Category Archives: Humourous

Toulouse Again And A Funny Street Sign

Falling under the ‘you couldn’t make that up’ category, here’s a photo of a street corner in Toulouse, France.

Street sign in Toulouse, France

Cartoon Graphic From a Cafe With A Good Vibe

Directly in the block across the street from the old Union Station in Tacoma is the Renaissance Cafe. We had some hearty salads there and this cartoon graphic was on the wall behind my son Chris. I thought I should share it. Isn’t it nice to go someplace for lunch that does NOT have wifi and people are actually eating and talking amongst themselves?

Cartoon graphic from the Renaissance Cafe in Tacoma, Washington

P.S. I am posting this from Vancouver, Canada. We are here for a mere 24 hour visit, are hoping that the good weather holds out, and we’ll be winging our way to Australia tomorrow night. If my posts are a little thin for the upcoming days, it’s because I am recovering from jet lag in Sydney!

Silly Games For Sale in the USA

Taking a break from places to see and family pics in Washington State to share these two games that I spotted in a vintage goods shop inside the Freighthouse Square mini-mall in Tacoma yesterday. Seriously, I couldn’t pass these photo-ops up!

Trailer Park Wars game seen in vintage shop in the USA

Redneck Life game for sale in a vintage shop in the USA

Photo Of The Day: Seriously Important Yet Smile-Inducing Graphic

An example of a serious but smile-inducing graphic was the neon sign we saw in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France that instructed wheelchair users what direction to proceed in if there was a fire in the museum. Mark said, “Not chariots of fire — wheelchairs of fire.” And in case anyone misinterprets that, he meant it in a wry and humour-filled manner — not a sarcastic or disrespectful manner.

Wheelchair and fire graphic showing evacuation route at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France

Photo Essay: Meandering Through Montmartre in Paris

There are more sides to Montmartre, the district that sits high atop the Paris landscape, than the crowds at Sacre Couer. This photo essay will show you some of the lovely or funny things that we saw as we walked around.

Art Nouveau building on Rue Lamarck in Paris, France

Bright pink boulangerie (bakery) in the Montmartre district of Paris, France

Montmartre cafe at dusk

Cafe interior in Montmartre

Stairway passages through the hilltops of Montmartre

Colourful chairs & tables at a sidewalk cafe in the Montmartre district of Paris, France

Nun in full habit (which is rather unusual nowadays) walking down Rue Lamarck in Montmartre, Paris, France

Cartoon advertisement in the window of a plumbing & heating shop in the Montmartre district of Paris, France

Spectacles (events) kiosk in the Montmartre district of Paris, France

Rolling With Retro

Seriously, Deborah? The movers aren’t even picking up the household goods until Saturday morning to send it all on to Australia and you are already feeling ‘nest-y’ again?

Mark and I have embraced the Mid-Century look over the last few years and just as we were leaving Australia, we bought the cute little ‘Sputnik’ table that you see in this photo. Mark refreshed the top with a bright red gloss and the black iron legs and little feet at the end (a punchy lime green) are the original colours.

A fabbo gift — a rocket style lava lamp

What you see in the picture is my Christmas present which I never got around to posting three months ago when it arrived in France with a mere 48 hours to spare before Christmas Day. I always wanted a Lava Lamp back in the original time period but the other people in my life back then thought that it was silly. But guess who never let go of that love of Lava Lamps? Me!

I must have said something about it sometime over the last few years because Mark planted that firmly in his brain and he totally surprised me this year with this gift. And he tracked down the original manufacturer in England to order this totally fabbo rocket ship version. It’s simply hypnotic to have it on in the background of a darkened room while you are watching television or just sitting quietly.

Now I can’t wait to get UNPACKED in Australia and see it again!

From Barcelona, Not The Normal Thing To See At A Museum!

Walking down a narrow street in Barcelona, heading for the contemporary art museum called MACBA, we strolled past several sidewalk cafes at the front corner of the large white museum building.

Sidewalk cafes are conveniently located outside the front entry of MACBA — the museum of contemporary art in Barcelona, Spain.

We certainly weren’t expecting what we saw unfolding in the courtyard in front of us. Dozens of young people were ‘hanging out’ in various places along the courtyard and in clumps at the front of MACBA. And what we were laughing at was the sight of skateboarders doing tricks right in front of that museum!

They were quite considerate and confined their activity to a small area so that they didn’t interfere with the pedestrians who were criss-crossing the plaza or coming in and out of the museum.

Young men on skateboards perform in the open plaza outside MACBA — the museum of contemporary art in Barcelona, Spain.

Day to day life in Barcelona surprised us again and again. We might be living in Europe now, but our quiet French town is rather sedate compared to the unfolding comedy, drama, and action in this large metropolitan part of Spain.

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey