Sancerre/Bourge

after Paris, we went on to stay in a gîte in Sancerre, in the Loire Valley.

Our gîte was better than I imagined it could possibly be!

A wood fire, nice kitchen and big rooms with modern bathrooms

It was really cold, so we had the fire going the entire time. LOVE fires!!

S in front of the massive fireplace and the wood burner

the town, Sancerre, is a charming old town on top of a hill, surrounded by wineries

most of the buildings are this lovely buff colour

as it was right after New Years, not many things were open for the first couple of days

luckily, we brought all sorts of things to eat and drink from the markets in Paris

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to the wine tasting we went to

It was in a beautiful winery where one of the family gave us a private tour

the original cave was just beautiful - full of old oak casks and lovely stone

another day, we went to a local goat farmer to buy some cheese - no camera there either..duh

but the cheese was lovely!!

An old family friend drove up from her place in the south of

France to visit for a few days.

She brought a sparkle to our trip - brought all sorts of goodies to eat,

translated at the winery and cheese farm for us and never stopped talking!!

Kay and mom

We drove off to Bourges one day to see the cathedral; one of the largest in France

it was HUGE - and amazing........such artwork

I went a little crazy with the photos of statues - and they had some good ones!

religious statues just seem to have such a presence

the colours of the stained glass were so vibrant - they had been redone in the 1800s, so most were not original - but even the original ones that were at the very top seemed amazingly bright too

the reds and blues particulary

there were several life-sized (and bigger) statues of important patrons of the time -

kinda spooky to turn a corner and there are a group of people praying!

While in Brouges, we also went to see the house of Jacques Cœur

was a very interesting place

these were on the front of the house and supposedly depict the owner and his wife

there were lots and lots of stone carvings all over the place - check out the monkey below the guy

one of the giant fireplaces were covered in all sorts of monkeys.......what's the deal with that?

I wanted to take a photo of a street sweeper earlier, but was afraid he'd see me and not like it -

but then when I went into the building, I saw a broom, which is what I wanted to show

these brooms are still used today

or maybe a witch had come in to look around the house??

well........guess I cannot procrastinate any longer........

must. start. doing. things.

thanks so much for dropping by and especially for the comments - really makes me smile

and Susanna; yes! the lettuce is mostly beautifully arranged in baskets!

you could spend the whole day just wandering around taking photos of the beautiful displays of produce, etc

__a

new year

hello everyone -

you are probably surprised to actually see that I am here!

I know....it has been such a long time

the holidays were not too bad........very subdued, of course; but not too bad

after Xmas, we brought my mother back with us and went to France

we spent New Years in Paris

mother and my husband, S

yummy seafood! wish we had the self-catering place here

S and mom discussing the finer points of lettuce

looking to Notre Dame from the bridge that links Ile Saint Louis with the rest of the city

I have never been to this part of Paris, but boy do I recommend it!

It is full of darling little shops (altho probably quite spendy)

We found a fantastic Lebanese place for lunch

Originally, we had reservations at another place for New Years Eve, but luckily,

it was changed to a place near our hotel in the South Bank.

I had no idea Paris was such a scary place New Year's Eve!

We kept seeing fences being put up along the Champs Elysees and armed policemen patrolling around

I doubt we would have been able to get any sort of taxi that night to get either to or from the restaurant

the place we ended up having dinner in was a lovely old restaurant - walking distance from our hotel

a set menu that ended up having about 6 or 7 courses! the food was lovely - the atmosphere was lovely

except for the couple sitting behind us; they spent the entire evening taking pictures of each other and then spent the rest of the time on their phones.......they barely said anything to each other, yet seemed in good moods - like this is how they always "spend time together" - seemed a bit sad to me.......they could have been anywhere with anyone;

paying more attention to their phones

anyway; we had a glass of champagne to toast the new year; new beginnings

and then literally waddled home!

very atmospheric shop front - couldn't tell if it was actually ever open

quite annoyed the photo on the bottom is a bit blurry

but anyway; the two trees

the "fluffy" one was a tree covered in some sort of fuzzy stuff, like someone had flocked the tree

we saw them all over the place in all sorts of colours

(even a sad little black one that had been abandoned on the street)

this one was in the window of a very fancy shop and was covered in beautiful bright pink roses

the other tree I liked in contrast with the shabby shutters

it was sitting outside a first floor window above the street on Rue Mouffetard, my favourite area in Paris

after Paris, we took a train down to Sancerre where we had rented a gîte for almost a week.

I will send a few photos of that next time

I am very happy you haven't given up on me and have come back to see what/where I am

I am looking forward to the new year and all the new things I have planned

my biggest hurdle is to actually get moving and start

emptying out my head a bit and letting more creativity in is my first goal.........

or at least beginning to empty and let some calmness and quiet in

hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to 2011!

__a

merry happy

hello there!

