Mosaic Monday # 14 - fête de la pomme au village de Trévières.

Yesterday we stopped for a while in the village of Trévières to take a look around the Festival of Apples which is held annually on the last Sunday of October.

vintage artisanal apple press demonstration

Orchards abound in the Calvados region of Normandy producing wonderful apples which are turned into thirst quenching apple juice and cider, pommeau (aperitif) and apple brandy which takes its name, Calvados, from the region.

The Festival is a great chance for local growers to get together to talk about crops and show off their produce.
The competition is taken very seriously and standards are high as you can see from these items on display in the judging tent.

Volunteers are on hand to help and give advice, they'll sign you up for bee keeping and horticulture too.

Seasonal displays of traditional pumpkins and strange looking gourds had been placed around the market place.

There were plenty of individual stalls selling delicious regional products and I happily wandered around the market place taking pictures of all the activity.

This young lad is following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, Master Boulanger!

I bought a loaf for us to enjoy with some Roquefort cheese and home grown tomatoes for lunch but although they did look wonderful we declined to purchase some fresh scallops despite the excellent sales pitch from the vendeuses.

As I made my way across the road, to meet up with the Senior Partner who had taken himself off to find an apple tart for tea, I spotted this lady selling apples and pears from her private orchard.

Boskop Rouge apples make the perfect Tarte Tatin

Bon Appétit

Mosaic Monday

An InLinkz Link-up

Mosaic Monday - soon to relocate to Normandy Life!

Happy 4th July!

That's right all you avid Mosaic makers and collage creators, you heard it here first.

Mr Ben was a very big part of life in Normandy for 12 years
but wasn't always willing to pose for the camera!

Mosaic Monday, the meme that we all love so much, will soon have a new home
here in France @ Normandy Life.
I've been a participant in Mosaic Monday for many years.
 MM was the first meme that I joined,
Mary @ The Little Red House was the  host back then.
In this post I'm sharing some of my favourite mosaics
of life in Normandy.

The lovely Judith @ Lavender Cottage who has hosted MM an amazing 92 times

has now passed the baton onto me.

As it's going to take a little time for me to get the Linky thingy set up 

Mosaic Monday will be taking a short break during July

but will return as a weekly meme here on

Monday 1st. August.

Save the date!

Spread the news!

Be there or be square!

Five On Friday - flowers in the rain

It's been a wet old week here in Normandy, any gardening that had to be done was managed between the rain showers wearing unglamorous wellington boots and my ancient, seen better days, Barbour jacket.

Feeling a bit like Julie Andrews I was able to capture "raindrops on roses" when I did finally venture out with my camera.
To my delight this beauty is by my kitchen door and makes me smile every time I pass by.

The decades old wisteria, that was growing rampantly across the garden when we came here 20 years ago, continues to thrill with it's heavy flowers and heady scent.

Orange and pink tinged honeysuckle and apricot coloured climbing roses grow up through the Virginia creeper and bring colour to the front of the Presbytere, bursting through the relentless green to find the light.

A hot pink rhododendron rescued from the reject corner at the Jardin d'Elle garden centre six years ago has also benefitted greatly from the damp days.

Hoping the sun comes out this weekend...........

Joining Amy @ Love Made My Home

for her weekly meme

Five On Friday.

Omaha Beach Memorial Day tribute 2016

In the past I've often shared photographs of our Sunday beach walks taken down at Vierville sur Mer or Colleville sur Mer.

A pair of small coastal villages with views across the Channel to England on the opposite shore.

What some of you may not know is that together these beaches are also known as Omaha beach.

Today we celebrate la Fête des Mères in France and Memorial Day in the US

with a visit to the 172 acre American Cemetery situated high on the cliff above Omaha Beach.

The final resting place of 9387 Americans.

 

 

The natural footpath that leads away from the dunes is strewn with wildflowers.

As we left the beach we decided on the spur of the moment to visit the cemetery to pay our respects on this auspicious day.

What we didn't realise was that the Memorial Day ceremony organised by the American Battle Monuments Commission was taking place.
We joined the hundreds of visitors from around the world, mainly from the US, Germany, UK, Belgium and France, to listen to the speeches and the benediction before the wreath laying ceremony began.

