THIS MORNING, THE entire countryside was covered in a layer of frost—the rooftops, with their wisps of white chimney smoke, the well-manicured hedges in front gardens and each red and fallen leaf on the sidewalks. And on the hills in the distance, a softly rising mist...
THIS WEEKEND was one of those lounging, hair up, no make-up and old films ones that are needed from time to time, when the to-do lists get too unruly and every email is a catastrophe to be solved. The city has been filling up again, mostly with tourists — French and German and other parts of Europe.