When we took our time getting to the table this morning, I assumed breakfast after 11 AM would also be our lunch. Wrong. Once the two friends finished breakfast, helped clean up, and left the house, plates reappeared on the table. Soon, the French equivalent of something like"come to the table, it's time to eat" smacked the air, followed quickly by scraping sounds and five thuds. Once lunch was finished and we had given our food time to settle, I accompanied the parents on a bike ride through the countryside, la campagne. Although the plants in the parks of Paris display the proper colors and even Parisian street cleaners are not quick enough where falling, autumn leaves are concerned, Paris is nothing compared to the countryside in its autumn radiance. Many of the fields cling to their green garments but the trees dotting the hillsides and lining the roads have turned to brilliant shades of yellows and reds. Near the end of the ride, we saw some of their friends working in their garden so we stopped on the back porch to share des gâteaux and fresh jus des pommes while chatting about food, their two new chickens and various other things until the sun kissed the top of the wooden fence. During that ride, I decided that when people ask the question commonly and variously posed to young people, "what do you want to do?" I will answer, "Je vivrai une bonne vie." 

I sit now in the living room writing and drinking tea while little Coquette purrs herself to sleep in my lap. You do not need the soft murmurs of monetary wealth to guide your life to happiness.