These three girls...

...were sitting out in front of my gazebo tonight...

[I don't do witches, but I DO do weird...]

I was so honored today to be the recipient of Irina's Blog Award  


[The award was actually for French at Heart, my strictly Photo blog.]

Click on the link to visit her wonderful blog, and then follow the links to see her other two.  They are all beautiful and inspiring.  And also please visit the other 4  lovely blogs! 


Thank you, Irina!!!

And when I get back from France I will play the game, tell you 5 things about myself, and choose 5 other blogs to give this award to. And I will dedicate a blog to Palomasea [Irina]:) 






Also, tonight, this photo was featured on RedBubble's Front Page
[ one of the young girls from my church]

n e v e r m o r e










So, there was more excitement around here today than just packing! I know I owe some blog stops, and I will try to do that from my iPhone in Paris! [ That should be interesting!! :O ]  




Have a fun night, and I'll see you when I return!

Boo!

dawne

Bayeux and Beyond...

g o o s e  g i r l   i n   b r i t t a n y 

As I'm getting packed to leave for Paris, I realize that I never finished showing you the rest of the trip we took this summer through Normandy, Brittany and the Loire.  This is a trip that I would recommend to anyone, as it was easy, affordable, and sooooo beautiful.  Have any of you ever done this trip?  I know a few of my friends who read this blog actually live there!!  You know how envious I am of you, don't you? :) My trip to Paris next week is a little Photo Workshop, but I really want to lead one through this part of the French countryside next summer!  Stay tuned!

The opening photo is a fantasy, of course, and parts of the composite were shot in France.  But little goose girls are hard to come by, so I used a painting of a Breton girl by the Victorian painter George Clausen.


Anyway, , here are a few shots from the beautiful medieval town of Bayeux, home of the Bayeux Tapestry, where I met these charming children on holiday from the UK. I wish I were their teacher!!

[I can't help it.  I gravitate to kids.  This is how I used to photograph my own students when I took them on EuroTrips.  Sniffle.  I miss it.]










Bayeux had lots of sweet boutiques, with many devoted to needlework

This one was my favorite. Ooo, the dentelles!..

inside the shop.

I bought my one frivolous item on the trip here from this adorable shopkeeper: very jazzy French leggings.  I really wanted her dress!




Never, ever, ever stay at this hotel: La Maupassant.  Even though it is extremely cheap and you feel very virtuous for being so frugal,[ because you are going to spend the farm on a chateau the next night] and they promise you a bathroom and shower in your room, don't believe it.  You will lie awake ALL night long, staring at the sink 

and taking pictures of your feet with your iPhone, 

and hang out the window taking pictures of the building across the street,

 afraid to go down the hall to la toilette,

and at the first hint of light you'll creep out of bed, so as not to wake the sleeping giant next to you, and tip-toe downstairs to go out photographing those...

  Blue Buildings at dawn.

But, in truth, it really wasn't so bad.

So...

Off to Dinan,in Brittany, where things were decidedly Old World.  What a charming city!

  

Isn't it straight out of a fairytale?

And speaking of fairytales, have you visited 

le Château de Chenonceau? I think it's the prettiest of the big chateaux, 

and I'm smitten with the kitchen, downstairs, under the main floor

this is where the scullery maids peeled vegetables and threw the peelings out into the river

I love this little scene

isn't this a homey centerpiece for a kitchen table?

 this is a bit out of focus, but I had to show you massive fireplace where they cooked

and baked bread

Gasp!

These were some pottery jars that I thought looked so beautiful

If I could BE any piece of furniture, I would be this.  In fact, I look quite like this...

There are beautiful flower arrangements all over the chateau

and all of the flowers are grown in the chateau greenhouses and gardens

I had to play with this photo that my husband took of one of the gardener's cottages...

and turn it into a bit of a fairytale

the gardener's cottage

********




!!!!Late Breaking News!!!!!


Sweet Ria, from the lovely blog


It's Me


is doing the most delightful 
GIVEAWAY!!!  

Wouldn't you just love to own this book?  Ahhh.  That Scandinavian Style that we all love so much...
Just Click on "It's Me" and leave a comment and find out how you might become the winner!!

*****************

So, mes amies, we're off to beautiful France again on Tuesday!  Wish you were all coming along with us!!!!! Maybe on our workshop in April, hmmm????
See you in two weeks, Lord willing,
Love,dawne  

The Thrill is Gone...

...b u t  t h e  a p p l e s  r e m a i n.  


This is my friend Val's front yard. I go there for a women's Bible study every Monday, and it's like getting a little taste of Heaven...Her husband built the sweetest house for them right in the middle of an antique apple orchard...

The great crescendo of fall foliage is over.  Many of the brilliant leaves have fallen, and a lot of the trees are bare.  


But the late October season has its own kind of beauty.

A l' s  c o r n f i e l d

t h e  r o a d  t o  e v e r a f t e r

 I love walking in this type of weather, with the fallen leaves swirling around my ankles, and the smell of woodsmoke in the air.  Yesterday I took my iPhone with me and took some shots...

 Up at the end of our meadow, processed with the app Picture Show.  
I am still in awe of all the photo apps available, and how I can take a snapshot, and process it like I would in Photoshop, but right in the palm of my hand as I'm walking!

a bare tree in the pasture...

...processed with Picture Show

sun setting over on the ridge

and this one is processed with lemeLeme

[Anita and Violet, this is how I email them to you!]

But after a long brisk walk at sunset, nothing feels quite as good as coming home to our own cozy farmhouse, where I know that, inside, the fire is crackling and the wine is being poured!

Bisous, mes amies,

dawne

October Valentine

e v e r a f t e r  f a r m

It's here. Peak Foliage.  Today.  Everafter Farm is ablaze with color.

O n e  T r e e 

We always know the foliage is at its peak when the One Tree on the brow of the hill on the neighboring farm turns

bright orange

We call it Al's Tree

The story goes like this

On the ridge behind our farm there used to stand a hedgerow of old trees. The landowner wanted to extend his fields, so he asked a neighboring farmer if he would cut down the row. The farmer, being of an artistic and sentimental nature, asked the landowner if he might spare just one tree. The landowner, himself a kindly soul, consented. Now that One Tree stands as a sentinel over our farm, and, in autumn, a beacon of flaming orange for us as we come down our lane. Rare is the day that we don’t cry “there’s our tree”, as we return from away, and feel a little jolt of gratitude for that wise farmer.

Dean Polis

my husband's digtally painted version

 

Our country lane

Add to the vibrant colors, the 

GLORIOUS

80 degree temperatures

and you've got what I'd call, 

a pretty perfect fall.

Happy October Valentine's Day!

Bisous,

dawne