1st Blossom

Japonica (  Japanese Quince )

My first shrub to blossom.

Last week end I cut some of the longer branches I'd missed when  pruning it in Autumn,

I brought them into the house to force the blossom

and

now I have a lovely vase of the blossom almost in full bloom.

This picture is an aerial view of our last house taken in 1990 just before we left 

to live in France

We lived on Dartmoor in Devon, which is the south west of England. 

A beautiful part of England.

This little arrangement is in small jar that I had found in the old barn of our first house in France.

I also found these shoes in the barn.

can you guess what they were used for ?

Do you remember me telling you  in an early post Sowing seeds at the right time - in tune with the moon.  about Leonard my old friend
who used to tell me how to garden , he told me they used to fit them on the cows feet
 when they went on the road pulling the cart to take their produce to the city for the big market.
This city is Limoges 40 km from where I lived.
Can you imagine having to travel all that distance to sell their chickens and vegetables.

I hope the spring blossom is in bloom where you live.

If  not, I'm sure Spring is just around the corner.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian 

My potting bench.

It's a bright sunny day so thinking of springtime I decided to clear my potting bench. I call it a potting bench but really it's just an outside table I use for fiddling with things and of course my plants.

These are a few of the things I'll be using.

 Some of my enamel ware like this jug which I have a few of and  move around to fill in an empty area waiting for a new plant or shrub to be planted. I do have plans to make another shrub area close to the terrace, which didn't get finished last year as we had already completed a big project making the terrace. Well, I helped ! most of the heavy work was done by my other half, we work together as a team.

This is the first of my spring baskets to be in flower.

The warm sun this past week helped the dwarf daffodils to open up.

The pansies have been in the basket for ages giving some colour.

I placed a tiny basket with an egg in to fill  a gap while waiting for the grape hyacinths to flower.

These primulars  appear every spring growing in the bank leading into the farmers field.

 

These old terracotta pots come out every year for the smaller plants.

I move them around to where ever I feel needs a bit of colour.

That's just a start, there will be lots more to see in the following weeks.

 Hope you liked what I did,  if so join me again at my potting bench.

à bientôt
Barbara Lilian

Birthday and Daffodils

Today was my other half's birthday.

For the past few days we'd had beautiful  blue sky and warm sunshine.

 As it was the first signs of warm spring weather, we were looking forward to a nice day out in the Perigord region. about an hours drive from where we live, hoping to have lunch sitting outside at one of the many restaurants we love to eat at. It was not to be. We woke to grey drizzly weather.

Not a day to be driving, wanting to enjoy seeing the numerous Chateaux we would pass on the way.

We decided to put that visit on hold for the next sunny period. 

My other half who is easily pleased, suggested we should make a quick trip 

to the local supermarket and buy the ingredients for a nice lunch.

While I was waiting near the checkout for him to choose the wine 

I saw a glow of yellow from a huge bucket which was full of daffodils.  

I slipped a couple of bunches in with food items.

 We did end up with  a feeling of spring sunshine even if was only from the daffodils. 

I hope you'll enjoy them as much as we will.

As we had planned to be eating out, I hadn't made a birthday cake.

We don't very often eat bought gateaux, but French patisserie is delicious.

This is what he chose for his birthday gateaux.

I checked the name on the box and it was called

' Religieuse café '

Not sure why ! but the icing looks like a priests ruffle collar.

It was so delicious, the choux pastry was filled with a caramel cream

and the glaze was coffee.

A missed day out, turned into a day in, enjoying a nice meal and a house full of daffodils.

When we do take our drive into the Perigord region, I'll be taking  my camera with me,

so you will also be able to enjoy visiting this area of France. Which I know you will love.

So come back soon & take a peep.

à bientôt
Barbara Lilian

   

Take a walk with me where I live in rural France.

What a difference a day makes. 

We had many weeks of rain, then snow and then more rain with grey skies. 

 This morning we woke up to a cold and frosty start to the day.

  and by mid morning the sun was shining and the sky was clear blue.

                                 

                                                   Would you like to join me on a walk ? 

                                                    We'll start off at the rear of the house.

These trees are Hazelnut which grow in abundance in our area.

I love the catkins hanging. When I was a child we called  them lambs tails.

   

 These Hazel trees form the boundary between our land 

and

the field where the farmer sometimes puts his Limousin cows to graze.

 We are now entering a wooded area.

This time of the year chain saws can be heard all around, as everyone is busy cutting their wood.

  Stacks of wood like these can be seen in most places stored and left to dry for a few years.

I thought you might like a peep at what is hidden in these woods.

 I'm not sure what some of you may think when you see these photos.

You will either love them! 

or think

 'how could anyone let this happen' 

Let us move on.

We're now out of the woods and back on the lane.

I love this view from my house where the stream is winding its way through the fields.
We can hear the rush of the water now after all the rain.

There's plenty of water at the moment, so the water level in our well will now be high.

We are now back on the road to where I live.

 Over the hill.

Et voilà, en face de chez moi.

In the summer we use the well water for all our hanging baskets.

I must show you just one more ruined house.

Since we have lived here we have seen this house gradually fall down.

Unfortunately there are many houses like this, just left to fall to ruins.

 It seems the younger generation now want modern houses which are built 'off plan' 

with very little character and look like matchboxes.

 I am very sad about this ruin, it could have looked something like this.....

The signs that spring is on it's way.

 Heather blooming and the Quince beginning to show signs of blossom.

Hope the frost doesn't kill it off.

I hope you enjoyed walking with me through the woods and the lane where I live.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

My dream fun car.

When we came to France to live in our first tiny village all those years ago, I arrived driving our daughters little Renault cinq. The seats were folded down to make as much room as possible for our two Labrador dogs and any space that was left around them, was packed to the top with  the remaining items that wouldn't fit in the van we had hired.

I knew I was going to need a car of my own and had dreams of how I would get around these narrow country lanes. I'd seen lots of pictures of the Citroen CV and thought what a fun car that would be to drive ! Just like my visions in a previous post, of riding my bicycle to the Boulangerie each  morning.

One of the villagers used to have a  clapped out Citroen 2cv a bit like the ones in the pictures. Well !!!  it was the same shape, only his was blue and a very old version of my dream fun car. Early and I mean early, like 5.45 am every morning, we would here the putt, putt, putt noise these cars make as he went off to work and I thought to myself... they might look fun , but do I really want to drive a car that sounds like an old lawnmower.

Yesterday while I was  in a store in Limoges browsing through a box of cards, I was taken back to when we first arrived and had visions of myself driving the lanes in a car similar to one of these.

My fun dream car. One of these really would be fun to drive, especially the pink & blue one, If I had that one everyone in my area would know it was me, when they 'd see this car.

My dream fun car.

I never did have one, but it was nice to dream.

Would you like to drive around the country lanes in France in one of these cars ?

Which one would you choose.??

I also bought these cards

  for all 'The Paris Dreamers'

                                               Look how the ladies are dressed to ride a bicycle.

 A little before my time, but

I remember my eldest sister riding a bicycle similar to these.

All these pictures are from Julien Lautier Creations.

I hope you enjoyed joining in one of my dreams .

a bientot 
Barbara Lilian