Thursday, April 03, 2014

Talking about Teal

Not just Easter bunnies are fond of Teal blue this season. For the past year I've been bumping into Teal all over Paris.

The name of the color comes from the Common Teal duck

With it's patch of true blue placed uniquely by it's eye.
The French are following suit with patches of blue.
Let the blue stay on the parrot says AirFrance...and patch your eyes with a dash of red shadow...
RIO 2 is about to open. Plenty of Teal blues on show.
Teal blue must be good for selling movies. Granted Noah is about the deep blue sea..
French banks love blue - the color of stability.
Teal Bleu is taking years off Johnny Hallyday in this movie poster...
Metro Miromesnil has a thing for Teal bleu chaise
Nothing to do with blue but FYI, when you check these maps for the correct exit to take, DO notice which way the little arrow of the stairway is pointing. I can't count how many times I've taken the right exit but walked the wrong direction down the wrong street.
Confisier Boissier has had an ongoing love affair with Teal even though they say blue food is a no-no.
Looks fine to me.
Bunny in a blue chemise/shirt dressed to deliver those oeufs/eggs.
My favorite chocolate shop in Paris A La Mere du Famille has teal tiles on the floor-miam
My last sublet was so full of Teal blue I was spinning. Surely R. loved blue or so I thought...
Blue bed spread, blue flower, blue towels, blue phone, you name it. The blue trash bag was my contribution.
When the time came for the handover of the keys, I thought it would be amusing to give her a little bottle of Teal blue nail polish to use wherever.
Evidently she did not think so...
She told me, "Blue is not my color".
 
More blue food - crocs(jelly candy from Haribo) across the street at the bus station.
Blue pools at the gardens of Versailles with AirFrance wheels taking off just above in the other bus station. 
Monday was the BIG day for my visa appointment at the Prefecture. I first chose Teal blue folders for my papers. Then decided it would be safer to use the staid, numbered divders from last year's visa presentation. I've been going through all kinds of self-inflicted Medieval tortures here while gathering these official documents. I am not good with lots of pieces of paper covered with numbers and in a foreign language. Who is? 
But I had a stroke of luck at the appointment. The first person was checking my papers to see if all was in order before she could send me on to the next checker, all the while conversing with my lawyer totally in French, I happened to hear the word 'marriée?'
For some unknown reason I piped up, 
"JAMAIS!" (NEVER!)
The officials thought this was hysterical and immediately gave me a new appointment two weeks later with a 'Prioritée' classification at an earlier time (9:30 am so I might not have to wait 5 hours to be seen.)
Go figure.

33 comments:

  1. I have my visa appointment in Monday. Feeling blue... Wait... Teal

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    Replies
    1. Bonne chance
      As a plan-a-head gal you'll whiz through I'm sure.

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    2. I was missing a translation of my birth certificate and med papers so it's just as well.

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    3. I'm sure I'm missing something. C'est comme ça ici à Paris.

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  2. So funny..I just went to the tailor to have a man's hoceky jersey made into a soon to be 7 yr olds.(just the legth..meanwhile keeping the right logos..). and he wasn't sure he could do it..he said it's like a marriage..sometimes lucky sometimes not. you never know...I left with my soon to be gift...I so appreciated his honesty.. he is such a nice man..
    But Too funny we both had a little marriage anecdote.
    My nephew saw Noah and liked it.I see kids movies now..Saw Rio 1 so Rio 2 is in the plans..
    Boy their envelopes are not cute like yours..
    I have a little tower on my keychain too..it came with my Eiffel tower scissors..I thought that was a cute touch.
    Had no idea there was so much blue going on in the other chez vous..But who's counting when you are in Paris..!
    Your teals are terrific!

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  3. I love teal! I think your first photo of your water color test strips is striking. The other photos are just more eye candy.

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  4. I can just hear your emphatic "jamais"! What are all the documents you have to gather and what kind of status do you need to stay indefinitely in Paris?
    As to the gorgeous blue nail polishes, yum!

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    Replies
    1. It's just for ONE YEAR?
      Birth certificates in Fr and Eng
      Med insurance,
      Bank statements
      Taxes,
      Horrible photographs

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    2. Also proof that you have a place to stay

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    3. And all translated by an official translator

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  5. Carol- Are you planning on French Citizenship? Or do you have to have a lawyer and papers just for a long term visit/green card(or whatever they call it in France.)

