j'adore Dior.

A few days ago we took a trip down the coast to the pretty seaside town of Granville to visit the childhood home of Christian Dior, Les Rhumbs, which is now a museum dedicated to him and his life's work.

This summer they are holding a special exhibition entitled "Stars en Dior" and many wonderful dresses and costumes, created by the House of Dior, are on display.

There are also film clips to enjoy of old black and white films from the forties, blockbuster movies from Hollywood and France and even tv commercials promoting Dior fragrances.

Sadly we were not able to photograph the frocks (!) but we took many photo's of the outside of the house and surrounding gardens.

 

the great man himself

 

 

 

Joining Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound

for Pink Saturday.

 

Click on the link below to see who else is in the pink this week.

Hydrangeas in bloom

This sweet little hydrangea was blindingly white when I bought it at Easter, it hasn't grown one centimetre in size since then but it has changed colour.
Over the weeks it has gradually changed colour and now it is a gorgeous shade of green, au natural, no artificial colouring involved!
I was so intrigued by this that I looked for an answer on google and found an very interesting little article on a website called Gardening Know How.
Click here if you would like to know more.

Out in the garden my white hydrangea bush is thriving, due to all the rain we've been having no doubt.
Before the flowers open completely they have a green tinge.

It is quite possible, as I'm sure all of you gardeners out there will know, that you can change a pink hydrangea to blue by adding aluminium sulfate to the soil.

Joining charming hostess 

Liz @ Rose Vignettes for Fresh Cut Friday 

photo du jour - pink rose

this beautiful pink rose bush on the front of the house
grows alongside and over the top of the door which leads into the kitchen
i'm so grateful to a previous occupant for planting roses around my door!

it's looking so lush this year that I decided to make it my new summer header

it's blooming just in time for pink saturday
with beverly @ how sweet the sound

click here for more delightful pinks

Fleurs de Paris

Last weekend the SP & I spent 24 wonderful hours in Paris.
We drove up to visit the Version Scrap Expo, which was being held at the Parc Floral, Vincennes.

Later we checked into the Hotel Daumesnil located close to the Chateau de Vincennes.

This beautiful florists shop was on the opposite corner to the Chateau, just across the road from the Hotel.

Sharing all these beautiful flowers with

 Liz @ Rose Vignettes for Fresh Cut Friday

and

Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday.

I'm sure they'd both be happy to see you if you called in too!

Pink Saturday - Scrap booking: Tags.

This iconic phrase has been my motto once again this week whilst I recuperated from quite a bad fall last weekend.
Don't ever try and separate two squabbling dogs whilst carrying two mugs of tea, otherwise you could end up falling flat on your face, as I did early on Saturday morning.
My knees took the brunt of the fall and I still have terrific bruises, black, blue & yellow, from my knees down to my ankles.
I was very lucky not to break anything.
My friend Gaynor broke her collar bone a few years ago, whilst performing almost the same trick, minus the dogs.
To help pass the time I have been busy crafting.
My new obsession? Tags!
The tags below were the first ones I made and I gave them away to friends, coincidentally I gave the pink one to Gaynor.

A few weeks ago I joined a fantastic online scrap booking site UK Scrappers and last week signed up for a Tag Swap.
The photo below is of the three tags I made for the Tag Swap, and I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

I hope to get back into blogger mode during the next couple of days and will be over to visit you all to catch up with what's been happening in your world this week whilst I've been awol.

Sharing my new obsession with Beverly

 @How Sweet The Sound 

and all the other participants celebrating Pink today.

Pink Saturday

The opening page of my 2012 scrapbook.

A nostalgic look back at my 4 year old self as a bridesmaid to Joan.

The journaling reads:

Learn from yesterday

Live for today

Hope for tomorrow

Joining Beverley @How Sweet The Sound

for

Pink Saturday

At last week's Pink Saturday gathering I discovered a wonderful blog that I know many of you already follow.

A Scrapbook of Inspiration is a truly scrumptious place 

and Karen has very generously offered to share some of her beautiful designs with us all.

Click here to see them for yourself

Pink Interlude

What makes a perfect pink interlude?

Book: The Postmistress - Sarah Blake; Tea: Taz - Vanilla Rooibos; Hand knitted pink and white striped mug mat: wonderful gifts from Pondside.

Mug: Cath Kidston.

Joining Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound

for

Pink Saturday

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

Pink Saturday

Last week the Senior Partner and I celebrated 32 years of wedded bliss, aahh!

We marked the occasion with a little retail therapy

followed by lunch at a favourite restaurant in Bayeux.

We also purchased mouthwatering deli treats

 (tuna stuffed sweet peppers, artichoke hearts and onions; three cheese ravioli; buffalo mozzarella and sun dried cherry tomatoes filled with delicate ricotta cheese) 

from

 "l'oliverade" -  Epicerie Méditerranéenne

for a special "couch picnic" in front of the TV that evening.

Mr B - chef, gourmand, bon viveur and
 the love of my life

Joining Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday.

Click on the link or sidebar button to be in the pink, too.

Pink Saturday in Paris

Joining Beverly for Pink Saturday @ How Sweet The Sound with this poster for an exhibition

which, sadly, finished in May.

Click here to visit the La Pinacothèque de Paris to see what's currently showing.

Pink Saturday in October!

Although it's officially Autumn and the Virginia creeper on the house is beginning to change colour from green to burgundy, there are still plenty of roses in my garden.

So, I'm sending you all a little piece of pink, from Normandy, to celebrate the first day of October!

Joining Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound and her wonderful Pink Saturday party

click on the link to see more beautiful pinkness from around the globe.

The faded charm of pink hydrangeas.

I've been in the wars a little bit this week!
On Monday I was stung by a wasp on my lower left arm, as I'm mildly allergic to wasp stings it wasn't long before the swelling went from elbow to fingers.
As I'd had the same thing happen last year I had antihistamine tablets and cortisone cream in the cabinet so after a couple of days the swelling was starting to recede.
That was until this afternoon (Thursday) when I got stung again whilst in the garden getting some fresh air.
Same arm, just higher up!
Taking no chances I went to see our lovely Dr B-B who loaded me up with more tablets, cream, compresses, alcohol (to cool the arm, not to drink!) and bandages to hold the compresses in place!
I look like the walking wounded and have to stay this way for 10 days.
So, I need some fresh flowers to cheer me up, more than ever which is why I'm ..............................

Joining Liz @Rose Vignettes once more for Fresh Cut Friday.

Even though they are past their summer pink gorgeousness now

 my hydrangeas are still bringing me pleasure.

I'll let them dry out here in the dining room and

enjoy their faded charm for many more months to come.

Joining Beverly too for Pink Saturday @How Sweet The Sound.

Please click on the links to join both of these lovely ladies for gorgeous flowers and delightful pinks, me, I'm staying indoors with a good book until all the wasps have gone.

The last Pink Saturday of summer.

Another week has flown by, another week of thunder and rain, soggy vegetables in an even soggier potager and the sound of falling leaves.

But the sun did peek through from time to time and as these photographs taken on Thursday afternoon reveal there is still plenty of pink to be found in the garden.

The hydrangeas which have really brought the garden to life this year with their bright pink blooms are fading now but still beautiful.
The roses climbing up the house and garden walls and the standard roses in the flower beds are giving us one last hurrah!

Fleur is ten months old now and loves nothing more than to chase Ben our cocker spaniel around the garden, which is what they were doing whilst I took the photographs, hence the pink tongues!
The hardy fuschia has bloomed profusely all summer long despite being invaded by a climbing nasturtium or two.

Joining Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound

for the last Pink Saturday of summer.

Click on the link to join in.