A few more beach photos

This is yet another deserted beach , in the Loire Atlantique region of France, near Pornic. We were on a small peninsula and there were very few people around.It's a place for boating and a bit of fishing too.


Just a few houses surround the beaches, and one small hotel, where we had a delicious lunch.

The pier stretched out into the water, and one or two brave souls were strollling along the length of it, at risk of getting splashed by the incoming tide. The waves were breaking quite strongly on the walls of the pier.

Now we are back at home, having enjoyed a brief trip to other regions. It amazes me how different they all are, even if they are close.

The wedding..........

I think most of us English will be glued to the Television today, to watch the Royal wedding. May God bless this young couple, and give them a life of happiness.

St Jean de Monts

En route to St Jean de Monts, we stopped for a picnic overlooking the waters of Arzal. It was the most lovely day, and there was no sound except for the metal stays of the boats chinking in the breeze. What a place for a picnic! This is part of the beach on a sunny day. Can you believe the space, and the emptiness? There had been plenty going on over the previous weekend including a 'pop-art' sandcastle building programme. Look further below.

Aren't these weird? The posters said they had been done by children, but I think there was a lot of adult work there.

I cant imagine why they didnt choose something more attractive! What's wrong with the good old fashioned sandcastle competition?

There were some people swimming, and some on surf boards, but there was a slight wind blowing, so maybe the beach wasnt so popular. I imagine by August there won't be a space left on the beach.

We spent just one night here, and went on to a pretty peninsular called Pornic. More of that tomorrow.

Another part of France.

With our visitors, we set off for a couple of awaydays, just to show them another part of France.

We went further South into the Vendee region, and stayed at St Jean de Monts, a coastal town with thousands of yards of beach. Just off the coast is the Island of Noirmoutier.

Noirmoutier is joined to the coast by a long bridge, but is also accessible by a causeway....provided the tide is out.
I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.
Tonight I'm going to unpack, and prepare to say good bye to our visitors tomorrow.

Mrs Yappy Dog swap

A little while ago Mrs Yappy Dog organised a week of posting Frugal tips, followed by a Frugal swap. We were asked to send something that was made from things we had to hand, rather than buying anything..

I was partnered with Diane at Heart Shaped, who is obviously a very talented crafter. My parcel arrived and contained so many goodies. Diane had thoughtfully included reading matter in English, such a treat!

There were beautifully made cards, with some extras for me to try out, buttons, ribbons, little things to decorate with. I'm looking forward to having a go at this.

A book by one of my most favourite authors, and the 'piece de resistance' a most exquisite handmade heart. (Interesting that we both sent each other hearts!) It was made using velvet, silk, ribbon, pretty beads...I could go on and on!

Diane told me that she makes her hearts from scraps that a local dressmaker gives her, and she dyes some of her fabric with natural fruit dye....blackberries from the hedgerow, no less.

It was such a lovely parcel to receive. I'm not showing you a photo of the two bars of chocolate as someone ate them. Thank you Diane!

He is risen!

He is Lord, He is Lord,

He has risen from the dead and He is Lord!

Every knee shall bow,

Every tongue confess,

That Jesus Christ is Lord.

Holy Saturday.

Holy Saturday.

A time of waiting.

A time of vigil.

Good Friday.

When I survey the wondrous cross,

On which the King of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Visitors.......

We are expecting visitors for the Easter week, so I shall not be posting for a while.
I wish you all a blessed and happy Easter.

Garden Thrift (linked to Mrs Yappy Dog)

Yes, it is a huge risk planting Geraniums out so early. I just couldnt resist, especially as it was thrift of a kind. Shop Fidelity cards are issued here, and some are really worth having. Our garden centre sends a regular cheque, to be used in their shop, every time you amass points. I used some of them yesterday, but also took advantage of the 'Three for the price of two' geranium offer. I'm always on the look out for a bargain! Water is incredibly expensive in France and every drop is metered. We have to be careful. This is my husband's answer to the problem of watering vegetable plants. There are three more like this on the other side of the shed. It works well...when it rains. Naturally, since he put them in we havent had a drop of rain ...for about five or six weeks.

