Dear April I: Tuck Shop, Canal St. Martin, and Ducklings

http://blog.freepeople.com/2014/04/monday-quote-breathings-heart/

April, you have been lovelier than I am used to. Back home I am constantly repeating the mantra of april showers bring may flowers, but this year, in Paris, you have been wonderful. An abundance of blooms in vast arrays of pinks and violets have graced the streets of this city I now call home. I have vowed to explore with a wider heart during these final two and a half months, and I believe I am succeeding.

Last weekend, a dear friend introduced me to a lovely cafe along Canal St. Marin called Tuck Shop. It is vegetarian and filled to the brim with muesli and quinoa. On Sunday I had bought a pineapple and mint frappe with my brownie but was disappointed to find out on this Thursday afternoon that those were a weekend specialty, and settled on a hibiscus iced tea instead. I will be returning here for breakfast soon, if not tomorrow, April. I sat in the sun on a wooden picnic table outside and sipped the tea while reading The Bell Jar. This place reminds me of home and I am still very far away, so little pieces of Vancouver-likeness are very welcome, even in the form of Australian-run vegetarian cafes.

I wandered over to the canal after purchasing a tiny box of raspberries for 2.95 and settled by the water to finish my book and do some writing. I was graced by the presence of two families of ducks, the ducklings peppering the green canal water with their tiny, fluffy bodies. I worried about the many cigarette butts, corks, and empty cans littering the stream and fished out a pop can to prevent any tiny heads from becoming ensnared. I hope people think of ducklings before discarding such harmful substances into the lovely canal.

April, you have brought with you an explosion of greenery and lined the canal with lush trees, overhanging their full boughs in archways of emerald over our heads as we sat in the tenth arrondissement of Paris.

You're halfway over, April, and I am shocked to the core by the speed of time. I only hope to be blessed with more days like today and yesterday (a picnic in the bois de boulogne) and Sunday (Tuck and an artists' collective) and Monday (the Marais and Le Loir dans la Theiere and lounding by the river and Lush and  huge bunches of lilacs bought by street vendors), sun-soaked and blissful.

Paris, je t'aime.

Love always,
Coral