Sunday 1 April 2012

This is an area slightly below us near Luzy. On the way we pass through some very rural communities. I take a lot of photos as a passenger out of the car. Many of these I delete but sometimes there is something that becomes the idea behind a landscape painting. I often become instinctively interested in certain views. I either love the way a landscape opens up to reveal something, like a group of cottages or some interesting land feature. This interest seems to be increased by the amount of times I pass through it. Somehow a landscape becomes part of my memory of place and part of an experience.




This is an area that was neglected, we call it the fruit garden as it was where the lady who lived here before grew her fruit bushes. I am attempting to remove brambles, bracken and nettles so I can have extra garden. Not plain sailing! At the moment I have sprinkled flower seeds. The plan is to grow fruit bushes in memory of Madame Lequin, she lived here on her own for many years. The toilet was outside, no bathroom. There are jars of her things in the cave below the house. She kept herself very busy and in summer  gave away jars of her jams to the other villagers. I made 1 jar of blackcurrant jam last year. So delicious it's inspired me to take lots of cuttings to grow more.
Our cat flap is high off the ground. The cats have an angled plank to get up and then a stone shelf to walk along under vines. Puds likes sitting up here in the evenings, he needs more space. 


I have discovered some wonderful French vintage housecoats, as soon as I work out how to sell them I will be selling them. They are all different, handmade and, I think, very wearable. You can wear them layered with cardigans, woollies with wellingtons or flip flops. I find them really comfortable, cool and certainly not the kind of thing you find on the High Street. I shall be keeping 1 or 2.

Plant envy in my neighbour's garden.

Alpina Clematis, I'm really unsure about this planting. I read they don't tolerate much sun. As we already have high temperatures, 20+°C I imagine it won't like full sun where the soil can be a little dry. This is our only North facing wall and it would be wonderful to have plants crawling over it. It's rather ugly and not only this the main entrance to our house is here. Not exactly welcoming as it is. I do have little violets growing and that has opened me up to the idea of looking for more woodland plants. I just worry that the winter is too harsh, I may have to cut back and bring Alpina in. She has such pretty delicate blue petals.
My car behind is a little Nissan, it's a funny old car only 850cc so I get very good mileage. I go shopping and drive slowly, no one else on the roads to irritate. I wouldn't want to drive to the seaside in her but great, very cheap and always starts even on the coldest days. I also have a Morris Traveller and the VW Caravelle is at the garagiste waiting for parts. We will go travelling when this one is ready. The winter can send one a little stir crazy. 

Cherry blossom in the field. It produces small cherries, slightly tart compared with others  on the farm.

3 comments:

  1. Nice to see Puds relaxing Jane... Blossom is such a delight! Love your house coat If they all as lovely and cotton I'll buy one! speak soon

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  2. I saw a stall full of housecoats at Chateau Chinon market but they were made of poly cotton or nylon and cost 30 euros! I prefer yours!

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  3. I think I saw the same stall in Moulin Engilbert yesterday. I was surprised at how little they have changed in style. I agree the older ones, like I have are a lot nicer. Thanks for the vote of confidence though. It's great to get another opinion.

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