Thursday 29 April 2010

A little gift for me .....

A beautiful tealight holder....

from my son and his wife for babysitting,

last week while they went to Cornwall.

I think it is really cute!

Monday 26 April 2010

My wonderful friends from Sicily and Paris ........

have thought of me again ! I have been down to my eldests sons for a few days, looking after my youngest granddaughter, whilst they went down to Cornwall, a birthday treat for his wife. On my return home today, I sorted through my post and discovered a little package and a postcard :-)....

My wonderful friend Welshcakes Limoncello from Sicily Scene, sent me a little package and it in was a lovely card of Castello di Donnafugata, which is about an hour away from where she lives in Modica, and a little notebook.. a note book with a difference! This little book has pictures, a map and a little history (in Italian ) of the town at the back of it!.. It is the town of Scicli which is about 10 minutes from Welshcakes. What a brillant idea. I love it .. Do take a look at WL's blog it is an amazing blog, about life (up and downs) and her wonderful friends in Sicily !!


My other card came from my wonderful friend Leesa.... The Traveller!! Leesa has two wonderful blogs, News in France and Our Vacation Photos.. .. Her recent trip was with her husband Alex..
they made their way down to St Malo and Loire Valley... so go on... call in and read her blog and look at her fantastic photos..!!


Thank you so much...to you both!!!

PS .. forgot to say that Welshcakes (Pat) also writes for the Italy Magazine online... check this article out.. a wonderful interview with another great blogger friend of mine.. Scintilla !!

Thursday 22 April 2010

Le Parc de Sceaux.....

is a favourite parc of my friends Leesa and Barbara who live near there. Last week they went for one of their visits to check out the Cherry trees and the wonderful blossom. And thought of me... .. they sent me a lovely post card..! Such a great surprise to greet me after work.

Merci mes amis merveilleux !

Sunday 18 April 2010

A trip to Basel, Switzerland..

It is nearly 6 months ago since our trip to France, and we were very lucky to go to Germany and Switzerland as we were staying right next to both countries.

On our last day there, before our evening flight, we drove to Basel for a look around. We had a lovely sunny day, which was good as it was late November.

The Spalentor ( Spalen Gate)



An interesting ferry trip across the river.

The Ferries are hydraulic driven, requiring no other energy source. There are 4 ferries each situated about midway between two bridges. Each ferry is attached by a cable to a block that rides along another cable spanning the river at a height of 20 or 30 metres. To cross the river , the ferryman orients the the boat around 45 degrees from the current so that the current pushes the boat across the river.


The Rathaus (City Hall)


A wonderful tram!

A great end to our trip!

Sunday 11 April 2010

Bonjour à tous mes amis à Paris...

Fountain Centre Georges Pompidou

Aujourd'hui, un hommage a la ville que j'adore et tous mes chers amis!

I was very kindly allowed to use this photo taken by Virginia who lives in Alabama.. but absolutely adores Paris and all things French! Virginia has a wonderful website .. Paris through my lens. Fantastic photos daily. She also follows some great blogs.. either from Paris or France. here are two of them, which I also follow Peter in Paris and Daily photo Paris by Laurent .

Virginia says she fell in love with Paris in March 2007.. It was as the French say "le coup de foudre".. .. you will have to take a look at her blog to read the rest!

Friday 9 April 2010

I’m back and more surprise postcards !

It is has been a hectic few weeks, especially over Easter and then with school holidays. I have just had two of my grandchildren for a few days.. Aidan age 6 nearly 7 and Thomas just 5.. started off ok, yesterday was the toughest one. And then today, I had the rest of the family.. which makes 3 more children. Thank goodness the weather was the best day yet!

Also  in the last couple of weeks I joined Postcrossing, which is an amazing site. You join and then send out postcards to the address you are given.. (done randomly) you can send 5 at first.. I sent one to Poland which has reached destination , and the other one to Russia which is still travelling  :-( . You can see all this when you are logged in.  Once you have joined, your details are in the system and your name could come up at any time.  You just have to wait for the postman!   I received a random postcard this week from Austria…It wasn’t a scenic postcard but I don’t mind.. so a big thank you to Petra.. A sweet heart card !

Cimg5048

I also got another card… this time from Paris!!

My friend great Jennifer sent me a surprise card of

L'Hotel des Invalides et l’eglise du Dome

CIMG5077

She saw the card and  thought of me as it was a great reminder of my trip last year, as I was staying very close to here.  Jennifer and I met whilst I was staying over  there on that trip. Jennifer found my blog and  she had left a comment , saying that she lived in Paris and would we like to meet up. We emailed back to each other and we met up. We had a wonderful evening and long chats.   Jennifer did say shall we go for coffee,  but it turned out to be a bit stronger ! Thank you so much Jennifer,, a lovely surprise.  I hope you call over and have read.. it it always good to see different blogs about Paris !

A big Thank you to Jennifer and Petra.