happy sunday

Ten reasons to be happy today,

1.  the day our village holds it's annual foire a tout, yard sale, tag sale, boot sale, whatever you want to call it.
2.  the day I cycled everywhere
3.  the day everyone I bumped into, or met for the first time seemed curiously happy to see me
4.  the day my sale stand was placed underneath a beautiful big cherry tree

5.  the day  that by taking part in the foire a tout we helped raise money for the village school and we were eco-friendly
6.  the day I was rewarded for ferreting through a very untidy stand  - by finding an amazing pair of antique pillow cases, hand-sewn for a young girl's trousseau a hundred years ago and never used (more on this tomorrow)
7.   the day my children had as much fun as I did at the same event as I was at
8.   the day my favourite local ice-cream maker - glacier - turned up at the sale YUM!

9.   the day my very special husband cooked a lovely supper for us because he knew I had had a long day
10.  and MOST OF ALL the day I discovered, when I got home and checked my blog (obviously) that I had this wonderful surprise waiting for me.

Many thanks to the lovely Moerks family who are soon to whisk us away on a whirlwind adventure tour of Australia that I for one will be following here.  Before they head off, be sure to visit their blog for amusing tales of everyday Moerk life as they restore their family home and have other fun.

It's really very kind of them to choose me for this award, which carried with it the obligation to divulge ten things that make me happy - but hey, I think that's what I just did.  So now I simply have to pass this happy award onto five friends who keep me smiling.  Here we go:

Coty at styling by coty farquar - whose gardens make me dream, whose job I'd love to have!
Anne-Marie at Na-Da Farm - whose generosity shines through her blog
Melissa at miss sew & sew  -   who feels so much like myself 10 years ago
Jeanne at collage of life  -  who amazes me with her broad culture and impeccable taste
Ange at signed by ange  - whose art I admire and who makes me laugh out loud

Bonne nuit mes amies!

Faites de beaux rêves, et à demain.

10th photo

 I have had a lovely surprise, Julie at  Being Ruby   has tagged me amongst others, to talk about my tenth photo.  Julie has amazing talent as a photographer, all the photos on her blog are hers, and are beautiful works of art. Her text comes close to poetry no matter how mundane the subject - let's just say it :  I can't hope to compete.

The tenth photo stored in my photo file happens to be one that was taken by my daughter of herself and her pony.  This picture tells several tales.  A sad one of how a lovely girl grew too attached to the wrong pony.  A creative one of the importance of expressing yourself artistically, and lastly the tale of how our ponies are an integral part of my children growing up.

I shall start with the last, growing up with ponies.  When I look at this picture I think of the pleasure my girls have sharing emotions with their ponies.  As small children might whisper their secrets into the ears of the softest teddy bear, so my daughters have told things to their ponies that no one else has ever heard.  Constant companions in good times and bad.

This daughter discovered photography a couple of years ago.  Artistic talent is not given space to grow in the French school system,  if you  want your children to appreciate the joy and importance of artistic expression it has to be encouraged at home.  My girl loves to take photos, alone, with friends, small exhibitions, alot of fun. She is a great communicator and I am curious to see how she'll use these talents in her future life.

Finally a tale of disappointment.  This pony's name is Oliver.  He is strong and handsome and was chosen for his potential to jump high, but we hadn't realised how arrogant and disrespectful he would become.  After almost two years of persevering we had to admit that we couldn't handle him, that he was dangerous even.  He had to be sold, but for us all it felt like a failure.  We thought we had failed our daughter, she felt she had failed her pony and it left us sad for a long time.  This is part of learning, and coping with whatever life throws at you.  You just have to emerge stronger and grow together.

I would like to tag the following blogging friends to share their own tenth photo:

Angie at Angie Muresan

Debra at 5th state

Millie at the Laurel Hedge

Trish at Trouvais
Greet at Belgian Pearls

and  Tish at A Femme d'un Certain Age.

I wish you all an excellent and sunny week!

thank you bella

Thank you so much to Bella  of The Art of Living Beautifully for this award, my first ever!!  A really wonderful surprise, I am very touched.  Apparently the rules for this award are to divulge 7 things about myself and then pass it on  to seven other blogs.  This has required thought and preparation, believe me!

Here goes:

I wish I had been born about 100 years earlier than I was.  I would have loved to have been a European in Africa at the turn of the century.

I listen to BBC Radio 4 a great deal, mostly in the kitchen and in my car.

I adore painting with children.

I write books for children,  two published so far and more on the way

I love to watch musical comedies

I regret not riding better than I do

I love to throw really good dinner parties

Here's who I would like to pass the award on to.  There are so many to choose from , so many I love to visit regularly and who certainly deserve all sorts of awards, but for this, my first, I wanted to pick out some new bloggers like myself (you all remember what it was like to get going, every new visitor counts)  and some that we don't often see on blog rolls.  I hope this thrills them as much as mine did me, and that it will let you,  regular friends,  discover a couple of blogs you may not yet know. 

lovely Italian Francesca at passionedeco

Celine and her wonderful paintings at celine cholets aquarelles 

Karyn who has just started at the beautiful Hope Island

Dash, a fellow brit and her French Sampler

another brit in France, Sarah at St Bloggie

Aurelia at   dentelles oxydees, a very clever French girl with a serious eye for detail

                                                                                                                                                                         Laeriss at  un coeur en provence,    you don't get more French than this

and of course a huge thank you to all of you who visit me regularly, and make me smile with your kind and thoughtful comments.