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

I'm still thinking of Spring.

In my last post I told you I had found some tulip tips just peeping up through the cold ground.

Since then our weather hasn't improved. It's still cold and has poured with rain everyday.

Yesterday we had some publicity posted  in our mailbox

 advertising these tulips in a basket for only 3.99€

Similar to the ones waiting to flower by the front door of my ' Petite Maison '

We dashed off to the S/market ( Aldi ) which is 30 mins. drive from where we live, hoping to buy at least
 two baskets, but  I was so disappointed.as they  had sold out early that morning. 

 I did the next best thing & bought a bunch of tulips @ 1.99€

Tulips are not easy to arrange as they will soon bend over, drooping to where ever they want to go.

Have a peep at the pictures I've taken to show you what I was able to do with just one bunch.

I brought out some of my small white containers that I love to use for flowers.Then chose     

 a few tulips, cut the stems short and  opened out their petals to make them look like this.

Have you ever tried doing this?

I first saw this method about 30 yrs ago, when I wanted to learn about flower arranging.
I'll always remember it, as the demonstration was given by a man who showed simple ways of using just one
or two flower stems with  clusters of flowers and buds cut  to produce a very decorative arrangement.

As you can see, one bunch or bouquet,  I should say, as I live in France,  goes a long way.

Hope you liked what I did with one bouquet of tulips from  the super marche.

and @ a Bon marche prix.

a bientot 

Barbara Lilian

I feel like spring is on it's way.

Today I felt a little bit of spring had arrived at my house.  So I decided to do make some changes on my blog.  First was to get rid of the snow scene header picture with  the falling snow. I know it's a little early but it brightened up my day browsing through my files of flower pictures to share some with you. I hope it brightens your day.

Just a week ago we had snow and were waiting for the snow plough to come to clear the road outside of our house, and today we had blue sky, which always makes me feel so much happier.

The view from the garden.

All the bare trees waiting for their leaves to start sprouting.

I  took a walk around the garden to see if there was any sign of growth after it had been under a blanket of snow. To my surprise I saw the green tips of the tulips sprouting, much earlier than usual this year.

This is what they'll look like when they are in flower.
A dwarf variety (sorry I don't know the name) which stay in flower for a long time. 

Our son & his lovely wife used to live here before they moved to Denmark, her own part of the world .

These little tulip bulbs were planted by them almost 15 yrs ago.

A pretty bunch of pink tulips to brighten up the table.

This picture was taken at one of our favorite walking places, part of the lake is still frozen.

 Even though spring hasn't really arrived 

I hope my little bit of early spring 

will cheer you up as much as it has for me.

A bientot

Barbara Lilian.

Some snowy scenes in France

We've had several snow falls this week on and off and our forecast is more again this weekend .

I know it's winter and we should expect snow, but I just wanted to show you a few pictures.

Isn't this fantastic

I found it on Pinterest.

The 1st blanket of snow.

Our House from a distance.

La Petite Maison terrace.

Our farming neighbour from the next hamlet.
Hope he comes past our house to clear the road.

This picture was taken from the balcony.
Two young Deer looking for food.
Hope they hide tomorrow, as it's the day of the local Chasse/hunt.

Couldn't resist showing you this one
for all my lovers of Paris.
I found  it on Pinterest.

Hope you enjoyed sharing my snow scenes.

If you have snow keep warm.

A bientot 

Barbara Lilian.

French wine and comfort food

Does the weather effect how you feel.?

A while ago on my post I've been tagged, I mentioned I was a sunshine girl, so as our weather has been awful, with grey skies & rain for weeks, I'm feeling at my lowest. Even if the sky was blue, I'm sure I would  feel better, I need some sun.

As we can't do very much about changing the weather, my other half took over today and did the next best thing for me.

                                                  First some warmth  from our wood burner.

Maybe some Glogg / mulled wine

                                         The wine was  Beaune  from the Bourgogne region

 He  said he would cook dinner and open a nice bottle of wine to drink with it.

Our friends from the Bourgogne ( our daughters mother in law ) brought us some wine from Beaune which we usually save for a special occasion  and seeing me so miserable he opened our gift.

This was how it came gift wrapped with a sommeliers apron on it
Only the French could gift wrap like this.

I bet your wondering what our comfort food was ?

Nothing fancy but just good comfort food  'Toulouse sausages & mashed potatoes.'
 for a cold wet miserable day.

served with a very nice glass of Bourgogne wine. 

And do you know what ?

It did the trick.

What's your comfort food.?

A bientot

Barbara Lilian

New Year and New Thoughts.

How have you started off the new year 2013 ?
I'm full of new thoughts and new ideas for making changes for this year.

A few years ago we put our property up for sale, and then house prices dropped, so we forgot about selling. Now after a family get together and listening to the thoughts from our son and daughter, we feel now is the time  to try selling again  and move on to pastures new.

My mind is working overtime thinking about painting everywhere white and to 'declutter'  as the TV house  programme advise.

Hubby was away yesterday and I spent the afternoon browsing through some of my favourite magazines to give me some ideas and inspiration.

Whenever we bought property we didn't bother about the decor, it could easily be changed. We looked at the size of the rooms & how that could be changed if needed, then the view. Now however the agents  seem to want it all spic & span. 

Have a peep at some ideas I found which would certainly fit into the style of our home as it is and we already have lots of pieces similar to some of these, which if given a coat of paint could give the room a whole new look.

Pictures from

Deco de Charme / Maisons a Vivre Campagne.

Country Homes & Interiors.

What do you look for in a property when you are wanting to buy another house ? 

I'd love to hear some of your points of view, it might save us repainting everywhere !

A bientot.

Barbara Lilian