "Meet you under the Matisse" meant she could be found sitting on a lumpy bottle-green velvet sofa in the music room (under a Matisse). We'd love to see GG sleeping on that sofa; we miss it terribly--including the lumps. The jewel-box space has become too manicured for our taste; but like an old friend--you still love them, even with (too much) Botox.

Some favorite paintings at the Collection are by Bonnard. Above, The Palm & La Côte d'Azur, respectively. The museum goer (looking just like GG's editor) is by Nina Leen. She's trying to divine from an egg-shaped objet d'art, "What will the Easter Bunny bring GG?"

ciao-meow/GG's art curator & party planner

[Bonnard images via artchive.com & Nina Leen photograph via LIFE archives]

GG & Rodin's Dancing Figure

A pretty postcard propped up for years against a stack of books; a Rodin drawing in the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC). GG has been leaping & prancing all day, twirling & twisting in the air like a snowboarder. She prefers to think of herself as a feline dancer. And she still wants those flamenco earrings. Sigh.

Have a lovely evening.

ciao-meow, baci, bisou
GG's editor

A peaceful Wednesday at the Phillips with GG

We wish we could go to the Phillips but can't tomorrow. This is last autumn's magazine cover...our membership lapsed in the spring. Still it is pretty. GG's editor has many maxims, one being..."nothing bad can happen to you in the Phillips..." Its true!

So if you are in the Washington, DC-area take yourself to the Phillips. It's great with someone, but eminently suitable for a date with yourself. (No need for membership to see the permanent collection for free/small donation)... after that, go into the shop...lovely art stickers for about $1.25...postcards (they sell stamps, too), a petit riens.

Then go to the café & write postcards, or in your journal, or people watch. It's open until 4pm.

If you should happen upon a long-legged, pink-nosed ginger & white cat wearing a chic moss-colored cotton collar, tell GG to return home pronto. She's plotting a trip, it's quite obvious. She's rifling through the art books of late--especially those from the Phillips. You will most likely run into the bohemian GG in the café; she aspires to hold a weekly salon at GG Central & GG Central Management has not made a decision yet.

Have a great Wednesday, whatever you do.

Ciao, xoxo, GG's editor