Port en Bessin, Dimanche matin.

Some shots of the outdoor produce market and fishing boats, taken last weekend at Port en Bessin, for Mosaic Monday @ the little red house & Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer, two of my favourite blog parties, graciously hosted by Mary & Susan.

I hope you don't think that I'm starting the week short changing you by using one set of pix for two meme's but, oh! I am so busy at the moment.

You may have noticed that I'm also over at the Quimper Club International blog this month showing Carolyn the ropes.

As a first time blogger Carol has been sharing with us how she first discovered Q and her recent trip to Costa Rica, soon we'll learn about her talent as a restorer of ceramics. Her work is truly amazing.

Also over at QCI this month our First Year Anniversary, and we're giving away a marvellous Henriot Bijoux necklace to one lucky visitor. Click here to find out how you can be our winner. The piece of Emmenthaler cheese in the above mosaic was huge, I wanted to make sure you saw how enormous it was!
If you've enjoyed the pix today please leave me a comment, you can leave one if you didn't like them too, if you must!! Then head over to see Mary & Susan and tell them I said "hi".

C is for.........................Camera

It's that time of the week when we head over to Jenny's blog to participate in Alphabe-Thursday and this weeks letter "C".
I'm also linking this post to Suzanne's Colorado Lady Vintage Thingie Thursday because it's not just the camera that's vintage, I am too!

Last month my friend Mary @ Across the Pond blogged about her home town of Torquay situated on the English Riviera. She shared some beautiful photographs taken on one of her favourite walks.

After I had read her post I have to admit to feeling a little nostalgic for England, I have fond memories of holidays spent in Torquay when I was a very little girl.

Nana and me aged 3, in Torquay.

So, I took down, from the top of the wardrobe, my favourite pink hatbox where I keep all my old family photo's, cards and letters.

There they were, old black and white photographs taken by my parents with their Brownie "Box" camera.

I still have the shabby old Kodak No. 2 Brownie camera that belonged to my parents, it now sits on a shelf in my library.

The circular logo on the front reads:

No 2 BROWNIe

Made in Canada by

Canadian Kodak Co., Limited

TORONTO, ONT

and in the centre: Use Kodak Films No. 120.

I tried to photograph the logo but it was unclear.

This is a shot of the inside.

Me and my boyfriends, can you see that the little boy on my right is holding my hand. I think this was taken on my 4th Birthday.

I've shown this photo before, but I think I look sweet, so here it is again!

My Mum & me having a lovely day at the seaside. I love the handsmocked dresses and handknitted short sleeve cardigan that she made for me, so very 1950's.

Do pop over to Jenny & Suzanne's blogs and see who else is there, but not before leaving me a comment so that I know who came calling in Normandy today.

Coquilles

Mary's Mosaic Monday @ the little red house is gathering more and more followers and participants each week.
The variety and creativity inspires me to try different techniques and search out unusual subjects for my own mosaics.

Discarded coquilles (shells) from the fish market at Port en Bessin strewn along the beach as the tide came in yesterday afternoon.

A Pig in Provence is Food For Thought

Two weeks ago Jain @Once in a Blue Moon launched her Food For Thought meme and two of my favourite blogger friends Sarah @HFTS and Carol @ Serendipity took part. Click on the links to see which books they recommended.

Food For Thought combines three of my favourite things: reading, cooking/eating and photography. I guess technically that's four things?? C'est pas important!

The book I have chosen to share with everyone this week is "A Pig in Provence. Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France" by Georgeanne Brennan. You can find it here at Amazon.

Georgeanne Brennan has written numerous books about cooking and gardening and has received both the James Beard Foundation Award and the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award for her writing.

She discovered Aix en Provence as a student and returned several years later, to buy a small farmhouse, with her first husband Donald and their young daughter Ethel.

This book spans 30 years and tells the tale of their first home, their lives back in California and Georgeann's return to Provence years later with her second husband, Jim.

Before they acquired a pig, Georgeanne and Donald kept goats and Georgeanne began making goat's cheese, the first batches she describes as inedible and unsalable then.....

"Finally, one day I unmolded a batch of cheese that felt different. Each round, dimpled with marks from the mold, felt firm and heavy in my hand as I turned it out for the final time.

