21 April 2014

Leaving my garden to look after itself.

Not done intentionally , but sometimes things have to happen that way.
I'm back after my stay in hospital, having treatment on my back.
Although not completely sorted due to a little hiccough with my blood pressure,
which on the last day of my treatment decided to shoot sky high,
which meant I was unable to complete the full treatment,
 and will have to go back in a months time.
It is greatly improved, but I still can't do any gardening for awhile.
 
 
  
Fortunately his basket was planted up some time ago
so we did have a few nice things to see
 Tete a Tete daffodils
 
 
 
 
 
So regretfully I'll have to leave things to Mr France.
Gardening is not his thing.
 Not so very long ago he couldn't tell a weed from a cherished plant.
He does all the hard ground work and I do the planting.
I'll be giving advice and asking him just to do the most important things.
 
My big new flower bed will not happen this year.

 
At the moment it's looking like this.
 
  
 
But it's not important.
I'm thinking when the soil is levelled off, I'll just lightly rake in some seeds
which were gathered last year and hope for the best.
 
This is what they looked like last year when my niece collected them for me,
 it's where we go on one our favourite walks.

 

 
Our communes have been sowing wild flower seeds en-mass in certain areas for the past few years.  
They're left to grow on their own amongst the grass with no attention what so ever .
 but look so pretty, and as my garden is on the rustic side in places
I think they should fit in quite nicely.
 
 
 
This is the view from the front of our house.
 

Shall we start with the potting bench, where most of the preparation  begins.
 
 
 
Trailing Fuchsias which we over wintered indoors, coming along nicely
 
 
 
 
 
 Something I could do was watch & nurture
some of the cuttings growing, that I took back in September.





So what's been happening around the garden, naturally and unassisted?
I'll take you on a tour showing the good the bad & the ugly.

 
Work in progress, hopefully this will get finished.
Mr France loves to build rustic stone walls,
 using the stones left over from the renovation he did when we bought this old ruin 20 yrs. ago.

 
 
These Tete a Tete miniature daffodils are new
 they were planted last year in the work in progress new bank area.
 
 
Muscari  bulbs in bloom planted last year.
Two different varieties. 
 
 
and the ones in the trough appear every year
a little on the small side due to neglect, put a pretty blue.
 
 
 
These big blousey Tulips were planted here by my Danish daughter in law
over 15 years ago. They come up every year, but this year I think this is the best they have looked.
Maybe they put on a special show for me, to cheer me up for when I came home.
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
No seeds have been sown this year, I will be buying trays of plants this summer.  

 
Some trays of summer plants already bought for the window boxes & baskets.
This year not as many as usual.
Could be a sitting down job next week.




 
 
 
 
 



 

 
 
Hopefully, slow but sure I'll be back to my old self soon
doing what I love best
 pottering about in my garden.
 
Before I went into hospital I bought myself a new Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook.
so while I was passing the hours in hospital I did some water colour sketches.
I'll show you some I did later in the week.
 
and maybe work in my garden will have progressed.
 
 
Thank you to all my friends who have sent me their kind wishes for my speedy recovery.
Some of you are also suffering with back problems, so I hope things are improving for you too.
 
 Even if I didn't leave comments on the usual blogs I follow I've loved reading your posts,
 keeping up to date with some of the things you've all been doing.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 
 
 

30 March 2014

Scavenger hunt

My  photos for March.
I've had to do a lot of digging in my photo files to submit this time,
as I'm still not  well  and I'm now waiting to go into hospital for some treatment.
So please excuse my effort.



M. for mushroom.
This is a field mushroom which we often collect during Sept and Oct,
 it's the first time I've seen one as big as this.
I made cream of mushroom soup with it.

Mr France found this in September in the farmers field which is next to our boundary.

 
 
 
Our guests table set  for breakfast  in La Petite Maison.
 
 


Some Holly berries on the trees near our house.




This was taken in the late evening last summer
 of the Monastery in Rocamadour lit up.

 


This grate is our French 'Godin' wood-burner. with the door open.


 
Mr France working on the deck he built this time last year.



