Leaving for Lemesos

In just a few days I'll be heading to the beautiful, eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

I've got the Lonely Planet Guide to read on the plane.

The SP has found us a beautiful place to stay.

Columbia Beach Resort, Pissouri Bay, Cyprus

Paris and Andreas from Discover Cyprus 

have put together a wonderful private tour for us.

We'll visit small private vineyards.

Immerse ourselves in the history of it's ancient kingdoms.

Marvel at Aphrodite's birthplace and the Temple of Apollo.

Dine on meze and other delicious Cypriot dishes.

Breakfast al fresco in February,

Soak up the sun and relax.

Photographs courtesy of the Columbia Beach Resort, 

Joining Mrs Matlock for Alphabe -Thursday to discuss the letter L.

Rubbish Tuesday #37

You never know who you're going to meet at a party, do you?

Last week I was one of Vicki's volunteers when she hosted the Grow Your Blog Party 2015.

Click here if you missed my party post.

One blog visit led to another blog.

I got caught up in the lives and pastimes of hundreds of bloggers new to me.

I signed up to follow about 50% of them.

And discovered some new weekly meme's.

Somewhere along the way I met EGCameraGirl 

who lives in East Gwillimbury, Central Ontario, Canada.

She takes amazing photographs,visit her blog to see a beautiful old house in her town.

Wouldn't it make a wonderful Bed and Breakfast?

Vintage Morris Minor Estate car spotted in Anglesey, North Wales.

She has linked that post to Rubbish Tuesday hosted by Roan @ Rubbish By Roan.

"Anything old and/or deteriorating" 

As an avid brocanteur, 

a lover of antiques;

all things vintage; shabby chic; chippy; preowned and quirky

Carousel in Courselles sur Mer, Normandy.

 Rubbish Tuesday is the perfect place for me to share

 photographs of things and places that have caught my eye "just because".

Here's just a few.

French metal garden furniture and planters @ Chateau des Ravalet, Tourlaville, Normandy, garden show.

Hello February

February - the most romantic month of the year.

some Valentines Day favourites

red velvet cupcakes

a slim volume of garden poetry

love locks on a bridge in Paris

fine bone china at tea time

old fashioned french roses

sterling silver sugar shaker and basket

strawberry roulade

cupid's love tokens

love is in the air

linking to 

Amaze Me Monday with Cindy @ Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home

Mosaic Monday with Judith @ Lavender Cottage 
Bernideen's Tea Time

Laurie's Annual Valentines Party @ Bargain Decorating with Laurie

The wettest month of the year!

Usually the best way to check what the weather is doing is to look out of the window.

This month all we've been able to see

through the rain streaked window panes is

 water, water everywhere.

The average monthly rainfall in Normandy 

during January is 70 - 74 mm.

 This year we've had 117.6 mm.

But on Thursday,

 just for a nanosecond,  

the sun was spotted
 peeking through the trees

 the sky was blue
 white clouds not grey

 so I snapped away.

Linking to Sunlit Sunday

K is for Knife rest

It's almost Thursday once again (wow that week went by so fast) time to meet up with Mrs Matlock and the other participants for Alphabe- Thursday.

K is for Knife Rest

A set of 6 hand painted antique Nevers knife rests

"Knife Rests have been used for longer than most people think. 
In the early 18th Century and possibly the late 17th century the gentry and the ruling classes sat down to a meal that could have had anything up to 12 courses and apart from their hands probably only had one knife and fork per person. To save soiling the table, the knife and fork and tablecloth, if there was one, the utensils had to be put down onto something that kept them off the table. It was probably initially just a piece of wood in the times of Henry the eighth but from the eighteenth century we know that some enterprising person started to design what we now consider proper knife rests in pairs, sets of 4,6,12 and probably more."
Source: Antique Knife Rest Collection.

a set of 6 metal dachshund knife rests

Back in the noughties I sometimes offered French knife rests, portes couteaux, for sale on eBay.
Collectors loved them,

a pair of Montagnon, Nevers faience knife rests

 tablescapers loved them,

a cheeky pair of pottery dolphins

a 1950's pair of colouful fish shaped vintage knife rests

and I loved shipping them, so light and easy to pack!

