Newest baby

Congratulations to my friend Jan. First a new blog, now a new baby!

She really is Jan the Gran now, as her first grandchild arrived...in America, yesterday.

When I was staying with her we went shopping for baby things, and at that point

had no idea whether it would be a girl or boy, so had to get rather bland colours.

Well...it's a girl!

What fun Jan will have making all those gorgeous girly clothes!

It takes me back to the years when I made dresses for a daughter, then a grandaughter.

There's nothing quite so exciting as a new baby!

All Saints (again)

I know. I've written about it before.

Twice.

But just in case there might be the odd person out there who would like to read it anew......

La Toussaint. All Saints Day.

This is a Catholic holiday celebrated on November 1st.

It's the day when families meet, and often go to the local Cemeteries to honour their deceased relatives. Chrysanthemums are only ever used on these occasions.

It is never given as a gift, as it is thought to be associated with death. I called in at our local grower today to buy myself a Cyclamen,

and took these photos. People were queuing up to buy not one pot, but several

of these giant blooms. Some of them are 2 or 3 feet across.

This grower will only be open for this weekend, hoping to sell all her plants.

What an incredible array of colour.

You can imagine how magnificent the cemeteries look. The village has pots of Chrysanths dotted all around the shopping area and the Church.

Monday will be a national holiday in France, when all the shops and offices are closed.

Giveaway by A Joyful Chaos.

A Joyful Chaos, a lady who writes fascinatingly about her former years in the Amish movement,

is having a generous giveaway. This is a book I would love to read,

full of memories of an Amish childhood. Do go over, either to join in, or to sample some of the lovely posts on this blog.

Who guessed right?

Thanks for your nice comments on my Schooldays post

Who found me?

Well done.... Pondside

Judy, Lorrie and Barb.

Yes, the blondie with pigtails sitting next to the teacher, was me.

Funnily enough, even now many years later, my hair is still that colour

with no extra help!

Memories of a Cornish Village school

1947, in a small village school in Cornwall.

Whenever I visit with my friend Jan, we get to reminiscing about our childhoods

in Cornwall.

My family relocated to a little village on the waterside just after the War

and I went to the nearest school, which was about 2 miles away.

In those days we walked to school, and I remember so well the bite of the icy mornings as I set off down the lanes, wrapped up in scarves, gloves and wellies. In the evenings I waited with anticipation to see the glow of the paraffin

lamp that my Mother carried as she came to meet me. There was no such thing as a school lunch when I first went to this little school.

All the other children took Cornish pasties for their lunch.

I didnt. I took a little box with an egg in it, which the teacher boiled for me on the old fashioned Tortoise stove.

I was a 'furriner'. I hated being the only one without a broad Cornish accent

and even tried to adopt it for a while till threatened with elocution classes!

Children can be so cruel, and I suppose I was the first 'incomer' in the village.

I was laughed at because I so loved to read, and swallowed up everything on offer.

It didnt help that Mrs R, the Headteacher was always holding me up as a standard to reach.

There were two classes only in the school and I was in the Junior one, taught by Mrs R.

She was one of the old school of teachers, a bit of a martinet, and quick to slap a hand with a ruler if displeased. But her teaching skills were amazing, and I came out of there

with a full scholarship to the High School in town some years later.

Sadly the school was disbanded in 1983.

Where there were once iron railings around the playground there is now a hedge.

You can see the bell tower is still there, and I believe the building is now
a house.

So many memories...maybe more later.
Take a guess, can you find me in the photo?

Bits and pieces

I wish I had shares in Kleenex tissues this week.

No sooner than I had recovered from last week's malaise than

a streaming cold hit me...one of those that leaves you

with vile headaches, constant sneezing, wet eyes.....

We have kind neighbours who took my husband, who doesnt drive now,

off to the supermarket armed with a list.

We now have the essentials plus a huge bag of courgettes, which werent on the list.

Think I'll need to ring my friend Jan

for her recipe for Courgette soup.

We have quite a few annoying 'cold telephone calls', advertising

or promoting, or selling services. The temptation is always to

say 'I'm English and dont understand', but that's a bit feeble.

This morning I had a chirpy female who began with

'Good morning Madame. How are you?'

So I told her, croakily, that I felt very unwell.

'Ah', she said politely. 'Au revoir, Madame'

Maybe I'll do that every time.

