Oh Christmas Tree, Oh (Tiny, Parched) Christmas Tree

This was our first christmas in our new apartment - yay! - which meant a chance to decorate more lavishly than in years past, when we really didn't have room for more than a small pine plant and maybe a couple of stockings hanging somewhere. Notice the tree in the photo is not huge -- our ficus dwarfs it, in fact - but it is still a bona fide christmas tree, worthy of little Santa lights (Ikea) and various origami and other ornaments that magically appeared while I was sorting through old boxes. Unfortunately, after three weeks without water, almost all the pine needles have fallen off the tree, making it look rather sad and Grinch-like. I know, I know, I should have put it into one of those little water thingamajigs, but when I mentioned such an item to the tree guy here he looked at me like I was crazy and shook his head, insisting that such a thing did not exist ("ca n'existe pas" - one of the favored expressions of merchants here and an argument for justifiable homicide if I've ever heard one). Of course I could have gone looking, to prove him wrong, but I didn't feel like wasting yet another day in Paris in search of some elusive "non-existent" item - hence the dried-out tree (it's sitting in a little log contraption, if you're interested, and yes, I did spray it with water occasionally).

(By the way, painting of apple in background is by yours truly, among the new work that I promise to post more of soon.)