Three houses in These titles mean nothing.

Well, one house and two apartments. Deb picked them out and paid for them and mastered all the details. I was just along for the stay. Still I enjoyed them and loved the way they felt. Like the ads say they were homes away from home, with all the advantages and very few of the headaches.

1. The house was in County Clare on the south west of Ireland. It was at the edge of a tiny tiny town. It was one the edge of a rather busy road used by tractors and hay making equipment - I saw a John Deere small big baler and a tedder go by. The house had a small front yard behind a stone wall- stone walls were my first and maybe most important phase of Ireland. They were all over - from the first gas station we stopped at to the borders of the walkways at the Cliffs of Mohr. They came in different patterns - some with precise flat rocks that had to have been split from sedimentary rock, others had more round rock shaped rocks. The tops were in designs too.

The house had a large back yard also stone wall enclosed with a picnic table and benches, a thriving red/pink rose bush and a clothesline. Three bedrooms, two baths - each with a totally open shower, an open living/dining/kitchen room. It was tastefully decorated -an ocean theme - beige and blue and NICE. There was a lovely yoga book The Spirit of Yoga by Kathy Phillips. Nice art on the walls. Lots of pretty stuff - including one of those shiny lamps on a stem that reflected the room the way the Chicago Bean reflects its environs.

1. The apartment in Paris was up six or so flights of stairs. It was served by a tiny elevator that I never rode. The steps were my friends and then Paris was when I started staying home and pretending I lived there. It had two bedrooms and a large living room with large windows and a deep pillows couch along three walls. It also had a greige painted round wooden dining table with a carved base and a plywood top. The ends of the couch had were wooden with the same paint and same carving as the table. I slept on the the couch. There were trees and great views of complex old buildings from the windows - no screens, just great open areas. The garbage truck came by about 8 o’clock every morning. The bathroom was in two rooms, one had the toilet, the other the sink and shower. The living room had a crystal chandelier with just a few crystals missing.

2. The London apartment was up five or so stores as well, but its elevator was larger and by then I’d lost a lot of my stair climbing pride. It had views as well but they were not as beautiful as Paris’s. It had garbage pickup but not as predictable but there was the mailman who came by with his red plastic cart which he left on the sidewalk while he walked along the balconies of the facing building. There were two bedrooms, a living/dining room and kitchen and to my mind the best bathroom. It had a lovely long deep perfectly white bathtub. I took three baths. The tub had a shower too with a hinged glass panel to keep the water in the tub. There was also a corner shower that shower takers said was cramped. The water must have been good though in London. My skin felt really good after contact with London water. The London apartment had a small deck off the kitchen living room and a big one off the bedrooms. Both had green grass carpet that was a lot more pleasant after we had a nice rain. There was a great view of planes coming into Heathrow from the dining/living room.

General observations - All three were very nicely ‘done’. All had new bathrooms and kitchens, and all the things a group of people would need. All had what I’ll now think of as European light switches, the toggle pressed on and off. Kitchens had gas stoves and stainless steel fridges. I want one like the one in London - Whirlpool made it. Tops were fridge, bottoms freezer with plastic drawers. The London one had two irons and an ironing board. There was a lot of that prefinished wooden flooring - one bedroom had it on a wall as an accent. Both apartments were within easy walking distances to Arc de Triumph and the Eye ferris wheel and Westminster Abbey among other attractions. They were both handy to public transportation too.

If you have any kind of group at all I would recommend staying in house/apartment rentals. The privacy, the feeling of being THERE is great.

Hey I gotta tell ya. There is a restaurant in Heathrow the Brit’s airport called The Perfectionists’ Cafe. The apostrophe is perfectly places. We ate somewhere else. I had yogurt and granola, and would like a bowl of it right now.