Overgrown

I have been absent for a few days on account of a small trip to France. After the spate of burglaries (3 in 2 years) and lack of funds to maintain the land and gardens, we were becoming increasingly concerned about it. It rather got to the point where we were just grateful it hadn't burned down. The last time it was burgled we were not even able to go over and tidy it up again, due to financial and work constraints. Needless to say, knowing our home lay in tatters and not being able to get there, was quite a horrid feeling.

My brother stepped in to save the day, by agreeing to live there for a while. So early this week I headed for the airport, to pack up our little house and make room for my brother to move in.

To say it was an emotional few days is quite an understatement. I cried the whole time, though it was lovely to catch up with much missed friends and to breathe in the scent of home (albeit a bit musty) again.

As we drove to the house from the airport, the route being mainly farmland, I remembered each little house and garden we passed....the pretty maison d'maitre with it's blue shutters and glorious hydrangeas decorating it's front wall. The petite maison with green shutters and wysteria... the way the wildflowers bloomed especially brightly as we turned the corner into our village... Monsieur Honesty's house, now sadly empty since he moved to the Maison de Retraite (old folks home), but his rose garden still living on in his absence, and the light, the glorious french light.
I had a lump in my throat the entire way there, it was bittersweet.

I was quite overwhelmed by the state of the land surrounding the house, it has been little over a year since a gardner popped by, nature has well and truly taken over.
Whilst I was at first taken aback by the sheer amount of work that would be involved in getting the land in some usable order again, it was nice to note that the 8ft high brambles shielded the house from view and made it quite difficult for any subsequent burglaries to take place. It felt very much like mother nature had put her arms around our home and taken care of it for us.

Here are some picture you may remember seeing here a long while ago, when we lived there.





Here are the same spaces now...





Quite spectacular growth, isn't it? We can't see the lake, or reach it...

I miss France terribly, and still hope to return, it may be a while yet, but while I breathe, I hope.

Kittens, Kingfishers & Humpy Time

Ooops, I did it again! I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted, and I had sooo much to tell you, better late than never?

The last two weeks have been complete mayhem, so much going on, ah where to begin?
Well, it all started when I was quietly minding my own business and going about my housework, suddenly I heard something hit the window, and immediately shouted at the children, who were hurling balls at one another, to mind the windows. I went to inspect the damage, and to my complete surprise, found this little darling unconscious on the floor.



A kingfisher! This silly young thing had flown into the window at such speed that he knocked himself out cold. Kingfishers, I am sure, are a rare sight at the best of times, we occasionally catch a glimpse of their vivid blue plumage as they flit across the lake, but to see one up close, THIS CLOSE, was quite a magnificent sight.

Poor Mr Kingfisher was in a sorry state, he sat quietly, cupped in Simon's big strong hands without even so much as a flutter of his wings.
It is not the first time we have had a bird in hand under much the same circumstances, country life delivers all manner of creatures into our home, and over the months we have had swallows, blue tits and bats, amongst many things, all render themselves unconscious after flying head first into our windows.
They normally always recover their composure after a few minutes and fly back to wherever it is they came from, but Mr Kingfisher stayed put.

Simon thought it would be a good idea to carry him closer to the lake where he might recognise his surroundings better and fly away. No sooner had we reached the lakes bank Mr Kingfisher took off, one gloriously high swoop before he fell, with great speed, right into the water! He kind of half sunk, half floated, Simon quickly fetched the boat, which was perilously close to sinking on account of being full of rain water, and heroically set out to rescue Mr Kingfisher from drowning.

Back on safe ground, Mr Kingfisher sat, once again, quietly in Simon's hands. After much time had passed and darkness began to draw in, we decided to make a wee nest for Mr Kingfisher and pop him in a nearby tree where he could recover in peace. An old plastic plant pot stuffed with hay and dry grass cuttings was positioned carefully and Mr Kingfisher nestled gently on top. Ambear and Hoozel trooped back and forth from house to tree, in pyjamas and wellington boots, diligent in their self-appointed nursing duties, to check on Mr Kingfisher at regular intervals, eventually, as the sun went down, off they went to bed, chatting excitedly about their new avian friend.

I returned to my housework and Simon to the Football on tv, when Mr Pip alerted us to the imminent arrival of Minnu's kittens. He was busy giving her a monkey nibble (this weird affectionate nibbling thing he does to loved ones) and generally paying her too much attention, we quickly realised her panting was due to labour and not Pips amorous chomping at her neck, and were all, once again, on tenterhooks the entire evening.

