Blue bunny Monday

It's almost Monday again and that can mean only one thing, Smiling Sally is hosting another Blue Monday party. Do click on the link here http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ or on the sidebar to join in with all the fun & check out the blue extravaganza.

I love to decorate using blue & white pieces, a vintage Bavarian carved blanket chest sits in a recessed window bay on an upstairs landing and is a perfect place for a bunny to sit in relaxed comfort.
In the early 1990's, when we were still living in Bavaria, sewing fabric bunnies was a pastime of mine. I sold or gave away most of them but this one was too cute to let go.




The "Blackberry" plate marked GW, was purchased for centimes at a French auction and the Tokyo bowl is one of a pair produced by Tunstall, England which I bought at an Antiques Show in Winchester, Hampshire about 10 years ago.

Happy Blue Monday everyone.

It's the weekend..................

All week I have been discovering wonderful blogs created by very talented women.

You will already have seen my blogs on Blue Monday and Outdoor Wednesday but what about a pink Saturday?

Over 150 people have posted on Beverly's Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound and they have inspired my post today. http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/


This is a particular favourite of mine.

http://hyacinthforthesoul.blogspot.com/2009/08/pink-hydrangea-saturday.html

I have some great photographs to include in my YMBD week 11 LO which I will be working on tomorrow now that football season has started in the UK and I become a grass widow once again!

Have a great weekend everyone.

We're raising the roof.................

So, Rory the roofer & his son Simon arrived on Monday morning to start work on replacing the roof. That's right, after patching and making do for the past 12 winters we're taking the old one off and putting a brand new one on and we'll look so smart when it's done.

6 tons of spanish slate, a whole forest of beams and all sorts of other accoutrements were delivered late last week, we have still to pick out the terracotta ridge tiles that will complete the look.

We didn't have long to wait before Rory discovered the first unexpected problem.

Seems a previous roofer had not weatherproofed the join between the gable end and the roof line.

Result? Years and years or rainwater seeping through had rotted the timber joists and completely loosened the large stones (quoins?) on the top of the end wall.

Off Simon went to the lumber yard to buy wood for new joists, Rory cemeted the stones back in place and by the end of the next day all was well again.

Can you say money pit?

Of course Roger is always keen to climb up the scaffold to inspect the work and have a crack with the lads.

I have been making myself useful as tea lady. White tea with one sugar for Rory and black coffee and two sugars for Simon.

They estimated that the job should take three weeks but I think it will be nearer to five, watch this space for a roof update next week.

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.