Frosty Coating

For the moment the frosty mornings have gone and the weather is a little milder but I still wanted to post another 'frosty pic' as the designs were fantastic. Everything had a coating of frost.

We did not have a white Christmas with snow but with frost!

Red Frost

I have been fascinated by the shape, color and exquisite design that the frost has been forming on plants, berries and leaves in the garden. I may post more images because I find them such a pleasure to look at - nature being a wonderful thing and all that.

We have has a few days of very cold frosty weather although this morning there is no frost, but lots of lovely sunshine.

Frost Lines

We did have a white Christmas, one made of frost, and it made some amazing photographs once the mist lifted and the sun came out.

We leave a lot of the plants with seeds uncut until springtime to help feed the birds, these ones are a little frosted but there are lots of seed under there.

Merry Christmas

The Crệche is complete.

Merry Christmas - Joyeux Noël

Santa Claus

Santa Claus is on his way! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I saw him this morning talking with some children in the village of Bessières just down the road from where we live.

What fun to listen to the children asking him for the presents they wanted for Christmas. I thought about getting into line but in the end realised I had already been given my Christmas joy just listening to the children.

The Door

A little like the doors, or is it windows, on an Advent Calendar only this exquisite door can be found in the town of Gaillac.

The carving is beautiful and I believe is one of the entrances to the Abbey of St.Michel in Gaillac.

Frosty Morning

It is not the first frosty morning we have had, although there have not been many, and of course we are only a couple of days away from the official start of winter.

The freezing weather lasted most of the day and I was able to get this shot of a Pyrocanthia, the orange berry variety, with a nice frosty coating.

Oooh! it's getting cold. Wonder if we will have snow for Christmas?

French Bread

Because there was no bread did Marie Antoinette really say "let them eat cake"?

I believe the consensus is that she did not say that sometime before the French Revolution, but the French certainly love their bread be it baguette or all the other choice shapes that are available.

I have to say that there is nothing to beat a fresh baguette from the Boulagerie with a liberal coating of fresh butter from the market.

This photograph was taken in a market town in the Pyrenees.

The Pyrenees

Where we live up above the flat Tarn valley not far from Toulouse on a clear day we have a spectacular view of the Pyerneen Mountains which is also the border with Spain. The Pyrenees lie about 200 Miles south of us and in certain light they seem so close.

At this time of year they are snow capped and I know that they need more snow for the ski season to get well under way. Our weather is still unusually mild and it feels more like the first week of November instead of the week before Christmas.

This is a photograph taken a bit closer to the mountains and in full summer.

Garden Worker

OK, so it is a set up. My wife took this yesterday when I was cleaning leaves and cutting the grass, obviously not at the same time but it made for a better photograph!

We had our first morning frost yesterday and then a beautiful sunny rest of the day. It still does not feel like winter and here we are so close to Christmas and the garden looks like an autumn garden if you know what I mean.

Photograph by Ghislaine James.

Still have trouble posting so I am missing days - if I had more time I would look at Wordpress - perhaps in the New Year!

Sunset clouds south of France

I have been asked is this picture/colors real, and the answer is yes!

Sunset clouds south of France was photographed in Les Corbières region of the south of France. It was just one of those amazing color sunsets. The sky and clounds were on fire.

It is not a recent photograph and I am using images that I already have. The reason is I am having problems since changing over to Bogger Beta and sometimes I just can't get an image posted. I am missing days and getting a wee bit frustrated.

Luca Sitting Up

As some of you know from time to time I post a photograph of our grandson Luca. And here he is sitting up and I am sure wanting to get up to all sorts of mischief.

He is with his mum visiting his grandmother and family in Brazil and is due back to the UK on Christmas eve.

Here he is photographed overlooking the beach at Recife in northern Brazil.

Photo by his Mum Izabel James.

Chistmas Shopping

One Sunday when we lived in Paris, well in fact we lived in Montreuil, we walked down towards the Château de Vincennes, near Paris, we came across a lovely shop selling toys. It was a magic moment because it was great playing with the toys!!

I just had to post this image because the way the dolls had been displayed was fabulous.

The name and address of the shop is Le Petit Bonhomme de Bois, Avenue de Paris, Vincennes. They also have shops in Paris as well.

Not too many shops like this in Réal!!

Olive Oil

Olive oil? Well not quite but we did manage to pick nearly 60 kilo's of olives which we took to an olive mill near to Narbonne down on the Mediterranean coast and we ended up with over 6 liters of cold pressed virgin olive oil - not bad eh?

This is the post I made on October 25th Olive Tree and there were a few question about olives on that post which I thought would be better answered with some additional information about olives.

Autumn Colors

On those spectacular days when the sun shines on autumn days and shows the vines as they turn all manner of reds, browns and rustic colors, the wine season for this year is over. Soon the work will begin for next years crop.

This photograph was taken overlooking the village of Durban in Les Corbières in the south of France. The changing vines can be seen in the foreground. It is not far from where we live in Réal, a couple of hours drive, but the countryside is very different and it is part of the magic that is France.

Spring Buds

Yes I know we are heading into winter in the northern hemisphere but the picture story goes on, as does the work, in the French vineyard all year.

After a winter of preparing, cutting and clearing the vines ready for another season the new spring time growth begins and it is a lovely sight to see. As the new leaves appear and they are all new and almost greener than green against the sun.

Conveyer Grapes

This is the last you will see of the grapes as they are conveyed to be squashed and squeezed and the process takes places to turn the juice into wine.

The next step is buy a bottle of wine from you local wine shop, supermarket or if you live close to a wine producing area direct from the winery, then sit back and enjoy.