Wednesday's sunrise.

For OW & Wordless Wednesday I shared with you yesterday's sunrise, the trouble with Wordless W is that I can't "talk"!
So, to answer some questions from my friends...............
the time was 8.30'ish in the morning, not very early,
it did come with a shepherd's warning because it snowed again later in the day,
it was worth getting out of bed for, except I was already up and preparing breakfast when I looked out of the kitchen door, saw the beautiful colours, grabbed my trusty Lumix and dashed upstairs to take a photo from the bathroom window.
I thought it might be fun to try and replicate the shot 24 hours later but as you can see no blazing sunrise today, only the slightest hint of pink around the edges.
Thanks for all your comments, as Cindy @ Cottage Instincts said recently

" Nothing would ever get done around here if not for an audience".

Have a wonderful day, everyone.

Sunrise in Normandy

For Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer
and also Wordless Wednesday a pink Normandy sunrise.

Sunday Favourites Rerun.

We are very lucky that twice a week a very nice man in a white van delivers fresh bread to our door.
Whether or not he'll be able to get through the snow to us today I don't know, but I really hope he does.
The reason being, is that, we have ordered from him a very special cake a "Galette des Rois" and since we don't like marzipan our galette will have a filling of apple compote.
The custom of sharing a cake on January 6th, associated in Catholic countries with the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus, dates to pre- Christian times.

Post Script.

He made it!! He had to park in the lane and come up the drive on foot but he did it!!

And, here's the proof.

A special treat for afternoon tea.

For Chari's Sunday Favourites meme @ Happy to Design, here is a post that I wrote a little while back about fèves, the small epiphany trinkets which have been the QCI Meeting Farewell Dinner party favours in years past.
There is also a Sunday Favourites Rerun on the QCI blog today,please be sure to visit Chari and all today's participants.

It's Three or more Tuesday over at Tam's The Gypsy's Corner, a great show & tell party that's a treat for the eyes.

So, today I'm showing off my collection of fèves.

Followers of my blog may have gathered by now that I collect the French pottery known as Quimper faience. Yes, really!
You probably also know that the 10th Annual meeting of the QCI will be taking place next month in Dallas.

Click here to go to the QCI Blog to read all about the fun in store.
I have attended the past 9 meetings, starting with Washington in 2000, up until Philadelphia last year. I even co hosted the 2007 meeting here in France and will be co hosting again next year in Savannah, Georgia.
The meetings are always great fun and a wonderful way of connecting with fellow collectors and meeting up with friends discovered through our shared love of Quimper.

The Grand Finale of these events is always the Farewell Dinner and in recent years each guest has received a small party favour of fèves (epiphany trinkets) as they take their places at table.
In France “La galette des Rois” ("the king's cake") celebrates the Epiphany and is traditionally sold and consumed a few days before and after January 6 (although today in France, it is available in bakeries for the entire month of January). The cake consists of flaky puff pastry layers with a dense center of frangipane, raspberry, apple, and other flavors, as the baker is inspired.

In times gone by, a dried bean was hidden in the cake, and the person who found it was king for the day. The French word for bean is "fève"; however, although beans were replaced in 1870 by small figures in porcelain and, more recently, plastic, these trinkets are still called “fèves.”

The "fèves" are generally produced in theme series, with every possible theme imaginable, including Disney figures, regional motifs, ceramics, antiques, every aspect of modern life, etc. They have become very popular collectibles and can often be bought separately. Any series is generally produced for one year only.

For several years the fèves presented at the Q Club dinner were tiny figurines of Breton people.
In 2008 our gift was a tiny plate decorated with a traditional Quimper motif.

Over the years I have accumulated quite a collection of figurines and I was so enchanted by the little plate last year that I purchased the complete set.

The series of Quimper plates was produced for Epiphany 2008. It consists of ten pieces, each a miniature reproduction of a real Quimper plate, either Henriot or HB. Many "fèves" are titled, and these are marked "Les Assiettes de Quimper" (The Plates of Quimper) on the reverse side.

I believe that stocks are limited but if you would also like to add a set of plates or figurines to your Q collection click here

à bien tôt
Maggie

Shadow Shot Sunday.

I recently came across a great blog dedicated to photography and specifically shadow shots.




Hey Harriet comes to us from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and graciously hosts Shadow Shot Sunday each week, featuring (you've guessed it) fabulous photographs of objects and the shadows that they cast.

I decided to join in with the other participants, for the first time, with some photographs taken in the churchyard on Wednesday morning after the first heavy snowfall.

The peaceful serenity of the village churchyard, parts of which date to circa 12c.

Have you ever seen a Normandy snowplow??

Had fun yesterday morning playing out in the snow, taking photographs around the village and in the churchyard.

I met up with my neighbour Marc, a farmer, herdsman, milk producer, local politician (2nd Mayoral adjunct) and now snowplow driver.

He cleared the lane so Mr B could drive to the epicerie for our daily bread.
That's what I call initiative. 2 large hay bales on the front of his tractor, job done!

You probably saw a photo of Benny the snow dog in one of my Christmas mosaics, click here if you missed it.

Well, this is how we get rid of those troublesome balls of snow that build up on his legs.

A bowl of lovely warm water will do the trick every time. Can you see the look in his eye that says "this is so undignified!"?

Oh no! More snow for Outdoor Wednesday.

I suppose since the UK is under a thick blanket of snow and has practically ground to a halt with roads, airports & schools closed all over the country, train & bus services totally disrupted and people being advised to stay at home and only call on emergency services for REAL emergencies that here, in Northern France, it was to be expected that we were likely to get a sprinkling too.
But this morning, we woke up to this..................................

The blue tinted photos were taken around 8.00 am in the back garden.

The monochrome (ish) pix were taken from my bedroom window about an hour later.

Susan @ A Southern Dreamer is once again graciously hosting her Outdoor Wednesday gathering and guess what it's snowing over there too. In Georgia? Go see for yourself I didn't believe it either!

The sun is now out and it looks like we could have blue skies and sunshine later, so, I think I'll be out playing in the snow today and taking more photogaphs.

A kinda blue mosaic Monday

One of our favourite walks is along a country lane which (surprise, surprise!) has fields either side and these fields, in summer, have cows (many cows) in them.

We are in Normandy after all.

Recently, however, because of the inclement weather the river, which meanders through the fields, broke it's banks.

So, for Blue Monday @ Smiling Sally's and Mary's Mosaic Monday @ the little red house grab your coat, hat, scarf, don't forget gloves and come and breath the cold crisp air as we take Mr Ben for his Sunday constitutional.

These are photographs of fields, it's not a lake we're looking at!

Have a great Monday and as a treat, to yourself, do fly over to Sally & Mary's blogs and enjoy all the fabulous photo's on display today.