Sunday walk and other delights

The Normandy countryside is awakening to spring, at last, and I decided earlier in the week that it was safe to start sowing some veggie seeds in propagators ready to plant out into the potager in a couple of months time.

Whilst we were in UK last month I went overboard at the garden centre and stocked up on many different varieties of salads, tomatoes and courgettes but when I went looking for said seed packets they were nowhere to be found. After three days of fruitless searching the SP finally found them hidden in plain sight in one of the storerooms outside, how I'd missed seeing the bright green plastic bag that they were in I have no idea, but hey! I was sooooooooo glad they'd finally been found.

I took these shots whilst on our walk today.

Jacques new lambs

ajonc

wild purple orchids, can you see their spotted foliage

stream bank full of primroses

It's not just the countryside that's waking up, the Brocante season began this weekend, vendors selling all types of second hand, vintage and antiques items filled the St Clair car parks with their stalls.

this young man looks cold and bored!

assorted bric a brac

anyone lost a wheel off their wagon?

there's always a piece of Vallauris pottery on one of the stalls!

We slowly walked around looking at pottery (I'm always hopeful that one day I'll find a rare piece of Quimper) but I only came away with this book.

A Grammaire Anglaise dating from 1907 which cost the princely sum of one euro!

Leafing through it's water stained pages I think it will be a useful addition to my book shelf that's if I don't scrap it for an altered book project!

bon dimanche............

A Sunday walk on the wild side.

Today was one of those days when you thank goodness that you had your camera in your pocket.

Strolling with Ben down a favourite path, I had stopped to take some shots of the flooded fields when who should come splashing across them but Bambi, or could it be Rudolph?
He was too far away for me see how red his nose was!

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

As you can see I've been playing with the PicMonkey again, trying out the different effects and editing tools.

It's unusual for the fields to flood this early in the winter, January/February are the months when we're used to seeing scenes like this, but I've never met Bambi in Normandy before!

Linking this post to Mary's Mosaic Monday @ the little red house

 and 

Watery Wednesday.

Driving home we were surprised to see this cow ambling along the verge.

Well they do say the grass is always greener..................................

Bon dimanche à toutes et tous.

Sunday Walk - Happy Birthday Mr Ben!

Yesterday, 15th September, Mr Ben celebrated his 12th birthday, that makes him 64 human years old according to the Pedigree Dog Age Calculator, and a Senior Citizen!
If you'd like to know how old your pampered pooch is, in human years, click here.
So, today we went for a fairly long amble through the countryside and I stopped to take photographs, along the way, to remember this special weekend by.
He kept up very well despite being somewhat deaf and with restricted eyesight, although a couple of times he did get turned around and started heading back to the car.

The bramble bushes are quite heavily laden with blackberries but it will be a few weeks yet until they are ripe enough to pick, making bramble jelly is a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the kitchen.
The maize which around here is grown as cattle fodder will be harvested soon, many of the fields around our house have already been done.
In the corner of the maize field I spotted an abandoned piece of ancient farm equipment rusting and moldering away quietly.
Hunting season is in full swing and we encountered a group during the walk, without mishap.
When we arrived home I was surprised to see another group stalking the field next door where the cows graze, shortly afterwards whilst preparing lunch I heard a single shot which seemed to come from field behind the house.
Not sure who was in the group and I thought the field had a sign like the one pictured below, but maybe they had permission from our neighbour to be in there?

Private - no hunting

It's always a good feeling to know that Fleur is on guard on days like these!

Joining Mary @ thelittleredhouse for Mosaic Monday after many months of being awol

 Click on the link below to see who else is taking part this week.

and Our World Tuesday