And this little object is our compost bucket. All the peelings, teabags, apple cores etc, go in here, and are regularly emptied into a big green compost bin in the garden.

Like many other people who have written about thrift in the garden, we save seeds too. I have a bag of un-named seeds that will be planted and give me much joy from recognising what has grown! We found some three year old Tomato seeds, sowed them, and at least four have come up. Amazing!

Thrift, with Mrs Yappy dog.

I'm linking with Mrs Yappy dog today. She has invited us to post some suggestions on Thriftiness, and you can see the other people who have joined her, on her blog.

One of my thrifts is to collect fabric, not always new, sometimes old, sometimes given me by friends, sometimes found. Then I cut it up.

I cut a lot of things up, including birthday and Christmas cards . You can make the most lovely tags from used cards, and why buy if you can make? These pretty Mother's Day cards are just waiting to be cut up and remade. Altered cards?

My cut-up fabric goes, of course, into Patchwork items, mainly. I cut up vintage linen too (sorry Floss!), and use it to make beautiful Lavender bags with my French garden lavender. More gifts.

I used to make my own clothes. I made my daughter's clothes. I made my grandaughter's clothes up to age eight. I dont make clothes now.

If I can't make it, apart from clothes, I rarely buy it.

A last Pause in Lent

Palm Sunday, remembering the day when Jesus rode through Jerusalem on a donkey. People flocked to see him, waving palm branches, laying them on the ground in front of Him. He was, for this moment, recognised as King, as 'the Son of David', as the 'prophet from Nazareth'.

But in a few days, those same people would turn against Him and reject him.

It makes me sad. It makes me really focus on the strength of my commitment. No, I could never reject Him, but I know that sometimes in my life, I have deliberately

refrained from getting involved in a discussion on religion. Is that betrayal? I don't think it is, more a fear of argument, of not being able to get my true feelings across.

I know that were he to ride through my town, I would be there, waving palms. and I could never turn away from Him.

Thank you Floss for encouraging us to write these Pause in Lent thoughts. It's been an interesting learning curve. My post today isnt what I meant to write. It just happened.

Getting ready.

On a beautiful day like today there is only one thing to do. I'm going to finish emptying all the semi-dead daffodils out of the pots and get them ready for displays of Geraniums. I'm longing to plant them, but it is too soon. Last May we had a severe frost which killed everyone's geraniums. So, I'll have to be patient.

Thumpings in the attic.

There were thumpings in our attic this morning. Our electrician was busy putting a new plug into the guest bedroom, but it could only be done by taking a wire the full length of the house up in the attic. Poor man had to crawl through a small field of insulation fibre, but apart from a few sneezes he seemed to be fine.

As he came down he mentioned that he had found the beginnings of two wasps' nests in the air conditioning tubes. Wasps are a great fear of mine and the thought that they might be able to get into the house terrified me. Very kindly he said 'If you go and buy a bomb, Madame, I will deal with them'.

That does sound worse than it is. A bombe is a heavy duty spray that is specially for killing wasps. So off I went to the Do it yourself shop (not the Armoury) and came back with my Bomb. The electrician came down from the attic a while later with the remains of two dead wasps nests.

Sometimes one is grateful to have a strong young man about the house!

A new house for the Doves.

Thank you for all those helpful suggestions about my tree. I think Prunus Padus looks the most likely..well done Penny. But it could possibly have been clethra, or even oxydendrum.

In the photo below , you will see a leafless tree in the centre of the picture. In the tree, which is in our neighbour's garden, there are the remains of a nest, which you can just about see.

We watched, fascinated the other day, as a pair of Turtle doves, or Ring doves as they are known here, came to visit the tree. We had visions of their conversation.

Mr. D...proudly perching on a safe branch, 'See, I told you I'd find something'.

