No Tears on the Blog!

Mom and Stella have been back from Detroit for over a week already. I - Henry that is - just can't believe it! When they got here, we were all so happy to see each other again...

...I had asked Papa to prepare an apéritif for their arrival (here I am opening the champagne for them). We were having a such ball; we all put on our Elf hats from Susie, Max put on his new Detroit Lions football T-shirt, Stella her Michigan Spartans sweatshirt...

...Mom and I were cuddling on the pouf, listening to Don White, laughing-crying and drinking Lipton Iced Tea and champagne; I was walking on air...

...flying high...

...with a little help from the indoor furniture which, if you remember rightly, is all we Pontoon Pirates have here in Paris. (Everyone we know in the States also has outdoor furniture, hamacs, treehouses, pontoons, Christmas lights and such, but not us Parisians, noooo; we have to make do with ye old indoor furniture when we're feeling frightfully happy and don't have time to run over to the Eiffle Tower for a climb of joy.)

Yes, we were happy that night. Then something went wrong...I don't quite know what or when but within about a week I was telling Mom "Je ne veux pas d'une soeur comme ça!" I was laying down ultimatums (that's the cool American word for the Latin ultimata, I believe...) for Papa : "It's me or her! Either SHE goes to boarding school or I go!" Well, looks like it'll probably be her. Last Tuesday, she finally did get herself properly kicked out of school...

...Hard to believe, huh? She looks like such a nice young lady.

(Um, she's the one on the right for any newcomers. The lovely lady on the left is Miss Brigitte of the Bounce-Back Café.)

But, Mom said, "No tears on the blog!" and that was final. So I can't show you any of the photos of Stella and me fighting and screaming and crying. None of Stella pouting and crying about being kicked out of school either. Nope, Mom says it's our job to be "uplifting" here on Pontoon Pirates. We must keep the Paret-Darnay-Magee Pirate Chronicles "light and humourous" she says. So, No Tears on the Blog, not even Monique's at the airport when she was saying good-bye to Mom and Stella!

(Sorry folks.)

Besides, we prefer her as she is here anyway...

...bright and smiling in Grosse Pointe Farms, on her way up The Hill to the drug store to buy red and white striped CANDY!!! That was the day Mom and Stella left.

Once again, they had great flying weather that day.

But just then, they were still enjoying some of Grosse Pointe's little known marvels...

...the print of a leaf in the concrete of the sidewalk...

...a hidden gargoyle...

...(ain't he a beaut?)

Plus, some truly original outdoor furniture!

They enjoyed one last meal with Monique, Opi and Omi...



(which had to be photodocumented by everyone, of course!)

...then it was off to the airport and good-bye Detroit!

City of contrasts.

Mom still wishes they'd seen the Avedon exhibit, but you can't do everything, right?
At the airport there were some last minute surprises! United Airways was running late and Mom and Stella would have missed their connecting flight in Philly if an extremely kind and efficient stewardess - no photos available, sorry - had not got them on an Air France flight direct to Paris!!!

Although this is not Paris, it's just Stella at Macdonald's in the duty free zone.

The flight change gave them a bit more time to spend with everyone at Detroit Metro! Basically, it sure looks like they had a great last day, n'est-ce pas?

Stella did have to take her shoes off to go through the silver gates...

...but they finally reached the airplane (last photo taken in Detroit). And soon they were home...

...And they were really sure they were home because as soon as they got far enough through the front door to see anything, Malcolm was showing them his new Pokemon cards! (First photo taken in Paris!)

But don't think our tale of Mom and Stella's adventures in the US is over yet. No, no. They told many more stories which we are looking forward to sharing as soon as we can!

Here's a foretaste of one special lunch at Zeff's Coney Island restaurant... So do stay tuned, there'll be more than just Marilyn and Mustard, Pirate's honor!