Dreaming of France -- Scenery During a Morning Run

Ooops. Sorry I'm running late. I'm on vacation in Florida and totally forgot about posting Dreaming of France today.

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

One thing that I continue, no matter where in the world I am, is running. So here are a couple of shots that I took on my first run in France this spring. 

In Columbus where I live, the scenery doesn't change very much. It's pretty flat and I pass other runners and walkers with their dogs, but in the village Mireval, not far from Montpelier, I had a view of a ridge of mountains. Not a common sight for me. 

 

And the mountains got higher as I got closer. Plus look at that old stone wall. I wonder who built it and how long ago. 

In the distance was a village, and the spire of the local church stood above everything else.

And some of the houses had lovely roses in bloom. 

Thanks for joining me as I dream of France. On Thursday I have a book review going up and a chance to win a copy of That Spring in Paris by Ciji Ware. I hope you'll come back. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Summer Garden

Join West Metro Mommy for this weekly meme of photos people have taken and share on their blogs.

This week, we spent some time digging up two strips of grass in front of our stone wall and planting it with flowers.
I mostly considered this an unimportant job because I thought the grassy area was fine, but apparently it always bugged my husband. And truthfully, I didn't do very much.
I did go to the store to buy plants, manure and mulch, which subsequently spilled in my car and I'll need to vacuum it now.
After one side was planted, I realized we didn't buy enough flowers, so I went back to the store for more and spent one steamy afternoon digging holes to add the extra flowers. But my eldest son discovered me in the act and came to help.

He also dug up the grass on the other side so my husband could plant, manure and mulch there. So mostly, I'm a bystander in this project.
Even though I didn't think it was necessary, it does look nice.

The morning glories come back up each year around our porch. Usually I take a picture to show how they cover the railings, but I wanted you to see one up close. They look silky and velvety.

And each year, I buy a flat of zinnias to plant. I don't know why sometimes they look like this. One or two simple stems and flowers.

And other times, they outdo themselves, like these.

Hope your summer and your gardens are doing well too.
Hope you'll also visit French Village Diaries today where she posted a review of Paris Runaway, my latest novel. There's a giveaway too, so be sure to enter.

Saturday Snapshot -- Summertime

Join West Metro Mommy for this weekly meme of photos people have taken and share on their blogs.

I wanted to share a photo I took of my neighbor's porch.
She's one of those clever, artsy people. She collects old furniture and paints it, turning it into masterpieces.
On a walk recently, I noticed her front porch had a new addition.

Isn't that adorable? A little bedside table with flowers spilling out of the drawers.

Here's a closer look.

And, I wanted to include a picture of me holding a proof copy of my latest novel, Paris Runaway. 

I would describe it as a fast-paced, action, women's fiction novel with romance. If that interests you, I'd be honored if you'd preorder the Kindle edition, which will be released on Thursday, June 30. 

The paperback should be available on Amazon and other websites soon.

Thanks for your support. 

Dreaming of France -- Bursts of Color in A French Market

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

One beautiful thing about France is all the outdoor markets. Once we live there, I look forward to doing most of my shopping at the markets.

These oranges were at a market in Marseille. 

Flowers are ubiquitous in French markets. I imagine that everyone takes time to make their apartments more beautiful by treating themselves to a bouquet of flowers. 

Here's a collection of colorful baskets, which would be handy to use when carrying home all of my belongings from the market.

The markets always have scarves, tablecloths or even bolts of material.

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France.  

Itching to Get Out in the Yard

My husband treats me like a fragile flower.
It's not that he thinks I can't do things, but he thinks that I shouldn't have to.
I'll  hoist a trash bag out of the can and head toward the back alley. "Paulita, I'll get that!" he calls.
If I'm scooting past him in the kitchen with a basket of laundry toward the basement, he'll say, "I'll take care of that."
Outdoor work, dishes, laundry, my husband quickly jumps in to take care of it.
But a lot of times, his hard-working ethic and attitude make me feel like I'm lazy.
So last week, I decided to tackle an outdoor job.
Our front yard is a waterfall of ivy down to a stone enclosed flowerbed.

Here's a shot of the vines flowing down the hill behind this blooming gladiola.

The surrounding trees often decide to plant their seeds in the ivy, so small trees begin to grow up. I wanted to cut down the trees and assorted weeds to clean up the ivy.
Wearing shorts and a tshirt, plus a pair of garden gloves, I  picked my way over the ivy pulling up weeds and sawing down tiny trees. I filled up a trash can that we use for yard waste before I threw in my trowel.
No one in my family noticed my gardening efforts, but I felt proud that I helped in my own way.
Then a couple days later, a bug bite began to itch, and when I examined the bites on my left arm, I realized that poison ivy had sprouted from my gardening efforts.
Now I'm busy applying alcohol to my rash, but it seems to keep popping up in new places. The first of the blisters have appeared on my right arm now and a couple on my leg.
What really bugs me, in addition to the itching, is that it doesn't all show up at once. It takes its time making an appearance.
This morning at the Y, an old man asked, "What happened to your arm?'
"Oh, it's just poison ivy," I said dismissively.
"Stay away from me!" he said.
"Poison ivy is only spread through the plant oils," I told him.
"It looks kind of juicy," he said. He actually said that. "Juicy."
For the record, it's not; it just looks gross.
Having learned my lesson, I won't be doing any more yard work. These poison ivy blisters might leave some permanent scars on my arms. Usually, when I get poison ivy, I end up at the doctor to get steroids. My body treats poison ivy like a wildfire, allowing it to spread fast and in all directions. I'm must be especially sensitive to it.
I'll still carry out the trash and the recycling, but I did ask my husband if he wouldn't mind doing the laundry, just to make sure that I didn't get any more of the poison ivy oil on my skin.
Maybe I am a fragile flower after all.

