Pot

Today, while heading out to brunch at Charlie Birdy, a hip restaurant in the 15th arrondissement, Louis and I noticed a handwritten note taped to the wall at the entrance to our building. It said, briefly, "Come enjoy drinks and snacks in the garden today at 5:00." Actually, I have no idea what it said exactly - and at first, I thought it said something about drinks with Delphine at 4:30.... My first thought was that some nice, lonely neighbor wanted to meet people and so put up the note. We returned from brunch around 4:45, and I sent Louis out to go meet the lonely neighbor (hey, he could use the conversation practice - and it would be good for neighborly relations if other people knew we were not simply howling dog-owners).

Ten minutes later, Louis called me because it turned out our next-door neighbor was in the garden and he wanted me to officially meet her (and further mend relations). I joined them in the garden (by the time I made it down, two others had also joined the group.)

I don't recall everyone's name, but by the time we left the garden, two hours later, nearly twenty neighbors had joined the fête. In fact, it turns out the note said something about a pot, or, a "drinks party" or "block party." Not altogether uncommon in Paris, apparently, this is something that our neighbors do more often than most! There are four buildings at our address (with a central courtyard and garden) and it appeared that there was representation from every building.

This is a picture taken from our living room window after we left the party - look closely and you can see the colored shirts of our neighbors and maybe even the tables filled with chocolate, tarts, pâté, fresh-picked figs, wine, tea, champagne, and more!

What's more, I may have picked up more babysitting jobs - many of our neighbors have children (cute, French children!) so when they found out I was a potential babysitter, they asked for my "06" - my cell phone - and I was only too happy to oblige.