A couple of photos

The cows were just arriving in the field when I took this.

The sun was right in my lens, but I wanted to have a photo of them

lumbering across the field.

What a beautiful view this is, looking for miles across a valley. Isn't this a pretty little chapel?

It isnt used nowadays, except for a special service.

It's surprising how many of these small village chapels remain unused.

A perfect vineyard scene.

There is very little activity in the vineyards at this season.

The grapes are picked and safely in the Chateaux

ready for the next year's vintage.

One of the things we love about the southern part of France is the

pinkness of the roofs. The construction is

quite different from that of our region, which is much more prosaic.

I hope that on our next visit I'll be feeling full of life,

and ready to explore and photograph more.

A week in the Lot et Garonne.

It should have been such a good time,

sharing sewing sessions, chats, walks with friends.

Instead, practically the moment we arrived, I was hit with

a most unpleasant kidney infection, laying me out for a couple or three days.

I am so fortunate to have a lovely friend who looked after me

kindly and sympathetically, driving me to the Dr.,

chasing up antibiotics,

and feeding me with tiny bowls of soup!

One thing we did manage to do was to start her blog.

Her first post is up at 'Jan the Gran.' This little red bit on the map shows where we have been.

France is so huge.

The Lot et Garonne is a very lovely region,

I'll post some photos very soon.

Thank you!

I always knew that there were some technologically clever people here.
Thanks so much for the help, especially Connie, who got us going in the right direction.

A cry for help!

The cry for help concerns my dear friend with whom we are staying. I've persuaded (bludgeoned?) her into starting a blog, which immediately ran into trouble with a background.

Can anyone remind me how to set the template at Minima, so as to use one of the pretty backgrounds available, please?? I have done it myself, but the memory cells have failed me.

The last preserve

That's it!

The last preserve of the season is made.

the cupboard is full of jars of....

Blackcurrant jam,

Apricot jam,

Apple jelly,

Crabapple jelly

and now Tomato and Apple Chutney. This will go and hide in a dark cupboard for two months or more.

I only make a few jars of each, as my husband has slightly high sugar levels and can only eat a little jam.

Tomorrow we go off to visit friends in the Lot et Garonne region. Old friends from England whom we havent seen for a year or more.

See you all in a week or so's time!

L'ete indienne

Do you know where the phrase 'Indian Summer' originated?

Neither did I, although we are all using it at the minute. The days are warm, the temperature often reaches 26 degrees, and our neighbours tell us that it is indeed 'une ete Indienne'.

I looked up the meaning of the name, and I'm not sure if I'm much the wiser.

I can tell you that it was used as early as 1778 in writings by a French -American farmer, who referred to the snows of Winter being preceded by 'a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian summer'. The English simply called it either St Luke's or St Martin's summer, but those names disappeared over the centuries.

The only thing that seems certain is that the reference is to the Native american tribes or First Nations, and has nothing to do with India itself.

Maybe out there is someone who knows the secret??

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

No, I'm not Canadian.

But I do have a daughter and a grandson who live there, way up in the North of British Columbia. We have visited many times, and love the country and the people.

I spoke to my daughter last night and she told me that she had the Turkey all ready....but no pumpkin pie. That's something that none of us are very keen on.

In France Canada is often known as 'Nouvelle France'.

Whatever........I wish all my Canadian friends a very

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lazy Sunday

Sunday afternoon.

We've been to our Church this morning, had lunch, and now comes the decision.

We could...go for a walk, as the sun is shining.

We could ...do some extensive gardening, as the sun is shining.

What we probably will do is to sit in comfortable armchairs and read our one indulgence of the week, the Saturday Telegraph. Which of course we can only get on Sunday.

It is full of different supplements, (gardening, lifestyle, weekend, travel....)though that isn't always the case. Sometimes it arrives with just the front section, for which we would have to pay the same as a full paper.

But today, it is all there.

And that's what we're doing, for the time being anyway...reading the 'Sunday' paper.

Magazine swap

I took part in the magazine swap organised by Floss recently.

I was paired with Lorrie, of FabricPaperThread, a lovely blog from Canada.

Today, this magazine arrived. It is full of beautiful photos of interiors, something I really enjoy gazing at.

It's a Christmas edition, so full of good ideas for decorating.

