Autumn

All of a sudden, overnight, Autumn is here. The lawn is covered in little silver webs in the morning. There is a drift of brown leaves under the Birch trees. My Amelanchior is turning golden, and the first bright red leaves are appearing on the Euonymus bush.
The nights are cooler now, and the dusk creeps in so much earlier. No more sitting out till 10 pm on the terrace. It's time to draw the curtains, settle down with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate.
Soon we'll be hunting for the true Autumn produce here, the Walnuts, the Chestnuts, (but not the wild mushrooms!)
There is always something to enjoy about every season.

I will be drawing my giveaway (August 27th) tomorrow, 1st September.

Swap parcel from far away.

Most of the swap parcels for the Buttons and Bows swap have arrived safely , and I think everyone has been very happy with their exchanges. Thank you all for joining in.

My parcel arrived from Shane in New Zealand this week, beautifully wrapped in paper with views of the country.What a treasure trove Shane sent me! Every time I thought I had found everything there were another few items hidden away, some in a teeny basket, some in a little bag, all beautifully wrapped. There were NZ stamps, ribbons (click to see the kiwi ribbon).............

...............there were embroidery threads, buttons, a beautiful tag made by Shane, pieces of fabric, a little NZ notepad....oh, and chocolate fish. Hmm, wonder how I can incorporate those into my sewing??





Can you see the pearls and the pretty tag, and the postcard, and the kiwi ribbon and and and....!




Thank you Shane, it was a wonderful parcel to enjoy.

Giveaway.

My giveaway today will be of interest to the gardeners amongst you.

There are two little books, one on arranging flowers for special occasions. The other is for your garden notes throughout the year. With them will come a little French 'cadeau'.A peep inside the Gardening year shows the reminders for September gardening, and has pages for your own notes. I have kept a garden diary for 5 years, and it is fascinating to look back over the years and see what has grown, what has changed. I note down the name of bulbs planted so that I can judge if they were successful enough to repeat the following year.

The book on Flower arranging has some lovely ideas. This page shows you how to create beautiful posies.

All you need to do is to leave a comment. I will draw on September 1st, next Thursday.

I do want to thank you for all the commiserations and advice on my memory problems. Sadly, nothing has changed, and I still cant remember my favourite author of 2009! But I have written down the new co ordinates....and unlike Shammickite's comment, I won't throw them away!

Memory problems.....

Recently I had to change my Yahoo password, due to the account being compromised. Did I write the new password down? No.

It should be easy to have the password sent to you.

It would be if one could remember the answer to one of the secret questions that they ask.

I know where I spent my honeymoon, but do I know who my favourite author was in 2009 when I started the account? Once again, No. I have tried every possible permutation of authors that I love, but apparently they are not my favourite!

So I have had to open a new Yahoo account, which is on my profile.

If you still have my old address in your address book, please would you change it.

And if you know how to re-charge my memory, please tell me!

800 posts

I have just realised that this is my 800th post. Whatever did I have to write about that took up 800 posts? That's a lot of words, isn't it?

There will be a small giveaway very soon.

A surprise parcel

I received a surprise parcel this week from Pom Pom, whose delightful posts I have been reading for a long time. She mailed me to say that something was on its way. A little while ago Pom Pom posted about her garden, mentioning Cosmos flowers, and I asked her not to cut the seed heads off as the Goldfinches love them. We have a little flock ever year on ours.

In the box was......a Goldfinch!
What's more, he twitters! It is the real life Goldfinch call.



He has flown up on to the top of the Kitchen clock now, and seems very happy.

Pom Pom kindly added a packet of Sleepytime Tea, something I had never heard of, but with a delicious minty taste. We have both drunk a cup before bedtime, and I do believe we have slept better for it.

Thank you Pom Pom! Blogging friends are so kind.

It all began with a tomato.......

This tomato weighed in at three quarters of a pound, on its own. My husband grows the absolute best tomatoes!

