1 st. March Meteorologist Spring

When does Spring actually start ?

For me, it's when I see the flowers I associate with Spring, blooming in my garden.

So it's Spring in my garden it's arrived early this year.

According to the Meteorologist calender it's today the 1st March.

Take a look here to check

Then there's the  Astronomical seasons date which is 20th March 2016

A few were nipped and didn't get to stand up straight

so I cut them and made them into a small display.

Just three daffodils and a little greenery from the garden

 a few sprigs of Forsythia and catkins can make a pretty arrangements.

On the 1st March 1906 Edith Holden  wrote in her diary

March has come in like a lamb

with a warm wind 

and rain from the south west.

Exactly like it has been here today 110 years later.

Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady 

Full of such lovely illustrations. 

Do you like Country Magazines. if that's a yes.

you'll love Country Living UK.

It's high on the list amongst my favourites, as it is with Mary from

 A Breath of Fresh Air,.

take a look at her latest post, she tears out pages and puts them on her fridge. 

I keep some of my copies for several years 

as you can see this one is 2013

For those of you that still have snow 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my Spring.

I'll hope you'll come back and visit me again.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Arranging a few things before Christmas decorating.

Looking at lots of the blogs I follow,

I see many of you are already decorating your homes for Christmas.

I feel it's still a little too soon, so I've just been re-arranging 

a few items here & there around the house.

In the entrance hall I have a vintage laundry basket

 where I keep the vintage bed linen ( I've never used on my bed )

I had been rooting in the basket & piled some of the linen on top

and liked it there, so much nicer to be seen and not hidden in the basket

 It's a perfect place to show off one of my bouquets of dried roses.

Last week I went to a local charity Christmas market,

there's always what I call a rummage table, to Mr France it's junk,

and found a dirty metal framed mirror desperately in need of some TLC.

I forgot to take a photo before,  you will have to imagine 

how grubby it looked.

 I gave it a wash and then a coat of chalk paint finished off with

a rub of wax polish and liked the way it turned out.

  

I'm loving how the roses have dried. 



I always have dried  lavender and poppy heads,
I'm thinking I could use some in bunches for an indoor wreath.

I often use these porcelain baubles somewhere in the house

 so they will certainly be part of my Christmas décor.

They were a present from my sons wife .

Our weather forecast is good for the next week so I'll be out and about with my secateurs

gathering all sorts of berries and fir cones, along with lots of greenery for making wreaths.

I hope you'll come back soon,
as I'll be showing you what I've been making.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian



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

1st. December - time for a little decorating.

Nothing fancy, one or two  candles slipped in here & there

amongst  some of your favourite things and add a few pine cones

Candles are always my favourite ways to decorate.

Candles and a little touch of the forest.

Now for some country style ways to decorate, 

taken from this French magazine I sometimes treat myself to.

I'm sure it will give you a few ideas with a different twist .

A window and steps leading to the entrance, decorated with

just a few branches of pine, with pine cones and a splash of colour from some apples.

For those who find it daunting to make their own wreath, 

this is an easy way to make the front door welcoming

Use some of the  branches from the bottom of the tree, some twigs covered in lichen,

 tie it with some thick red cord and attach a  few pine cones.

 If you live in the country these are all easy to find.

Bring a little of the outside into your home

 to spruce up a shelf or window ledge.

This is my country style decoration for my window ledge during the week-end .

A wreath using a straw base and then  covered with pieces of pine

 from your Christmas tree, small stems wired to the inside 

and the the larger stems on the outer edge.

I love this angel made from red stems of wood 

and bits of spruce pine.

A basket of cones and presents  wrapped in brown paper 

tied with simple cord with a sprig of dried berries.

This candle is wrapped in bark from a silver birch  tree.

On my next walk, I'll be looking for fallen branches to peel off some bark.

Some pretty ways to wrap those special homemade gifts for friends.

I hope I've given you a few ideas from France for you to try.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Advent Calendar idea.

I've often mentioned my love of Danish decorating
These photos of my grandchildren were taken a good few years ago
when they were little toddlers, during one of our Christmas holiday visits.
and the wreath I previously showed you here

Are you looking for a new and original idea for an advent calendar ?

 I've just had this idea shared on my face-book page from Monica a Danish friend

 so if you're stuck for ideas how about trying this.

A little parcel for everyday wrapped and numbered,
then hung on the wall, simple but original.

She has a lovely boutique in Copenhagen
and also sells on line here
there is a special 20 % offer on during the advent period.
Take a look for gifts a little bit different and all Danish products.