My Spring Garden

I just love all the beauty that spontaneously arrives in my front garden in the spring. 

Hyacinths. These bloom in a couple different colors in my garden. 

Pointy-petaled tulips

Here's a shot of the plants snuggled under their new black mulch thanks to my husband. 

And here's the other side of the garden with it's creeping phlox. 

I didn't get any close ups of the daffodils, but most of them have orange centers against pale yellow petals. 

Hope beauty is flourishing in your life, as well. 

Birthday Prep

I learned quite a few years ago that the best way to make sure I have a good birthday is to make my own plans.
So, everything is in place for a spectacular day.
Today, I went to Trader Joe's and I splurged on a bottle of dessert wine. A tiny bottle of wine that costs $19.99, but it will go well with the chocolate cake with chocolate icing that my husband plans to bake for me.
The icing for this cake is tricky. It's boiled icing that is supposed to harden, kind of like homemade fudge, the kind not made with marshmallow cream.
As I was checking out at Trader Joe's, I mentioned that the wine was for my birthday celebration. A few minutes later, another check out clerk showed up at the line with a bouquet of flowers for me, compliments of Trader Joe's.
So now I have my flowers to enjoy all weekend and the anticipation of my birthday on Monday.

I have to teach from 8-2 on Monday, but my last class has already made plans for a class party. They're the ones who thought I was in my 30s, so, of course, I'm going to celebrate with them.
As soon as class is over, I'll scoot up to the salon for a facial (a gift from my husband) and a manicure (a gift from my daughter).
I've already purchased marinated lamb tips for dinner, so we'll have dinner at home followed by cake and my scrumptious dessert wine.
How bout you? Do you plan your own birthday celebrations?

Dreaming of France -- September

Today is the kind of fall day that definitely makes me long to pack my bags and head for France. I don't care if I go to Paris and wander markets, or take the train down to Provence to prolong the warm days, watching the sun slant from a sharper angle to inspire artists.
Something about this weather makes me long for France.
Is it just me, or do even the flowers cling on longer in France? Here's a picture from Mont St. Michel in late September and the petunias are still in glorious bloom. I love the way they look with these awnings.

I hope everyone else experiences something lovely that reminds them of why they love France.

Thanks for playing along. Please leave a comment and take time to visit each other's blogs too.

Balloon Flowers

My favorite flowers are blooming right now. And that right now means both that they are currently blooming and they are currently my favorite, until the next ones bloom.

Purple balloon flower. They are gloriously star shaped, but mostly I love how they open, like one of those paper secret keepers that a middle-school girl folds. Then it pops open to reveal the five silken petals.

Do you have a favorite flower blooming in your garden this time of year?

Nature in the City

Sitting on my front porch this afternoon grading papers, I took great joy watching a silly bird trying to build a nest in three different places. From looking it up, I would guess that it's a Carolina Wren. But it could be any kind of wren. It has a loud, musical call and did not seem to mind flitting closer and closer to me.

We have two Black-Eyed Susan hanging plants on the front porch and Earl recently attached a bird house to a nearby tree.

This little bird, with a sharp beak and long tail, flew into both plants carrying sticks and leaves. He also stuck his head into the bird house and looked all around before discarding that idea. Luckily, for the black-capped chickadee, who actually went in the birdhouse to see if he could fit. He's a little chubbier.
The weather, at 81 degrees, is perfect and in the garden along the front of the house below me, I could see peeks of pink zinnias and purple asters along with a strand of purple delphinium.

The colors and the birds helped make the afternoon of grading papers much more pleasant.

Later in the day, the cat realizes birds are building a nest on his front porch. He is quite perturbed.

Saturday Snapshot -- Tulips

Every year around this time, I need to share a photo of the tulips blooming in a yard near our neighborhood.
The gardener here has a fabulous display of tulips.

That's some creeping phlox there at the front. I'm not sure what the yellow flowers are, but I'm glad she's diversifying. As much as I love tulips, I hate the way they look after the blooms are gone. 

I imagine sitting on that porch during the spring and seeing all those colorful tulips. Lovely. 

Spring Forth

Look what I found at Trader Joe's today. 

My own, personal sign of spring. 

I so needed something sunny to sit on my counter as a counter action to the relentless snow and cold. 

Spring has to be close, right?

Saturday Snapshot -- Tulips

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
In my small town, there's a woman whose entire yard is taken up by tulips. She has no room for grass. It looks like she has a bumper crop this year. 
I make sure I walk by her house in the spring time to keep track of the tulips' progress.

This year she also added some creeping phlox and small bushes of  yellow flowers as borders. I love creeping phlox. Her flowers are also taking over her backyard.

I hope you get the time to stop and smell the flowers this weekend.

Saturday Snapshot

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
Last week, the trees were all bare. Some flowers had popped through, but the weather wasn't nearly warm enough to call forth spring. 
But this week, we had some glorious warm weather and the foliage responded. I think this is a weeping cherry tree with its pretty pink buds. 

I love how bright green the leaves are when they first emerge. If I made crayons, I would call this color tender green.

I should know what kind of tree this is, but I don't, so I'll just enjoy the cascade of flowers all over it.

Hope the weather and the plant life are beautiful wherever you are this week.

Saturday Snapshot -- Tulips

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
Outdoors the temperature has dropped again, but inside, we have some lovely pink tulips blooming.

Grace received a vase of tulips for her birthday and they lasted nearly two weeks. I don't think my outdoor tulips last nearly that long. It's nice to have color in the house.

I hope you have something beautiful to look at today too.

Saturday Snapshot -- Hanging On

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
The time change last week messed up everyone's schedule, even the morning glories.
These morning glories took over the strawberry patch after the strawberries ripened early. Some of them are still blooming, but I found these blooming in the evening.