The chimney breast, which we built in our guest house .
 The bricks where from inside the old bread oven which unfortunately
 we were unable to save, it was too badly damaged.


 
 
Some antique cutlery I found at a Brocante
 when we first arrived in France 24yrs ago.
 




Some troughs and a hanging basket
 with Surfinas and trailing Geraniums
 on our summer balcony.



A cold  crisp morning ,
showing the frost on the ground and white on the tiles of our well.



A souvenir from our visit to the Basque  region in France, which borders Spain.
This was my ticket from our ride on Le Petite Train up the mountain.
The views were fantastic.






It's difficult to find a coloured door in my region of France.
Most of the properties are old stone cottages and have heavy oak doors ,
which are usually protected with a stain and not paint.

So this is my painted door.



I hope you liked seeing my contribution.



à bientôt
Barbara Lilian












          












           

05 March 2014

I suddenly realised it's March which means it's nearly Spring.

 
 
 
Usually I've been out in my garden 
 peeping in all the areas I know something should be showing signs of Spring.
But not feeling like or being able to do any work in the garden as
we had some nice sunshine today I took a stroll around and I wasn't disappointed.
 I found quite a few flowers.
These Pansies have been in flower all winter,
not as healthy looking as they should be.
also it looks like my Lavender cuttings are looking OK
strange as they don't like to be wet.
 
 
 
These Primula are always the first to flower.
just a few popping up here & there in the grass.
 

I didn't see any Crocus that were in the same area last year,
maybe they've rotted with all the rain we've had this winter.
  I know we have Voles that burrow under the surface of the ground
So I'd prefer it if they'd been eaten by them, it must be hard finding food.

This is another pot that I'd forgotten about, with more Pansies.
This will get moved around to brighten up an area that needs a bit of colour.
 

 
 
A large shrub of  Japonica.
Which flowers before the leaves appear.
It really should have had a good pruning.
 
 
 
 
I always bring a piece into the house to open up before they do on the shrub.
 
 
 

 
I hope these few flowers I found in my garden
brought Spring a little nearer to all my friends who are still getting snow. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
à bientôt
Barbara Lilian
 
 

28 February 2014

Scavenger Hunt - February

This is my 1st contribution joining in the February 

organised by

and already I'm having to apologise to you all !
Due to not feeling well,
not all of my photos have been taken in February.

I hope I'll be let of the hook this time. !
These are the photos I've chosen to show you for my 
February  Scavenger Hunt 


F

Feathered   family, proud father with his gorgeous friend
and
 their fluffed up chicks.




At 3 pm 

 when the sun is shining, this is where I sit to admire my garden




Grain

there's lots of different grains in this pile of wood.




The Lamp 
that lights up our terrace.





Clock

 to see this clock in Rocamadour France
You need to take 'Les Chemins de St Jacques de Compostelle'





 Honey from a local producer.



My Devon pottery honey pot brought with me to France .







Fountain 

If you were to go shopping at 'Galeries Lafayette' in Limoges
you could have lunch at one of the many restaurants
in  'Place de la République' and  see this beautiful fountain .





Something round

A garland I left  hanging from Christmas.
I've seen the birds coming to take the dried moss for their nests.




Shadow

Lots of shadows from the low winter sun.





Group

I know it's a flock of birds.
but the cranes flew over yesterday going back up north 
so I thought I'd use this for my photo of a group.
I have to tell you I only heard them,
I couldn't see them.
as it was pouring with rain and the sky was so grey 
 so this is an old photo.



Re purpose

This is my vintage wheelbarrow,
which I use to show off what ever flowers I have in bloom.
At the moment it's pansies and pine cones in vintage egg baskets.







Clouds
This is what our sky has looked like for a long time


I've enjoyed taking these photographs
If you like to use your camera to capture a moment why don't you pop over to
green thumb Made with love

and see what the selection is for the month of March
and join in

à bientôt
Barbara Lilian


16 February 2014

My give away gift




I've really enjoyed participating in the give away.

GIVING and RECEIVING.

Yes 
it was me who won 
the give away from


 Already we have learnt a lot more about each other.
and 
now looking forward to being a friendly follower.

