A Pause in Advent, Week 2.

If you've been reading my blog this week you will have some idea of what this second Advent week was like for me.
The heavy snow fall definitely gave me pause for thought as it curtailed many of our daily activities and gave me the gift of time.
Time for a long, really long, I'm talking over an hour long, chat with my sister Rhonda who lives in Australia. Our phone calls are usually much shorter affairs and I so enjoyed being able to sit and talk  without one eye on the clock.
She has had quite a trying year this year with many ups and downs with her health & relationships.
But when we spoke this week she was beginning to come to terms with the end of one set of circumstances and starting to look forward once again.
Living so far away this big sister can but be a shoulder to cry on, to share the tears and then the laughter as she described some new people she had met and how much she was looking forward to collecting her new puppy, Sophie a companion for Roy who is getting on in years, in the New Year.
Being virtually housebound had other advantages too, I had plenty of time to bring the Christmas boxes down from their various hiding places in the attics.
There are many Christmas parties happening in blogland at the moment and I had thought that I would never be ready in time to participate.
I've had two peaceful days to sort through my collections of Christmas ephemera and decide where and how to display it all.
With all of the amazing vignettes and mantles that my fellow bloggers have been sharing in the past few days, I have been inspired to mix things up a little and think outside the box.
More about that soon.
The snow has all but gone, there was a very rapid thaw all day yesterday and the ditches are overflowing, trying to cope with the runoff.
Sadly, we did have one casualty from all that white stuff...........................

our ancient apple tree, which is riddled with Mistletoe, finally gave way beneath the extra weight.
Looking on the bright side ....................
I shan't have to send Mr B up a long ladder to harvest some white berries to decorate the hall chandelier this year.
I'll easily be able to gather arm fulls of Mistletoe sans problem.

Click here for a previous post about Mistletoe and why not join Floss for "Pause in Advent"  and also The Tablescaper for "Seasonal Sundays", two great places where bloggers gather together on Sunday.
bon dimanche à tous.

We're in here somewhere..............

At the risk of boring you all with even more photographs of the amazing amount of snow that is continuing to fall in Normandy, some Friday morning pix.

Guess we're not driving anywhere soon.

Yesterday morning I raked all the snow off of the topiaries and large bushes, but it just came back again!

The birds are struggling to find food and are constantly at the kitchen door with their begging bowls out. At this rate they'll be eating me out of house and home.

See how deep it is now and it's still falling.

Weathergirl signing off now................................................

Afternoon update.
There are still some flakes coming down but the afternoon has been mild and the snow is thawing in places.
We took advantage of the milder temperatures and set off for a look around.

First of all though Mr B had to clear a path to the front gate.

Who says you can ever be too old to make a snow angel? Do you think I have cabin fever?

We met Marc our farmer neighbour using his tractor to clear the lane.
Click here to see him doing something in a similar vein last winter.

This neighbour veered off the lane into a ditch before Marc arrived.
But the ever gracious Marc returned to lend a hand.

When we returned to the Presbytere we discovered that Marc had kindly cleared the approach to the house, what a nice man he is!

It's still snowing.......................

The 12th c Church of St Marcouf

It's snowing again this afternoon but earlier today we took a walk around the village with Mr Ben.

Hunters stay out!

There wasn't a soul about but we saw plenty of animal tracks in the snow and our neighbour had obviously made it out of the village.

Mr Ben  enjoyed following the trails.

The main road was clear and good to go.

It was good to breathe the cold fresh air and stretch our legs before heading back home

 to curl up by the fire with my favourite read at this time of year.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

That's right, it's snowing in Normandy, last Friday we awoke to a light sprinkling but it started in earnest 2 days ago and hasn't really stopped since.

This is the earliest snowfall in the region that we have experienced in 14 years!

When DH braved the chill night air to take Mr Ben for his night time "tiddle time" on Monday this was the first thing we saw outside the front door. Quite pretty, n'est pas?

Luckily this man had called round that very afternoon, his tractor just managed to squeeze through our gates,

and delivered a great load of fire wood for the sitting room woodburning stove.

On Tuesday morning my potager outside the back door looked like a winter wonderland.

Don't you agree?

I'm linking our first snowfall to Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer and her Outdoor Wednesday gathering today, I wonder who else has had a snow day?

First Pause in Advent 2010.