I put one of the pristine cheeses on a plate and cut a V shaped wedge. The interior was solid and smooth, creamy and white. I tasted it. It was soft, slightly tangy and very, very good. I called Donald and Ethel, who took tastes, and we danced around the room, holding hands".

Each of the eight chapters introduces the neighbours who inhabit the area, Mme. Rillier who sold them the goats, M.Gos who supplied the pig.

Farming friends Marcel and Marie who hosted wonderful harvest suppers and also"La mise à mort" when the time came to slaughter the pig.

Each chapter ends with a recipe:

Goat Cheese Salad with fried Bread.

Braised Pork Shoulder with Mustard and Capers.

Juniper Rubbed Chicken Stuffed with Wild Mushrooms.

Bouillabaisse, Toulon style.

Vegetable soup with Basil-Garlic Sauce.

An Aioli Feast.

Leg of Lamb with Rosemary, Thyme, and Lavender.

Tomato Tart.

Making the tomato tart was simplicity itself and it makes a delicious light lunch served with a mesclun salad.

Georgeanne no longer hosts her Cookery School in Provence, due to the weak dollar situation, however, your can read here about the Provence in California- Culinary Weekends held at her Small Farm in Northern California and here you will find her web site.
I rate this book: **** Four Stars and I think you'll like it too.

B is for DOG

O.K. so, you already know about Ben and I guess you thought that for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday I'd take the easy option and just post some shots of him.

Ben as a pup.

Well, if I did that then I'd have to do this..............................

Bess and Ben

Bess as a puppy

Bess all grown up.

Bess and Blue.

Blue.

Bella.

Bosun.

and who could forget..........................By George!

Hooray for Hollywood & Oscar for VTT

I just found out from my good friend Sarah @ HFTS that there is a new meme in town called Alphabe - Thursday @ Jenny Matlock's blog.

I'm a little late joining in as A was the letter of the week, last week, but better late than never is what I always think so, A is for...................Academy Awards!!

The countdown to the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards has just 6 days to go and the Oscar ceremony will take place on Sunday March 2nd.
So, hopefully Colorado Lady Suzanne with have her computer back up and running in time for her very popular Vintage Thingies Thursday as I share with you some Hollywood glamour and an intriguing tale from yesteryear.

Ava Gardner.

Porgy & Bess star Pearl Bailey.

A few years ago,whilst mooching around a very large Antiques Fair in Le Mans, I came across a nondescript black, plastic folder containing a number of signed black and white Metro Goldwyn Mayer studio photographs of Hollywood "Stars" from the 1940's and 50's and a handwritten notecard. I'm not a collector of Hollywood ephemera or autographs but something about the small collection and the added personal touch of the notecard "spoke" to me. After a very short haggle about the price the folder came home with me.

I did sell some of the pix on eBay shortly thereafter to a collector in New York who knew a lot more about them than I did and probably was rubbing his hands in glee at the bargain he got that day, c'est la vie.

I still have some of them and more importantly to me I have the notecard too, perhaps I'll use them in some way one day. (Mamie Jane if you are reading this I need your creative input here!)

Esther Williams.

The card was addressed to Dear Countess de Beauregard and signed Jean Douglas.
It reads:

" These pictures arrived just lately - and I only hope you hadn't given them up forever!

My husband and I were very thrilled with the entire Iata (sic) conference, and it was a very great pleasure knowing you and your husband. We're certainly looking forward to seeing you both again in the not too distant future".

My google search produced Jean Douglas - an actress working in Hollywood in the late 1920's and 30's who was credited only as "the blonde" in the Oscar nominated (Best Art Direction) 1930 movie The Vagabond King, starring Jeanette MacDonald.

Lana Turner
Elizabeth Taylor.

Hollywood legend, diva and my personal favourite: Miss Judy Garland.

Also included were photographs of some of Hollywood's leading men of the day: Red Skelton, Walter Pidgeon and Van Johnson.

Happy VTT everyone.

Happy Birthday Mary on Mosaic Monday.

It's Mary's birthday and there is a party going on over @ the little red house on this Mosaic Monday.

Wishing you a wonderful day Mary, with flowers from Monet's garden at Giverny, formal palace gardens in Portugal and my own humble plot.