On each of our visits to our little ‘bird nest of love’ (as one of our local helpers puts it) we have vowed to rid ourselves of a rickety little stool that came with the apartment. I could imagine a guest, or one of us for that matter, hanging by our finger tips from the topmost shelf, the now collapsed stool grinning up at us from the floor. But then, we hate to throw away anything that is still useful. This is probably why Jann still keeps me around.
We have noticed almost daily, that the cooks at La Mere Germaine and l’Oursin Bleu keep an old plastic chair in the passageway just outside their kitchens which sit across from one another. Sidebar: if you love good seafood, the aromas that float up the passageway to our little apartment promise so much. On occasion there will be more than one cook on break at a time, so more seating seemed needed. There is a splashing early-1800s fountain there too, but sitting on its edge means a wet behind. On an early morning walk we surreptitiously deposited our stool outside the Mere Germaine door just to see if the orphan would be adopted. On our return two hours later it had been moved to the other restaurant’s side of the steps. Had it been rejected or just borrowed? We felt badly that it might be the former.
Fast forward one week and the stool is now firmly back on Mere Germaine’s turf. It seems happy there. It dreams that it will have a back one day too just like its companion. We are happy as well. Pardoned from the dumpster and still occupying a respectable place in daily life. We should all be so lucky.
