From the same shop the gave you Evil Felix, it's my pleasure to introduce... the Evil Clown Triplets! You'll laugh so hard your sides will split! And then they'll sup on your guts!

The first night I was in Barcelona coincided with the parades celebrating St. Eulalia (patron saint of the city, the Romans supposedly rolled her down a hill in a barrel full of broken glass. Party!). Kids as young as six charge through the narrow streets with spinning fireworks aloft on sticks. The watching crowds, including your reporter, were showered with sparks and embers. It was the kind of thing that positively could never happen in the US.

Dueling sheep's heads. These were going for about $1.30 a, um, head. If I was a sheep, I'd be insulted to have such a paltry price on my head. Even as a human, I feel instinctively that the heads of large mammals should be worth more than that. I mean, it's a head. But that's market forces for you. In today's vacuum packed, sterilzed world, not much demand for bloody heads on hooks.

the white coat

the pigeon man's a very sad man / takes his pleasure where he can / learned a lot from his pigeon friends / no tears / just dust and feathers when days end.

Window Patterns

Uncle Benny had ear hair like tumbleweeds and smoked cigars that smelled like burning trash. Clara loved him all the more for his dedication to stamps and coins, recognizing in his passion for order a refuge from the chaos of the world that she wished she could share.

Oranges hung by the window with care.

Little Timmy didn't realize he'd strayed into the flesh-eating pigeons' territory...

until it was too late.

Felix says: "Stare into my diamond eyes while I drink your soul!" Barcelona is great for creepy little curio shops.

Now that I'm back from Barcelona, we return to your normally scheduled programming of a post per day. Here's Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, possibly the most unique cathedral in the world. Like cathedrals of yore, this one's been under construction for well over 100 years and, as you can see from the cranes, is still being built.

Barcelona's open window policy.

I'm in Barcelona for work stuff. This is from my hotel window.

Crazy quail eggs. We ate these in a salad later.

Shot this from the car on the road into St Remy. Translates more or less as: "Danger - Bull Demonstration - Information at the Tourist Office." The sign is even more bizarre given the total lack of posted warnings in France (at least in comparison to the litigious US). Though you'd certainly want to know if you were driving straight into a bull demonstration.

Les Beaux de Provence, a little village hacked right into the mountain. From the top of that ridge you can see to Africa, or at least it feels like it. The wind is fierce beyond belief. Locals maintain three points of contact with the rock at all times to keep from being blown off the cliff face. One of the above statements is untrue.

I'm back in Paris, but here's a souvenir from the south.

Cats playing in St. Remy.

Ornaments on the tree, way after the season.

So this is a little more flowery than I usually go in for, but since it was really like that on the lunch table and not some arrangement, I decided to post it. And, it's purdy.

Hey, turns out I can keep updating from the south. Here's a provencal shot from a walk we took today.

I'm going to spend a few days in the south, and I'm not sure I'll be able to post during that time. Stay tuned, faithful viewers. I leave you with this intriguing metering mistake.

There's no doubt Francois was a windbag, full of hot air. But we let him stick around, though he was sometimes late with his dues. We saved a good bit on helium, anyway.

I was struck by the timelessness of these students in the Luxembourg gardens. This image could be 20, 30, 40 years old. And it could probably be captured again in another 40 years. Except then it would be a flying bike, of course.