Christofle cut glass knife rests

a selection of Quimper faience knife rests

a pair of silver plate "wishbone" knife rests

I must admit that I developed a fondness for these decorative table accessories, acquiring quite a selection to use whenever we entertain.
I'm always on the lookout to add to my private collection when mooching around brocantes, vide greniers and auction houses.
Click here  to read a knife rest post on the love quimper blog.
How about you, do you ever include knife rests in your table settings?

Alphabe- Thursday

Grow Your Blog Party 2015 - la vie en Normandie

"Come party with us at the 3rd annual meet & greet blog party

 hosted by the delightful Miss Vicki @ 2 Bags Full"

Click here to see the full list of party goers!

Are you looking to expand your network of blogger friends,

 meet new people; travel to new places; discover new ideas and pastimes?

Are you sitting comfortably?

Then I'll begin........

First of all let me introduce myself to anyone visiting Normandy Life for the first time.

 My name is Maggie (that's me on the sidebar over on the right)
and I live here in rural Normandy, France with my husband (we've been married an awfully long time). 

On my blog I refer to him as "the Senior Partner or SP for short" 

simply because he's older than me!

We share our home with a beautiful, 4 year old, GSD - M'selle Fleur.

My first blog post saw the light of day 24/04/ 2008.

 Just words, no photos!

It was about the new vegetable garden that I was planning to start,

 it received 2 comments - both from friends of mine keen to show their support of my new ventures:

 creating a blog and creating a "potager".

Fast forward to now.

I've written almost 550 posts; the blog to date has had 226,148 page views.

 I'm thrilled to say that I have over 370 followers from around the world

 and it was one of those followers, a lady called Cheryl, who gave me the idea for today's post.

Cheryl emailed me recently to say that she and her husband would be visiting the UK later this year.

She also mentioned that they hoped to be able to make time to cross 

the English Channel and visit the WWII landing beaches.

She asked if I would be willing to answer their questions and I readily agreed.

 I always love to share our little corner of France with visitors,

 whether they come to le Presbytere as guests or arrive via cyberspace - it is my raison d'etre!

There is so much more to see and experience in the region
besides the D Day landing beaches and war cemeteries.

The city of Bayeux boasts the Cathedrale de Notre Dame which dates back to the 11th century.
Bayeux has many museums, my favourite is the Bayeux Tapestry Museum,
 a UNESCO World heritage site.
 If my visitors only have a short time to spend in the area the Catherdral and the Tapestry are the "must do" places to visit besides the landing beaches.

Sunday morning market @ Port en Bessin, Calvados region of Normandy and one of our favourites.

Each and every day of the week there are markets held in small towns and villages throughout Normandy, too many to mention but click here and you'll find a comprehensive list.

Normandy has long been a favourite destination for horse lovers,
click here for information on trekking holidays.

 So, I've gathered together some photographs of what Normandy means to me and scattered them throughout the post.

If you're already a follower you may have seen some of them before,

 to those who just might begin to follow me after visiting from the

 Grow Your Blog Party 2015,
I hope they might tempt you to come visit again soon, enjoy!

Pretty or Prosaic - Pink Saturday

We all love French Country style n'est pas?

My favourite French lifestyle magazine Campagne Decoration is an icon of all things stylish.

Then there's this, seen at my local home/garden deco store Castorama.

The colours are almost the same but I know which one appeals to me the most.

What do you think?

Linking to Pink Saturday

hosted by Beverly @ How Sweet The sound.

See you there.

Don't forget to come back here tomorrow for the

Grow Your Blog Party 2015!

If you want to meet new bloggers, travel to beautiful places make new friends

then GYB is the party for you!