The first kitten popped out and into the world at midnight, and I was awake all night beside Minnu, as she pushed out two more wee bundles of fluff, the last being at 8am the next morning, when Ambear was excitedly awaiting it's arrival, an incident which did much to answer my inquisitive 8 year olds questions about my own imminent labour - though it took some explaining as to why humans are not born in sacks and mum's don't hungrily start chomping on the placenta!

By now I was dog tired and took myself to bed, no sooner had I settled down to sleep I heard the hounds making a racket, and thus discovered them moments later, attached at the groin after obviously enjoying some humpy time. We had not even been aware that Nala was in season, and planned to get her spayed before Pip came of age, but he quite literally, pipped us at the post! Two weeks on from this very hectic 24 hours of injured birds, birthing cats and humping dogs, we now wait with baited breath for Nala's vet appointment to find out if she is pregnant, and we have three very cute little bundles of kitten to occupy us in the meantime!







I should add, that Mr Kingfisher was not in his new nest the following morning, and we have regularly spotted that blaze of blue darting back and forth across the lake, so can safely assume he recovered and returned to his own abode!


During my absence I have also been back to England, to take the dreaded Driving Theory test. My approach to study and revision is somewhat haphazard, and so no one was more surprised than me when I passed with flying colours! So, I am now a driver in theory, and will be returning to the UK again soon to take my practical driving test.
I am no longer able to ride my bicycle on account of my bump having skewed my balance. I must also accept the idea that once the bump is deflated and replaced by a screaming bundle of cuteness, that cycling is not going to be much of a daily occurance anyway (and I don't much fancy one of those strange pram contraptions that attach to the rear end of a bicycle), so driving a car, after many years of having happily travelled on foot, is suddenly looking like a rather attractive prospect, since I would be lucky to reach my neighbours on foot in one morning, let alone the local shops.

All my adult life I have walked, cycled or braved the perils and filth of public transport to get from A to B, but rural France demands a car, and a car I will have, all in good time.
Of course, cars tend not to deliver themselves unto your doorstep, there is no magic wand to be waved that miraculously alerts you as to the perfect vehicle for you, and so the search has begun, and my god how boring is finding a car?!

My first choice was a vintage Morris Minor, Simon pointed out, that since I am soon to be a mother of 3 sproglets, a vintage car is perhaps not the most practical or reliable choice. I stewed about this for a few days, really I did, I mean, have you seen Morris Minors? They are so cute, and charming, and I dare say, SO ME.



Alas, Simon said I will not be allowed a pale blue polka dotted Morris Minor (it would have to be polka dotted of course!), and that I really ought to consider a proper MUM car, like say, a Citroen Xsara Picasso, yawwwwwwwwn, or dare I even say it, a Renault Espace - if I WERE a practical person then I would be inclined to agree, alas I am not, I am most impractical, and being mother to 3 children before I am 30 will probably not change that, at least I am fighting, with all my wrath, against it, for now at least, perhaps I can compromise.....

I wonder what a Xsara Picasso would look like with Polka Dots?

Anyways, I am now moving into my third trimester of pregnancy, I am heavy, BIG and oh so cumbersome, the blisteringly hot weather is somewhat hard to bare and once again I can feel that dreaded fatigue closing in on me, I need to start sewing, and fast!

On a final note, my lovely wonderful friend Sena, has just started her own blog, be a darling and go and take a peek, she is a super sweet gal and has a super sweet new blog to match! By The Blue Grass.

Hoola Fairy's and Mothers Day Treats

Back with more, as promised!
Today is still grey grey grey, but at least it isn't raining, managed to take a few pics, yay!

First up, the Sunday just passed was Mothers Day in France. We already celebrated Mothers day on the UK date in March, so I was spoiled twice!
The girls made these lovely mirrors for me at school, how sweet!





The Hoozel told me that since I already received a Mothers Day gift from her, would I mind very much if she sent the mirror she made to Her Nana Ann, who is very poorly and needs cheering up, so the blue mirror, will be packed up and sent to our dear Nana Ann, I am sure it WILL indeed cheer her up, how could it not? So cute!

Ambear also wrote me a lovely mothers day poem in FRENCH. I was so delighted, not only by the poem, but also that she is coming along so well with this new alien language that has been thrust upon her.
I feigned ignorance and asked her to read it for me and to translate, just so I could hear that beautiful French accent, which she speaks so effortlessly, and so much more eloquently than any adult learning a new language could ever hope to achieve, brought a wee tear to my eye when she read it out loud, she was so shy about it too...