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    Replies
    1. Attaining French citizenship is a very long and near impossible trajectory.

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  6. Bonne chance to you, dear Carol with all the visa bureaucracy. I am sure that you will rise above the intricacies and get the needed stamps on the required papers.

    It's warming up a bit over here...some daffodils are actually blooming over in Central Park. Forsythia trying its own luck with the sunlight, too.

    Promising you to keep an eye out for charming chocolate bunnies.

    Teal really is a beautiful color. Who knew about the power of blue...Chase Bank, IBM and others, I guess.

    xo

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  7. My thank yous which I heap upon you lavishly and sincerely
    are for mentioning in your recent interview~ the Navigot card.
    We used it all week long and quickly lost count of how manytimes~ probably set a record~ and never used it once without
    thinking of you. Thanking you again. Wonderful experience,
    the entire week.

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  8. Louisa1:15 AM

    Who is the mysterious R.?
    That kitchen looks awfully familiar
    Could it be My Little pAris Kitchen where you stayed?

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  9. Well done, TEAL HUNTING.
    I just bought a teal handbag - most odd.
    Hope the weather is better with you than it is here.
    Buster sends love.

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  10. There's nothing more French than teal, to me. I painted all my 7' shutters teal on my South Carolina "country french" home! LOVE, love, love it!
    Suzanne@Le Farrm

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  11. Good luck with the next appt, I'm sure that it will go swimmingly well! :)

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  12. Love teal!!! Fun post. Hope you get that visa. But do you have to do thiis every year? Bummer if so.

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  13. Great photos - I love teal, too :)
    I Like seeing the photos of your old apartment, too. Interesting!
    Good luck with the visa......

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  14. Teal is such a beautiful and interesting colour, that blurs the lines between blue and green. Some of your teals I see as definitely blue, however some for me are definitely green. I bought a pair of blue pants last year that about half people think are blue and half think are green.

    Good luck with your administrative processes, I had no idea it all took so long and required translated documents, although that makes sense when you think about it.

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  15. Lol! At the comment re. The teal apartment accessories in the apt, but the confusion over the nail polish gift. Color blindness for sure. Good luck dealing with the beuracracy.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't show all the kitchen utensils in Teal even.!

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  16. From where I sit, it's the universal color. If I could have every bit of my wardrobe that color, I wouldn't mind at all. Oh, wait! I sort of do. Not quite, but working on it!

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    Replies
    1. I saw it in the fashion windows yesterday.
      It isn't just me!!!

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  17. Oh, the joy of getting a french green card, had to do that so many times in Paris, the fastest time was 3 hours, I have a "carte de resident" now which lasts 10 years, but still it is death by paper work! Good luck!

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  18. I've followed your blog for over a year & thought there used to be comments at the end. Now I can only see or make comments if I go to the web site.
    Also would love to see your name on the posts with my pea brain every time I tell someone about the site I have to google PB to remember your name (will try harder!)

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    1. Judy, comments are Only on the blog site. Never in the emails

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  19. You know I think the word “teal” is difficult to translate into French. I looked at Google translate and it said “turquoise” but teal is not turquoise, it is much too dark for that. I think of teal as the stool you showed. Turquoise is much lighter, like the color of the sea in Mexico, no? My mother had turquoise eyes, very light, blue green. I checked teal duck and in French it is un canard de sarcelle (Eurasian Tea)l. I have never heard of the color called sarcelle in French, have you? I do like the color teal very much as it is much deeper than turquoise. As for the blue you show that’s the French blue I think, like the football team Les Bleus and so many other French things. I have heard French people saying things like “j’avais un pull de couleur teal” or “J’aime beaucoup le colori bleu-vert anglais, le teal” they use the English word. But whatever, teal is great.

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    1. No, French ultramarine blue is much deeper, darker, with red undertones not green.
      I know the pigment very well

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  20. I adore that colour! Teal, that's it. I've just painted part of the loft but been brainwashed by the paint names; I've gone for oval room blue. Now you've opened my eyes up to teal shades.

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