Together with another small armful picked this morning, it was due for roasting. Roasting tomatoes gives a wonderful flavour , concentrating the scent and taste. Into a tin they went with a good sprinkling of fresh Basil, sea salt and black pepper, a shake of oil and a hot oven.
Then, since the oven was on high, I thought I would make some scones, some for now and some for the freezer.

And then, just because..... I made two cakes, one for now, and one for the freezer. See the tomatoes, cooled and put in the boxes ready for the freezer?

They will be made into tasty roast tomato soup in the Winter.

After all that, it being 31 degrees outside, I went into the pool which was a very pleasant twenty seven degrees. What a nice way to spend a day!

Writer's block.

What to write about?

No ideas.

Feeling a bit like Winnie the Pooh...Tiddley Pom, Tra la.

I shall go and lie down quietly in a darkened room (trans. do the ironing)

Then maybe tomorrow, or the next day.......or even the day after, I shall find a subject.

Strolling round Pontivy

I went into our nearby town, Pontivy last week, just to do a little shopping, and whilst there I took a few photos for you.

Pontivy is a town resting on the River Blavet which is joined by the Canal de Nantes a Brest. the river runs through the lower part of the town, and this photo is of.......

The Information or Tourist office!

So unusual to have this on the river.This is one of the small squares, with the Carousel as yet unawoken. There are many half timbered buildings in this area, flanking little side streets down which one can stroll, gazing at interesting shops and cafes.

Another lovely timbered frontage. This is in the Rue du Fils, a medieval pedestrian street, lined with timbered buildings.

A different style of Napoleonic architecture. Pontivy was named after a bridge built by a monk called Ivy (pont-ivi = Ivy's bridge) in the 7th Century. In 1804 when Naopleon came to power the town was renamed Napoleonville. Now it returns to Pontivy. Napoleon had grand ideas for the town, and many of the large Prefecture/ Gendarmerie buildings are from this epoch.

You can see how beautifully the railings along the river are decorated. Every season there is a change of plants, from Spring daffodils to colourful Summer flowers.



Isn't this pretty?

Pontivy is a very restful town to stroll through, and there is always something to look at. There were plenty of tourists around on the day I did my shopping.

Fetes and things.

The weekend of 15th August sets the scene for Fetes everywhere. It is a weekend 'Religieuse', commemmorating the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. There will be Masses in all the local Catholic churches, and families will make the most of the holiday on Monday, gathering together for meals, and visits to local celebrations.One very popular day out is the Fete des Vieux Metiers nearby. This takes place in a big field on the edge of the forest. All around the field are examples of the old ways of life, the farming, the baking, spinning and homemaking. The shire horses are there, pulling a plough. Cattle were used to pull the hay carts.


Little room sets show how the ladies used to spin and weave.

All the old machinery is on display, and the local farmers find plenty to discuss.

These ladies are baking in the old way, selling enormous loaves baked in a wood oven.

At 12 o clock there will be queues under the trees for lunch, which is usually spit roasted lamb or pork, which will have been turning all morning. A huge slice between two pieces of bread, some chips, a glass of red wine......what more could one need?
The day finishes with Breton Dancing, usually to a local band, and it is so lovely to see all ages running on to the dance area to join in. Young , old and indeed very old enjoy this old tradition.

Some swap photos

Quite a few of the Buttons and Bows photos have been posted. Some of the others are still winging their way across thousands of miles of ocean!

I hope I've got these in the right order....

This one came from Lorrie in Canada to Marigold Jam in UK.

This parcel came to Quilterliz in Australia, sent by Violet White in France.

This one is Bluebell's who was partnered with Elaine, both in UK.This one was sent by Her at Home in France to Marigold Jam in UK.

Marigold Jam also partnered Lorrie in Canada and this is Lorrie's parcel.




This came to Sarah Pannell in UK from Mary at Neat and Tidy in USA.












This parcel , complete with small koala was sent from Australia by Quilterliz to Violet white in France.

What lovely things people sent. Thank you all so much for joining in.
Did I miss anyone??



.

Splash

Happy sounds this afternoon. The sun shone, the temperature rose, and we could hear splashing noises from various gardens.

