I've been framed!

A day at the framing shop: On Saturday Claire, Sophie and I ran a long-overdue errand: framing an oil painting we had purchased last year in France. We went to this Do-It-Yourself Framing workshop "The Framers' Workship" where you pay for the raw materials and then assemble the frame yourself with the aid of available tools and (fortunately for me) advice from the employees. We ended up spending a paltry $12 for a piece of plywood and stretched the canvass over it, without an actual frame. It took some time but overall I'm happy with the results. The painting depicts a scene of les bouquinistes (street vendors selling used books) on the banks of the Seine with Notre Dame in the background.
With regards to my recent "World Kidney Day" post, alert reader Rick Hellman, MD points out that in the country of Iran, citizens are encouraged to celebrate World Kidney Day by donating their kidneys, the proceeds of which will be altruistically donated to the cause of funding assassination attempts on top Israeli officials. I wish I were making this up but it's apparently true. Iran is one of the few countries which allows individuals to buy and sell kidneys for transplant on an open market; in the U.S. and most other countries this practice is viewed as unethical and is formally banned.