Sightseeing: Snow, Ice and Vapor

Boy was I surprised

when I pulled up

my window shades.

Way better than inflight movies.

Iceland, Greenland?  Anybody recognize this amazing place?

Blossom Break

It's Spring Where You Are, Isn't It?

Just in case it hasn't arrived for you yet (sorry all you, in the Southern Hemisphere)

(pic:  What Katie Ate)

Here, some weekend pics of Spring

(Pic: Elena from Bicocacolors)

from around the web

(Pic: Thomas Hardy's house - Ben Pentreath)

that I have

(via RhubarbintheGarden)

thought were quite

(pic:  Hello Sandwich)

perfectly SPRING-ey perfect!  Perhaps you'll think so too.

 HAPPY WEEKEND!

Beautiful Brixton Market - Part One

In chilly usually gray old Blighty

what a nice surprise!

When you step out of the train at Brixton, the market is right there.

It's a sweet and glorious mashup

of Victorian arcades, eating places, fruit-fish-and-veg markets

but especially SPECIALLY Afro-Caribbean colors, flavors and sounds.

It was definitely one of the very best spent days

during our visit to London.  I didn't want to leave Brixton Market!

You might feel the same.

London - Not As Photographed by Vivian Maier But I Hope You Like

In the West End, near Regent Street.

On Fulham Road.  The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a mad car scene.

Lincoln's Inn Fields in technicolor glory.

King Street, Hammersmith

Someone to watch over me - on Adie Street, H'smith.

A way to live an Oasis-ey kind of life in Covent Garden.

Lamb's Conduit Street across from the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital

Russell Street Tube Station

***  Has anyone else seen the Vivian Maier movie or any of the exhibits of her work?  I just saw the movie.  What pictures!  

For Fun, For Easter

So the Paradis family only got back from London on Wednesday

and we are not religious much so the Holiday sort of caught me by surprise.  Well, I mean the frantic crowds at the supermarket on Thursday did!  Here are some different celebrations of Easter that are more suited to me.  (Though I know many of you are eating something very special this weekend and I am all for that!)  

I don't know this for sure, but I've decided that these are Easter bonnets, and yes I'd like one.

(All pics via Petit Cabinet de Curiosite)

It is spring after all and it would not be Passage Paradis if there weren't flowers in the mix.

Hope it was a lovely one.  However you spent your weekend.

Just Back from London - Some Highlights

We were lucky.

It was sunny most of the time.

There was so much yumminess.....

as always, and always something to smile about.....

moments of wonder....

and others of sheer

frivolity

and delight.

Hope your weekend coming up has a little of all this too!

Instagram Me, Baby

Some of you many know already that I'm not really one of those "early adopters".

yeah, I still don't have a "smart phone".

and I prefer my "nature" heightened, in less stylized and nostalgic, a fashion, shall we say.

Except when I don't.

  Whaddaya say?  Instagraming, how long will it last?

North Beach Impressions - San Francisco

I know, I know.......

Why haven't I posted these photos of North Beach before?

Maybe because I have three times this many of them.

It was so hard to go through and make a coherent narrative.

 It's such a rich and lively place of contrasts - East and West

 old and new

chic and charming

humble and haute.

Where to begin, what to say?

Except that I love it all.

And I worry that this part of San Francisco is endangered......

by Silicon Success.  It's progress, they say.  "It happens." 

Has San Francisco been made a UNESCO world heritage site yet?  It should be, don't you think?