Alain next door has a very smart pool with a cover, similar to this photo. They have a large family and they do enjoy their Summer swims...without shrieks, which is nice. Fabienne and her family have a simpler model, like this. It was full of blow up things today, balls, animals, rings, and they were having a good time putting them all to the test.

Ours is an above ground pool, and our English neighbours are here this week, which means that the children move in here! We are so happy to see them for the brief fortnight that they are in France. The children love a swim after their day out, and we love to see them.

But maybe this evening, when it's all quiet, I'll be swimming lazily around...on my own!

Mailbox problems

I discovered this morning that my Yahoo mailbox has been corrupted, and dozens of messages have been sent out, apparently from me.

I do apologise if you have received one. They have a mixture of numbers and letters in the subject box. I have now changed my password and hope it won't happen again.

Lavender collection.

It's the time for Church Fetes and other Charity events, so I'm busy sewing again. My lavender plants have done so well this year and all is gathered in and dried now. The study (also known as my sewing room) is heavily scented with lavender which drifts out into the whole house. These are the lavender bags that I am making. Some are made with vintage French linen, some with the beautiful old Laura Ashley designs.
Different shapes,

Different colours, but all designed to smell sweetly. I have many more to make, and hope they will sell well for the Charity events.

Summer fruits from the South.

Just outside our nearby town is a roadside stall. It arrived in July and will probably be there all summer. It's the fruit people from the South of France, bringing us Melons, Peaches, Nectarines and the most delicious Apricots, together with strings of rose Garlic.It is only a small stall but there are people coming and going all day to buy from them. A plateau of Peaches maybe? A few Nectarines, a Melon? Or even a string of Garlic tasting nothing like anything from a Supermarket.

(Click for a closer view.)

It is the first year that they have been in this town and I hope they will continue to come. The fruit they sell is fresh, I guess a lorry replenishes their stock regularly. It tastes, as my husband said, like 'real fruit'. And it hasn't come from South Africa, Chile or Madagascar. Or wherever.

Swap recap

The first person to post about the Swap is Liz of Quilterliz in Australia. Despite moving house during the same week , she gamely came in on the Swap, and posted this morning about receiving her parcel from Penny at Violet White.
Another post came in today at Bluebell, and I think there are others who might be posting soon!

I 'm hoping that there are other parcels waiting to be opened, though understandably with all that has been going on in the summer holidays, it has been difficult to find time to post.

Crabapple jelly

I know I posted a similar photo last year, but.....never mind. This is the second lot of jelly, in a very motley selection of jars. I've now used every single jar and, worse still, every single rubber band. I've almost finished all my English cellophane tops too. so no more jam or jelly making for a while.Isn't it a gorgeous colour? There are another ten jars in the pantry, so I will be able to offer some to the produce stall at our Church fete in September.

I wonder if anyone has received their Buttons and Bows swap yet?Don't forget to post about it.

Beach day.

We spent a day out today, and drove down to the coast to a little bay called St Pierre Quiberon . Set on the Quiberon Peninsula and not far from Quiberon itself, this is somewhere to go if you don't want the holiday crowds. Our hearts sank as we drove down and saw the long line of traffic, but most of it turned off to go to Carnac or La Trinite sur Mer.You can see how 'unbusy' the beach is, just a few families, one or two couples getting boats ready, but none of the crush that we would have found in Quiberon itself.
Looking out of the Restaurant terrace where we ate lunch , we could watch the tide go out, and return again. It was so peaceful...and this is one of the busiest weeks in Brittany!

Lunch was.........well, you can see. Moules Frites for my husband and Melon and Parma Ham for me. Simple, understated, and delicious.

And this?? Not mine I do assure you!

We returned home to find that our enterprising florist had delivered a beautiful bouquet to me, and as we were out he had found a bucket, added water and put the flowers in that!

A perfect Birthday.

Evening cornfield.

It was 9.30 pm the other evening, and I just had to take photos of the cornfield next to us. From one angle it was all shade, and from another, simply glowing in the evening sun.

Today all the bales have been taken away. There has been something rather reassuring in having these giant blobs next to us, something bringing reminders of the old harvesters.