You might find this article posted on the Smithsonian.com website interesting, I know I did.
Why a Walk Along the Beaches of Normandy is the Ideal Way to Remember D Day
I learned so much more about the events of that time despite having lived here for almost 20 years.

I'm afraid the quality of the photographs isn't brilliant, I was standing at the very back of the crowd and only had my point and shoot camera with me today.

 

Joining Judith @ Lavender Cottage

for Mosaic Monday

and the gang over @
Our World Tuesday

 

the latest news from Normandy

Since last I blogged there's been a drama which caused quite a bit of stress and a very wonderful trip to a fascinating European city.
Friday 22 April started off cold and wet so around lunch time the Senior Partner decided to light the wood burner and make the house warm and cosy for the afternoon.
Little did we know.

 

Quite shortly thereafter we had a raging chimney fire due to nesting birds dropping all sorts of twigs and debris down around the chimney flue which then combusted.
911 (US), 999 (UK) or in our case 118 are the telephone numbers that bring help and support quickly when needed.

Within a very short time the fire services from Bayeux, Isigny sur Mer and Le Molay Littry (14 firemen and 1 firewoman) arrived to save our beautiful 16th century Presbytery from going up in flames!

The fire caused no significant damage although the wood burner had to be removed and manhandled outdoors and the chimney opened up so that they could put out the fire.
The rug and parquet floor weren't too badly affected by soot, it may look messy but we were so lucky, it could have been so much worse.
The fire chief told us that with houses as old as ours if the fire had reached the attics there could have been a very different outcome.

The smouldering remains of the fire removed from the chimney.

What a great team effort, thanks pompiers/sapeurs!

Once the danger was over M'Selle Fleur was allowed outside to meet the teams.

Thanks again but we really do hope not to see you again soon!
It took a couple of days to get the room clean again, the insurance assessor will come in the next few days to make their report.
The stove fitter has ordered the parts required to reinstall the wood burner once that is done.

Hopefully very soon the sitting room will look like this once more.

So where did we head off to as an antidote to all the excitement?
First clue.



Buda castle

Second clue.



Parliament buildings on the Pest side of the Danube

BUDAPEST

Slipping quietly into blogging again.

Hello friends, it’s me - dipping my toes gently back into blogland with a post touching on some of the things I’ve been doing since I stopped blogging in July last year.

Quite a lot of travelling went on during the hiatus. Some of the highlights.

In September we spent a week in a pretty little cottage on the outskirts of Malvern, Worcestershire, UK.
We visited the Morgan car workshop and marvelled at the beautiful handmade cars that they create there.

Mooched around antique shops, had cosy pub lunches and wonderful cream teas in riverside cafes and reminded ourselves just how beautiful our home country still is.

 

In October we returned to Halkidiki, Greece to celebrate our 36^th wedding anniversary.

 

As a pre-Christmas treat we enjoyed a second visit to the Columbia Beach resort, Pissouri Bay, Cyprus where the weather was gloriously warm, such a treat after a cold and wet autumn in Normandy.

 

So taken are we with CBR that we went back again last month where spring had already sprung.

In the spaces between our travels life in Normandy moves gently along.

A surprise visit from a cousin and his wife was a treat, they loved our home so much they wanted to buy it but that’s just a dream of theirs for now.

Our Sunday walks are mostly taken on the beach these days, a favourite haunt of M’selle Fleur, the wide open spaces and the calming influence of the tides speak to my very soul.

As my last post linked through to Lavender Cottage and Mosaic Monday

it's only right that this one goes there too!

Click here or on the sidebar link

to join in too.

à bientôt

 

Pink & Blue flowers for Mosaic Monday.

For Mosaic Monday with Judith this week
a collection of images

 taken on Saturday evening just as the sun was going down
 using my Kindle HDX

.

Many of these plants were already here when we moved into le Presbytere almost 19 years ago.

I had never seen a blue hibiscus until this beautiful shrub bloomed a year later.

This hortensia cannot decide if it wants to be blue, pink or purple.

No mistaking the colour of these specimens.

The photograph on the left shows the blue hibiscus growing alongside a pale pink hortensia.

Special effects, title, frames & collages provided by that clever little PicMonkey.

Linking to Mosaic Monday with Judith @