I have been busy making two dolls for two super late swaps, starting to wonder if I will ever catch up! Still, progress is progress and I so enjoyed stepping out of my box and creating something new, I introduce, the very first Hoola Fairy!





Isn't she sweet? She is not much bigger than a Dotee Doll, about 5". The wand is a tiny twig from the garden with felt and fabric.
This one is being sent out as part of the "Where Women Create" Swap I joined a while ago, for which I had to create anything of my liking, and send it off with a little note about where I create, my swap partner has been super patient, I really hope she will like her Hoola Fairy!

I am still putting the finishing touches to another wee fairy, here is a sneak preview...



This one is a touch bigger, and was much easier to make, those arms and legs are sOOoOOo fiddly, I might make an even bigger one next time!

I treated myself to some Berol Felt Tips recently, the fine tip and brush tip. I appreciate felt tips aren't the most sophisticated medium to work with, but I love doodling, and I love the colours of these felt tips, they remind me of my youth!
Here is an A4 doodle drawing I did last night, now pinned in the girls bedroom, they stole it away before I could even blink, only seems fair since I steal away all their drawings to pin on the kitchen wall!



I am looking forward to having more fun with felt tips, a vastly under rated, if somewhat juvenile, medium!

That's all for now, there is still plenty of time to join my Blog Giveaway (see post below), I will probably draw the names this time next week.
Happy Wednesday to you my lovelies!

Mouse in the House!

One of the perils of country living is of course, mice. When we first bought our house, and were using it only for vacations every now and then, we had a terrible infestation that practically brought me to a nervous breakdown. The house was literally crawling with them, and this was at a time when I had no kitchen, no washing machine, and very few home comforts, as we were still renovating, the mice, were not a welcome addition.

I would wake up at night convinced they were nesting inside my pillow, screaming like a banshee. Simon would drag me from my bed at some ridiculous hour of the night and with lights switched on, give my pillow a thorough shake and bashing to prove there were no mice inside, it was so bad, he almost sent me to the men in white coats.
Eventually, after much effort, we managed to get rid of them all, and stuffed every conceivable entry point into the house with wire wool (mice won't chew threw it as it cuts their mouths), and we never saw a mouse in the house again, that is, until now.

I opened my kitchen cupboard on Saturday and found a very small mouse staring back at me.
I am not squeamish, I didn't run screaming for help, I stared straight at the little beggar until he scampered off into the back of the cupboard.
He was a little field mouse, big round ears and glossy little eyes as black as soot, very cute indeed, however, not so cute in my kitchen cupboard!

I closed the door on him, and considered for a moment what to do. I was quite cross, you see, Nala normally sniffs out a mouse the moment it enters the house, and we have 4 cats, it would have to be a very stupid mouse to venture into our house! Alas, Nala's senses are clearly confused, she is evidently far too busy stalking duck butt to bother about a little mouse.
I called her and Mr Pip into the kitchen, and set about emptying all of my kitchen cupboards, then instructed the dogs to do their work.

Ambear, Hoozel and myself, watched with great amusement as the tiny little mouse scampered from one cupboard to another (via little holes cut for pipes), and the dogs tumbled clumsily in and out of each cupboard after him. Back and forth they went, cupboard to cupboard for what seemed like an age, before the little mouse finally disappeared to wherever it is he came from. The dogs were sent back out, many a dull hour were spent thoroughly cleaning the cupboards and it's contents, and then Simon dutifully lay a humane trap baited with bread, so that little mouse would be caught but not hurt.

The next morning, we were preparing breakfast and heard the trap rattling, one little mouse was caught and released far, far from the house. We thought that was the end of that, but replaced the trap in the cupboard just in case.
The next morning we checked it, the bread was gone but no mouse to be seen, now I was really cross!
I tore the kitchen apart looking for, what now seemed to be where "they", were nesting, but found nothing, and so very confused, the trap was returned to the cupboard, and again we waited.

Less than an hour passed and the trap was rattling away with another little mouse, we have caught another since, and another has sneakily stole the bread away, and at last, I have figured out where they are coming from!
The pipes leading out of the back kitchen wall (in the cupboard under the sink), which were previously stuffed with wire wool, now revealed a slight hole - did you know a little mouse can squeeze through a hole the same diameter as a pen?
The hole has been stuffed again, this time more securely, and the trap laid, just in case, but so far, so good, no thanks to the dogs, who are still, predictably, sniffing ducks ass.

