• I think that my mother got the name and address of Madame Henri Bardel from contacts at the American Embassy.  The Bardel family was originally from Sees and still maintained a home there (link to possible relative from the past).  Madame had a first name of her own, of course, but I don't think I ever knew it.  She was, to me, "Madame," or "Madame Bardel."  On formal occasions, one would insert the first name of her husband, Henri.
• Henri Bardel, and his squadron had been killed in World War II...the elite corps of the French Air Force.  The Bardel family apparently had a history of helping Americans as they had, as we found out later, hidden American soldiers  in the barn of their farm just out Sees in Normandy.
• Madame wore black, and a hat with a veil, even at home.  Claude, a bit older than I was, wore a black armband of grosgrain ribbon.  Francoise was younger than I was and I do not recall any visible signs of mourning via clothing.  Madame and Claude certainly sported their black objects  through the end of 1949.  Later though, I remember Madame in dark blue and Claude without the armband.  Perhaps the period of official mourning had terminated during the time we were there.
• Daily life with the Bardels was always interesting and pleasant.  Although Madame was very strict, she was also nice and could, on occasion, be fun.  Also in the apartment was a general maid, Therese, and a cook who stayed pretty much in the kitchen.  I got to know Therese quite well and enjoyed, on occasion (when Therese would take me), going back into the kitchen.  The coffee mill, used to grind coffee into a little drawer under the mill was intriguing as was the "mouli" in which cook ground up cooked vegetables and reversed the direction of rotation to dislodge residue.
• Each evening there was a fine meal on the table for all who lived in the apartment (not Therese and cook).  Typically, we began with "potage" a thick vegetable soup.  Watercress soup was my favorite.  These were soups that were all vegetable (no cream) with the starch from the vegetable water used to thicken the soups (I watched cook do this).  This course was often followed by a fish course.  Sole with butter almond sauce was my favorite.  Then, in some order, we would have vegetables, and meat (not on the same plate).  I liked the "entrecote" (steak).  The beef tasted good but was often stringy (grass fed) and tough.  Then, we would have salad, after the meat.  My favorite was Salade de Tomates--tomato salad with oil and vinegar and chopped parsley on top.  I liked using the French bread to mop up the oil and vinegar after I had eaten the tomatoes.  I did learn, from Madame, her view of the proper way to eat; I must have been quite impressionable as I still eat that way, in terms of using silverware, today.  Then we had cheese--I loved the Port du Salut and Camembert.  The Brie was often quite runny and very thin but tasted good.  Milk was unpasteurized and not drunk directly but only used in cooking and in making cheese.  Next, we would have some sort of small sweet--a pastry that cook had made, quite often.  Finally, there would be fruit--often a beautiful apple or pear that Madame would peel and then cut pieces for children (often she did this with several pieces of fruit).
• To drink with dinner we had Evian water and wine.  Children were served wine mixed with water.
  
• One feature at dinner that it took me awhile to understand was Claude's behavior.  Sometimes he would drink lots of water at the beginning of the meal, especially when Madame was occupied elsewhere.  Then, later during the meal, when Madame's back was turned he would run to the balcony over the Boulevard (the dining room was not far from French doors opening out onto the balcony).  He was trying to "squirt" pedestrians on the Boulevard sidewalks below.  Madame got VERY testy with him.  My father explained to me what was going on because I did not understand why Madame, whom I liked otherwise, got so angry at Claude for what seemed to me to be no good reason.  Once I understood I was grossed out by this French schoolboy "joke."  I also learned where to walk, and not to walk, as a pedestrian on French sidewalks in residential areas.
• During the day, we had food in our two rooms in the Bardel home.  My mother had a hot plate.  She had brought powdered milk from the US.  It was awful and she agreed it was and gave up on trying to get me to drink it.  Instead, I was encouraged simply to adopt the lifestyle of a little French girl.
• Jacques, the British bilingual exchange student (I think at the Sorbonne), was not often there when I was.  He had a sub-apartment that was larger than ours (he was there first) and had a large living room with a big mirror.  When he was there, he often invited me to play in that nice room.  I took puzzles in there and we worked on them together, using both French and English words to describe situations.  He taught me the song "This Old Man" and he taught it to Francoise, as well.  We sat on the floor in a circle singing it in English; Francoise did not understand the words of course, but she sang along anyway.  Jacques was a very charming guy.  I remember also a wonderful Buche de Noel that he brought for the children--the mushrooms on the log fascinated me.  I did  not want to eat any of it.  Claude wanted to dive right in; I took a mushroom and saved it while Claude enjoyed this great treat.
• While Claude was in school (even when I was in the American School, Claude was in school for more hours than I was) Madame spent time teaching Francoise various things.  Madame included me in these lessons, as well.  She was, I think, a very fine natural teacher.  She taught us how to read French.  She used props and songs to reinforce what we were reading. For example, when we read "La plume de ma tante est sur le bureau de mon oncle" she provided a pen on a desk and accentuated the words with the props.  Then, she taught us to sing "Au Clair de la Lune"--Au Clair de la Lune, mon ami Pierrot; prete moi ta plume pour ecrire un mot..." emphasizing the pen and explaining all in French as she went.  There was no English available (my father thought that Madame understood more English than she let on and that she could manage to speak a few words).   It was a fine experience for me to learn to read French, as I had learned to read English, with no thought to translation.
• Playing with Francoise:  in addition to the lessons from Madame, which were clearly set off from play time, we had a fine time playing.  Francoise and I played with freeform puzzles--wooden geometric shapes that could be fitted to make a variety of patterns suggested on accompanying sheets of paper (tangrams); we did lots of "decoupage"--cutting of paper shapes to form repetititve patterns, like paper dolls.  We folded paper to make animals and airplanes.  There were workbooks of activities from Flammarion and from Publications du Pere Castor.  We made stained glass windows using cardboard and colored transparent paper.  We made a paper model of the Eiffel Tower.  On occasion, we sang and danced with Madame:  Sur le Pont d'Avignon, three of us dancing in a circle and singing (all led by Madame).
  
• Playing with Claude:  Claude had three (tiny) cute teddy bears.  I loved to play with them.  We each controlled one bear.  Claude also liked to talk about his father and what a hero he had been.  He gave me a flag that his father had given to him representing something related to his father's position in the elite squadron.  Claude and Francoise each had one.  Madame agreed to having Claude give me his flag so that I might always remember them.  In 2009 I still have that flag.  This link shows a photo of it.
  

Living in Paris, and in particular living with a French family, again opened many varied and broad opportunities, especially in regard to the remarkable set of Americans who lived and worked in Paris during this post-WWII time period.