Paris!!

Yep, we went to Paris with the kids.  They were dying to go all the way up to the top of the Eiffel tower.  And although me and Sara are afraid of heights, we did it!!!!  The elevators were a little scary but once on top we had a beautiful view over Paris.  It's so nice that the kids finally reached that age where we can visit big cities and don't have to be afraid that one of them just disappears or touches things they shouldn't.  We could even have a decent meal in a restaurant : no spilling, no fighting, ...  Well we all enjoyed it and for us it was a great way to end the summer.  The 1st of September they will go back to school and we'll all have to get back in our routine, unfortunately.

I hope every one of you had a great summer too!

City trip

       Guess where we went this weekend??

Simple beauty!

I was so happy I could still spot some nice flowers on my walk this morning.  

Weatherwise summer has not been very nice in this part of the world, but it's so nice to see that these ordinary flowers just don't care.

A gift!

My friend Dana gave this letter to me for my birthday.  It's made out of really old wood that she found in her old family farm in France.  She made it herself using an electric sawing machine.  I'm really glad she didn't hurt herself because I'm too afraid to use machinery like that. They are just too noisy and scary for me.

I'm really impressed Dana! You are so talented!
Thanks a lot!

Apples everywhere!

I think the apples are almost ready.  A lot of them always fall from the tree before they are actually ready to eat but I try to gather them and make apple sauce, jams and lots of apple muffins.  By the looks of it, it is definitely time to get to work (again)!

I mixed the apples with some pears.

Enjoy them while you can

Although I am still hoping of a little bit more sunshine to end this summer, autumn is just around the corner.  I do love autumn with his beautiful colors, but I'm also sad the beauty of all these flowers will disappear for a long time.  So enjoy the sight of these beautiful flowers!!

Our new family pet

I needle felted this little fellow.  It took me ages to finish him.  But I really love the way he came out.  With his bright colours he brings us joy.  We are happy to have him and I think he is also proud of being part of our family!!

Covered stones

This is what I did with a few stones I brought back from the French coast.  Just to bring the sea a bit closer to home.  If you want to try it yourself, I found a great tutorial here.

Beach inspiration

We went to the French coast this weekend.  

It rained a lot but in the evening the sun came out a bit and it gave us this beautiful  sky!

It was magical!!

Plum marmalade

Cooking the plums...

Also made a plum pie...

Still had a lot I didn't use...

Finally finished!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took me all day to use up the plums of half a tree and I still had some left over.  In total we have 3 plum trees in our little orchard. It's a lot of work but I just love the result.  I made this the old fashioned way : a great feeling!  Half of my freezer is filled with plums without the seeds.  But I ran out of jars so now I can make marmalade whenever I feel like it.  I think I had enough for one day!!

Lovely weeds

I went for a walk this morning with my new camera. I came across so many ordinary weeds, but when you stop and have a real look at it ... they are so gorgeous.  I have no idea what the name of this plant is, but all the pictures are from the same plant in different stages.  Nature keeps amazing me!

Plums are ready!

For my birthday, my husband gave me a new camera so I can take better pictures for this blog.  It's wonderful, now I can take pictures from really close by.