Day 50 (19 August 2010) – The Little Mermaid
This afternoon I managed to capture in photo form a mermaid as she emerged from our pool. After careful investigation, I determined that her name is 
Celeste, she is French, and she is 10 years-old. I understand that her parents are Christine and Bernard, and that she has two older brothers and one younger sister. Their house has been in disarray lately due to a significant remodeling effort taking place (which probably explains why this mermaid was taking a dip in our pool).
Apparently, Celeste is an excellent Monopoly player, can assist American teenagers with their French and in buying cheese at the grocery store, and is a fan of the Twilight series. She has had recent run-ins with a cat and an orthodontist. My observations of her has led me to conclude that she is an exceptionally sweet mermaid, one who is always welcome in our house (and pool). I must admit, however, that in my head I sometimes want to call her Cosette instead of Celeste, despite not catching any glimpses of Jean Valjean. I will keep looking…
By the way, I am turning on the comments feature of the blog so if you want to respond to this or future posts, feel free. I’ve been hesitant to do this, wanting to keep things very simple so let’s look at this as a test.
French Sabbatical 
She is indeed a most darling mermaid. Quite the neighborhood find! 🙂 I am deeply jealous of that pool of yours, but at least you are all enjoying it to pieces so that is some consolation.
(I wanted to comment on those burger posts but I guess I’ll have to wait until you and Ella find another likely test site!)
andy! i’m glad you opened up the comments, as i always want to respond right away, then realize i have to email you then reference what it was that made me want to comment in the first place! anyway, i really, really miss europe and am so happy to read about your time there. One last thing: I have some John Lurie canvas prints waiting for you if you want them…
-dan
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