This is

A Test. Sleeping puppy is good puppy ;-)

December garden

Not quite the beginning of the month but from around christmas, but there is not much change, anyways. We had cut down the roses by then.

Thanks for coming over! Tina

November garden

Late but just to complete the year:

Thanks for coming over! Tina

Another dog walk

Remember the post about the green sunday walk I wrote back in August? Well here are some actual pictures of that part of my neck of the woods.

 The beginning change to fall is definitely visible!

 The clouds were looking special.

 This is still the same field of leek than in the old post ;-)

And as usual with me: girls in front looking out for grashoppers and mice, boy one step behind.

Thanks for coming over!

 Tina

More October garden pictures

It is mid october and everything is still so green! Lots of colour, too. The fall perenniels are in full bloom, the roses are doing great, the white buddleja has a second high, the blackeyed susan has hidden the insect hotel post nicely, and the clematis fruit are just amazing.

This past week we had some nice weather with cold nights under a clear sky (down to 4°C in the morning) and nice sunny days, warm in the sun but already cool in the shade. Had my lunch today on the back patio, sitting there in jeans and just a t-shirt. Two more days like this are forecast!

Thanks for coming over!

Tina

Edit: the clematis is Clematis tangutica, or mongolian clematis. You can see them in flower here, it's a last year's post.

Breakfast - Petit déjeuner

This was my breakfast this morning, French style with a bowl of milk coffee (un bol de café crème) and a piece of baguette (une tartine) with lemon marmalade, that needs to be dipped into the coffee each time before taking a bite. Tried to make my coffee smile :-)

What's the reason for wanting a breakfast like this?
Well... se do have tickets for the concerts of two French ladys - one of them will be Nolwenn Leroy, taking place next spring in France close to the German border. She was born in Britanny and has a lovely voice and sings beautiful songs, in French, in Breton, in English and even in Irish.
And then there is ZAZ coming to our town and this will even be sooner, in November. She has two hits in Germany, that I knew from the radio and liked, but since I have seen her on TV performing live I am totally hooked. She has such an energy!

So this morning, I just felt like doing a bit more for the French part of my soul...

Oh and while I was sitting there with the camera in my hand I thought I might also show you the view from the chair at the dining table I usually sit on, with my favourite cross stitch in sight and Josy looking down on me:

Thanks for coming over!
Tina

October garden

I am sorry for not blogging for so long!
Is there still someone out there waiting for some news from my neck of the woods? (Well, I actually know of one person who definitely is as I was told “You haven’t written anything on your blog for over a month now - I am always SO disappointed when I check your blog and don’t find anything new” :-) )

Definitely need to get back my blogging mojo as well as the ones for blog reading, for taking pictures, for knitting, for crochet, for surfing the internet…

Will have two weeks off work soon and hope there will be some change to the better here then when I have some more spare time and am not sitting in front of the screen nearly all day long.
And we plan for at least one trip into the woods depending on Dingo's actual fitness, and if I don’t forget the camera I might be able to show you some nice fall pictures.

The weather in September was beautiful, warm, sunny days and cool nights.
So here is my first-of-the-month-garden-picture with some delay:

But for a week or so it is true fall weather, cool, wet, windy and somewhat unfriendly in general, but we just have to get used to it again. And then a nice hot cup of tea is so nice after a walk :-)

Thanks for coming over!
Tina

More veggie picures



Mini cucumber

 

Self seeded mini Raspberry tomatoe



The potted artichok



The single artichok, size of a tennis ball now

  

Mint



Mint



Aubergine/Eggplant



Aubergine though it looks like tiny bananas :-)

 Thanks for coming over.

Tina

September garden

The usual view from the back door and the tomato patch

 Thanks for coming over!

Tina

Chicken potholders

Now here they are, lying on the counter in the morning sun and hanging on their hook next to the similar coloured (wich gave me the idea they would "fit" into our white/brown/apricot coloured kitchen) oven gloves.

As mentioned before I got the idea to crochet them from The Seaview Cottage. Thank you so much Miss Holly for letting me have such fun making these!
Anyone else preferring funny handmade potholders over storebought?

Thanks for coming over!

Tina

Another green sunday walk

This was a weird week weatherwise: hot days with temperatures up to 35°C, with thunderstorms and following cool temperatures at night. Saturday then cool, 15°C in the a.m., around 20°C in the afternoon. Heavy rain now and then.

Today started cool, too, but dry and the sun came round from behind heavy clouds. Great weather for another noon walk with the dogs: This is the partly muddy path between the fields (carrots, potatoes, beets) that we came along,the view to the left and the path we continued walking on so it wasn't hard to end up looking like this if someone had to make sure that that mouse had definitely disappeared :-) It looks like Myrtille's nose wasn't straight and her ears were heavy with mud, too...This is the biggest "hill" right here , the view is even better from there than in the plain and with good weather you can see the skyline of Frankfurt from there. Didn't make it up there today, it is too far to walk for Dingo right now when it is still warm. Look at all those different greens! The blue-green is a field of leek, in the front beets.More leek and the "hill" closer. It isn't far away from this point but to get there you have to walk a big loop across the fields to the right and get to it from the back side. Just too much today. On my way back (and to get there) I crossed a little creek looking quite wild to one side of the bridgebut more channel like to the other side, it is an old side arm or loop of the Rhine.Nearby is a little meadowAnd here, nearly home now, a corn field in full blossom in front of the little wood in which a flock of parakeets have their colony.Just having hooked on the leashes on the gang for the last few meters.Getting home after nearly two hours I was hungry and tired, opened the back door and see who wasn't exhausted at all: Hope you are having a great weekend and thanks for coming over!

Tina

Rice Krispie Treats

Here's another great treat I found on the web: Rice Krispie heaps, made with a bar of dark chocolate and a few spoons of nutella. They are so good. Perfect with a nice cup of coffee in the afternoon. I saw the idea on A Trifle Rushed and checked my supermarket for the right cereals :-) The result is absolutely worth the effort. Am thinking of trying white chocolate next time, mixed with some vanilla cream instead of the nougat cream.


I had made something similar already, with cornflakes, and dried fruit, but never had the idea of adding nutella...


And as I was taking their picture in that pretty tin that once was home to yummy amarettini bisquits I saw the dog bisquit tin standing next to it and I thought I could show it to you too. Once Danish cookies came in it and it is the perfect size for a package of dog cookies and pretty enough to be kept on the counter...

Do you recycle pretty packages, too?


Thanks for coming over!

Tina

Chicken pot holder

It was love at first sight when I saw these on Miss Holly's blog "Seaview"! Thought I could figure out from the pictures how to make them and here you go:

Just love this little gal and now she needs a friend! So I need to get a new ball of white cotton... or I could make her a creme or brown companion - I'll see!

Thank you, Miss Holly , for sharing the pictures!

Thanks for coming over!

Tina

Edit: I had written the post earlier and came back now to add the picture and in the meantime the second chicken is growing, in cream :-) just couldn't wait!

Outside the front door

Thanks for coming over!Tina