********

NOW
would you like to see what my two winners

and

 will be receiving ?

********

If you want a surprise. 
  
and

Now is the time to  STOP scrolling down the page
and close your eyes, 

If you're like me you won't be able to resist a little peep
 and then think 
oh well ! it will arrive soon

It just won't be a surprise.





















I hope my winners will like their gift.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

15 February 2014

My give away winners for the Grow Your Blog party.


First of all a big thank you to Vicki   for hosting the Grow Your Blog party,
 which has brought  many new followers to me and all who took part.
I thank all of you who read my post 
and especially those of you who are now following me.
Which I hope will enjoy reading my thoughts and sharing a bit of where I live in France.

And the winner of my give away is Shane from

As soon as I saw Shane's blog  Roses Lace and Brocante I knew I was going to like it. 
We have so much in common her connection with France and her love of lace. 
We even end our posts with the same message.
if you haven't already visited her, please pop over to see the lovely things she makes with lace.
and
then I decided to chose another name.
Well Mr France was my random chooser.
I asked him to give me a number then out came
Gill from 
 Dosie Rosie

I chose to read this blog because of the name, which is her nick name.!
and then I find she is also English.
This blog is so fresh, Gill writes as if you are with her and she's talking to you,
 full of  bits & pieces from her everyday happenings
and lots of different original craft things she makes.
Pop over to visit her

I hope they'll like my give away.
I'm sure they will find something to make with them.

I have contacted them both so that I can send the packets.
I've also taken some photos so that I can show you what I'll be sending.

but you'll have to wait until I hear from
and

Thank you once again Vicki for all your hard work in  helping us 'Grow our Blogs'



à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

09 February 2014

Our Sunday walk

If we had kept to our usual pattern  this is where we would have been walking today.
It's just a 10 min.drive from where we live,

  it's a man made lake from the streams that weave their way through the woods.

This is where we start. it's very scenic.


During the summer months the nearby camping site is full
and in the winter it's very quiet and usually it's only dog walkers we pass.








We can walk all the way around
 and when we are on form and need a brisk walk, it takes about 30 mins.
But on the days when I have my camera in my pocket it takes a little longer,
 Depending on the time of day or the year and whether the sky is blue it can look totally different.
.


These photos show the vast amount of rain we've had this winter



Perhaps we should go early in the morning as I'm sure we'd see the deer.
Unfortunately we've never see them here, they're probably hiding in the woods.


However we didn't go today.
Nothing untoward has happened.
 It was pouring with rain, and I'm only a fair weather walker.
also there was something more important going on.
Well, more important for Mr France, as he's an avid Rugby fan
  and this time of the year it's the six nations championship.
Which for all those who don't follow rugby or like me are not interested.
The six nations we're playing Saturday & Sunday.
just in case you're just a little bit interested and curious to know who the nations are
 they are
ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND,WALES, FRANCE & ITALY.
Although we live in France , Mr France will still be cheering for England
One of our grandsons plays rugby
and has now been chosen to play for our region The Limousin.
 that's when he cheers for France
and shows how proud he is of his grandson.



This photo was taken  in February last year.
when
Most of the lake was frozen .



I can't wait for some clear skies and some sun .
But the forecast is more rain.
So our walk around the lake will have to wait a bit longer.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit more of where I live.


à bientôt

Barbara Lilian






02 February 2014

Are You Thinking of Visiting France soon ?



Then remember your P's. & Q's.

Always say Bonjour / Hello 
and
S'il vous plait / Please

This article was in our local English Newspaper;
It really made me smile.





When you were little I'm sure your parents taught you to say Please & Thank You.

Do you remember the old saying 

'manners don't cost anything' !!

Make sure you are polite.
or you might pay over the top for your drink.

But seriously just a word of warning !

Have you ever wondered why the locals go into the Bar/Cafe
 in towns or cities and stand at the bar with their drink ?
 Usually you will be charged more for drinks served to you if you sit outside on their terrace.



But at this Bar / Cafe  it was manners.





à bientôt
Barbara Lilian