Doesn't this room look attractive with its cream and green tones,

and bowl of paper white daffodils.

More ideas for setting a beautiful table.

Why does mine never look quite so glamorous!

One more little surprise.
It came with a lovely card...and some pretty Christmas fabric
to start my ideas off!
Thank you so much Lorrie.
and thanks to Floss for arranging this swap.

Autumn colour.

Lovely Autumn colours in the garden.

Just look at these Cotoneaster berries!

The birds will love them.

My favourite of all our shrubs is this Euonymous.

Over the last week it has gradually changed its colour,

the top leaves first, going slowly downwards.

It glows in the sun>

Yes Chef.

Masterchef is a programme that has been running in Britain

for several years. At the moment they are doing

Masterchef Professional, in which

professional chefs compete for the title.

If you have seen the programme, you will know that they have to cook for the

internationally renowned chef, Michel Roux, which

is nervewracking.

I know it is 'just a programme'

but watching it last night I thought how much nicer it

would be if a little kindness was introduced.

They arrive to meet Greg and Monica (Michel's sous chef),

neither of whom smile.

They have 10 minutes to complete a task, such as making Hollandaise sauce,

which in their own kitchen is probably something they can do with eyes closed.

Then we feature trembling fingers, TV cameras poised over shaking hands,

raised eyebrows from Monica and Greg, tear filled eyes, tuttings.......

It must be so hard for them.

Each one is desperate to show him/herself in a good light.

Each one makes mistakes, dont we all?

The smiles do come, however, when Greg is confronted with a wonderful

pudding. Then he goes into Winnie the Pooh mode, spoon licking,

humming stickily, and obviously loving it.

It's good to see the smiles of relief that light up the competitors faces.

Oh, and I do wish they wouldn't say..

'And the chef leaving us is.................................

................................................................

Why not just come out with it?

So much kinder.

Housework (Thank you Lynn)

I did enjoy reading Lynn's post on housework today.

For health reasons Lynn has limits on how much she can do at any one time,

and she organises her life beautifully.

Her post was illustrated with photos like the lady above,

and I teased her by asking if she looked like that when she did her housework?

She replied that she was sure that I looked tres chic

doing mine.

Oh dear, Lynn, here comes disillusionment.

No.

Jeans, clean of course, T shirt

very little make up,

and hair not at all 'done'.

Housework has never been a favourite thing of mine.

I do it because it needs doing.

I love the finishing touches, the flowers in a room,

the pretty soaps in the bathroom,

the matching pillows on a guest bed....

but Hoovering doesn't hold any joy for me.

There, now you know the worst of me!

Injections anti-grippe

Today is the day for our anti-flu injections.

Our lovely village nurse will be calling in an hour or so

to administer the needles.

It's a good system.

We collect the vaccine from the pharmacie, keep it in the fridge

for the weekend and have it ready for Murielle when she arrives.

No need to go trotting off to wait in a Surgery.

I dont like injections, but this one does keep us flu-free

for the Winter.

Harvest festival

Harvest festival comes around again.

These days it is nothing like the ones in my childhood.....

or is it a case of memories being bigger and brighter than reality?

I recall church altars surrounded by a sea of Michaelmas daisies,

baskets of polished apples leaning on each other, a huge sheaf of wheat brought in,

and somehow a joyousness about the occasion.

One of our church members brought this chilli plant in

to be auctioned after the service.

It was snapped up!

Sleepless Night.

Nuit blanche. October 2nd.

Sleepless Night.

Originally thought up in 2002 by the Parisian

Deputy for Culture, the idea was to bring Art within

everyone's reach, casting a new light on the city.

It is a free event attracting thousands of visitors every year.

Galleries, museums, city halls and even swimming pools, open their doors all through the night to visitors...free!

There are concerts, unexpected happenings

and amazing light installations all over Paris.

Metro lines will be open for most of the night,

but the best way to see things is to wander

and see what happens.

At dawn, the Hotel de Ville (City Hall)

offers breakfast for the allnighters.

What fun!

Help.

Changing backgrounds.

I'm having a problem with changing mine.

I have done all the things that Shabby blogs tell me to do,

but the original one stays firmly where it is.

Should I have removed the original one first?

If so, how?

I know how talented you people are out there,

I see so many beautiful backgrounds..

but, I cant do mine!