Signs of Winter, the Cranes are migrating.

This morning I heard the sound of the cranes passing over our house.

they usually fly over during the third week in October

so they are a few weeks later this year.

I guess, due to the milder weather in France these past few weeks 

they decided to hang on a little longer.

 but now it must be time for them to leave and fly south

These are probably from Scandinavia and eastern Europe.

 They leave to winter in south-west Spain and north-west Africa 

Where I live is on a flight path, so maybe we humans chose this route from the birds !!
( I'm only joking. )

I can still remember the first time I saw the Cranes or should I say heard them. I had no idea their route took them over my home. I was in the garden at the time, and I couldn't work out what the loud noise was and then I finally saw the cranes. I tried to count them, it seemed like there were hundreds flying in several V-shaped formations. I'd only ever seen pictures of this, I'd never actually seen it for real.
I still rush out  to see them when I hear the noise.
I enjoy it even more when they are on their return in February,
as I know that spring is on it's way.

They usually fly in large groups like this, changing positions


It was a wonderful sight to see, their wings working rhythmically as they held the V.shape, they seemed so organised, the leader at the apex changing as the birds took it in turns to lead the way. There were a few stragglers flapping about who seemed to be left behind, but thankfully they eventually caught up and tagged onto the end of the line.

So goodbye my friends,
 we'll see you again  next year in February when you
  return to your breeding patch.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

No Gardening, so I'm painting.

It's been raining for days and the forecast is more for the next few days, which means our garden project has been put on hold ! So what do I do with my time after the daily chores have been completed.......
Well, now I don't have any excuse not to be working on  the painting challenge I gave myself.

Before the rain I'd collected a selection of different leaves so thought I'd start off with a little bit of Autumn.

and a couple of cones from the many I've collected

waiting to be used in decorations for Christmas.

I have various watercolour painting books on 'How to  ....... '

and the many techniques on how to use aquarelle in the style I like.

.However that day my mind was blank

 I had no idea what to paint, should it be scenes, buildings or flowers ?

Being so undecided I thought I'd sketch a few things in my journal

I started with what I could see in front of me on my work surface.

Then I saw my journal. !

 I only started  it at the beginning of this year 2013

 Unfortunately I'm not disciplined enough and only make the odd entry every now and again.

My journal has brown paper which is like wrapping  paper.

and it's a very different surface to paint on which I don't find  easy.

  so I usually just sketch.

then use my watercolour pencils.

I will state this is not meant to be a self portrait ! 

but it is my usual style of dress for gardening on cold drizzly days.

 .

We had a break in the clouds and it had stopped raining for a short spell

I decided to get outside and divide up a few plants &  re-pot a few others, also

 I'd just bought a tray of pansies to brighten up the window boxes and they needed to be planted.

so that turned out to be my subject for sketching.

I do like to paint pansies.

I put one in a little blue glazed, terracotta pot.

This one below is one I did during my first period of painting in 2008

Mr France was so proud of me, he made a mount and framed it .

I had a period of busy family life and painting was shelved for quite a few years.Then when I did have the time, I found it difficult to begin again. I felt I'd lost my way, and was never happy with what I produced.  My art teacher at that time gave me a very good piece of advice, 'never throw away any of your paintings, otherwise you'll never have anything to compare your recent painting with' 

I'm glad I listened, as I took out some of my early paintings, and saw I had improved, and now feel I have the courage to gradually slip a little painted sketch into my posts.Some of my lovely followers have asked, where I've been hiding my talent. I don't see myself as producing good work or being talented. I enjoy painting, but always want to paint in the style of others.

I received an email from one of my follower friends, telling me I should be chuffed at what I'm producing in my own style..That was the best encouragement I could receive and I take it as a compliment.

Slowly I'm gaining my confidence again. 

and trying to paint as often as I can.

I hope you like what I've dared to share.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Chrysanthemums for remembrance

 Outside of the supermarkets big and small are pots & pots of  Chrysanthemums for sale

 in all of the lovely colours, which are bought  and then placed on the graves

 of their loved ones,.in remembrance for 'All  Saints day'

All over France this time of the year you can see masses of Chrysanthemums in pots,

 as beautiful floral decorations in the towns and cities and on the roundabouts.

