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

French windows.

I just love the windows on old French houses.

This cottage belongs to some friends of mine who live in Limoges city & now that they have retired, they come to their country home as often as they can. Later I will show some pictures of their garden, it's a true country garden & I'm sure would be everyones dream garden. 



 I think I love the windows on old French houses because the windows open in, inviting the warm sunshine indoors. However the French people always close the shutters when it's hot to keep the house cool. I love to see old lace curtains looking more like lace handkerchieves than the style I was used to seeing in England. I hated lace curtains when I was a child. It made me think of dark rooms and old people. I never really new any old people as my Grandmother passed away when I was very young, and I don't have many memories of her. But I do remember the lace curtains in her house covering the whole of the windows, making the Victorian period house even darker. So have a peep at some of the windows I love.

This window is on the front of my daughters house.

A friends cottage

One of the windows my husband put in

when renovating the old barn, which we now live in.  

He was able to find the granite to make the surround

from a barn which had fallen down. 

This is the view from the window of La Petite maison

which we rent for holidays.

I hope you liked peeping through the windows.

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

My garden in France.

 I have a love for France and in the short time since I created my blog, I can see that so many of you share the same feelings. Maybe it's a holiday you've spent somewhere in France  where ever it might be and you have  wonderful memories, which you've taken back home. So I felt I wanted to share a selection of pictures I have taken of my garden from summers here at our home in France.

The arbour with roses & honeysuckle.

So French

Colourful Geraniums in pots.

A colourful mixture of herbs & annual flowers.

This is our well. After my man gave it some TLC

Which we can now use to water the flowers.

One of my many hanging baskets.

I can't wait for this summers flowers to be in full bloom. I'll show the results in a few weeks time.

Hope you'll come back to me to see the results.

Enjoy your gardening where ever you are even if it's only a window box.

a bientot

Barbara Lilian

Country style - French wedding.

I can't believe our little girl is celebrating her 17yrs wedding anniversary today.
At that time she was living in Canada, and working there together with her French boyfriend. The day she phoned to tell us she was coming back to France to get married, we couldn't have been more excited. Then she asked me to make her wedding dress. The Atlantic Ocean between us, did she realise what a task she was giving me, the answer to that is No. She just said, 'don't worry I'll send you my measurements & just choose something simple, you know what would suite me.' She had always been a come day go day sort of girl, never wanting anything girly or frilly. So the ball was in my court ! What a responsibility for me.
I chose a raw silk material in ivory. The style was a fitted jacket with lots of covered buttons for a simple detail, & a large bow on the back at waist level, I knew she wouldn't mind a bow. The sleeves had puffed shoulders & were tight at the wrists. The skirt was gathered and full length. She was in contact with me weekly, saying she was losing weight every day. As she was only arriving back home to our floral village just a week before the big day, my heart was in my mouth hoping and praying it would fit. I was so glad I had chosen a separate top & skirt it made it easy to make the last minute adjustments. The dress was perfect.  and she said she knew I would do just the perfect dress for her.

My husband & me with our lovely daughter.

Ready to leave the house.

What a wonderful experience for our family to have a French country style wedding for our daughter.The tradition of having the groom arriving at the house to find his bride waiting for him. All the guests tooting the horns of their cars in file behind the bride, with the groom at the tail end, driving to the Mairie, which is the town hall for the civil ceremony. What a wonderful experience which we would never have known about if we hadn't made our move to live in France.

Some antique bloomers I found.

for part of the English traditon of something old

Our lovely daughter.

A selection of photos.

Unfortunatly before digital, so not very clear.

But an idea of a wonderful wedding day.