So, mouse problem aside, all is very well! I have been working on a very time consuming, but certainly rather special Dotee doll, which I hope to finish shortly and will share with you in due course.

Also, the weather has been blisteringly hot, and three consecutive days of heat has spurred the fish in the lake into action, they have been spawning for the last 48 hours which is quite a magnificent sight!
The carp literally roll around the reeds at the edge of the lake, so close, and so busy that you could literally pick them up with your hands!

Much work has been done in the garden too, raised beds for potatoes and onions were finally laid, lots of flowers and plants added here and there, more brambles were cleared and more digging than my shoulders care to remember has taken place over the last few days.
Today, for the first time, we enjoyed the very first of our homegrown (if you discount eggs) produce!



The spinach survived the chickens, against all the odds, and was a very tasty addition to tonights dinner, yay for us!

I have been buying fabric like a woman gone mad, and packages are arriving daily, with scrumptious patterns galore, here are a few of my recent favourites, now, what to do with them all.....?





Secret projects will soon be underway my lovelies, watch this space!

Now take a deep breath and BLOW......



wishes for you!

Then there were 4....

The dogs seem to be having a hard time understanding that Ducks are friends, not food.
Our 6 friends are now just 4, alas, some loss was expected and we are now super cautious about our remaining chums, and the dogs and ducks are only allowed out at the same time under strict supervision, until the hounds get the message, it is debatable they will.

It doesn't help that the ducks, despite seeing two of their friends savagely eaten, have no fear of the dogs, and stroll past them at leisure, really, they are asking for trouble.
You would think they might realise that water = safety, swim little friends swim! But no, they seem to prefer sunbathing to swimming, and the dogs are constantly sniffing their butts and planning their next move, le sigh.

In my long absence, I neglected to tell you all about the arrival of the ducks and new chickens. New pets are always met with great suspicion by the hounds, the main question quivering on their lips, is, predictably "Can I eat them?".
Despite the answer being a resounding NO, some casualties are always expected, and honestly there have been many.

On Mothers day I was presented with two pretty Sussex Chickens and two very handsome Labrador Ducks. I will refrain from going into too much detail because really it is quite upsetting, shall we just say that one of our Sussex Chickens now has just one leg (which she seems to hop around rather well on!), and is thus named Peggy - or Peg Leg. The two Labrador Ducks (which cost a small fortune) lasted less than an hour, we consoled ourselves with the fact that at least they got to swim on a very real lake before their passing, having been previously raised in something akin to a Chicken Battery farm.

Two more little ducklings (this time plain old CHEAP white ones) were introduced to the brood, one of which met it's end when The Hoozel accidentally left the door to their house open, and one of the dogs accidentally found it's way in.
5 more were purchased, which makes six, and there are 4 now remaining. For those of you who are trying to do the sums, the dogs killed 5 ducks :(

Here they are, little sweethearts!



They are incredibly tame, and allow us to pick them up and give them a wee stroke, so we try to enjoy that, whilst it lasts!

I was supposed to be back over a week ago, posting more dotee dolls. I have no excuse, because there are none to make, what can I say? The days just drift one in to the other and before I know it, a week has passed!
So here they are, albeit one week late!

First up, the second in the Shabby Chic theme, this little baby is already on her way to the USA.







Now, I was very excited to make this next little poppet, she is the first Icicle Doll I have made, the theme was Spring. I found the perfect scrap of fabric in my stash, which was sent by a swap partner some time ago, and has finally come into use....



I am really pleased with how it turned out, it is slightly larger than planned, as I really wanted to incorporate as much of the fabric pattern as possible, and I love her little face, Spring like and cheerful me thinks, I reckon this is what flowers would look like, if they had faces :)



This little darling is for another swap, there was no theme so I was free to let my creativity run loose. Since this one is um, eeek, about 8 weeks late, I gave her a "Ooops I'm late!" kinda face!





I really hope my swap partners like their new buddies, I certainly had fun making them.

So many Dotee swaps still to make, and so little time. I have been so inspired lately to create other things, but must catch up with the Dotee's before I can start anything else and I am now literally itching to get new projects under way, so my sewing hands are working as fast as they can to catch up with late swaps, alas, I shall be back with more shortly!

Before I go, I wanted to share these, Bluebells! Spanish Bluebells, but better than none, apparently, where there are Bluebells, there are fairies!