.

In France

Chrysanthemums are never given as a gift to anyone,

 and you rarely see them planted in the gardens.

In the first village I lived in I soon learnt it wasn't the done thing

 to use them as a floral decoration outside my front door.

These lovely arrangements are in our local church.

This one amongst many others was in the entrance area.

 in front of the alter.

This was my favourite.

After our visit inside the beautifully decorated church we had a wander around the market stalls.

and I couldn't resist snapping this little fellow

 who seemed  to be on guard 

at a market stall.

I hope you liked seeing how the French people use

Chrysanthemums for remembrance.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Mr. France is making Bread .

Although it's me who does all  the day to day cooking and baking
When Mr France decides to cook, he always chooses  much more adventurous recipes than I do.
 Especially now he's showing his talents in baking.

He'd said he wanted to learn to cook/bake, so our daughter bought him a recipe book

'Cook with Jamie'

by 

Jamie Oliver.
which he always uses.

and  he never chooses what I call simple things to bake. like a sponge cake.

The 1st. cake he ever made was an American cheesecake, it was delicious,

This last week he made a heavenly Rich Chocolate Rum & Almond Cake.
recipe by Rachel Allen
thankfully it's a cake that keeps well, so we could limit our selves to small slices
and save the rest for afternoon tea and cake when visitors popped in.

We've seen several cooking programmes on TV where they used Kitchen Aid mixers,
with a hook attachment to make bread. Mr France liked the idea and said
 'I could make bread, if we had a mixer like that '
 Thinking this could just be a fad and knowing how expensive the machine was,
 I asked did he realise how much this mixer cost..?


Our friends were going back to England for a few months and asked if we'd like to borrow their bread machine to see if Mr France would actually enjoy making bread.
  He gave the machine a try during the winter months but was never satisfied with the finished result.

A few weeks later we had a publicity catalogue delivered in our post box
advertising a special offer on Kitchen Aid Mixers.This was too good an offer to let slip by.
We read the description and decided we would choose the red model, which had an even better reduction .
Evidently red mustn't have been a very popular colour in France.

So we got ourselves a real bargain.

and now he's making bread.

 .

This is the flour he uses, all the measurements and instructions are on the packet.
This mornings bread had a slightly different texture & I commented on it
He said 'he'd just tweaked the recipe a little to make it easier to handle'
I'm loving this New 'Mr France'.

So our nice red mixer has pride of place on the work top in our kitchen area..
and Mr France is using it regularly to make our bread.
We do pop to 'La Boulangerie' now & again for a crusty baguette.

I'm setting myself a challenge to do  more watercolour painting and sketches.

This is my impression

of  Mr France's freshly baked  Pain Multi Céréales.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

My ornamental Orange plant

I have to thank my Mr France for getting this house plant to look as good as this.

Most of my house plants are nothing special.

I have lots of Chlorophytum / the common Spider plant, 

and several Bridgessi / Christmas cactus, along with a few Begonia - erthrophylla. 

Plants that almost look after themselves, helped  with the occasional watering. 

I'm more of an outdoor gardener.

Botanic name
Calamondin  Orange

Two years ago we were given this ornamental Citrus plant, 

which came with an abundance of flowers and fruit.  

I did my usual occasional watering, watched the new flowers come and go, 

but never turn into fruit. 

As I've said before if plants die on me, I never feel it's a disaster.

However Mr France was not happy with how it was looking so he took charge and bought a special feed for Citrus type plants and hey ho what a difference.  He's been counting all the flowers which gradually turned into little green fruit, and have grown now bigger & bigger. I know he's feeling quite proud of himself, as he took these photos,  and giving me a telling off, for neglecting this plant.

After all the tender loving care Mr France has given this plant,

Unfortunately these juicy looking fruits can't be eaten.  they are only ornamental.

but he's done a very job, don't you think ?

Now I'm back into my painting mode, I was looking through all the things I'd done 

and found this little watercolour painting of a lavender field, 

it was my very first  effort.

I think I've made a big improvement since then.

From now on, I think I'll stick to the outdoor garden & keep trying to improve my painting.

  and leave the indoor plants to Mr France.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian