May 2011
Monday, May 30 2011
- GARDEN INSECTS - Found on my rose bush today: Well-named in English it's called the STICK ( bâton) INSECT and it eats the leaves. And this is a minute (minuscule) grasshopper that eats the petals of my yellow roses! When the buds (boutons) manage to flower in spite of (malgré) the greenflies (pucerons) the (…)
Sunday, May 29 2011
- CLAFOUTIS - This typical French dessert is so easy to make - and so delicious to eat! You need 60g of flour (farine), 100g of sugar (sucre), 2 eggs and 1/4 litre of milk (lait). Mix, and pour (versez) onto fruit - preferably bitter cherries (griottes) in a buttered dish (plat beurré). Cook for 25 minutes in the (…)
Saturday, May 28 2011
- LUXEMBOURG PALACE, PARIS - A beautiful building which now houses the FRENCH SENATE in beautiful gardens full of statues, a favourite place for a walk away from the streets. If you look carefully you can even see the Eiffel Tower! (…)
Friday, May 27 2011
- SQUARE FRUIT - carré - If you don't know, you will never guess (deviner) what this fruit is and what it will be like when it is big and ripe (mure)! Have you ever seen a square fruit before? In November it will be big, round and orange, the tree will have no leaves and it will look like (ressemblera à) a living CHRISTMAS (…)
Thursday, May 26 2011
- GALERIES LAFAYETTE - Here is another building with a beautiful glass ceiling:the luxury department store on Boulevard Haussman in Paris; and here is a view underneath (en-dessous). The GALERIES LAFAYETTE was inaugurated in 1893 and its beautiful architecture is art nouveau from the Belle Epoque.There are two (…)
Wednesday, May 25 2011
- MONUMENTA PARIS - MONUMENTA is an exhibition which takes place every 2 years where an artist creates a special piece of work to put inside the Nef of the Grand Palais: a glass-roofed steel building 137 metres high. This is an aerial view, you can see the red ballon in three parts inside the building. This is one view (…)
Monday, May 23 2011
- GARDEN BIRDS - oiseaux - These photos are not very good because the birds were a long way away. This is a couple of hoopoes that are digging for insects in the garden; I love these, they're beautiful birds. These swallows came to visit my kitchen, they even (même) spent the night (passé la nuit) there! They want to build (…)
Sunday, May 22 2011
- GARDEN FLOWER - This is the flower of the tulip tree, it's a very unusual colour: green and cream. There are not many on my tree and mixed among the leaves you cannot see them easily, you have to look carefully. I saw a very big tulip tree in the cemetary in Paris and it was covered with flowers, amazing. It is (…)
Saturday, May 21 2011
- FONTDOUCE ABBEY - It's the 900th birthday of this beautiful abbey that is being restored by its owners(propriétaires). Every year in June there is a festival with classical music in the chapter room (salle capitulaire) and jazz in the meadow (le pré). I love the jazz in the meadow evening; there is a first concert (…)
Thursday, May 12 2011
- SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH S - Did the forks, now here are the spoons, for the challenge "SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH S": silver spoons (cuillères en argent). The title of my photo is "Thanks grandmama", because I inherited this silver from my husband's grandma. Lucky me! I didn't even get into the TOP TEN bit I love the top photo, (…)
Tuesday, May 10 2011
- STREET ART 2 - Belleville, Paris again, this one has unusual colours and you can see the size of it with the Chinese girl standing there. This one in trompe-l'oeil is amazing, with café tables and chairs in front of it! (…)
Monday, May 9 2011
- WILD FLOWERS - fleurs sauvages - This is a bee orchis (orchis abeille) and there are 15 flowering on my lawn pelouse) in spite of (malgré) that fact that it is rare. It mimics a particular female insect and the males come and pollinate it. They are only small, just 10 centimetres. These are the flowers of the white bryony, a (…)
Sunday, May 8 2011
- THE FERRIS WHEEL - la grande roue - Something new in Royan! Placed near the fishing harbour (port de pêche), it's not very big, but aleady a real tourist attraction. I didn't try it because there was a queue and didn't look at the price. Ah, an ARTICLE on internet tells me 148 people turn for 6 minutes and it only cost 4 euros for (…)
Saturday, May 7 2011
- THREE FORKS - trois fourchettes - A CHALLENGE: three forks! This is what I did. We'll see if I win. They are silver (argent) forks from a set of 12 which belonged to my husband's grandma. They were one of her wedding presents (cadeaux de mariage) and we inherited them. They're beautiful but stupidly I don't use them because I have (…)
Friday, May 6 2011
- STREET ART - art de rue - Paris of course! Fantastic! I discovered this on a guided walk round Belleville. A building had been demolished and street artists had covered the walls with art. The place served as a car park, that's all. I didn't know where to look and what to photograph, everywhere was so beautiful, so here are (…)
Tuesday, May 3 2011
- GIANT EMPEROR MOTH - grand paon de nuit - What a surprise when I found this enormous moth (papillon de nuit) on my shutters this morning! It has a wingspan (une envergure) of 6" and is really amazing. Its name paon de nuit in french is very descriptive: paon means peacock. After research on Internet A FRENCH SITE says the adults don't feed (…)