FankoOOoo, as always, for your lovely comments and congratulations! It is always a joy to know you are reading, and for the record, the bump is doing just fine :)

365 Days...

And so it begins....
I recently discovered Project 365 on Flickr. I used to take so many photos, of the sproglets, friends, daily life... and somewhere, somehow, I just stopped.
Seeing all the lovely photography on Flickr, images of people's lives, family and homes, art, friends... reminded me how important it is to preserve our memories this way.
Photographs provide such a poignant link to our pasts, a snapshot view into the lives we once lived, the good times we shared, the members of our family who are no longer with us and those that passed long before our own time even began, it is such a beautiful and creative way of preserving a little piece of ourselves, our history, our views.

Project 365 requires that you post one photo for each day, for one year. The subject matter is your own choice, it might be this morning's breakfast, a pile of laundry, your new car, the kids on their way to school, anything goes.

I have been riding my bicycle a lot lately, now that Simon is working away from home I am relying more and more on my two wheels to get to the village and back to buy supplies, go to the post office, or just to pass by the kid's school during their lunch break to say Hello.
So my Day 1 of 365 photo is this...



This is my humble bicycle parked outside the village cafe, or more accurately, a derelict house beside the cafe.
I never used to cycle anywhere in England, I went everywhere on foot. It is lovely being able to get places a little quicker, but golly is it hard work, if all this cycling doesn't get me fit I don't know what will!

I am enjoying it though, the lane to the village is on a steady incline, which means on the way there I literally fly down the hill at full speed, with very little effort at all. I love this journey, whizzing through open countryside, with the sun shining, the cow's and sheep greeting me noisily as I pass, and all I can see is lush, never ending green fields and the glorious blue skies above, the wind whips my hair all around me, and not a car to be seen, it is totally exhilirating, it reminds me why I am here, how blessed I am to be here, I feel so happy that I think my heart might burst out of my chest, and I want to shout it out over the tree top's, sometimes, I do...

Coming home, is another story, the first part of my journey is tough but not crippling, then as I reach the last mile the hill steepens, I can see the beginning of it curving up and away into the distance, and I dread it, absolutely dread it.
As I reach the hill I lift my wobbling rear end off the seat to put all my weight on the pedals and grit my teeth, I'm telling you, it bloody hurts, but it gets easier every time I do it, maybe some day soon I will be able to do it without grimacing.

Anyhooo, I seriously need to reconsider my cycling attire... When I parked up outside the cafe today, I noticed a group of men outside, all smiling in my direction. I am not exactly a super model, so I can be certain they weren't admiring my looks, I smiled a cheerful "Bonjour" and didn't think much of it, until I got home and realised I had a hole in the CROTCH of my jeans, as I zoomed round the corner in front of the cafe they must have had a less than charming view, at least I was wearing my nice polka dotted undies :)

I have a zillion and one crafty swaps to be getting on with my lufflies, so I bid you a heart felt aurevoir and a Bonjournee (good day) mes amis!

The Thrill of the Hunt

Wow, what a day. Where to begin? Well, it was gloriously sunny today, thus the only rightful place for me to be was enjoying the great outdoors.
I decided to take advantage of the beautiful light and have a tinker with the SLR camera, to see if I could figure out all the fancy settings, and see what I could do with it.
I wondered around for a couple of hours, snapping here and there, it was proving to be a very warm and peaceful morning. Then just as I was settling down with Simon in front of the lake, for a cup of tea and a chat about the photos I had been taking, we heard the dogs barking from quite a distance.

My immediate concern was that they had crossed over into the farmers fields and were harassing his cows, an offense which is likely to get them shot, and rightly so.
This seemed unlikely as they are generally very respectful of their boundaries, and as we got closer to the noise we realised that it wasn't cows that were on the receiving end of their wrath, but a Ragondin.
You may remember me writing about these horrid creatures a short while ago, they are huge water living rat like creatures, the French hate them, and with good reason, and now our dogs had one cornered in a very long dark tunnel at the foot of the gloopy glop.

Ragondin's are not aggressive animals, but will attack if cornered, they have HUGE teeth, dogs that hunt these animals wear 4" wide nylon collars to protect their throats, as having their jugular torn open by a frightened Ragondin is how many dogs meet their fate, needless to say, upon discovering that my silly hounds had actually followed one of these creatures into a tunnel, I was somewhat distraught.
Nala, our older dog, is more than capable of holding her own, this kind of hunt is in her blood, and we could hear her barking and growling, and presumably attacking at frequent intervals, but there wasn't a sound from our young pup Pip, and when Nala came out of the tunnel, covered in blood, and Pip didn't follow, we really started to panic.

