Mont D'or creamy cheese lunch.

Today is one of those grey drizzly days.What should we have for lunch.

During the week I'd seen that Mont d'Or cheese was on the cooler shelves.

It's only in the shops for a short while and was on special offer

so naturally  I put one in my basket.

It's not something we eat very often , but when we do, 

I love it, especially with a glass of nice red wine.

I always have to check, how long to bake it . 

This time I followed David Lebovitz.

ooooh ......  so delicious, especially with home baked bread.

I won't mind having a cold rainy day
 if we're going to have Mont d'Or for lunch.

If you've never tried this,  it's a must.
You can do this with Camembert, but it doesn't have the same taste.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Birthday celebration in Denmark.

In my sons home, their family day starts early.
The school bus arrives at precisely 7:16 am
to take our grandsons to school.

This morning was my 75th birthday.
I was woken by my two grandsons, my son and his wife
 singing happy birthday and waving flags.

 The Danish are very proud of their national flag,
so on celebration days, there is a lot of flag waving.

My day started with a beautiful bouquet of flowers
waiting for me on the breakfast table.
Evidently sneaked in the day before.

My son gave his day for me, to be spent how I wanted.
As it was such a lovely sunny day, I chose to go for a walk .
We needed to take a short drive to where he had chosen for us to walk.
On the way we pass this Châteaux. Dronninglund-slot.
 please take a look at this  It's well worth it.

I always love seeing this château,
so different from the ones i see in France.
 We didn't go inside this time, we just drove down the avenue
lined with huge Oak trees and lots of Beach trees.

We were heading to the woods, full of Beach trees
for me to see Autumn at it's best in Denmark.

We walked all around this lake
and were able to take in all the aspects.
Such beautiful rich shades of rusts to red.

then beneath the trees a carpet of leaves.

At the end of the walk, we saw these two lonely timber houses.

Ready for the drive back home.

Early evening we all went to a lovely restaurant.
Such a special time together with our son and his family.


At the weekend another birthday celebration for me, in Danish family style.

Champagne aperitif

I thought those of you who love porcelain 

would enjoy seeing this coffee pot and coffee cup and saucer.

Here is one I found for sale on ebay.

Royal-Copenhagen-Blue-Fluted-Half-Lace-615-Coffee-pot

I don't know how long this set has been in her family.

I knew it was a valuable heirloom but didn't realise it was so valuable.

I'll be terrified to wash it next time it's used, in case I break it.

Now for a Sunday walk through the woods .

Always somewhere to picnic, lots of wooden tables with benches.
The Danes love to stop and drink coffee outdoors.

Last days walk through the woods and ending on the beach.

I wonder if this tree will be chosen as some ones tree for Christmas ?



These tiny Pine cones ended up in my pocket,
brought back to France for winter decorating.
During my stay I ordered a special candle tray from
Corfixen for winter or any time decoration.



When it arrives I'll show you how I choose to decorate it.
Until then, keep well and stay safe.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Autumn in my part of France.

Just returned home, after celebrating my 75th Birthday in Denmark.

I'll tell you about that in my next post.

Before I left I did some tidying up in the garden 

so that it wasn't too much to do when I returned.

It had just rained and everywhere was looking fresh.

It was just turning to dusk and thought it was a good time 

to get my Panasonic aim & shoot pocket camera out,

Non of these champignons are edible.

but look lovely in the wild part of my garden.

These champignons have a lovely shiny sheen on them

 and the leaves with tiny droplets clinging on, looked sparkly in the scanty light.

I love these raindrops glistening on the leaves.

I raked off a lot of fallen leaves and found these primula in bloom.

Having such  warm weather for the time of year,

 some plants don't know which season it is.

We don;t usually see these in flower until early Spring.

I even saw some tips of the daffodils,

so I quickly covered them over with some compost.

Far too early.

I found this old metal watering can when we moved here many years ago

when we started the renovation. It was hidden in the overgrown garden.

It has a hole in it, but I use it for decoration. Sometimes I put

 a washed jam jar or a cut off water bottle inside, then

I can put wild flowers in it. Living in the country

it's so much nicer than a vase.

I love a bit of rustic.

How's your garden looking, 

are you continually raking up leaves ?

Do you still have plants in flower ? that are usually dormant by now.

Let me know.

 Several of my gardening friends, from different parts of the world

have told me how different their garden looks to previous years.

Hope it's a good sign !!

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Roses for you

Rain was forecast so I couldn't leave these beauties 

to get battered.

These have now dried nicely. 

Enjoy your weekend.

I'll be back soon to show you how autumn 

is progressing here in rural France.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

October

 I've been missing for awhile and already it's October.

Autumn can't quite make up it's mind whether to arrive or not.

It really doesn't feel like Autumn yet here in my part of France. 

As always the Virginia Creeper is the first to put on her red robe.

While the summer flowers hanging in their baskets
 are still showing off their brilliant blooms.
Thanks to Mr France and his continual
watering and feeding.

The Dahlias were a little disappointing.
maybe I'll give those a miss next year.

The late summer berries are still on the bushes,
I'm not a jam maker, so these will be left as food for the birds.

I have seen some signs of Autumn on my walks,
but these were too prickly to put in my pocket.

I took just a short walk this morning in between the showers.

Leaves & acorns are falling, 

But the glow of orange and red on the trees is not here yet.

Here we are on the lane back home and to

La Petite Maison  our guest house

Waiting for our visitors to spend a long weekend in la campagne / country.

Thank you to everyone who have sent me messages
wondering if all was well, as they had missed seeing my posts.
I never expected to be missed in the world of blogging.
Thank you so much,
it's your kind thoughts that make it all worth while.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian