Landmarks

Yesterday, my husband was in Paris.  I know that sounds very glamorous, but he was only there because that's his job.  He's the captain who flew the plane filled with passengers over there, and he'll be flying it back today.  My jet-setting hubby with the very glamorous job told me that he went to a grocery store last night--I'm sorry, he went to une epicerie--to get himself a banana and some yogurt for dinner (he had already packed a protein bar to go with these items).  Mmmm mmmm!  French cuisine at its finest!

I understand that it's very expensive to eat out in Europe these days, and my husband is a commendably frugal guy.  But let me just say for the record that if I ever get a chance to accompany him on a trip to Paris, we will not be eating epicerie food for dinner!  (Just kidding, mon cheri.  If I ever get a chance to go to Paris with you, I promise I won't be too picky about what we eat.)

Yesterday, my guy took this lovely picture of a landmark everyone will recognize, the Eiffel Tower (which he could see from his hotel), and it was sent from his iPhone to mine via magic (or as they call it, "the cloud").

I was not in the "City of Love" yesterday, gazing at the Eiffel Tower.  No, I was here tending the home fires, spending part of the afternoon mowing the backyard lawn.  I am not usually responsible for yard upkeep, but my husband has been working so much lately that I hate to make him do it when he finally gets some time at home.  I could have made our youngest son, who's back from college for the summer, do it (how great it is to have a member of our work crew here!), but I wanted the exercise and it was a gorgeous day to be outside.  (And don't worry, my baby boy is going to be out there mowing the front lawn today.)

As I was pushing the mower back and forth across the grass, I kept looking at a familiar landmark right here in my own backyard.  It's a maple tree that has grown to a towering height near the back of our detached garage (the one we had built when we turned our old garage into our "new room").

We have been living in this house for over 21 years, and we hadn't been here long when my father-in-law brought us a maple sapling from his own yard to plant out back.  Dad used to like to bring little home improvement items when he and Mom would drive down from Upstate NY to visit us.  He might bring some weather stripping and apply it to a drafty door.  Or perhaps some plumbing supplies for a project my husband was working on.  Once, he brought me a dust pan from the dollar store, because I'd been admiring his when we'd been up visiting (it had a long handle, so you didn't need to bend down when you were sweeping dirt into it).  And he brought us this tree, which started out its life in our yard looking like the maple version of a Charlie Brown tree.  For a number of years, we didn't even believe it was going to make it to adulthood.

But look at it today!  It's huge and healthy--a living reminder of my wonderful father-in-law, who died in 2003.

I wouldn't mind having the opportunity to see the Eiffel Tower someday.  But given the choice between that landmark and this one, I'd take Dad's maple tree every time...and I know my husband would, too.