By now I was on my hands and knees in 5" of stagnant muddy lake water, screaming into the mouth of the tunnel for Pip to come out. Nala went back in, and continued to bait the Ragondin, but still not even a squeak from Pip, if he was injured, we couldn't get to him, we couldn't even dig down because he was in a concrete tunnel which was buried 12 feet under ground.
I told Simon to stay there and ran like the clappers to the farmers house.
I arrived on his doorstep, covered from head to toe in stinking orange slime and mud, panting like a woman in the throes of a very painful labour, just as the Farmer and his workers were sitting down for lunch.
After explaining the problem in extremely poor french - something along the lines of "my dogs, in tunnel, ragondin attack, puppy is dead! (insert uncontrolable sobs here) please bring your dogs!" They politely informed me that their dog's were in fact not there, but kindly downed knives and forks, and followed me, guns in hand, back to the tunnel.

By this point, I really was convinced my puppy was dead. To make matters worse, as I arrived back I could hear the children's cries as the bastard goats ransacked the house in our absence, and saw Simon charging around the lake towards them, whilst the farmers and me ran towards the tunnel.
Nala was still going crazy inside the tunnel, Simon returned with a torch, and now I was howling like a banshee.
A little torch light revealed that the tunnel curved off at an angle, preventing us from seeing the action. All the while I was howling Pip's name.

I may not have mentioned before, that we named Pip before discovering what this word meant in French. Not long ago, some French friends of hours, informed us, with great amusement I should add, that Pip, is actually a French slang word for sex. I am sure you can imagine the look of surprise on the Farmer's faces, as I was lying down in the mud screaming SEX at the top of my voice into the tunnel, what a time to feel frisky!

Nala came out when called, and promptly went back in, then Simon saw Pip in the tunnel, covered head to toe in mud and dragging himself down the tunnel on his knees. Hope was restored, he might be injured but he was alive! After a few minutes he was dragged to safety, he was so covered in mud that we couldn't see if he was hurt or not, I held him against me and ran back to the house with him as fast as my very out of shape legs could carry me.
I put him straight under the shower, and was relieved to find there wasn't a scratch on his body, he was just very shaken up and cold.

Meanwhile, now that the pup was safe, Simon was trying to call Nala out of the tunnel, whilst the farmers, rather enjoying the action, egged her on to kill the Ragondin by screaming ATTACK! ATTACK! into the tunnel at regular intervals, Nala, always being one to follow orders, politely obliged and came out a few moments later, bit the farmer, presumably as a warning not to bellow at her like that again, then trotted back to the house.

The goats had a whale of a time during all this commotion, having burst into the house and attacked the fruit bowl, sending all manner of objects crashing to the floor whilst the children looked on helplessly.
So now we were faced with our muddy selves, two very muddy hounds, a floor littered with two dozen half eaten apples and pears and broken glass everywhere. Needless to say, my peaceful morning was somewhat shattered. The clock struck two, it was time for the children to go to their party, oh joy.

Peace was soon restored, we were all treated to a warm shower, dogs included, muddied clothes thrown in the washing machine and the children ferried off to their party, albeit a little late. Nala had a few minor cuts to her face and ears, one particularly nasty bite that punctured her cheek, but is otherwise safe and sound and looking rather smug that she at least won the battle.

I popped round to the farmers later in the evening to give them a bottle of scotch, by way of an apology for interrupting their lunch, they were already quite merry from their evening aperatif, and said how impressed they were with our Ragondin Killing hound, eager to learn where they could acquire one of these fearless little dogs, they also commented on the pup's rather charming name.
After parting with the scotch and receiving a handful of chocolates for the children in return, I made my way back home and promptly collapsed on the sofa.
Forgive me for not doing my Blog Love post today, I simply haven't got the energy.

I will leave you with some of the photos I took, there are more in my Flickr for anyone who might be interested to see just how crap my photography skills are :)

The lake


Trying to achieve "depth of field"....
I wonder who lives here?

Parlez Vous Francais?

Here it is, nothing spectacular, just a humble pencil case for myself, with a message for the sproglets - ever since they learned that a pen or pencil is an object you can pick up and scrawl on things (walls/clothes/bodies - rarely paper) with, I have been fighting a never ending battle to preserve my pens. Sounds dramatic, I know, but if you were me, you would understand.

You see, when I need one, there are never any to be found. As an example, I bought a pack of 6 new pens last week, just boring old blue ink pens, today, there is not a single pen anywhere, where do they go? Perhaps they join those odd socks in the bottomless abyss of nowhere, who knows? One thing I do know, is that they do not stay where I left them, so, being as I had to make a pencil case for one of the sproglets friends, who's birthday it is this Wednesday, I figured I would have a little practice attaching a zip, and made one for myself first, now perhaps my pens and pencils will be safe.... we shall see. The girls think it is very amusing and keep making a point of touching it, just to bug me, le sigh.

