Grow Your Blog

Hello to my regular followers
and
If this is the first time you have visited my blog

Welcome.

Open the gate and step inside.

It's that time of the year again when Vicki who hosts  Grow Your Blog

does such a wonderful job doing exactly what it says.

If you are here to grow your blog  I hope you'll enjoy what you see.

and have fun checking out many of the other blogs taking part..

This is my second time of joining.Grow your blog.
If you would like to find out more about me take a look here
from when I joined the 2014 Grow your Blog Party.

I live in rural France so I show a lot of photos I take of interesting buildings
and also the beautiful countryside near where I live.

We often walk along this pathway, it used to be the old railway line.
There are lots of walking groups I could join, but I prefer to walk with my husband,
who I affectionately refer to as Mr France, he appears from time to time in my posts.

I spend lots of time watching the birds that come to feed
from the many bird feeders in our garden.

My favourite walk, winter or summer is only 15 mins..from my home.

Maybe you are like me and dabble in watercolour painting.

I try to remember ( I must admit I often forget ) to take my pocket camera
with me on my walks. Then later I can paint  the wild flowers I see.

I'm not an artist but I do enjoy watercolour sketching.

One of my early sketches in a journal with brown paper,

 it's easier for sketching than to paint on,

I share lots of pictures of my garden throughout the different seasons.

I love my garden, but don't make myself a slave to it.

It's certainly not a sculptured garden all neat and tidy

.I leave a lot of the wild flowers to grow, like these wild Foxgloves 

which adds colour and fills in a bare space.

During the summer months I like to have plenty of hanging baskets around our home
 and the holiday cottage. Mainly I use the simple Pelargonium which grow well here in France.
They don't need to be watered everyday and withstands the heat. 

As I live in France it wouldn't seem right if I didn't show the vines,
which are not too far from my home.
We plan to take more short trips away this year. now that I am back in good health.
We are planning be visit Denmark again
and if we can fit it in, a trip back to England to catch up with family and old friends.
so there will be lots of photos taken for you to see.

I took this photo last October on one of our short trips away.

During the summer months we have fields and fields of sunflowers around where we live,

so I couldn't resist showing this lonely sunflower growing on the edge of the road.

There will be a Give Away gift as a thank you
The give away will be open to everyone who leaves a comment on this post. 

The winner will be announced on the 15th February.

So look out for your name it might be you.

I'm looking forward to seeing lots of new blogs.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my Grow your blog post.
Thank you Vicki and all those who volunteered  to help.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Around the world blog hop.

Last week I received an email from Daphne  inviting me to join the 'Around the world blog hop' 

Me ! who never links up with other bloggers, mainly because I don't know how !

I needed to think about it. It wasn't easy for me to say yes. This is going to be a big challenge, as me
and links are strangers, so please forgive me if the links don't work... here goes....







I met  Daphne in 2012 not long after we both started our blogs and that was through   I've been tagged  even then Daphne guided me through the technical bits, but I still didn't get the hang of links.
Daphnes blog has grown so much since then. She shares her delightful detailed recipes, and tells such humorous tales of her everyday happenings. I feel I know her although we've never met.
In April 2014 Daphnes blog   was featured in  'Woman's Weekly' an English magazine , I mentioned that I would love to see it, but wasn't able to get it here in France, so she sent me a copy, how thoughtful is that. She has continually  kept in contact with me through out my back problem, and I  still receive emails from her asking how I am.
I'm sure if you haven't already come across her lively blog you will be drawn in by her charm. She writes as if she is talking to you.
For those who already follow my blog, you will know that I'm not someone who posts on a regular
day, or has a certain theme for my posts. I just have to be in the right mood.

Now I'm meant to write something about me,
but if you take a look at my post I've been tagged
  you'll find out a lot about me.


I thought it was about time I introduced you to my husband who is usually in the background
and referred to as Mr France. This year in August we celebrated our 52yrs. wedding anniversary.

This year due to my back problem we haven't been out and about very much, but
  now I'm feeling much better, and last week my niece came to visit us and we
went to one of my favourite places Brantome in the Dordogne.
 

 Now I need to answer some questions.


1  ...   HOW DOES MY WRITING/CREATIVE PROCESS WORK.

Now this is easy for me to answer, as I don't have a writing process...
I just write what ever comes into my head, or make a post about something I might recently have seen or done. I never plan ahead, or have a special time or day to write my post.
I try to have my camera with me or in the glove compartment in the car.
That way, if I see something that might make an interesting post, I can take photos to work around.
However that doesn't always happen, my camera has often been left on the table in the kitchen.
 I could never class myself as a writer. When I was at school, in one end of year report my English teacher wrote 'Barbara seems to have a gift for writing, if only she would concentrate in class'
I still seem to lack concentration even now.


2  ...  WHY DO I WRITE/CREATE WHAT I DO.

I wrote about this in April 2012 in my first post.
Welcome to the 1st page of my new blog


I used to walk a lot, but that went on hold for a while.
But I'm back to walking along the lanes
near my house.

Picking wild flowers on a walk.

I find writing about the things I see and sharing the photos I take in my blog
 a good way to have a record of the area and see it in a different way.
Since I've started to paint much more frequently than I used to
I now have the courage to show my paintings,
which otherwise would only ever be seen by me & Mr France.
I know I'll never be a writer or an artist.
but blogging has given me the confidence to be much more adventurous.