I'm looking forward to the Christmas fair....
I wonder if we'll have a white Christmas this year ?

This is where I get to taste warm Glogg and
æbleskiver ( warm doughnut balls, served with icing sugar and a strawberry sauce.

As I will be spending Christmas in Denmark this year

my decorations will be just a little something here and there.

Similar to this.

Recently I was doing some re-arranging and brought this cup & saucer set out from a cupboard
where it's been hidden for years, I put it on display in the entrance hall. I know it's delicate
but it's so pretty I've decided I should use it.
If I was at home this would be  the cup I'd choose for Christmas morning breakfast.

Some gifts to share.

An advent wreath, picture from
Isabellas Christmas magazine

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

My 100th Post

I can't believe I've just written that.

If Blogger didn't count them and inform me 

 I would have let this special day pass me by without knowing.

If you don't mind I need to write it again only in bigger numbers

100 th. post.

I promise I won't mention it again.

 I created my blog in 2012. If you weren't reading me then take a look at my first post.

Except for my family, I really didn't know who would want to read about my daily life, 

but 99 posts later and just past the 40,000 number of views.

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself.

 I'm still here and when I don't enjoy writing and sharing I'll stop.

I thank every one of you who take the time to read about me, 

If you don't write a comment  I don't know you are reading it, but thank you anyway.

Finally a special thank you to all my blogging friends

who leave such lovely encouraging comments.

 A sketch from my journal of the back view of our house from the grazing field.

What better subject to share with you than the beautiful countryside I enjoy where I live, 

and what a stunning time of the year when the trees are exploding with such beautiful colours.

If you would like to join me on my walk, we will start from 

La Petite Maison 

Our summer visitors have gone. the vine has been trimmed

                         but it still looks inviting with the lovely red leaves on the Virginia Creeper.

During my recuperation time I sat most days on our terrace 

and sketched this view of the ruined barn 

Now the Berberis is looking at its best, so many shades of red.

  

We could take this lane.

But I think we'll go  this way.

 We will walk the  'Le Route Forrestier' 

 I haven't taken this pathway for quite some time as it was too hilly for me, but now I'm able to walk much further again, it's the best route for views.  We will be able to see the many species of trees which grow in our region  some of them are already bare and others are still showing off  their colourful robes. This particular day started with heavy showers then the sun came out which lit up the trees making their colours even more beautiful, 

I climbed the first hill to see the lovely big Oak tree

 which stands alone in the field where the Limousin cows feed,

 This oak always look splendid whatever the season, it hangs onto

it's leaves almost until the new Spring leaves begin to appear.

 I stopped and turned around so that you could have a glimpse of my home through the bare trees.

I can see lots of  dark clouds beginning to gather so before it starts to rain again.

I think we'll take a little detour,  I don't think you'll be disappointed.

it's this winding path which has lots of ferns along the edge of the path

Look at the lovely shades of rust of these ferns, 

I'll be cutting them soon and taking them to use as a winter coat for my fragile Fuchsias.

I learnt that tip from an old man in the village where we lived when we first arrived in France.

If you'd like to read some of my happenings in that village take a peep    here

I'm so glad I took the detour even though it didn't rain

We would have missed seeing these trees.

Aren't they beautiful ?

When it snows and I write about the snow plough never passing our house, you can see why. 

         I'll be able to show you the ruined house near to where I live.which is so over grown now

We are now back, to where we started our walk.

I hope you enjoyed the beautiful colours I'm seeing at the moment.

This year we still haven't had any frost, so we're still enjoying our Autumn.

 Now for a little insight of my preparation before I actually make a post. 

I say it so many times I am not technically minded.

I forget how to do things, so have to write it down, especially doing a link.

That's why I don't join in with Link posts but I do read the blogs you all link to.

I'd never get anything done I'd still be sitting at my laptop struggling.

Oh believe me sometimes it takes me ages.

However I have managed to put two links in this post.

When I first started writing on my blog I used to get Mr France to take the photos.

But since then  I've learnt such a lot about taking photos and I'm still learning, 

Here I'm preparing for a photo shoot I wanted to show you 

the last three stems of Lavender I found this morning.

Most of the photos I take are with my aim & shoot camera,  I can master that.

It's still not right. but was the best of all that I took.

This stone jar I found buried in the barn under all the hay at our first house.

I fiddled about adding a few more bits and pieces.

I've just made some Lavender sachets as extra little gifts for Christmas

and I thought it would fit in with the theme.

But too many shadows. 

I hope you enjoyed my special post.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian