Are “les Misérables” of France hopeful?

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Michele

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Yesterday, I was walking home through a quaint neighborhood of Paris, la Butte aux cailles, when I noticed these posters of Hollande on the wall of this little street, rue de l’Esperance (street of hope in French):

I can’t vote in France but I have been following the elections and if you want to know a bit about it, I recommend reading these two short articles from today’s New York Times. The first one’s called: “Victor Hugo on the ballot” by Robert Zaretsky.

The other one is “Voting for Yesterday in France” by Oliver Guez:

Take a few minutes to read them—they are quite interesting…

On a more cheerful note, there is always hope as long as there is spring and lilacs that remind me of my childhood in Iran…

To read one of my favorite posts about lilacs in Paris go here.

Lilacs for my mother

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Michele

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I wished I were with both my mother and my son today but I am alone, somewhere in Europe between Los Angeles and Tehran…

I would have offered my mother some lilacs and a fabulous view,

and walked with her under the ubiquitous wisterias and admired all the pansies.

We love our mothers for all the stories they told us when we were children,

all the books they read to us,

food (tahdig) they’ve made us:

let’s not forget the clothes,

and things they kept from the time we were babies,

I would have loved to share a meal with my mother and my son today,

or at least a cup of tea.

I would have offered her a perfume with the scent of spring flowers,

and bought her a hat,

because mothers have to wear different hats in bringing up their children!

We love them and should let them know; as I am sitting in front of my computer, I dedicate this post to my mother and yours,

because they have loved us with all their might…

Happy mother’s day.