I am sitting on a park bench at the Square des Batignoles, and my hands are freezing as I am writing this entry. I got a crepe to warm up a bit. The Square des Batignolles is a wide green space and public park in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. I happen to live in this particular arrondissement, so the park is quite accessible to my location. From my bench, I see red primrose flowers with yellow centers bunched together in front of a small pond. In the center of this pond stands a statue of vultures. I see a collection of trees that are angled toward the center – it almost seems as if they’re reaching out to each other. The sky is grey as expected for the Paris wintertime. I hear the squawks and squabbles of the ducks in the pond amidst the chittering of the smaller birds in the trees. I hear the revving of a motorcycle and the rumblings of the city metro in the distant underpass. I feel at peace.