T Stands for Tasty

Hi everyone, I had a little set back last week with a bout of Vertigo, fortunately it didn't last long as I did the exercises that the GP had shown me. It was quite upsetting though as hubby had to help me walk around and do anything that helped me avoid bending over!

Since then I have been fine and this morning went looking for Snowdrops at the Parsonage in Didsbury. It is where the RSPB was first formed by Emily Williamson. There's more info here.

This Edgeworthia is one of the most unusual plants I have seen.

We have been lucky enough to have had some treats this week. One was a full meal that, because we had a discount voucher and used our loyalty points, cost us nothing, but I totally forgot to take photos! We also had a free coffee with a voucher and also coffee and cake for us both at John Lewis as we had been regular customers.

This is what we had this morning..

...flat whites, mine with a scone, which came with jam(I brought that home to have on toast one day) and hubby had coffee and walnut cake - which I love, but it is far too sugary for me these days. I did get a mouthful though. 

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth at The Altered Book Lover blog for T Stands For Tuesday.

It is often mentioned how hubby is always smiling....sometimes he just won't play ball... generally I wait and smile, sometimes try to coax him but sometimes I get this.

I still have some France photos to show but will keep this post short today with just a few. The above photo was taken at Brantôme on our way back from Tourtoirac.

We had a really delicious risotto with a huge carafe of water.

We would like to go back and explore the town and maybe have another meal here.

  

There is a large Abbey here

From here we headed North to our next destination, via some interesting sights

I'll have more next week of where we stayed for a couple of nights.

I hope I have more success in making comments on some blogs - it may have been due to brain fog but I just couldn't leave comments on some.

Thanks for looking, Chris

 

  

Winter Blues

There is a new topic at Try it on Tuesday - 'Winter Blues' 

Not that we are feeling sad about it being Winter, especially as the days are getting ever so slightly longer!

The frosty weather has brought us some brighter days too, even if they start with a bit of fog! Of course with the sun that we are getting the skies are also bluer which reflects on the snow if you have had any.

We'd love to see your 'Winter Blues' the Design Team have lots of different kinds of 'Blues' - see here.

My page came about just because I wanted to play with stamps, stencils and ink, with a little bit of washi tape for fun!

I really enjoyed playing with this combination of Aall and Create, Woodware and Tim Holtz products.

Please check out the few Rules and Guidelines we have, but basically it is anything you wish to make - including using fabric and mixed media - as long as we can see your 'Winter Blues' at TIOT.

Thanks for looking, Chris 

 

I'd also like to add this to Mia's 'Use a Photo' at Art Journal Journey

Straight Again!

 Hi everyone, I wish I could say that about my craft room - I was due to start a big tidy when I got really bad vertigo. It just came on one evening - I was halfway along our hallway when I just lost my balance and had to hold on till hubby could guide me to a seat. I spent nearly two full days with hubby guiding me everywhere and doing things such as taking my socks off and passing my drinks to me. The I just went back to normal!! Thank Goodness, as we were able to go for a free meal with a voucher that had nearly run out.

It's been a while since I posted anything for Mia's fantastic Art Journal Journey theme - 'Use a Photo'. I made this page earlier this month. 

I am trying to take part in Junk Journal January but sadly I am behind with that too. The prompt was ~ 'Hobbies' - as you know we love to go walking, especially when we visit France.

I used a photo on one of our walks at Tatton Park. I have longer hair now.....and I have lost some weight. I added a map of Paris, an ATC I had started, an old metro ticket and part of ticket to a chateau. 

I hope it won't be so long until I get another page completed.

Thanks for looking, Chris.

T Stands For......The Rain Or The Sun?

Hi everyone, we have had a lot of rain recently so I was thinking of showing you some gloomy pics...like this...

We had walk at the weekend to see if the path by the Mersey was open - it wasn't and this was as far as we got

These two were taken on the way back

Can you believe that the new owners of the local caravan park are clearing space by the river for more caravans?

I wouldn't want to be that close to a river that can get much higher than it is at the moment!

Anyway, let's not dwell on the wet weather - I'm sure you would prefer to go back to last September in France!

My eldest and his wife spend some of their year near to Tourtiorac where there is an old abbey - Link here

They had visited this themselves but knew we would find it interesting

The grounds are open and you can see inside some of the out buildings

Also in the grounds is a private house

After we had eaten some lunch we went for a walk by the river.

From here on our hosts had not visited so it was an exploration for all.

We found that we could get on to a little island on the river, where we could see Le LRD through the trees

The river is a popular place for canoeists to stop off so there are charge points, showers and toilets.

From here we came off the island and crossed the road that runs through the village and came to the Laverie (wash house) where the women of the village in times past would do their washing.

This beautiful Ragdoll cat tried to make friends and we had to try to discourage it from following us (I could happily have 'catnapped' it) 

The views from the top of the village were great

We though we had come across the ragdoll cat again but it's markings were slightly different 

One last building before returning to the car.

We haven't been out much lately, but did have a trip to IKEA last week. We are giving our fold up bed to charity so I can have some more shelves...but...I have to have a BIG sort out before we can get them.

We stopped for coffee and cake and were surprised to find that our coffee came free with our loyalty card.

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth at The Altered Book Lover for T stands for Tuesday with our coffees.

I hade a Blueberry Muffin and hubby had Apple Cake and cream.

Thanks for looking, Chris