Happy 2012

Wishing all our follower's a very happy and prosperous 2012.

2011 Summer moments 2

Following the elephant...

2011 Summer moments...

Showing my grandson how to dive...

Elizabeth !!! Does my bum look big in these????

Distant memories....

This time last year we attempted (twice!) to drive up through France to return to the UK. We were thwarted by the heavy snowfalls.

This time two years ago some of the family were out in the garden enjoying the heaviest snowfall in the northwest of England for some years...

 

Whilst we took the most magical walks in the shadow of Pendle...

 

 

BRRRRRH!!!

A toast..... on a roundabout!

The wine glass roundabout on the D35 just outside Bourgueil... Cheers everyone...

Festive Decorations

Elizabeth's handiwork...

A little love for Christmas Day...

Taken on the ramparts at Saumur...

We hope you all have had a great Christmas Day, enjoy the rest of it...

All the very best from Colin and Elizabeth.

Anyone for carols.....

In French of course.

Merry Christmas

Another fine staircase.

From our picture archives.... A fine spiral staircase...

Many of our readers will have been here... BUT where is it?

In case of emergency...

As we get older its good to know that provision for emergencies are made in the quietest of villages.. This one is in the square at Marigny Marmande...

One has to ask "How long would it last in England?"

(Christmas) Times are Hard

In times of economic crisis sleigh rides don't come cheap......

And as for the reindeers' finally salary scheme, well......!!

Shop signs

No prizes for guessing what this shop in Richelieu is?

August Heat....

On the 21st August 2011 it was 35ºC... There wasn't a cloud in the sky...

 We are still amazed at how the dancers and costumed participants coped...

Père Noël and Son...

 Don't think he's going to get what he asked for...

La Grande Rue

Christmas lights on the Grande Rue, Richelieu.

Marche Medieval, Chinon; August 2011

I don't mind becoming medieval but I am not giving up my phone!!!

If they had had the technology in those times where would we be today...

Chamber pot street...

This has to be one of our favourite Chinon street names...

The street is in the medieval quarter of Saint-Etienne but the street name is not in fact that old, dating from the end of the nineteenth century. Prior to this it was known as "passage du jeu de paume" or in English the rather less romantically sounding "passage from the tennis court".

Legend has it that following a wedding the young men brought a chamber pot of onion soup for the newly weds. So as not to waken them they climbed a wall into the garden and in so doing they broke the chamber pot. The newly weds therefore never got the soup, but the name of the street was changed: the chamber pot was broken but not forgotten!

Mad English

Should I !!!

Might as well

Stairway to heaven

When I first saw this in Le Grand-Pressigny it reminded me of my next door neighbour, where I used to live in England. He has a stone masonry business and built a staircase like this out of stone... It wasn't quite as big though!

 

So Shaun if you fancy a repair job... I am sure Jean could put you up...

Poppies in Winter

A sight to brighten up a December day; photographed by the roadside at Braye on 21st November...

A little out of season - but all the more amazing because of that!

Learning French

My Granddaughter buying stamps...

If you go down in the woods today...

Good job she didn't have a red hoody on!

December sunset

Sunset taken from the back garden looking west...

You'd think the sky was on fire!

A family gathering in the summer

No excuse for the Heinz!!

Room with a view...

Jim and Pauline will remember this one....

Should it perhaps be called "The Great Escape.... in the planning stages"!!

Jim, what do YOU think?!

Bah Humbug!

The pictures say it all! Taken at the Marche Noel, Richelieu 2011.
We think our friend Lulu would like these!!

  

Thinking of Spring

Taken last year on 17th February.

and painted by Elizabeth

Braye in the Snow.

Taken last year around this time.

Braye by Moonlight

Happy Birthday Stephen!!

Today is my Son's Birthday.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON.
All the 3's Today