La Petite Maison

It's been awhile since my last post.

Summer is always a busy time for us.

Our summer letting started earlier this year, so as soon as we returned

home from our visit to Denmark, we were preparing

La Petite Maison 

Our first visitors were on their honey moon, a couple from Belgium.

So I wanted to make it special for them.

  Our pink climbing rose is in full bloom


Naturally I picked some rose buds

and put them in a small glass vase, to pretty up the bedroom.

 and rose petals to sprinkle on the bed was a must.

Also a few extra little touches here & there.

in my style of country chic decorating to welcome them.

A little teddy resting on a selection of vintage French books.

A straw sun hat waiting to be used

A bouquet of pink roses.

I'm trying my best to catch up on all your posts, although
 I haven't had time to leave a comment, I've been reading them,

Even after a rushed quick visit of a few days to see family in the UK
everywhere in the garden is looking good.
So I'll be sharing the progress with you soon.

Hope you are all enjoying summertime in your garden.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

A Taste of Denmark

I've just been to Denmark to visit our son and his family.

As you can see it's very flat.

 A few wind-machines among the Rapeseed fields.

We went for a drive up to the North west coast.
Where the landscape is totally different
Look at the trees all bent over due to the wind.

On our walk to see the old lighthouse 

I came across this beautiful wild flower , some type of Anemone'

I propped this one up with a small stick so that you could see inside.

The coast line is eroding

so now this once needed lighthouse is no longer in use.

  This past winter there has been more erosion of the coast,

and now these houses have been boarded up.

There seems to be more hills along the coast than inland.

With my lovely son, on a beautiful sunny but windy day.

A few fisher-mans cottages, probably used as summer houses now.

We took a walk around the nearby small town.

Very popular in the summer months.

Some tasty Danish snacks.

Take a closer look at the chairs outside, the restaurant owners 

leave soft blankets  to put over your legs, when the wind is chilly.

I saw this schooner sailing along the Fjord which is opposite our sons house.

I grabbed my camera and took this photo from the bedroom window. 

As I had only taken my aim and shoot camera I had to zoom in 

for this shot, so it's lost a bit of the clarity.

A mornings visit to the local harbour.

It was too early for the ice-cream shop to be open.

 An evening of culture  at the newly built music theatre.

Three generations aged from 7 to 75 years together.

to listen to the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra

playing Vivaldi 'The Four Seasons '  

Our grandsons gave the thumbs up 

and said 'It was cool '

A day window shopping.

I loved this old building I saw in Aalborg town

which is now divided into small boutique shops.

The original cobble stones in front of the building have been left.

Lots of bicycles everywhere.

Not sure what was happening, but they were doing some filming here. 

Lots of pink flowers.

I Loved these designer watering pots

 We sat here for coffee and people watched. 

and were tempted to buy some freshly ground coffee from this shop.

The end of another wonderful family visit to Denmark.

 Sunset over the Fjord.

 Now it's time for the drive back to the airport.

for our flight back home to France.

Back home to all the plants that have grown so much in such a short time 

 and need to be planted or potted on into bigger pots.

But that's for another time.

So I'll leave you for now and catch up with the garden progress next time.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Taking a short break from my garden.

This time of the year is always busy in the garden.
We are leaving for a trip and everything is growing so fast,
I wanted to do so much, but time is running out.
I feel like the mad hatter in 'Alice in Wonderland'

These days everything seems to take us so much longer to do.

We have shrubs that have grown so big they need to be cut back or moved.
They'll have to wait a little while longer.

 Fortunately the new roses have been planted at the replacement arbour.
They should have settled in nicely while we are missing
 and hopefully will have signs of buds when we return.

We do take a break now and again, to sit here
 and drink a mid morning cup of coffee and early evening 

after our day working in the garden we have an aperitif,

or as Mr France says.'Him doing the hard work and me titivating'.

Well someone has to give the orders.

I'm hoping that these climbing roses will do better this year.

After a year of neglect, I've given them lots of TLC which they were
in desperate need of, so I'm looking forward to seeing the reward.

Also I must stake up the peonies before they get too big.
I have Day Lilies & some Penstemon that a friend gave me still to plant.

Can you see my garden whimsy peeping out from behind the Euphorbia ?

I still haven't decided, whether she stays or goes.
Take a look here it was my gift from the floral committee. 

A gift from my daughter three Ranunculus in a pot.

Their petals are so pretty, wrapped round and round and so paper thin.

At the moment this is our view from the terrace.
We can see the wild Cherry trees in blossom  Food for the birds.

When we get back, I'm sure this view will be very different,
 all the trees will be dressed in their green robes,

I did manage to find some time to paint a sketch in my garden journal
of one of my Camellia flowers, before it turned brown & fell off.

I'll be taking this small sketch journal with me
 and a few ink pencils .

This lovely hand bound sketchbook was sent to me by Valerie Gardiner 
who has a lovely blog called Colours in the Breizh
 On her travels she doesn't use a camera, only the
detailed sketches she does 'en situe' in her own hand bound sketchbooks.

If I miss your posts, while I'm away, I'll try and catch up when I get back.
Enjoy your gardens,
especially those who have only just stopped having snow.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian