Showing posts with label Daffodils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daffodils. Show all posts

Sunday, 4 March 2018

Mosaic Monday - # 75 - Hugging Daffodils.

In the week that marked the meteorological first day of spring, March 1st, as in other parts of Europe (Spain; Italy and the UK) some regions of France have been experiencing extreme weather caused by a fierce blizzard blowing in from Siberia.
a.k.a. "The Beast from the East"  the Siberian blizzard has caused avalanches in the French Alps leading to four deaths and many accidents throughout the country.

Here in Normandy we got away very lightly with just a slight dusting of snow, the  temperature did drop to -4c on Wednesday but felt like -10c because of the bitterly cold wind.
My daffodils did not like that at all.
The stems and flowers froze as they lay drooping on the ground, too afraid to move them for fear of breaking the stems I had to leave them to fend for themselves.
ice crystals on daffodils
A friend passed on some advice from UK gardening guru Alan Titchmarsh, apparently daffodils go into hibernation mode during such extreme conditions but I was convinced that they were done for.
What do I know!
Friday it rained but it wasn't as cold so between showers I rushed out and hugged my daffodils, that's right I became a daffodil hugger.
Lifting the stems and flowers, heavy with rain, from the ground and shaking gently helped them to shed the raindrops and stand a little straighter.
I repeated the treatment again on Saturday and what a difference it made.

Some that I couldn't revive had broken stems so I brought them inside to add a bright ray of sunshine to the mantelpiece.

“She turned to the sunlight
    And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
    "Winter is dead.”
A.A. Milne,
When We Were Very Young.



Sunday, 9 March 2014

news from the Presbytere

I know that I've been awol (again) for some time but there's not been a lot going on around here that I consider to be "blogworthy".

the office get's emptied

into the dining room

The renovations continue but in fits and starts, no one room seems to be completely done and whilst one room is being worked on all the furniture etc. from there get's moved to another and you can never find anything or else you have to climb over or squeeze past something or other!

and into the new decorated and floored sitting room
About the only things that have remained constant are the daffodils which once again are magnificent (if I do say so myself, do you like the new blog header photo?).
my favourite miniature Cornish daffodils

Our walks on the beach are turning into an almost weekly occurrence this year.


The weather this weekend has been glorious, blue skies and sunshine, it's really been quite hot for Normandy!





So, this is all the latest from the Presbytere, I hope you enjoyed stopping by and I promise to try and get back here again soon.
à bien·tôt

Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Alphabet-Thursday. P is for Printemps

Can you believe it?
This is my 400th post!
I'd like to say a great big thank you to all my followers 
for supporting me since I began blogging
 almost four years ago. 
What a great time I've had, sharing my life with you and learning about yours.

Here's to the next 400!

Here in Normandy it's Printemps, again!

image from google
Not Printemps the world famous Parisian department store!
I'm talking about this Printemps.................


When spring takes centre stage to announce
 "All right, Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close up".


The weather on Tuesday was lovely.
 Although still chilly we enjoyed blue skies and sunshine.
Everywhere I looked in the garden spring was bursting out all over,
to the soundtrack of a chain saw!


S the G is back!
(Sean the Gardener, soon to be starring as the Rotivater in the Potager)

Linking this springtime post to Jenny Matlock's
Alphabe-Thursday gathering
Jenny Matlock


Click here to peruse more peas!
(sorry, I've got gardening on the brain!)

Sunday, 26 February 2012

Sunday walk.


The weather is still dank and dreary, grey skies and no sunshine.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed our walk through the Normandy countryside this morning where I found some interesting trees to photograph.



Back home, the wet weather isn't dampening the spirits of our daffodils, thank goodness.


They are beginning to brighten up several flower beds now, beautiful Heralders of Spring!
bon dimanche.

Linking to Mosaic Monday @ the little red house. 
Mary has a wonderful vintage themed mosaic today that everyone will enjoy.

Friday, 6 January 2012

Friday's Daffs!

Last Friday I posted about the first daffodils that were coming up in our garden and I've tried to post a daffodil shot every day of this first week of 2012.There were 3 when I wrote that first post and today I counted 11, not bad for one week.


Yesterday the weather was so bad I couldn't get a shot but the sun has been out for a short while this afternoon and so out I went, too.
After moving some of the dead leaves that are mulching the ground beneath (alright I've been too lazy to clear them away) I found plenty more shoots and also a few daffodil bulbs that some creature has dug up (possibly a field mouse) and started nibbling on.
I quickly dug a large hole and popped those back in, they'll possibly survive and bloom later in the Spring.
Hopefully my Normandy daffs have cheered up the first few days of January for you, I know that they bring a smile to my face each time I see them, even on the gloomiest day.


If one daffodil is worth a thousand pleasures, then one is
too few.
William Wordsworth
Linking to the
First Potpourri Party of 2012
with Honey @ 2805

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Rain, rain and more rain.

