I capture the castle ;)

I’m going to be switching between current pics and catch ups from now on - I’m sure you don’t mind. So, let’s continue with pics from last year’s France trip in the summer. After our visit to the Marqueyssac gardens, we drove the 10 mins down the road to Chateau de Castlenaud, which was perfect, as the gardens were definitely more of a thing for the mamas. At the chateau there were trebuchets, armour and weapons to have a look at, and facts to learn about the castle itself and what life was like back then. I wonder if they ever stood waving at their own shadows too?

A trebuchet and the top of the castle. And a very blue French sky.

I spotted these birds perched on a ledge, and I was myself kind of hanging out of one as I took this, thinking that it would be so stupid to fall to my death taking this. I was hoping I might catch one of them in mid-flight, but no luck.

Window filter.

Taking it all in.

And finally, a beautiful evening sky on the drive home. The boys sat in the back listening to an audio book while we all gazed at the changing colours and the night creeping in. Seems so long ago now.

Dans les jardins

Apart from hanging out in the house we also went on excursions a bit further afield, and one of them was to the Marqueyssac gardens, which as you can see in this pic was a-mazing. I’ve never seen hedges like it!

The house in the grounds used to be someone’s fancy abode in the late 18th century.

Which we got to see a bit of on our way to the loo. Like you do.

A place ain’t fancy unless it has peacocks strutting around the grounds. Gosh, we humans are so boring looking compared to these guys. I mean, you couldn’t make it up. Those long back feathers, with their green and blue eyes on them, that then opens up into that display, and those little head feathers looking just so.

We went along a path in the boiling heat that took you through the gardens, and there was lots to look at along the way.

Like the Dordogne, flowing past way down below.

And here we all are, taking in the views.

I totally recognised this man’s hunched up camera posture, as I do it too when I take pictures. I would so love it if there’s a picture of me, hunched up exactly the same way, with my straw hat on, taking this picture, like one of those infinite mirrors :)

Away from the here and now

This seems as good a time as any to start catching up on 2019, as I stopped blogging on the old blog when I realised how awful pictures looked on it (ooh boohoo, blurry pictures on my blog - talk about pre-coronavirus problems!), and therefore creating a backlog. Back in July we went with friends to my mother-in-law’s house in France for a couple of weeks.

My friend A and her family came from Stockholm, and from the off we imposed a screen ban, which was was a breeze for the kids as they’re bonafide bookworms. Ha! You can’t actually see their books here, but they are reading :)

The parents did pretty well too.

Of course the pool helped. There were epic water fights and general keeping cool in the heat. We also learned that you can make your own very effective wave machines with a couple of lilos.

There I go again with my love of windows.

No screens meant other ways to have fun.

And sometimes you’d try something new, like cutting hair.

One day A went for a walk in the garden and came back with enough flowers to make a huge bouquet. I begged her to reconsider her career choice in life, and to become a flower arranger. There’s still time.

Taco night! A & D are excellent cooks, and we enjoyed A’s salmon tacos with fresh mango. Such a tasty combination. Must remember to make some myself.

D and little C after dinner in the garden one evening. Extension leads rule.

Looked out the window one day to find the boys taking shelter in the shade, chatting away. Sweeeeeet. More France pics to come.

How are you guys holding up out there? It’s so surreal isn’t it? I read this interview on Dezeen with Li Edelkoort over the weekend, and if you like me and many others feel that this crisis might be Mother Nature’s way of correcting our irresponsible behaviours, Li’s words brings us hope for a better future. <3

Suffolk windows

It’s funny, back in the days when I used to post on Instagram, I seemed to be taking pictures of windows more often, and now it feels like I hardly ever do. Shame on me.