Let's get started!

Hello Friends  Thanks for taking a look at my blog and sharing my experiences as I "Pursue Patriots in Paris".  For a little background, let me tell you how this adventure got started.  Several friends and fellow teachers had told me about the Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship. It is a gift of $8,000 for teachers to pursue an interest that will revive and rejuvenate themselves. I decided last summer that this would be the year I would apply.  I already had the idea--I needed to visit Paris.  I had been introduced to a little guidebook, Paris: Birthplace of the USA several years ago.  I visited some of the locations on earlier trips, but I wrote in my proposal to visit them all, and even  meet and learn from the author/editor of the tome.  Following the guidelines for the grant was a challenge.  I had to actually think about details like contacting individuals and museums, finding housing and transportation.  Then I had to write a proposal that would capture the attention of the committee.   Thanks to many friends and proofreaders, I completed the project and sent it in.  Knowing that only a few applicants win the grant money, I congratulated myself on completing the process.  I told myself that the fun was in the writing, sharing and dreaming  Anything above that would be just extra.  (In the meantime, I convinced an old friend and fellow teacher that she should apply also.  We promised each other whoever won, the other would go along--more about that later).  Off it went in the mail in October.  Notification of the foundation's decision would arrive in March.  I went back to being a busy teacher with only an occasional thought about the outcome.  Finally, a big envelope arrived.  My husband took in the mail that day and called.  "Open it", I exclaimed.  Good news!  I had to pull off the road to celebrate.   I also called my friend and fellow applicant.   Her name was on the list too!

Next came the planning.  Airline tickets, apartment rental agreements--on and on.  I used old fashioned technology and began writing on a big paper calendar.  I have tried to schedule several weeks worth of activities, all themed upon the experiences of American Patriots as they lived and worked in Paris.  Come along with me.  I will try to write a bit each day or so.  Hopefully pictures will accompany the text.