Thursday 30 October 2014

Clôtures en France





On my walks around the charming french villages
I have my camera at the ready
hoping to capture something special.

One beautiful summer afternoon, I got lucky!
A very friendly local cat
decided to accompany us
through the quiet back lanes of
Noyers sur Serein.

She led the way and we followed!
We were all a little sad when the time came
to bid her au revoir
and make our way back to the car.




Noyers is a medieval village with lovely old stone walls.
Some like the one above allow the passerby 
a peep of what lies beyond



while others protect the privacy of the occupants.
I imagined a pretty garden beyond the wall
shaded by trees.
A sanctuary hidden from the outside world!



The exquisite rambling Bourbon rose 'Zephirine Drouhin'




CONGRATULATIONS
to my friend Marie of 'Lost Bird Studio'

who is celebrating her fifth year of blogging!
To mark the occasion she is having a 
GIVEAWAY!
Marie's Giveaways are legendary
so you won't want to miss out!
You must be a follower to enter,
so if you aren't already you will need to
join Marie's blog first and then enter!
Marie at Lost Bird Studio

Bonne chance!



I'm linking to
and



Thank you all so much for visiting me and
leaving your kind comments!
Wishing you a very happy weekend!


Take care and
be kind to one another
Merci à bientôt


Shane












Friday 24 October 2014

Stephanie's Tea Cup/Mug Exchange




Have you met Stephanie of the delightful blog
I would love you to pop in and become 
acquainted with her gorgeous blog
as she does so many interesting things!

For the past few years Stephanie has hosted
The Tea Cup/Mug Exchange
which has become very popular among 
tea loving bloggers!

I heard about this swap last year through another of my
dear bloggy friends Kitty of Kitty's Kozy Kitchen
(you must check out her blog - she has great recipes)! 
This time Kitty dropped me an email to tell me
that Stephanie was hosting another
teacup and mug exchange!
Thank you dear Kitty for keeping me in the loop!
Bloggers are such lovely people!



My 'giving' partner was Belle
who lives in Australia.
Belle doesn't have a blog yet but she tells me
she is creating one, so I'll let you all know when that happens!


I received such a beautiful parcel from Belle
with this gorgeous tea cup called 
'Christiana'
it is the softest pink bone china with a delicate
green criss-cross pattern around the edge.



She included more goodies in the parcel
some yummy Italian hazelnut chocolate biscuits
perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea.
Talking of tea, Belle treated me to a selection of 
Twinings tea in a pretty organza bag.
 There was also a sweet card with a note telling 
me about herself which was nice.
Thank you so much Belle, I'm totally
"over the moon"
with all your kind gifts!



The receiver of my tea cup gift parcel is
Alice who lives in Italy.

Maybe she hasn't received my parcel yet as there are
no photographs of what I sent her on Stephanie's blog post.

Unfortunately, Alice doesn't have a blog either, 
so I can't ask you to visit her
however, maybe I can encourage her
to get started as she obviously enjoys the interaction
with other bloggers!

Alice, if you are reading this post
please don't let language be a barrier to blogging.
have two other Italian blog friends
plus Dutch, German, French, Finnish, Danish,
Swedish, Bulgarian, Polish and Russian bloggy pals!!!




Thank you dear Stephanie for hosting your
Tea Cup/Mug Exchange again this year.
I can see it is a huge undertaking.
Your communication was amazing - thank you.
I have been involved in other swaps where
the communication was not so good.



It's my first time joining the
Tea Cup/Mug Exchange
I will definitely do it again
 and I can recommend it to
anyone interested in all things tea!
If you would like me to tell you when the
next one is on, let me know in a comment or 
email me.


I am linking this post to
Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose
please click on the above link and you can see 
what others have received/given in their exchanges!
I'm also linking to
Diane for Beautiful Sunday
 Judith for Mosaic Monday
and
Bernideen for Tea in the Garden


Thank you all for your visits and your caring comments. 
Work has been easier this week!


Take care and 
be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt


Shane










Sunday 19 October 2014

Château de Fleurigny





Travelling on the country roads in France
always brings lovely surprises.
Not too far from where our daughter lives
are several Châteaux worthwhile visiting.




Having said that we didn't actually visit
Château de Fleurigny
as there were only six of us on the day
and the minimum number to gain entrance was fifteen.
As it is in the middle of nowhere
it was highly unlikely we would find
another nine people to make up the numbers that day!

I was able to take a few photos and then we
moved on to another Château which I will show
you in a future post!




I've been away from my blog for two weeks
because of issues at work....

I was sorry to miss Donna's 
"Still Life" Photo Challenge this month.
I've been out today taking loads of tree pics for 
the November challenge!

I'll be catching up on visiting your blogs this week
and I'm looking forward to seeing what you've all been up to!


I'm joining
Judith for Mosaic Monday
and the girls at
Thank you to the hosts.


Take care and 
be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt



Shane









Wednesday 8 October 2014

France Fences - Part 2




I've rarely seen a plain ordinary fence in France!





You can only just see the fence amid the riot of flowers!
I snapped this one in my daughter's back garden
after hanging the washing on the line!
A stone wall with a garden and small fence behind.






I'm joining 
Judith for Mosaic Monday
Theresa for Good Fences
Nick for Floral Friday Fotos.

Take care and
be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt




Shane









Friday 3 October 2014

Beautiful Fences of France






On my trips to France my trusty Panasonic Lumix camera
is always with me.
Prior to blogging most of the photos I took
involved people, family mainly.

How things have changed!
Now I take more photos of fences, gates, doors and windows
than I do of people!





I see photo ops everywhere I go...
I'm always lagging behind
because I've stopped to photograph
another rose covered fence or two!
Does that happen to you?






I couldn't walk past this fence, now could I?
especially as I'm so fond of roses....
and just look at the lovely old shutters in the background
another favourite subject of mine.
You would be surprised at the different
styles of shutters there are!
Hmm... I think I feel another post developing!!!


I'm joining Theresa for Good Fences
and
Tricia for Floral Friday

Enjoy your weekend 
thank you so much for your visits!

Take care and
be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt



Shane 








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