In this world there are musician that’s stand the test of time and there are two that seem to have been around since the dawn of modern music…Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. The decades pass and come hell or high water, these two perform still, enthusiastically, and professionally, with an energy I can rarely muster… Continue reading Paul McCartney
My husband is fascinated by lighting design. It’s a project he has long wanted to work on but the French rules on health and safety will make this tricky for a while and ideas will need to be simply created from existing wired models. I too adore lighting. An interior with the lighting that brings… Continue reading Shine brightly
Note these are not my drawings, but come from a great book called The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Kevin Cornwell. For a long time I have struggled to find an art medium I love. Watercolour I find restricting with the layers and colour build up of washes and control. I… Continue reading Finding my pencils
I love to have Brocante finds and personal objects I love on my desk. I worked from home since 2001 and making a home office that felt comfortable and workable was important. We recently completed my accounts office and a studio above at the factory. Both have desks. One is a nod at my love… Continue reading Eau de Nil
I am so behind with blogging I should pay a fine! I have also to catch up on everyone else’s wonderful blog posts and apologise for being so sloth in adding my comments. But tonight I managed to read a few and this prompted me to manage an update. The Anxious Gardener is busy. I… Continue reading Inspired by comments
I have always loved exploring second-hand shops and the old warehouse salvage yards of Bermondsey, London, now sadly on the decline (better converted by a greedy landlord than promoting entrepreneurial enterprise..don’t get me started!) and if I get the chance, beachcombing, or collecting “finds” from the countryside, like curiously shaped sticks, old glass bottles to… Continue reading The foraged home
The world needs more flowers…it certainly does and with the welcome banning of pesticides that harm our bees and other insects in many countries, including here in France, I have been planning for many years to create a wild flower garden where the bees can hang around the tall Scottish thistles and snapdragons and the… Continue reading Cutting flower garden
Sometimes we do slightly zany things in life. Coming to France seemed a little zany at first, but now I am settling and the benefits of being in this wonderful countryside surrounded by cow’s and mountain pines and oaks, well it seems the most sensible of decisions in reality.I have always tried to support charities.… Continue reading Funky Chicken Rescue
Blogging fills the planet with information. Much of it fills us with amazement, awe and humour. Some fills us with constination and feeds our curiosity. Some is downright misinformed and even dangerous and misguided. Heading towards my first anniversary as a Chicken Mumma, I have devoured both blogs and books to learn about my feathered… Continue reading Poop and feathers: The Chicken Whisperer
Alison is responsible for me getting chickens. It’s all her fault. She has two chickens. Her chicken comments made me laugh. The germ was caught. When I started blogging I was very nervous. I still am and trying to find my voice and subject matter is an ongoing journey. Alison was too and she commented… Continue reading Through Rose Tinted Glasses
Soap of the south – Marseille Soap There is soap, day to day oval bars slightly perfumed. There are French soaps, angular with the words Savon de Marseille struck on them. But there is also a very special group of soap makers who can genuinely call themselves Marseille soap makers, who have the provenance, passion… Continue reading French soap from the south
I am reading chicken books. Tonnes of them. I am a new mother of 12 and like every new mother I panic about everything…feeding, behaviour, friendships, squabbles, toes and in my case feathers and beaks! I am back and forth to London hospitals this week, so a short post. Tony is being mother hen while… Continue reading Book for a chook
I am following Leigh Tate’ s great blog and just purchased her self published book “5 Acres and a dream- The book” as I am starting a new journey in France when I return. Homestead has a wide conitation of ideals and already we have our list that is priority to us: Simplification of life… Continue reading One acre and a dream
Quick post as on my way to London. Tired of dodgy French hotels..say good bed but the bathroom looks liked they knocked a hole in the wall to access the dirty hotels one next door! Or visa versa. Tiled bathrooms but probably hiding critters behind the grout, but suspect bed. Or view of the air… Continue reading Paris Hotel
I have been scouring the internet for common sense tips on bringing up chickens, from coop building, run maintenance to favouite foods to foot problems. I have learnt a lot and with a huge dollop of common sense, the garden is now chicken heaven. But along the way I came across this wonderful book by… Continue reading Homestead highly recomended
An abbreviated article appears in this seasons The Good Life Magazine. On a cold, crisp April morning, with numb fingers, two seemingly mad English, with an almost feverish determination, searched for buttons; muscling locals aside to pounce on another matching set, or to accumulate a whole euro bag worth of those lovely cute orange ones.… Continue reading Paris – Material Girl
I wasn’t expecting to be entered into any blog listings so quickly, but it appears I have made it into Feedspot and am very happy to be joining a great many enthusiastic Francophiles who are listed. Like all bloggers I want to ensure I create useful, sometime humorous and visual content and I am still… Continue reading 100 French Blogs
Back in 2013 I begun a business that would I hoped import fine Romanian honey – Acacia, mint, Linden, wildflower, fir to name a few. We were also making conifer syrups from the pine and fir forests near Transylvania [ our families area] and honey was a natural extension of this. I contacted German suppliers too,… Continue reading Honey Bee Suite
The very first French blog I followed was Lost In Cheeseland. Its a fabulous look at Paris through food, travel and personal experiences of Lindsey Tramuta. Over the years Lindsey has honed her writing to the point where she has finally written a book about how Paris is changing and finding once again its artisan… Continue reading Lost In Cheeseland
I first came to France on my honeymoon – Paris, not very original, but it was the start of a life long love of the country. I was 23 years old. Over the years, I am now 50, I travelled to France many, many times and read her history and dreamed of settling down one… Continue reading The Good Life France
My husband Tony carries a little black notebook wherever he goes, scribbling, jotting. I think most of it is highly secret, but sometimes a character appears, there is a lot of paper flurries, ink pens on the move and a bit of cursing on photoshop. Dealing with all our company websites, logos and trade marks… Continue reading Chaps, Sods and Fellowettes
Leanne is a fine art photographer in Australia. Her niche is architecture, landscapes using long exposure, dramatic contrast and now infrared, a new exploration into the reverse world of light. Every month Leanne runs a post – Monochrome Madness – where we can post our photos based on the theme set. It’s nice to be… Continue reading Monochrome Madness
A French Homestead Life 