It's been raining nonstop it seems since Christmas Day, but it isn't cold so I shouldn't complain.
On New Year's Day we took a walk down by the river but soon discovered the water level had risen so high that the surrounding fields were flooded.
No surprise really, it happens every January.


What made this year different, though, was M'selle Fleur who hadn't experienced flooded fields before.


She's a real water baby, she ran and splashed around for ages.
On the way back to the car we met three young ladies out enjoying a gentle hack, we exchanged several pleasant Bonne Année 's.


The winds were practically gale force this morning when I bolted outside to take my daily daffodil shot.
They were all dancing around in the wind so the shot is a little blurry, I'm afraid.

So, I think I'll be staying indoors for the rest of the day, perhaps I'll even take a snooze with a favourite Ted and this very special hot water bottle, a wonderful Christmas gift from the ever thoughtful SP.


Linking this post to Bunny Jean's Wednesday's Bunny Hop party.



Hope you're safe, warm and dry today, wherever you are.

Monday, 2 January 2012

Daily Daffodil


The daffodil is our doorside queen;
She pushes upward the sword already,
To spot with sunshine the early green.

William Cullen Bryant
(no relation!)

Sunday, 1 January 2012

A Transformative Year of Delight and Discovery.

Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote the book "Simple Abundance" in 1995 and a copy of it has been on my bedside table for over six years now. Some of you reading this post may possibly have a copy, I've personally gifted it to several friends over the years.


If you would like to visit SBB's Simple Abundance website there is a link on my sidebar.
For the first couple of years I read a page every single day, in the following years I dipped into it now and then when I felt the need of some support.
For some reason I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be a year of change for the Senior Partner and I, there's talk of moving back to the UK maybe this year maybe next, and our planned visit to Hilton Head, SC. in October could well be our last.
As I said there's a feeling that this year may be different, we shall see!
So, I'm turning to Simple Abundance once again on the first day of January, a month full of new beginnings, so that I can be reminded that "the authentic self is the Soul made visible", I feel sure it will help me to face the challenges as they come up.
On a lighter note...............
Some who commented on my last post were surprised to see daffodils in our garden at Christmas/NewYear.


Although it will be several weeks yet until we have wonderful displays such as the one above, most of the flower beds have signs of life and look like this,


and there seems to be at least one impatient daffodil appearing somewhere in the garden every day.
Sheila @ Starshine Through My Windows  saw her first snow fall in November and is, like many others, only imagining daffodils on New Year's Day.
Her comment has prompted me to take a daily daffodil photograph in order to share a little bit more of Normandy Life with my blogging friends.
Here's todays little guy.


There are years that ask questions and years that answer.

Joining The Tablescaper, with this first post of 2012, for Seasonal Sundays.
A weekly gathering where we share what's happening in our own corner of the world,
why not join us?

Friday, 30 December 2011

Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New.


In a secluded corner of the garden a pink hydrangea from last summer
continues to add colour, whilst bright yellow daffodils begin to push through to the light.

Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Joining in with the last Pink Saturday of 2011
with Beverly at How Sweet The Sound




Happy New Year Everyone!

Destination 360

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Outdoor Wednesday - Spring has sprung!


Spring lambs with their mums.
4 sets of twins.

Spring flowers in our back garden.
The bees were already hard at work on the white ornamental cherry blossom.
Not too much time available to blog since Mme Fleur arrived at the weekend and Mr Darling Husband flew the coop for a business trip to the UK!
I just had to share some pix, taken on a recent Sunday morning, of the new lambs that Jacques the owner of our village epicerie has in the field next to the shop.
Also some very quick snaps taken in our back garden Tuesday afternoon whilst Fleur & Ben were chasing around like whirling dervishes, bonding over a tennis ball.
All the shots I took of their playtime were too blurred to share but I'm sure you can picture the scene, n'est pas?
Joining Susan for Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer and Jill @ The French Cupboard for French Inspiration Thursday with this slice of rural Normandy Life.

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

1st March. - St. Davids Day.

St. David (Dewi Sant) the patron Saint of Wales was a monk who lived during the sixth century and died circa 588 on March 1st.

Although perhaps not as well known as Irelands Saint Patrick, for centuries the date has been a National Festival in Wales.
As part of the celebration people wear either a leek or a daffodil in their lapels.

National St. Davids Day Parades will take place today in Cardiff and Wrexham in Wales, as well as further afield in China and New York!

Apparently Welsh Week is being celebrated across the United States.
Click here to go to the BBC News Wales web page for more info.


In honor of the occasion (and because it was my lovely Dad's favourite flower) some freshly picked daffodils from my garden, with branches of forsythia and red buds of flowering quince.


I'll be linking this post to A Return to Loveliness with Kathy @ A Delightsome Life today
and I'll also be joining Liz @ Rose Vignettes for Fresh Cut Friday,
 where there are bound to be masses of pretty spring vignettes to see.