… it’s not that I’m obsessed with dwellings so much as I consider them an integral part of what it means to be human. Yes, beaver no doubt strive to build the thickest dam, birds the fluffiest nest - I’m not saying that only humans build personalized habitations. I’m just saying that the strictures that people choose to live in fascinate me more than, say, the clothes they chose to wear. To me there’s something much more personal - in this age of mass-produced clothing and the magazines to tell you how to wear it - than there is in home design and decoration.

Which is why I have my Google webcam set to the Eiffel Tower. (Yes, yes, I know it’s not a habitation.) It’s a breathtakingly beautiful structure (especially when seen close up - its extraordinary gracefulness is belied by its sheer mass - like the world’s daintiest, most fragile and etherial ballerine - who’s 20 feet tall). It’s a gorgeous tribute to humanity and the kind of structure they choose to build. The fact that it’s about 12 hours away also fascinates me - when it’s sunset here, and I see the Eiffel Tower shrouded in misty pinkness, I have to remind myself that it’s actually the rosy pink of dawn, and not the coral hue of sunset. It’s strikingly illuminated up until lunch time … I mean, midnight, and then the lights go out, and the it’s a charcoal sketch, grey upon black.

It’s just beauty. http://www.images1-abcparislive.com/eiffel2.jpg?1148801446429

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