Mrs D.....doubtfully, 'It doesnt look very secure dear'. circling warily around the remaining twigs.

Mr D..........'Well, look on it as a renovation project, really just a few more twigs and that's done.'

Mrs D, trying hard to be positive.......'I think the tree is dead, there wont be any leaves to hide us. The eggs might roll out'.

Mr D......The trouble with you women is that you're never satisfied. Here I bring you to a nest that just needs a bit of work, and you dont like it. I suppose I'll have to go back to the bank and ask for a bigger loan'.

Mrs D.............giggles. 'I think we'll go back to that nice laurel tree and start afresh, dear'.

And they are in fact in the laurel bush, scuffling around and building an equally untidy nest. Every now and then Mr D. wanders lazily onto the drive and selects one or two bits of stick that look as though they might come in useful. Poor Mrs D!

Identification?

Following my post yesterday on Lily of the Valley, I wonder if anyone can identify this tree? It is known here as the 'Lily of the Valley ' Tree, and you can see from the second photo that the flowers are somewhat similar to Lily of the Valley. Can you believe that we planted this tree , from a cutting, five years ago! They grow extremely well here and various neighbours have 30 or 40 foot examples in their gardens!
So, if you can tell me the 'real' name of the tree I would be delighted.

Lily of the Valley

I can't believe how early my Lily of the Valley are. The traditional time here is the beginning of May, when May 1st is celebrated with gifts of these delightfully scented flowers. Mine, as you can see, will probably be over by then.

English shopping in France.

I have just had an e mail from our 'English Shop', which is about forty minutes away from us. Throughout France these English shops have sprung up, and many English do most of their shopping there, despite the very inflated prices (which do represnt transport cost, I suppose). I rarely shop there, mainly because I don't need to and also because of the distance. Why would I need to drive for forty minutes just to get a tin of syrup?

Howwever, when the email showed that they had deliveries of these......I had a moment of temptation! Hot Cross Buns! Such an English tradition for Good Friday. But....I have a friend who makes her own, so I need a recipe from her.

Of course, English Easter eggs are being advertised as well, but when the shops here are overflowing with them I dont think I need to bother. I should add that some of the larger Supermarkets have now a special shelf for 'Foreign goods', mostly comprising Chinese foods. But there are English goods as well. It always makes me giggle to see what the French consider we English need....Fruit mincemeat all year round?Tinned meat pies, and..............Spam!

A pause in Lent

The Measure.

Let the grace of the Lord be the measure of your sufficiency;

let the peace of the Lord be the measure of your quietness;

let the power of the Lord be the measure of your strength;

let the goodness of the Lord be the measure of your contentment;

let the love of the Lord be the measure of your service;

let the faithfulness of the Lord be the measure of your trust;

let the beauty of the Lord be the measure of your worship;

let the fullness of the Lord be the measure of your joy;

let the sovereignty of the Lord be the measure of your confidence;

let the promises of the Lord be the measure of your expectations;

let the coming of the Lord be the measure of hope.

You are my portion, O Lord. Psalm 119:57 AMP

Taken from 'Dayspring'.

A baby next door.

Look who arrived in the field next door this morning!

It was born yesterday evening, and has already tried to get through the (many) holes in the fence and come into our garden!

Trees in blossom

I couldnt resist taking the photo of this crabapple tree. It is having its best year yet, and it was only planted four years ago. It is an ornamental one, and in Autumn is covered with red fruits that are not edible, sadly. The Cherry tree has just begun to show us its lovely flowers. I'm so fond of this tree. It brings back memories of childhood, when I used to sit under a similar tree, pretending to make delicious frothy desserts with the petals. I don't think I actually ate any!

A neighbour's house.

I thought you might like to see our neighbour's house this morning. There is a little field between our houses, in which Raymond, another neighbour, keeps his three sheep. His cherry tree has suddenly come into blossom, and I couldnt resist taking a photo.