3  ...  HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN ITS GENRE.

I think we all have our own way of writing for our blogs.
Some write very little and show lots of photos.
I don't have a particular style, so maybe that's what makes my work different.
I think it's for the reader to be the judge of that question.

As I have said before, although I live in France,  Paris is not my favourite place,
I know lots of people have Paris on their wish list to visit and that's fine by me , but you won't find me writing about it. However I do love reading blogs about Paris.

4  ...  WHAT AM I WORKING ON NOW.

I'm working on a painting at the moment.
 Not just any painting, this is to be a gift for some friends.
It's the first time I've ever painted something for someone.
It's been very challenging, at one point I was ready to give up, and go out and buy a present.
But Mr France has encouraged me all the way through.
I always feel they are not good enough, but it's just come back from being framed
and I feel very pleased with myself.
I'm not able to show you yet, in case they read this post.



Now it's time to introduce you to three very talented ladies who I have invited to take part in the 'Around the world blog hop.'
They will be showing their post next Monday the 15th September
so don't forget to pop over and see what they write about.

First is Debbie from Ohio.
http://wwwviewfromharmonyhills.blogspot.com

I have been following Debbie
enjoying her lovely paintings here for quite a long time.

We both love spending our time outdoors pottering about in our gardens.
She is a fantastic Watercolour Artist, and shows some beautiful  sketches
 she  paints in her journal, in such a lovely delicate style of painting.
If like me you enjoy gardening and /or watercolour painting
you will really enjoy reading and seeing her blog.

 
 

Next is  Sharon Chapman from  Washington.

 







                                      Wildflowerhouse By Sharon Chapman

 

 

Sharon paints wonderful cards which she sells through her 'Wildflowerhouse Shoppe' 

She also shares her beautiful journals which she makes herself,

 full of such a varied array of subjects she sketches and paints.

Quite recently she became the proud owner of two adorable puppies, Max & Cooper.

She has shown a few lovely short video clips of the progress

they have made  since they first arrived at her home a few months ago.

Sharons love for the flowers she has in her beautiful garden

 can be seen here through her cards & journals.

 

 

My 3rd invitee is Shane who lives in New Zealand.

 

I met Shane early this year when we both joined Grow your blog party. 

and she was the winner of  my Give away gift.
 

Since then she has continued to correspond with me by email.

 

I'm sure you will really enjoy seeing her lovely blog & sharing her posts.

 

Shane is a self confessed Francophile and loves France, especially when she can get  to see her grandchildren, who live in France. I've yet to find out if its anywhere near where I live. She collects pretty china, loves embroidery & old lace and makes beautiful collage cards from antique lace and vintage photo cards. Shane shares the same interests in flowers and gardening as my  two other guests. Shane shows fantastic photos of flowers which she has taken herself.





 

 

So Thank you to Daphne for inviting me.

and also

Debbie Nolan 

 Sharon Chapman

and Shane

 

for being my guests.

I hope I've done my linking correctly ( you've no idea how long it took me ) !!!
if I got it right it's thanks to  Daphne for giving me the link to Karen  showing me what to do.
I'm a late developer and just like Daphne I need to see how to do things
especially in the world of internet jargon.


 

I do hope you enjoyed your 'Around the world blog hop'

from my little corner of France.

 

 

 

à bientôt

 

Barbara Lilian

 



My give away gift

I've really enjoyed participating in the give away.

GIVING and RECEIVING.

Yes 

it was me who won 

the give away from

Averyclaire

 Already we have learnt a lot more about each other.

and 

now looking forward to being a friendly follower.

********

NOW

would you like to see what my two winners

Roses, Lace and Brocante

and

Dosie Rosie.

 will be receiving ?

********

If you want a surprise. 

  

Roses, Lace and Brocante

and

Dosie Rosie.

Now is the time to  STOP scrolling down the page

and close your eyes, 

If you're like me you won't be able to resist a little peep

 and then think 

oh well ! it will arrive soon

It just won't be a surprise.

 

I hope my winners will like their gift.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

My give away winners for the Grow Your Blog party.

First of all a big thank you to Vicki   for hosting the Grow Your Blog party,

 which has brought  many new followers to me and all who took part.

I thank all of you who read my post 

and especially those of you who are now following me.
Which I hope will enjoy reading my thoughts and sharing a bit of where I live in France.

And the winner of my give away is Shane from

 Roses Lace and Brocante

As soon as I saw Shane's blog  Roses Lace and Brocante I knew I was going to like it. 

We have so much in common her connection with France and her love of lace. 

We even end our posts with the same message.

if you haven't already visited her, please pop over to see the lovely things she makes with lace.

and
then I decided to chose another name.

Well Mr France was my random chooser.

I asked him to give me a number then out came

Gill from 

 Dosie Rosie

I chose to read this blog because of the name, which is her nick name.!
and then I find she is also English.
This blog is so fresh, Gill writes as if you are with her and she's talking to you,
 full of  bits & pieces from her everyday happenings
and lots of different original craft things she makes.
Pop over to visit her

I hope they'll like my give away.
I'm sure they will find something to make with them.

I have contacted them both so that I can send the packets.
I've also taken some photos so that I can show you what I'll be sending.

but you'll have to wait until I hear from

Roses, lace and Brocante

and

Dosie Rosie

Thank you once again Vicki for all your hard work in  helping us 'Grow our Blogs'

vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian