Perfume from Provence

Spring is here again today!!!!

Yesterday was glorious, so I spent as much time as I could outside in the garden.

General pottering, weeding, sorting and tidying.

Planting a couple of hanging baskets with yellow primulas and lilac and lavender pansies.

I forgot to take photos of the finished baskets as I still haven't got used to this snapping as you go about your daily business!

At last the flowers on the camellia

are opening, and they are beautiful

Close

 Closer

Even Closer

Closest!!!

Purple pansies left over from last autumn now flowering again

A lovely pale pink heather by the top part of the pond

Logan and Bessie enjoyed the spring sunshine too

It looks like we might have some visitors in the little blue bird house in the half dead willow tree

On the sewing front, some new fabric has arrived over the last day or two.

A lovely vintage 1970s sheet, in the same design as some fabric I already have but in a different colorway - this one is peachier than the other, and looks worn and faded from use, whereas the piece I already had had never been used.

 Although looking at this photo, it may actually be the same colourway, just faded by wash and wear - will compare them tomorrow.

And some beautiful new yellow floral fabric with a vintage feel.

Also, a huge bag of lavender from Provence arrived whilst I was out yesterday - the postman left it under the oil tank and I could SMELL it from half way down the garden path!!!

Oh, it smelt heavenly!!!!
It reminded me of a warm summers day in the garden.

It smelt of summer in Provence.

***

Talking of Provence, I bought this little book a while ago after seeing it recommended on another blog.

It is another book in the American In Paris or Englishman in Provence style, of which I can't get enough!

One of my favourites is this lovely little book entitled "Perfume In Provence" written by Lady Fortescue, set in the early 20th century and detailing in a wonderfully humorous fashion the trials and tribulations of settling in Provence with her husband.

It is beautifully illustrated too, and I remember there being a talking book cassette which I still have somewhere although no cassette deck anymore!

Peter Mayles books I love ( and could write atleast a post on them!) and numerous other anecdotal travelogues about the advetures of people following their dream to settle in France.

One of my favorites is about an American lady settling in Normandy with her family and setting
 up a cooking school - included are loads of scrumptious recipes.

These book deserve a little space to themselves in another post I think, as they involve FOOD as well as FRANCE!!!

Most of these books have a common theme -  a love of France, french food and wine, the charming foibles of the French people, the different pace of  life, and the frustrating bureaucracy!

Anyway, back to a Feast at the Beach....

It's turning out to be a good read, about the author's memories of his childhood visits to his grandparents house in the hills above St Tropez.

The last words I remember last night as I sleepily turned out the light were the evocative words " starched sun-dried sheets and lavender sachets."

Which leads me neatly back to the lavender again.

With the arrival of new lavender supplies, late yesterday afternoon I was able to finish off the crazy patchwork lavender hearts I'd made on Sunday.

I'm off into the garden now, things to do, things to do!!!!!

Hope you have  a lovely day in this Spring sunshine!