As today is the First Sunday in Advent I'd like to share a little of my story with you, and introduce you to a wonderful friend of ours.
In 1984 Mr B's career took us to Bavaria, Germany.
We left all our family and friends behind in the UK to start a new life in a new country. Scary.
We threw ourselves wholeheartedly into our new surroundings, making many German friends in our neighbourhood and amongst his work collegues, but the most important friends we made were our landlords and next door neighbours Herr & Frau Wilde.
Over the years we shared many wonderful times with the Wildes, celebrating not only high days and holidays but also day to day life in Pöcking, a small town on the shores of Starnberger See.
Frau Wilde (never Traudl, never "du") sort of adopted me as the daughter she never had.
She taught me many things, like how to play bridge, she is a fanatical bridge player and to this day, if I ever get the chance to play, I always find myself bidding in German! (Vier pik!)
We spent many an afternoon sitting in her "winter garden" as she helped me improve my embroidery, knitting, and German conversation skills all the time enjoying her "kaffee und kuchen".

From top right: Our house
 a favourite woods where we walked our dogs,
Feldafinger Strasse.

The snow season in Bavaria starts around the beginning of December and during our first winter in Pöcking she taught me how to cross country ski on the local golf course in Feldafing.
Did I mention that the lady was born in 1918?

Frau W & me 1991

Perhaps the one thing that Frau Wilde taught me which touched me the deepest was how to celebrate Christmas the Bavarian way,
Her Weihnachts Plaetzchen (Christmas biscuits) such as Zimtsterne and Springerele were legendary.

And so on this First Sunday in Advent and in honour of a much loved lady, I'd like to invite you to "kaffe und kuchen" my way.

My Adventskranz 2010.

Sadly, fresh evergreen wreaths are not easily found here in rural Normandy and so once again this year, a "faux" wreath decorated with white poinsettia flowers and silver pine cones surrounds four classic white Church candles.

The china service is Rosenthal's "Classic Rose" in white, which with its silvery grey design and gold trim complements the Adventskranz beautifully.
Napkins: Spode Christmas tree. (was sonst?)

For you to enjoy during the Adventszeit old fashioned mincepies (click here for the recipe) and lebkuchen, a very simple iced biscuit, similar to gingerbread.
(Note to Floss: I'm going back to Delia!)

With this post I'm joining

Floss @ Troc, Broc and Recup for First Pause in Advent.

The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays.
Marty @ A Stroll Through Life for Tabletop Tuesday.

The Lady Katherine, for the first time, and Teatime Tuesday.

Click on the links above to see who else is joining in this week.

The Hairy Bikers Old Fashioned Mincemeat.

I'm joining The Tablescaper once again this week for Seasonal Sunday, with a new recipe of a traditional English favourite: the Hairy Bikers Old Fashioned Mincemeat.
Also sharing this post with Mary @ The Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for us if mince pies weren't involved and although we haven't actually lived in the UK for over 25 years I always bake lots of these small delicacies for us to enjoy during the festive season.
For many years I've always used a tried and tested Delia Smith recipe when making mincemeat.
However, I recently received a copy of the Hairy Bikers "12 Days of Christmas" cook book, (a lovely thank you gift from a thoughtful English friend) and was intrigued by their recipe for Old Fashioned Mince Pies with an Orange Crust.
Click here to get the recipe.

Traditionally I make my mincemeat around the middle of November just to get ahead with my Christmas preparations, but if time is short, the HB recipe can be made the day before you need it.

Some Brits believe that it is good luck to eat a mince pie every day during December and my DH would be one of those, if I didn't watch his waist line!

These jars will be going into the pantry, for a couple of weeks, to allow the boozy flavours to develop. Then my pies, according to the Hairy Bikers, will be "guaranteed to bring a smile even to Ebeneer Scrooge".....

Come back in a couple of weeks to find out how they tasted but in the meantime do pop over to The Tablescaper and to the Little Red House to see who else is participating this week.

H is for Hibiscus on Hilton Head.

Just realised that I can join in with Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday this week with a triple HHH post.

This beautiful hibiscus plant is growing just beneath my balcony here at Marriott's Surf Watch resort.
The shadow capture was an extra bonus which means I'll be sharing this post with Harriet and her #130 Shadow Shot Sunday gathering.
Why not click on the links and visit both of these great blogs, I know you'll have fun.