Now May's Here and Henry's Back Too!

After 15 of the most gloriously sunny and warm days one could hope for in the month of April, May came in with a bang! Stormy and cool...

Papa took Mom and me - Malcolm that is - out to lunch on the 1st. He wanted to take us to Le Bon Coin but it was closed so we went to a Moroccan restaurant instead.

Mom was in a good mood...

...so she let me taste the Moroccan wine...

(Oops! Did we forget to tell you that Mom got her hair colored back in April? Well, as you can see, she did!)

Cheers!

Mom liked the dishes...

...and I, although for some reason I look terribly frightened in this picture (maybe at the idea that I was going to have to eat all this food!), very much enjoyed the grilled lamb, merguez and kefta...

...even if it was not served with frites but with...

...semoule. Semoule is the wheaty part of couscous, couscous being the entire dish : meat, veggies, semoule, etc.

Mom and Papa had tagine...

...which is a type of ragout cooked in a clay dish with a round, pointy lid. Mom's was Lamb tagine with prunes and almonds! Yum! (Yes, Omi, I assure you : Mom really does eat cooked prunes these days, even if she refused to do so when she was three. I saw her do it just yesterday with my own eyes. And she didn't even try to force me to taste any either!) Papa had Lamb tagine with candied lemons and yellow raisins but he ate it so fast Mom didn't even have time to get a snap shot of it.

Then of course, after the main dish comes dessert!

This photo was mostly taken to make Max and Stella who had staunchly refused to come with us as jealous as possible! Is it working? If that didn't work, how about this...

...or this...

While I was eating my TWO desserts (Yes, you read that right, TWO!!), Mom was playing with her Leica...

...and Papa was dreamily scratching his left ear...

It happens sometimes.

After lunch, we walked down La rue des Pyrénées till we got to...

...the condemned bus depot which occupies an entire city block and which Parisian and banlieusard tag artists have been progressively taking over for the last year or so. (Do you remember what banlieu means? It means suburbs. We told you that way back in the early days of Pontoon Pirates but if you've forgotten, that's OK. We don't mind repeating ourselves.)

We took exactly 92 photos of the tags as we walked around the block but don't worry, we will only show you our favorite ones :







I was enjoying myself...

...blending in...

It's an amazing series of paintings! There are small ones...




...and huge ones...


Papa didn't quite know what to think.

But I love them! I'd like to be in one of them...

...and Mom's always easy to please!

But by the time we'd gotten mostways around the block, even Papa was getting into the action!

It's a very dynamic place. The artists know their work will probably not last a night if it lasts an hour! Just look at this :

Now compare it to the photo we took back when we set off on our tour :

Yep! Once around the block and some of the ones we liked were already being covered up!

Yes, May came in grey and windy...



But there was at least one sunny spot :

Henry came home from tennis camp tonight!

(He had a great time but looks pretty happy to be home too, doesn't he?)

We're pretty glad he's home too, and not only because Papa made Crottes de Muffins au Chocolat and Cornes de Gazelles au Fleur d'Oranger either.

We're just happy because he's Henry and we've missed him!

Welcome home Henry with the sunburnt back! We love you!