Here we are, back in France

My heart always beats a little faster when we get close to the cottage, mostly with joy of course at being back in our little corner of paradise on earth, but also with a tiny bit of trepidation, thinking, will the grass be a metre high again, will the tiny vegetable seedlings I so lovingly raised have keeled over and died because I wasn't there to nurture them, will I even find them amongst the weeds which surely will have outgrown everything else? 

The grass was still managable, we could still get to the front door without having to use a scythe, so after unleashing the dogs onto the unsuspecting wildlife ( crickets, birds, all manner of insect one could chase ) and quickly unpacking the car, I made my way down to the veggie patch. Oh boy, was I relieved when I saw that my little darlings had all survived and although they hadn't grown a great deal, they were doing well, yay. Not too many weeds either, hurrah! 

Of course I had to take a few photos, well quite a lot of photos, of the veggie patch, and of the lovely roses growing round the cottage, as they are just about the only flowers we do have in the (so-called) garden, lol. You'll be alright as long as you have a nice big cup of tea or coffee with you -

Last September, my friend Christine gave me some blackcurrants branches she had cut off her blackcurrants and said, just stick them in the ground as they are, you don't need to do anything, they should grow. Yeah right, I thought, sticks just stuck in the ground, can that really work? YES, it did work, it really did, see? -

They all survived and sprouted leaves, and some of them are even fruiting already! MAGIC.

Now onto the few flowers in my so-called garden, the roses and the few baskets and pots -

The petunias I had bought last time we were at the cottage, and my darling friend Christine looked after them and the hanging begonias for me while we were away. I was so happy to have some immediate colour in the garden after we had picked them up from her. The red geraniums I bought at the market on Friday, they shouldn't take too long to get nice and bushy.

Opposite the cottage is the bread oven -

and kind of in front of that is a tree stump with a brocante find urn planted with a red geranium -

The mock orange by the front gate is in full bloom and the scent is intoxicating -

Round the corner, to go to the back of the house, and the clematis has just about finished flowering, but even the seed heads are so pretty -

At the back of the house, where the kitchen window is, another rose, in the prettiest pink with a hint of peach -

and opposite that, growing along the fence by the lane is this almost white but with the tiniest hint of pink rose, sooooo delicate -

And of course I always have to have a few wild flowers in a French pitcher on the table outside the cottage -

We went to a couple of brocantes yesterday and I found some lovely new treasures. Some I want to hang on to, they are too big to ship anyway ( bedside table and a set of little drawers, so cute ), some to go into the shop. I fell in love with a box, which should go into the shop really but it is soooooooooooooooo beautiful, I want to keep it. Sigh, we'll see. I'll show you pics tomorrow if the weather is kind and stays dry so that I can take photos outside. You gonna love it just as much as I do, I am sure.

Enough waffling on, gotta get into my craftavan and craft a little. Until tomorrow, toodlepip xxx