Advent wreath.

The 1st of December is the beginning of  advent leading up to Christmas. This is a centuries old religious tradition, which originally started in Germany and over the centuries as with most things has greatly changed through the different religions.
The wreath was originally made from pine sprigs on which were placed three purple candles and the fourth and final one was white which symbolised Christ.
The first candle is lit on the 1st Sunday of December and each following Sunday another candle is lit, finally the last candle is lit on Christmas eve.

Now in modern times it has become a Christmas decoration of  personal taste, style and choice. but I love the idea of still keeping a tradition, even though the religious part seems to have been forgotten.

Here are a few ideas which I like and  have taken from my favourite magazine.

Have a peep, it might give you an idea and inspiration to make your own.

Something simple and rustic.

Made with pine cones and winter nuts glued to a raffia base.

This one has the candles placed on a plate

with pine cones sprinkled with glitter & scattered around 

and a few specially chosen decorations tucked in between the cones.

Shabby chic.

 A little bit of purple crept in.

( I'm still not sure about purple for Christmas !)

 This one is has a romantic feel to it.

Hope you liked the ones I have chosen and it has inspired you to make your own.

If it hadn't been raining today I would have been out foraging in the woods for all the bits of greenery needed to make my advent wreath, Oh well I still have tomorrow, at least  I've got my candles.

So fingers crossed it's not raining and come back tomorrow 

to see how my advent wreath looks.

A bientot.

Barbara Lilian

My garden in June.

A little while ago I gave you an idea of what my garden looked like, well now I can show you how it's looking  at the end of June. Hope you like what you see.




This is a selection of the soft colours.

 

This year we have not had the best of weather, a cold May & a rainy June. We were wondering if summer was ever going to arrive, as mid-summers day has been and gone. However it's finaly arrived in full force, it's hot with clear blue sky and the plants are beginning to look healthy and are blooming well, so I'm happy. I've always been a sunshine girl.
Today the floral committee from our local commune arrived with their clip boards. I told you about my first experience of this, not long after we arrived to live in France. After 22 yrs they have not changed very much.
However I did notice that they had a a new member who knew her flowers. The others are quite happy just chatting about everyday life, as long they can have a look around, they're quite content. This committee has to pass first, they select 2 or 3 from the commune to be entered into the department competition, then a week later the horticulturist committee comes to judge, that's when the important part starts. The  local French people seem to be very curious , I'm not sure if it's because I'm English, but now we have lots of English in our area, so I can no longer think of it as 'Un coin perdu'  (a place miles from anywhere)



Surfinias
If you don't know this flower, it's certainly one to have for it's heavenly perfume.
& the vibrant colours. these are planted in troughs so they tumble down over the balcony.

The pale mauve flower is  double Surfinia.
Look at the lovely marbling on the petals
This one is my favourite.

In a few more weeks these troughs will be totaly hidden

 by the profusion of the flowers.



 This antique wine bottle corker was found in a brocante.
I've had it a long time
but now found just the place to show it off.



Hope you liked what you saw.

I'll be back again soon showing more of my hanging baskets as they progress.

A bientot

Barbara Lilian

My store-cupboard.

It's that time of year again, it's when we move out of our home for the summer. It might sound strange but we rent our property for 2 months as a holiday home during the summer months and we stay at our daughters. I move all my personal things into our store cupboard. Sometimes things stay in there & are forgotten about, these are what I call unimportant items.

Yesterday I was looking for something which I thought maybe I'd put away in my 'Store cupboard'. I must have been in there for a good hour, doing what my other half calls 'taking a trip down memory lane'. as I usually end up  look through old photo albums or boxes of bits I'd brought with me to France.  I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find so many lovely things I'd put there and had forgotten all about.

When I first moved to France I visited 'Flea markets' and Brocantes most weekends, locally and around the area, buying bits and pieces that took my fancy, then when I saw the same things again I bought more and so my collections grew from the various items which at that period of my life I'd taken a liking to collect. Later after we had moved house, most of these had been put into my store cupboard. 

 Now that I am following other like minded bloggers & share their passions of vintage collectibles,  I've seen similar items on their blogs,which I loved, so it made me think about my own hidden treasures. Which now I have brought out of the store cupboard and I'm  going to find a new place to show them off, then I can enjoy looking at them again.

So if you would like to stay around for a while I'll share some of my lovely treasures with you, which have been hiding in my store cupboard for quite a long time. I hope you will enjoy seeing them as much as I have.

Some of my collection of glass ware, which have come up shining beautifully after a dip in hot water & vinegar.

 

A biscuit or sweet basket.

An old hand mirror with my initial on.

A bientot

Barbara - Lilian

Indoors wth a Home and Garden magazine.

It's really April showers weather in my corner of France. I'd hoped to do all sorts in the garden, but now at my age I only work outside when it's NOT raining. Gone are the days when I'd be a busy Bee doing things like there was no tomorrow. So I've spent some time indoors browsing through some of my old magazines. One in particular it's Danish, unfortunately I can only look at the pictures but the decorating ideas from other peoples homes are so lovely it's well worth it. I usualy bring it back with me when we go to visit our grandchildren. http://www.isabellas.dk/

Isabellas magazine