Update from Grand Rapids

It's been some time since I've posted an update from West Michigan but there's no time like the present and so here we go.

Most of our Sundays and occasionally a Saturday has been spent out at Clear Lake this summer. It's been a place of refuge, given the nature of our country today, a refuge sorely needed and warmly embraced. In fact, we're going back out there this Sunday to help celebrate a birthday. Good times, good food and good folk, what a wonderful combination. And when family become friends that makes for an unbeatable combination.

Susie no longer bakes out in Grand Haven. While the opportunities presented by the kindness and generosity of Patty and Paul at Patricia's Chocolate were nothing short of incredible, the drive had just become too tiresome. Now, the French Tarte has a license to bake out of Nonna's Pantry in Ada, just 15 minutes from our house. The new owner loves her pastries and thinks the world of her, having seen what she could do when Susie provided the occasional French delicacy for the Pantry a couple of years back. Anyway, the new arrangement is so much better for her/our peace of mind. She has also scheduled an occasional class at Nonna's through the fall season as well. Tres cool.

As for me, well I just finished giving a two-week presentation on the Historic Cemeteries of Paris at Aquinas and I'm moderating a digital photo portfolio review and discussion session at Aquinas later this month. This is the third one this year and I have to say they're lots of fun. Contrary to what some of you might think, I actually don't say much -- a shocker I know -- but it's really all about the other photographers sharing their ideas and comments about their own photos.

Besides our involvement with the Alliance Française Grand Rapids chapter -- I maintain their website -- our lives remain rather sedate here in the greater Grand Rapids area.

Lastly, I have been obsessed of late with one of the great French portraitists of the late 18th and early 19th century, Elisabeth-Louise Vigée madame Le Brun. I've put together a short slide show of a sampling of her work -- now maybe you'll be obsessed, too.