The zip doesn't look so hot, but I know what I did wrong, and so Ingrid, the birthday girl, will hopefully get a more perfect specimen of pencil case.
Do you like the little mushroom bead I added to the zip?



This is actually the FIRST thing I have ever made for myself, and what a nice feeling that is! I made everyones Christmas presents last year, most everyone received a framed embroidery by me, I wish I had taken pictures before they were all ferried off to their destined new homes, alas, I only have a photo of the one I did for Simon.



The basket is full of eyes, not eggs! I wish I had paid more attention to the detail on these, since everyone missed the eyes in the basket thing and thought they were eggs. I had only just started embroidery when I made this, I hope I am a little better now!

SooOo, today I went for my French lesson, it is held locally by a very kind English chap who offers these group lessons for free in his home.
I haven't been for a while, and now I remember why, it is so boring! I didn't actually learn any French, since most of the ancient members of the class (I think I am the only person under the age of 70, aside from my friend Janice) insist on chattering all the way through about how much they love parsnips, how their dog/cat/wife has the runs/piles/gall stones, or how many cans of butter beans one can fit in a standard size eco friendly shopping bag, all riveting subjects I'm sure, just not when I am supposed to be learning French.

Anyhooo, I have discovered that all the lessons in the world cannot match the learning power of actually spending time with French people. In little more than 6 months I can now hold a conversation with my friends in French, it is of course, completely cobbled together and my grammar is shall we say, um, rather basic, but I am UNDERSTOOD, and this, I believe, is what matters.
I have a really funny new book too, called "Merde - The REAL French you were never taught at school", which offers very helpful phrases in French which I am surely to use anytime soon, such as "Espece de salaud, je vais te casser le gueule!" which translates as something along the lines of "You bastard, I will smash your face in!" Most useful, don't you think? I must remember that next time the baker brings me a Baguette instead of a sliced Loaf :)

Yaaay for the weekend!

I was woken up rather early this morning to the sound of a very chirpy Bonjour. I do not take kindly to being woken at the weekends, but when I went to inspect I found our local baker on my doorstep, silly old me had forgotten we had arranged for our baked goods to be delivered, and the rude morning awakening was soon forgiven when she tootled off to her van and returned with fresh croissants and pain au chocolat, still warm from the oven, they looked and smelled delicious!

For the first Saturday in history, I was supping fresh coffee and devouring croissants before 9am, Simon was most impressed with my early rising, but not as impressed as he was with fresh croissants in the morning!
They were quite delicious, I should have taken a pic, but I'm afraid they were settling in satisfied tummies before it occurred to me to whip out the camera.

Croissants are of course, one of the perks of living in France, the only drawback is that they have to be eaten fresh, simply because they are so fresh (not filled with preservatives or processed muck) they stale very quickly. So a morning delivery, straight from the bakers oven, is most appreciated of course! The bread too has to be eaten the same day, try and take a bite the next day and you are in serious danger of cutting your mouth to ribbons! In England they deliver milk to your house, in France, freshly baked yumminess, I know which I prefer :)

We have had a fairly relaxing day, and despite the sproglets very loud and traumatic cries of protest, we decided to pay a visit to a local Brocante. Everyone in our family, except of course me, dreads these trips. I cannot leave a brocante or junk shop without inspecting every single shelf and overflowing box, lest there be a wee treasure hidden somewhere that I might otherwise miss. The family hover around whingeing and moaning and asking when we are leaving, it is at these times that I develop temporary deafness as I go about my thrifting.

I found some really lovely things today, first up this adorable little children's book, which I couldn't resist as it has such charming illustrations, I think it is 1930's, and I love that the previous owner has scrawled her name, Francoise, in the front cover, in that winsome curly script that the French children learn at school (even my own sproglets now write that way).







There are some more images from this dear little book in my Flickr album, if you care to take a peek.

I also picked up 3 very sweet fashion magazines, all dated 1931, I love vintage clothing and the images in these magazines are just beautiful.











Aren't they wonderful? Again, more in my Flickr album.

I was up till an ungodly hour last night finishing a Dotee Doll I am making for my swap Partner, Lindy from the Netherlands. Lindy really wanted a dotee, so we arranged a swap, and I am so pleased with how this little baby turned out.



