Macaroons

The snow has melted very quickly and we were left with a damp, dreary day today.

We decided to pay a visit to Ladurée, on the Champs Elysées, which some consider to be the most beautiful Avenue in the world.  Each and every day, Ladurée creates macaroons, sweets, pastries and other desserts, to tempt Parisiens and tourists alike.  They are most famous for their macaroons and I have bought some virtual ones for all of you!

 

Tomorrow I shall be travelling home again and looking forward to catching up with all your Blogs.

Not Paris in the Springtime, but ....

I have decided to let you see a couple of photoes of Paris in the snow, and I think you will agree that it is very atmospheric:  This is taking me quite some time to write this post; as I am typing on a French keyboard and all the letters are in a totally different place to what I am used to!

snowy Eiffel Tower

River Seine

When I am over here, I get a real taste for champagne and at 9 euros a bottle; it is highly affordable: 

Last night we went out for a lovely meal; and we have now just had a super meal at home to celebrate the 13th birthday:  I hope you are all well out there in blogging land and look forward to catching up on all your blogs when I get home on Wednesday.

Eleanor and Alfred zho is 7 months old and who I have just met for the first time

Thank you Becca...

I am here in snowy Paris (yes, dear blogging friends, I made it here.  I felt so blessed as I was walking across the runway, that the plane was actually going to take off, and I was going to be able to spend a few days with my family.  My other half doesn't really like travelling very much any more - he was in the Armed Forces for 25 years and has been all over the world - and he turned into Mr Grumpy on our arrival at the airport.  He doesn't like all the security checks, such as taking off your belt and shoes, and was going on about how we would have to stand there naked soon and so on and so on.  Me, I was just rising above it all and trying to think happy thoughts.)

Anyway, my friend Becca, over at http://www.mylife.blogspot.com/ has given me an Award. This is my second Award and I am feeling so happy and thrilled to receive it, so thank you dear Becca.  As you can see, it is a Sweet Friends Award, and I can't think of a better one to receive.  Friendship is so very important to me and my new blogging friends have brought something special into my life, so I would like to say a big "thank you" to all those who follow my Blog.

It was snowing heavily this morning as we set off for the Church Christmas Fair.  I love these Fairs, and usually head off to the cake stand first, followed by all the lovely stands with home made preserves and Christmas decorations etc.  We enjoyed a lovely, warming cup of mulled wine whilst we listened to the carol singers.  I also spent quite a lot of time browsing through the second-hand books and picked up several bargains.

Thisisme

snowy granddaughter

Short & Sweet!

"Life without friends is like a garden without Flowers"

Just so you don't forget me!

Oh no!!

• I woke up to snow this morning - NO! I don't want you at the moment - please go away.  Bitterly cold again, but as I type this, the sun is peeping through the clouds so, hopefully, it will all start to melt away.  It's amazing how we just can't cope with snow in this country at all, and everything, including all transport links, seems to come to a grinding halt. 
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  The mother cat of the little kitten.  Does she look pregnant to you?!
  

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I must go now and get the suitcases down from the loft.  Then decide what I am going to take with me - obviously something pretty warm!  I'm afraid with all the travelling I've done, I just can't seem to get the hang of travelling light, and there's always the worry that when I plonk my suitcase on the scales at the airport, lights are going to start flashing to tell me that I'm over the weight limit! 

Getting excited!!

Gosh, you wouldn't believe how cold it is here at the moment - we have a real biting cold wind, and I don't like it.  I'm not built for the cold!!  It's only 35 degree here at the moment and seems much colder with the wind coming from all directions.  At least we don't have any snow in my part of Devon at the moment, and I am praying that we don't get any for the next 24 hours, because tomorrow, my husband and I are catching the plane to Paris for a few days, to celebrate our  granddaughter's 13th birthday. 

I've just looked at the weather forecast for Paris  and it's even colder over there, showing 25 degrees for today.  Eeek!  I'm going to have to turn out my thermals, me thinks.

I noticed this morning that even the horses in the field have their winter coats on.  We moved into this house thirteen years ago, and have always had feral cats (they live in the deserted Barn next door) coming to the back door for feeding.  There seems to be a new little litter of kittens arriving every six months or so, and they are so cute, in all different colours.  There was a little black and white one which arrived a couple of months ago and, out of all the ones we have had here over the years, he was by far the friendliest.  Every time I went outside the house he would come running up to me and follow me round the garden.  Anyway, I came down this morning and looked outside the back door and he was just lying there as if he was asleep.  I opened the door, but he didn't move, and I discovered that the poor little thing was dead.  Whether it was the cold that had got to him, or whether he had been knocked down on the road, and managed to pull his little body up the drive  to our door, I don't know, but I felt very sad. We have buried him in the garden, and I shall miss seeing him every day, although the mum and dad are still here.  In fact, it looks to me as if the mum is pregnant again!  We have given several kittens to friends and taken more down to the local Animal Shelter.  It's really spooky, because only a couple of days ago, I had taken a photo of this little kitten, which I don't usually do.
 

Poor little kitten

As I shall be away, I probably won't be blogging for the next few days, but will be back with you again soon.  Take care until then, and I will leave you with this Chinese proverb :

"Rather light a candle than complain about the darkness."

Busy Time of the Year

We are at that time of the year again, when there always seems to be such a lot going on.  So much to cram into a week and, quite often, having to turn down a really lovely invitation, because you already have something else on.

I am a volunteer for Save the Children and, also, for a local Charity, Children's Hospice South West, and we always have lots of fund-raising things going on at this time.  For each Charity, we have a local group operating in the area in which I live.  There are only seven of us on each Committee, but we manage to do quite well in our fund-raising throughout the year.

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/

Save the Children do such wonderful things all over the world and, when a disaster strikes, like the terrible flooding in Pakistan earlier in the year, they usually have people on the ground already, so they are very well equipped to help out in these situations.  We held our annual Christmas Concert for them last Friday, in the local Church, and raised £540, so we were very pleased with that.  As with all Charities, every penny really does help.

Children's Hospice South West set up the Precious Lives Appeal three years ago, to raise five million pounds to build a new childrens' hospice in our region.  A lady came and gave a talk to a ladies' group that I belong to, and we were so inspired that seven of us decided to set up a little group to see if we could help in any way that we could.  In the two years since we have been set up, we have raised £9,000 to go towards the Appeal.  I think if you have healthy children, and healthy grandchildren, it really makes you think about all those poor children who are not so fortunate.

I'm delighted to say that the Precious Lives Appeal has, so far, raised four million pounds, so there is a real push now to raise that remaining one million pounds in the next twelve months.  Building work on the new Hospice has already started, and it is hoped that the first families will go through the doors in the Autumn of 2011.

http://www.chsw.org.uk/

An Advent Fair is held every year at the local Church, and we will be participating at that event in a bid to raise more monies for the Appeal.  Last year, we set up a Christmas Tree, and we sold memory stars, where people could write their messages to loved ones that they had lost, and hang them on the tree.  The tree then stayed in the Church all over Christmas.  We thought that was a lovely idea, and it raised quite a lot of money.

We are always on the look out for new fund-raising ideas, so if any of my blogging friends have any suggestions for things we could do next year, they would be most welcome.