Weeks 71-73 in France

It had been 6 weeks since we visited the Louvre, and since our year pass was about to expire, we thought we would go one last time.  When we got there, we visited the "Friends of the Louvre" room to ask if we could sign up for just 6 months.  Nope, we had to sign up for a full year.  As we got to thinking of upcoming family visits, we realized it would be worth it to renew for a full year anyway, so we are again officially "Amis du Louvre".  We enjoyed a special exhibit on self portraits and self identified art pieces.  Anciently it was rare for artists of any kind to put their own names on their works.  Here are a few of our favorite self portraits:

 This last self portrait was painted by a woman as her entrance painting into the French Painter's Academy.  It was notable because artists rarely showed teeth in a smile!

King Louis XIV leading his hunting party.

The next five pictures were taken at a refugee home for refugees from Tibet.  The first picture shows calligraphy saying "Free Tibet".

Some of the desserts donated by a French restaurant

The lady on the left volunteers her time to help many refugees in France.

The man on the left is holding a plate of chocolate chip cookies Janet baked for them.

Their sleeping area.

For our monthly temple missionary get together I organized a music sharing evening.  This first picture shows the Paris Temple Presidency and their  wives singing a hymn while Wayne accompanies them.  I ended up accompanying a flute performance as well.

Our temple president and his wife sang a lovely duet which he accompanied on his guitar.

Wayne  played Debussy's "Sarabande"

In order to bring my piano from our apartment to the Guest House lunch room for this musical evening, I built a dolly to carry the piano and piano bench.

While it has been often cold and rainy, spring is just around the corner, as you can see.

 

This is the Willow Tree right in front of our apartment window.

As usual, we love having the young Sister Missionaries over for dinner each month.  On Janet's right is a temple volunteer who came over to rehearse a musical number, so we invited her to stay for dinner.

We received a fun package last week from a classmate of our great grandson who is in 2nd grade.  They drew pictures of themselves and then mailed them around the world to see where they could go.  We took "Flat Wyatt" shopping with us in a French supermarket before taking him to the post office to send him to Taiwan.

Flat Wyatt in front of all the French bread.

Flat Wyatt in front of the pig on the sausage aisle.

Flat Wyatt in the candy bar aisle with French "Lion" bars.

At the post office, getting ready to send him on his next adventure.

Today has been a  special day for us as we attended the funeral of a dear sister with whom we served at the temple.  We were both asked to share some of our experiences working with her, and Wayne was asked to play a piece by Bach, her favorite composer.  He played "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring while another sister missionary played the flute part on the organ.  Josiane Manier-Crocq was one of those special people who made everyone around her happy.  She always wore a smile, and even as the Coordinator of work assignments, she was unfailingly upbeat and cheerful.  We will miss her greatly.  Her husband plans to continue serving as a volunteer in the Paris Temple.  We are not ashamed to say we shed tears at her funeral service, but they were a mixture of tears of joy as well as of sorrow.  We are grateful to know that because of Christ's atonement and resurrection, we will see her again one day.