It is my first try at beading, and it is far from perfect but I am pleased as punch with the overall effect. The fabric reminded me of a Japanese Kimono fabric, so I gave this lil girl asian style eyes, and beaded in line with the existing fabric pattern. It took me HOURS, but it was so worth the effort. Simon said I should sell these, but I think it defies what Dotee's are all about, money can't buy the love that goes into my dotee's, the making of them is a pleasure, but the greatest pleasure, I think, comes from sending it out into the world for someone to enjoy, with your own best wishes and a little piece of your heart to boot.
I hope Lindy will like it!

My Dotee craziness has got slightly out of hand, and I am now involved in several dotee swaps between now and the end of February, it will certainly keep my crafting hands busy!

I haven't forgotten my Etsy love post, but will do it tomorrow instead, as I have already rambled on enough for one day ;)

The Gloopy Glop

The rain keeps on coming down and I am so miserable with it now, I am really not a winter baby, roll on Spring!
There has been so much rain that the lake is now almost full....



It overflows into our woodland, which turns this area into a seething mass of mud, water and teeny tiny fish, the water area you can see in this photo below is what we refer to as, The Gloopy Glop.



It is about a foot deep, and since I haven't yet got some wellies, I took a photo from afar. It stays like this right up until Spring when the rain finally lets up, in the meantime the children make many a trip back and forth with a bucket, trying to save all the tiny little fish that slip through the lake's overflow, a futile task, but generous all the same.

There are so many things I have wanted to take photos of, but it has been so dark and overcast that taking photos indoors is nigh on impossible, I seriously need to invest in some decent lighting!

I have been twitching so bad to do some decorating, I need a big project to keep me occupied, and so I have set my sights on this sad little mess...



Le caravan! This little baby was here when we bought the house, despite it's rather tired exterior it is actually in pretty good nick inside, and still has it's original 70's curtains! I am going to tackle the interior first, and wait for a stretch of sunny days before I clean and paint the exterior.

I really want to paint it in colours, I have been desperately trying to find the photo of Cath Kidston's Pop Flowers caravan, has anyone else seen it? It is so jolly and bright, I am determined that our little caravan will be as pretty, and am toying with the idea of polka dots, I have never seen a polka dotted caravan before, sounds fun!

I did have Le caravan earmarked as my little private craft studio, but since I do most of my crafting in the evening, it seems rather pointless as I will not be traipsing all the down there in the dark to fetch supplies, so, it will be our little guest retreat, or somewhere to hide and read when the kid's are rioting :)

Speaking of the sproglets, they were off school yesterday, as per the norm for Wednesday, as it was grey and rainy outside I let them loose in the kitchen to do some baking.
They were so enamored with the fairy cakes I made last time that they insisted on making some themselves.



They wanted honey flavoured fairy cakes, which I must say turned out perfectly, I just replaced some of the sugar content with a hefty dollop of sticky honey, courtesy of our neighbour Raymond and his busy bee's, the result was quite delicious.



There's the Hoozel showing them off!

I really am terribly forgetful and forgot this weeks Blog Love post, which should have been posted on Tuesday, the sieve head strikes once again! I may have forgotten to post, but I certainly did not forget to keep checking out lovely blogs, so here are my findings for you.

It was so hard to choose this week! I have narrowed it down to 3, but check the "Blogs I'm Reading" list on your right, as I have added some other new favourites there too.

First up, I am head over heels in love with the Rosehip Blog, written by a very talented lady called Beata, from Vancouver, Canada.
Her crafts are to die for, her writing thoroughly addictive and her photos truly awe inspiring, just check out these adorable Babushka dolls she has made..



Of course I am a sucker for polka dots, but they really are super cute! You cannot fail to be inspired by her whimsical creations, go take a peek!

Next up is My Romantic Home, written by the ever talented Cindy. This blog thoroughly lives up to it's name! Cindy presents photos of her decorating projects and some beautiful images of her garden, which will encourage green fingers in addition to making you green with envy!
Just check out this girls dining room....



Isn't it divine? Her beautiful home has not gone unnoticed and is soon to be featured in America's Romantic Country magazine, I wish I could get it here in France :(

Lastly, but by no means least, is Freckled Farm, a delightful concoction of family, home and crafts, presented by the very lovely CammyK.
She takes wonderful photos and her family look good enough to eat, she also has a very sweet giveaway for readers at the moment, so go meet her!

Well that's me done for today, I have a HUGE amount of crafty swaps I need to catch up on so I really must dash, a bientot mes amis!