As is normal in our part of France, the fence is propped up with unlimited and imaginative stopgaps. A piece of old tin...oooh that could be useful. Ah, a bit of plywood, that's bound to stop the sheep escaping. Old wooden pallette? Oh that's a big favourite. A hundred yards of rusty fencing wire is wrapped lovingly around the cherry tree. I can only suppose it is to stop the sheep from grazing on the bark.

My neat English soul shivers!

Madame, who lives in the 'Manoir', is not a friendly soul, and the village sees little of her. Occasionally the blue car swishes by, a hand raised in the manner of the Queen Mother, but she takes no part in life, and is quite solitary.

The sun is shining brightly, and I'm going to take out all the daffodils from their pots and get ready for Geraniums soon.

Patchwork squares.

Occasionally I buy fabric from Ebay, but only from one supplier. I love the vintage fabrics from Laura Ashley. I kick myself to think how many yards I have sewn up or given away....fabric that one now pays an awful lot more for. I used to be able to find a yard of very wide dress fabric (in the days when they did dress fabric) for about £3.00.

However, the supplier that I have discovered specialises in LA and CK squares for patchwork, and it is so useful to have ready cut squares. The name she goes by on Ebay is 'Jakenek 5793', and her workshop is in the Last of the Summer Wine country, which is intriguing. She also stocks the ocasional full yard or more of fabric, and this week I ordered a whole yard of LA, lovely pale apricot roses. The parcel came yesterday, and the fabric was neatly wrapped in a dress pattern and tied with very pretty ribbon. Here it is,open. Note the delightful little lavender bag that came with it, a little surprise that often accompanies parcels from this lady. It's those little touches which make her such a nice person to deal with. And here is a little cot quilt which was made from squares bought from the same supplier, a mixture of LA and CK, so pretty, and so easy to put together.

Good morning!

Although I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday, I don't feel up to doing anything very creative (such as housework?). So the following photo is true to life. I do look with enjoyment and admiration at the many pictures from your blogs, showing beautifully arranged vignettes, but this isn't one of those.

This is my pine cupboard as is.

Left to right,

Telephone,

vase of tulips left over from Mothers day,

basket with about four apples in (must get more),

my husband's pill folder, which never gets put away in the right place,

bottle of red wine which should be in the wine rack,

Binoculars (what else?) in case I want to bird watch,

Bird book for identification,

more flowers from yesterday's posies at Church,

Fly spray (hm, could put that away now),

and a bowl that had grapefruit in but is now empty. (Make shopping list. Soon)

So there you have it, in all honesty. Maybe one day I'll get round to something beautifully arranged.

A pause in Lent 4

I haven't been too well this weekend, I think it is probably the edge of the local 'tummy bug' that is going around. So I'm just going to use this one sentence for my Lent post.

"The opposite to worry is not the absence of worry, but the presence of God"

Worry wanders in and out of my mind, and a dear friend, herself a Vicar's wife, gave me that thought yesterday. I thank her for it, as it says everything I need today.

Peaceful moment.

I'm tiptoeing very quietly past my Cross stitch (which has to be finished for June....). Normally I have been putting in an hour every day, and it is looking very pretty. But, you see, I have got this.....

and so I'm going quietly off for a peaceful moment with my magazine.

And a cup of coffee.

And a small piece of chocolate!

Poisson d'avril.

Here we are again with the 1st April, known as

Poisson D'Avril here in France. It's the equivalent of

April Fool's day, when people play a trick on someone and shout 'Poisson d'avril!' to show that it is a joke. An April fish is easily caught, apparently.

Looking a bit further into the origins, I found that the tradition might date back to 1564, when the reigning King decided that the year should start on 1st January rather than 1st April. Anyone who didn't accept the change and continued to regard April as the celebratory month, was mocked and sent joke gifts. No one really knows why the fish symbol was used. A popular joke amongst children is to fix a paper fish to someone's back.

The chocolatiers and the patissiers will be busy making and selling fish shaped objects for people to enjoy today. I think I'll be glad when it's over and we are on to the 2nd of the month.