The French Green House: Hiking in France

The French Green House: Hiking in France: Walking in the French country side is absolutely blissful now that the temperatures are steadily rising and the sun has got some strenght ...

The French Green House blog

My little friend Laurent l'agneau

Oakleaf monoprint

The Gartemp River, Viennes

Lambing season has just started, and I was so lucky to make a new friend on the absolutely marvellous walks that abound around my sisters B&B, fields, rivers, streams, and lots and lots of paths to choose from, Larry the lamb, or in French he has to be Laurent l'agneau I guess, was just tooooooo cute for words, with that nasty lamb virus around, even cuter for being so perfect!
I love walking, a good stick, a nice dog, and a pair of sturdy boots, I can walk for hours and hours, collecting all kinds of "rubbish", oakleaf that I promptly printed coming home, getting some very pretty monoprints, and other odds and sodds, of which there is a lot in the country, seeing the peregrin falcons sitting in the trees, hearing the skylarks telling you that spring is just around the corner... -5 at night...hmmmmm, really ?? It is so strange coming back to Southern Spain, where we are now in full on wonderful sunladen Spring..... not a drop of rain has fallen almost the whole winter, and much as I know that that is terrible, what you can't do anything about you should enjoy! And I am, sun on my arms, replanting all the pots of the front of my house with wonderful colourful spring flowers....
Rambling, both foot wise and in my head, is wonderful......:o) You can follow Monica's (my sisters) blog and get lots of tips on walks and nature at The French Green House

Wonderful Quote for a Wonderful Saturday!

Read this wonderful quote in the newspaper:
"It's not about adding days to your life, but life to your days" - Ang Jolie

So how about taking your family sightseeing, have a nice drink somewhere and enjoy each others company this glorious Saturday!!!

How fun does this sound!!??

Dindi left a comment on my notepad give away, whilst visiting her blog, I saw this:
The arthousecoop.com Sketchbookproject 2011... open for admission until the 31st of October,
it sounds like great fun..fill a moleskin with sketches etc etc etc... you can even choose a theme!!!.so check it out!
I am all signed up and thinking of what to fill with!!

5 reasons I love Spain!

1) Spain is loud, life here is turned up a notch, when you first arrive you can't believe it, and then you get used to it, and then you love it!
Talking loudly in a restaurant, laughing loudly at a joke in a public place, yelling across the parking lot, all perfectly acceptable here.
2) Spain loves family, and Spanish families loves themselves, and seem very coherent as families, comes first, still, long may it stay that way!
3) Refurbishing the basements, men, whilst talking to you, have no problem what so ever, all of a sudden grabbing their crotch, and giving the whole basement a good old refurbishing, no little discrete shake of the tackle here... oh no... in Spain a man is proud of what he has! To start with this is tricky, and now, it makes me smile, a big smile, loving all the machismo on display!
By the way, the same machismo, that means you will NEVER stand in the rain with a flat tire without help!!
4) OK, I admit it, The Sun...yes, the weather in Southern Spain, where I live is fantastic, where else do you get a sunset like in the photo above.... should have been Halloween! I love the weather, I love living outside, I adore that everybody has "rooms" outside..... it makes for an easy life.
5) The landscape, Spain is never ever boring.... ever..... bored, just drive 5 minutes and there is a whole new vista, from soft rounded to craggy dramatic, it has it all, and I can never see enough of it.. there is space in Spain!
6) Yes, I know..... but this is Spain for me too..... things always stretch a bit further here, a quick chat becomes lunch.... the guy who does the municipal tax turns out to be the cousin of someone you know and you have to have a coffee and talk about it.... my heart, lives in Spain....

A friend for Pam

Pam, found this wonderful artist in Australia, her creatures, would most certainly get on well with yours (yoborobo), maybe a match made in heaven :o) the rest of you, Moira has some wonderful artwork!! so go have a look at "Badger Harry Presents", her blog..... she writes really funny too!As does Pam... so there you go, 2 great blogs for you to have fun with this weekend!

Great blog for reusers....

Sophie from JodiiJodii , got in touch with me to tell me about her blog, she features artists who reuses materials.... she has some really funky stuff on her blog, great fun! And there are some super ideas for home projects too... I love the map cloud and rain...from Bombus... go have a look!!

Oh...draw for "Dawn Poetry" is coming!!!! Be sure to check your blog tonight!!!

Wonderful Australia....

just came back from a great week in Perth, Australia...had forgotten how wonderful this country is, it has been some years now since we were last there, love the climate, love th wildlife, really like Australians, they actually smile at you on the street!!! I mean, how weird is that.... after Asia, where you are invisible, as in "if I don't see you, I don't have to acknowledge your existence", it is just so nice to walk along with people cooperating to not get in each others way and if they do, smile and say sorry, makes you feel like you are alive..... wow... what , 5 sentences and I managed to get a moan in about Singapore..... that's a bit of a record.... so let me go straight on to show you some photos... I saw some fantastic sculptures, and some great art work in the WA Museum.....
Let's start with one of the sculptures on the streets of Perth... it is by Anne Neil,
and sits by the river Swan, in the absolutely wonderful park that runs along the river, it is full of huge palms, giant trees full of white cockatoos, with a sprinkling of multicoloured parakeets flying around... I can't describe the feeling I get of joy seeing them fly around.... of course, to your Aussie, this is their version of sparrows and finks.... makes you think!!! Right there in a city park..... I have been to the country in Oz quite a bit too, and there it is even "worse" ;o) wildlife everywhere, which for me is the biggest wonder of Australia, that what you see on the post cards is right there, in front of you, kangaroos, birds, koalas, huge spiders.....
OK, I can go on waxing lyrically about Australia for hours, they should employ me at the tourist board!! I'll split it up a bit though.... just wanted to make an observation.... men in Perth talk a lot about the(ir) ladies, over heard on the street within the hour "the way she is behaving" - hmm that does not sound good, why is this combination of words so ominous..... and then a bit later from another couple of guys walking past"she does not like swearing" - well, mate, who does?? + some more comments, how cute is that... your average guy trying to figure out his goddess from Venus.... I love it..... rambling on...yes sir think so..... so until next time!!!
Take care!