A room with a view or two.

Today Susan is hosting Outdoor Wednesday #31 over at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

and so I would like to show you the views from one of our guest bedrooms in the 16th century part of our home, here in the middle of the French countryside.

This is the bedroom...................we call it the "Bishop's" because, so the story goes, when the Bishop of Bayeux visited the 12thc church across the way he would be given this bedroom to sleep in.

The views from the windows may have changed since the 1700's but not very much.

Looking over the walled garden into the field beyond, on the left you can just see a brown & white cow almost hidden by the blue hibiscus tree that I mentioned in my Blue Monday blog.


My potager at the back of the house where I grow organic vegetables. This year I planted green and yellow French haricot beans, English Scarlet Runner beans, old and new potatoes, courgettes, onions, beets, heirloom tomatoes and blueberries..

The field on the other the side of the house after hay making last week, see the big rolls of hay waiting for collection.

Hope you have enjoyed the view and thanks for visiting Le Presbytére.

Blue Monday and Smiling Sally

When my friend Sarah began her new blog Hyacinths for the Soul, just last week, I never dreamt about the amount of trouble she would lead me into.

Through reading Sarah's blog I discovered Between Naps on the Porch and Tablescape Thursdays and today I found Smiling Sally and Blue Monday.

The blue hibiscus tree that I inherited when we bought this old house in the mid 1990's is in full bloom this month.

The first piece of Quimper faience I ever bought, I loved it because it was blue & white I had no clue at that point what "Kwimper" was!

A pair of blue and white chinese vases bought at an auction in Hungerford, Berkshire, UK almost 30 years ago flank a blue and white serving platter, circa late 19thc, from an unidentified English manufacturer

These great blogs are just what I needed to jump start my interest in my own blog again which has been waning, probably due to my involvement with the Quimper Club International blog.

A blue and white toile panel in the master bedroom.

So, since blue is one of my very favourite colours and I love to collect blue and white pottery, I decided to join in with the Blue Monday gang over at Smiling Sally's and share a few of the blue things that brighten our Normandy Life.

Blog news

I guess you might wondering where I am since I haven't posted for some time. It's been a busy summer with one thing or another and this month I'm sitting in the bloggers chair over at the QCI Blog.

I just wanted to take the time here to share a new blog with y'all. Hyacinths for Soul is the the latest venture of a truly talented woman Sarah, a friend of mine who I met through the Quimper Club.

Sarah is an avid quilt collector and you can read on her blog about the wonderful quilt that she and friend Kay created "After several cross country flights and hours of stitches made by two hearts and two pairs of loving hands . . ."

BTW Sarah will be the guest blogger on the QCI blog in September.

Check the blog list for a link to both of these blogs.

Well, I thought there was a vide grenier here..honest!

Sometimes the last thing my husband wants to do is trail around a flea market with me but sometimes he humours me and comes along.
And so it was that yesterday, Bastille Day, we took a drive to Bricquebec on the Contenin Peninsula to a vide grenier that I had seen advertised in the local Intermarche supermarket.
Well, guess what? There wasn't one and he was not a happy man until we spotted L'Epicerie Parisienne.
Those of you who know my other half know that he is a very good cook, quite a gourmand & wine connoisseur, so we spent a very pleasant 20 minutes or so wandering around this wonderful food store admiring the food and the eclectic decor.
Madame la patronne was a delight and when I enquired of Monsieur if it was o.k. for me to photograph his displays, he answered "S'il vous plaît, Madame, comme si vous étiez à chez vous".

Today, we enjoyed some of our purchases from L'Epicerie Parisienne for lunch.

Enjoy the pix.

YMBD Saturday Scraplift

Well, here I am bragging again...................I was just thrilled to win the Saturday scraplift challenge over at YMBD last weekend with this LO of my Dad, Bill enjoying the seaside back when he was a young man and I was just a twinkle in his eye.

News from the potager

Some of you may remember from a post last year that a few years ago a pair of moorhens decided to make their home on the small pond next to the potager.

This year they produced just the one chick but it is growing well thanks to non stop feeding from the doting parent.

I feed them stale bread every morning, papa moorhen comes to the door & squawks until I go out.

Today I watched as he & the chick walked along the top of the garden wall, a first for the youngster.

6 times papa brought bread to the chick and 6 times the little beggar dropped it over the side into the field.

What a patient parent!

The vegetable garden is coming along well this year, the potatoes are great and may well take over the plot!

Thanks Sean!

We should be having blueberries with everything quite soon and the haricot beans are just beginning to flower which bodes well for later next month.

Courgettes are looking sickly (no idea why) but the bettraves (beets) are doing well after a shaky start.

We need rain!

Au revoir Darling Bess.

We are so sad to have to tell you that after a very short illness our darling Bess went to sleep for the very last time yesterday.

She was a very big part of our lives for almost 12 years, she leaves a hugh hole in hearts and we miss her so much already.

Here's a layout I did of her recently celebrating the stages in her life: as a 3 month old puppy, surrogate mom to 10 week old cocker spaniel Ben and as a grand old dame still guarding us, our home and the Quimper!