I just wanted to show a few (not great) photos of my house and the little bit of decorating I have done

I leave tomorrow for the US, so didn’t want to put too many things out, since I won’t actually see them

this is the scene outside my front window-

I live in a tiny little alleyway......so quite a few people walk by right outside the window

at night there are little crazy blinking blue lights

I spent most of the day at home - it has been raining all day.

so I made a litte fire in our "rustic” fireplace

it was a lot more glowy and sweet in real life

the opposite wall is one of my husband’s chilli plants drying

when we lived in Germany, and he was able to grow many, many chillies in the hot summer sun,

our ceiling beams would be covered in hanging chili plants!

here in England, in our sad little north-facing postage stamp-sized garden......this is all we managed

the fireplace mantle has a few birds and a garland on it -

very toned down compared to the last two years

and......the most exciting of all:

we finally got the shelf up in the kitchen!

was so exciting unpacking things I haven't seen in years!

still no place for the cookbooks tho

we have another single shelf, but didn’t measure it......

and it is too long to fit anywhere! oops

well, that’s about it

see you in the States!

I hope everyone has a lovely holiday.......

thanks to everyone who has come to my blog and commented on what I have been doing -

or to just have a look

I appreciate it so much

__a

finished

well, here it is!

yes, I know the photos are terrible

it doesn’t have quite the emotion I originally wanted; but think I like the way it turned out anyway

now, let's hope someone else does!

the show it is going into is to raise money for a local group:

http://www.patinalewes.com/#/login/4541086101

it is a very chilly and sunny day today - I am off to Brighton to see if there is anything that

I cannot live without - or would make a nice gift for someone...........

tomorrow; it’s on to my in-laws for the weekend,

so hope everyone has a lovely weekend of their own

thank you so much for stopping by

__a

red and white

I am almost done with my latest work

it will be in a show which is explained here:

http://www.patinalewes.com/#/login/4541086101

I ended up adding more red by needle felting it into the background,

which I think looks better; softer than my original stitches

I am thinking of maybe adding a piece of lace and a few more stitches,

but need to get going on that as it is to be delivered to the gallery this Friday morning.

I think the black background goes better...do you??

Thanks again goes to Marco Crivello who asked me to participate in this show.

I am then going up to Suffolk to visit with my in-laws since we

will be in the US for Christmas

I leave next week already! I do not really feel ready.......but then again......

doubt I would get much more done if I was home longer

my head is still sort of floating around and cannot quite land and focus

I am SO looking forward to the new year

this one has been so up and down; such extremes

am looking forward to coming back and getting back to my plans!

it is really cold here........altho no more snow

I hope everyone else is doing well and gearing up for

an exciting and beautiful holiday season

__a

snow!

well, the weatherman actually got it right!

we had a beautiful snowfall last night -

and now everything is covered in sparkly, heavy, wet snow -

perfect for snowmen and snowballs!

cafe next to my studio

some snowy ladies in the courtyard

actually, its normally used as a greenhouse

have been working on my new work........added the red slash

am now adding more hand stitching and still plan on white and perhaps red beads added too

I have to admit......this isn’t emitting the emotions I was wanting it to

but am not completely sure how to do that right now....

or whether I want to actually unleash all that

I think to do that; I would need

a) a bigger project......size-wise I mean

b) more time

so...will just keep at this and see where it takes me

hope everyone is keeping warm - keeping creative

and thank you so much to everyone who has commented here

such nice things......

__a

I am now back in the UK

actually, have been back for over a week now.........but didn’t really feel like writing;

have been trying to find my way out of this fog

this surreal world I find myself in now

my father passed away the 3rd of November; with the entire family around him

I still cannot quite believe it

I was so glad to have so many brothers and sisters (um, not a totally common feeling, I must admit)

I don't know how I could have done any of this without them all -

but it was also so heartbreaking to see each of them hurting so much

we all seemed to circle around each other for protection - to help each other

I stayed on, along with two sisters who live in the same city as my mother, to help out a little bit

we will be going back for Christmas (our original plans)

mother is flying back with us to spend New Years in Paris!

I cancelled three shows I was going to be in over the holidays, which in hindsight was a good idea as I haven’t been able to do much and would never have enough things ready to show

while in the US, I did get an email asking me to participate in a local show and have said yes to that

I am only doing one piece; which I am attempting to put together

not sure what is going on......but this is the beginning........am thinking white beads.........

shimmering on the pale background textures

oh; did I mention that my cameras are not behaving? not ANY of them??! how did this happen?

so........photos not so good

am also thinking red........a great swathe of bright red.......ripping through this

hm.......

suppose it is only natural right now

if this doesn’t work - then I can always fall back on another bird, I suppose!

I have been trying to keep up with you all.......maybe not commenting so much but at least looking

hope you will all come back to me too -

and help me get back onto track and find beautiful things again

feel comfortable again

thanks for stopping by

__a