I'M IN LOVE!!!!!!!!!!

these are the work of Jeanne Bayol,
http://www.jeanne-bayol.com/accueil_an.htmshe does fabulous caravans and all singing all dancing, wonderfully colourful design work.
I'm trying to get hold of her books, especially 'Les Sacs du Jeanne' but can't seem to find a way of getting them in the UK. buggar!!!!anyone in France want to help? I'll pay !!!! just wonderful.

AND THANK YOU TO HIDDEN IN FRANCE http://hiddeninfrance.typepad.com/hidden_in_france/
for pointing me in the righht direction

my own produce.....

we've had quite a few tomatoes this year, and a couple of weeks ago, I decided to use up the remaining crop, I cooked them in the oven then skinned them then reduced them and used as a thick sauce.
aren't they just full of the sunshine , wonderful colours

books I'd recommend

so as you can see there has been a bit of a food theme when buying books recently. What all these books have in common is that they all have wonderful photos inside, ( except the Sugar Queen, it being a novel)and mouth watering recipes. The Sugar queen is as delightful as the previous novel 'Garden Spells'. all wonderful in these gloomy days

happiness....

I treated myself to this album. I love it and particularly this track.

my father was in hospital last week and now we have to wait for the results to see if the lump removed is benign. or not!!!! life can be crap sometimes, but he's got through the op, survived the anesthetic and if it's not good news we will deal with it. but for now he's recovering there's beauty in the dying trees and a song like this can lift your soul.

on our pond........

We have a small pond in our front garden, it has frogs and all sorts of wildlife.I'm so glad the ducks have decided to stay, and with a 'little one' too, how sweet.

hello again......

Well when you've been to court,and gone bankrupt what is a girl to do, well dye your hair of course!!!!!
especially when the weather is so gloomy, a nice bright 'Cherry bomb' hair colour is what you need. It's amazing how I always seem to come back to this colour. I do love it. and i always seem to get a half decent photo, with this colour!!


and despite the gloomy weather, the trees in Dorset do put on a magnificent display at this time of year.

oh what a year!!!!

So what have I been up to lately, well you might well ask, it's been a real roller coaster of a month , October seems to be a month of great changes for me.
last year I was admitted in to hospital to have my thyroid removed,I was scared, and tired of all the tests and hospital visits with no positive outcomes and it had taken a couple of years to get to that point, but ultimately it was the most extreme solution but the only real possible course to take, as all other paths had been tried and failed.

And this seemed to be the theme of this October, we have had a very hard year financially,( as have a lot of people ) and after a couple of months of seeking advice, we saw that the only option left to us was Bankruptcy. Now this filled me with horror, I'd read every article and watched every TV documentary about how to reduce your bills, how to live frugally, how to live on a pound a day, how to make your own cleaning products, etc etc we where doing all the thing suggested and more. I think I could now write a book on how to live on £1 for 3 weeks!!!!! and yes it was THAT bad.We had tried EVERYTHING. we'd tried to negotiate with the bank, credit cards etc, but all they did was pile on more charges and increase the interest rates, thus making the problem worse, not that I'm bitter , you understand!!!!

I've thought long and hard about this post, and whether I should write it or just keep it to myself, but I'm a quite straight forward woman, what you see is what you get, I'm far from perfect, I have many faults, and also many good qualities. one of the qualities is being honest about who I am, I don't expect any one else to do this , but I do.
maybe I should keep this to myself, but then I thought that there must be lots of people out there that are in this position, I did have moments where I felt slightly ashamed, I'm a grown woman, and should be able to manage my finance, but without going into the whole sorry sorry , sometimes things happen in life that you have no control over (health issues etc.) and sometimes that ultimate big monster in the corner that you will do everything to avoid , is the only solution. and you have to swallow hard approach it carefully and give it a good old hug!!!!

Bankruptcy is NOT an easy option, but it has made a huge difference to my life, and despite the monthly payments I now have to make( no, you don't get off without paying anything) I have a job, luckily, we don't have a property that we love and would be forced to sell, and we have a chance to start again and do it right this time. it has been hard on our marriage , but we are soo lucky that it has made that stronger too.

so if you are facing this yourself, do your homework , get lots of advice , ( the National Debt line are fabulous) take a deep breath, and take back control of your finacial life.
Why do we assume that life will or should be easy, sometimes the hardest things really do make us stronger.

bad links

I'm still here, but due to bad/ no internet connection, appalling weather conditions and life taking some interesting turns, there is a shortage of posts from this direction, I will be back SOON.