Ummm...Time has really flown!!

I actually cannot believe I haven't written my blog since June 2014 - although it was the best weekend ever so maybe nothing topped it for a while!

The last year has flown by, it was a mixed year with a visiting childhood friend of our daughter's, I wasn't in the best of health and we didn't get out much! I am happy to say that part of life is over now and we are enjoying 2016 for what it is!
 "What is happening so far?" I hear you cry - well we have had some rather special events so far this year - a 70th Birthday a 50th Wedding Anniversary, a 24th Birthday and a 21st Birthday all in our family....we still have a very special occasion to follow another Birthday - but that is not until July ;)

Our youngest turned 21 in  May....

Lucky me - Birthday girl :) incentive to just keep swimming right there ;)

We also welcomed a rather darling puppy dog to the family - our eldest has finally the dog of her dreams - a King Charles called Bilbo!

SO the year this year has been good so far, we have had some interesting weather - as in lots and lots of rain (so theoretically shouldn't have a hose pipe ban this year!)

We have had some lovely sunny days which meant we could finally start getting the Hut back into order as a Poplar tree fell into it making one heck of a mess during a storm in February! We were quite upset at the time as we spent a lot of time and effort on it over the last few years, however we have made some improvements including removable windows!!  And as always we have more projects to undertake very shortly :D

The best part of summer arriving is that the Bees, Butterflies and HummingBird Hawkmoths start their work!

We were also lucky enough to have a little Jenny Wren nesting in The Hut - I didn't want to disturb the babies too much but did take a couple of photos!

Wild Geraniums in the garden..................

So now here we are in June, and as of the Summer Solstice we have fallen into Summer! It's been so lovely and scorchio .... trouble is it's a case of run and hide for the shade, and where better than our Summer retreat - The Hut :)

 Beautiful Clematis enjoying the sunshine....this is the time of year that I love going around gardens - there are so many amazing flowers!

It's so easy taking photographs on the go now - what with the Samsung Mobile, a new birthday present in the form of a compact Canon (with a snazzy retro case of course!) and the big cameras are always to hand - especially since investing in (another) a 70-300mm macro lens last year but having the chance to use it - this year I can enjoy getting out and using it properly!

So that's about it from PJP - the year in a nutshell - or a short blog in this case! I am looking forward to getting out and about and particularly to our celebration next month!

Thank you for reading and don't forget you can follow me on my FaceBook Page for everything "Life through the Lens" https://www.facebook.com/PamelaJaynePhotography/

PJ

June - done!

I cannot believe that we are at the end of JUNE! I had so many other things to fit in as well.....!!

Although it went quickly we have had much fun during the last couple of weeks - hubby dear has been run of his feet, busy with work - which is great and almost felt like the old 9am -10pm days of old!

The weather has been rotten to say the least - it didn't get any better for the Marché de Fermier so I had to give that a miss as well - sadly! It is hard when events are set for outdoors and your products are just not waterproof!

We had a good weekend in spite of the weather though and Naomi had her "end of term concert" with her singing group...it was a mix of Singers, Dancers and Tap Dancers.

The Tap group - that I did belong to!

Then it was back to Chez nous for a pre- birthday dinner for Rob's impending day on the Wednesday.....

So another Birthday meal en-Famille and now onto the week ahead with that rather long fork !

I was a tad annoyed at myself however as all week I had been talking about the "Super Moon" and that it would knowing our luck be cloudy, about  22h00 I remembered so dashed out to the garden and could see it through the trees, so back indoors grabbed the camera (forgot the tripod) and yomped round to the back lanes to see what I could get!

I do wonder if I should have had the tripod but never mind - it was a lovely bright moon and hopefully I will have another chance in 14 months time!!

First sunny day for ages and ages! so Breakfast on the Balcone!

Birthday Boy et moi!

Whilst Rob was on a call the girls and I took a walk around the lac at Sauzé Vaussais - taking in nature!

A really lovely walk with the girls and Scooby somewhere very peaceful but I should imagine it gets busy later on in the year!

The evening spent visiting Paw-in-Law pre-op and then a birthday meal out with Maw-in-Law and then back to Chez Snrs with Scooby - who enjoyed a traipse around the garden with me before the sun went down!

Another day dawns and on our way back from having a lovely coffee and chat with my friends in Dept 16 I went off Butterfly spotting ..... I could watch them for hours - so pretty, so busy but so relaxing compared to the Hummingbird Hawkmoth and Bumble Bees!

Saturday was a busy one for us! 2 Baptisms within the same family one Civil and one in a Church - we started  at the Mairie in Melleran for the Parrainage Civil de Maxance. It was formal but relaxed,  very similar toCivil marriage. I enjoyed being part of the event and capturing some Memories.

and then to the Church - I really have no idea what I am saying here!

At the end of the Baptism the children had the chance to ring the bells - Brilliant!

After spending a lovely couple of hours with this delightful family (I can't say working it's just not they are so easy to take photos of and make my "work" so fun!)
We then went off to Luché sur Brioux to "The Market" where Naomi had been manning the stand for me! She did good and it was really nice to see my friends and greet familiar faces after a long winter away from it!

Gnomes supplied by the lovely Sue Hackney and painted by Evie

Birthday present getting it's Saturday night cook up!

Sunday dawned beautifully bright, sunny and warm so we set off on a very pleasant 22kms bike ride - I would recommend anyone wanting to keep a good record of rides to use Mapmyride.com it's really very good and you just need an android operating system to track your ride. We did this longer ride in a very good time this week and our recovery rate after the hills was very quick! Love progress :)

No rest for the wicked - pool cleaned out and moved!

After weeding, cleaning, harvesting more fruit it was finally dinnertime! BBQ again then!

Ollie Cat snoozing in the evening and yes they are more Mole Mountains!

And that's it - June - done! An interesting month - busy, wet, humid, cold, hot, sunny, cloudy! Lots of work and lots of good times!

Wonder what July will bring - A few events have been booked already!

6th July Marché Franco Aigre Market 9am - 12h30 approx and weather permitting! With Mays 'n' Grace singing.....

7th July ACCENTS Fun day - Auberge de Blanzay 11.30am -17h00

12 Juillet 2013 Foire d’Été! À la Salle des Fêtes (à côte de l’école) 16420 LESTERPS de 10h30 à 15h00 sans interruption. En faveur de l’École Chiens Guides d'Aveugles Centre-Ouest /In support of the School for Guide Dogs for the Blind

21st July British Weekend in La Mothe st.Héray - 79

27th July Royal British Legion Summer Fête Linazay 10h00-17h00

29th July Horse and Dog Fun Show Centre de Beauregard, Beauregard 86250 Asnois
for more info re this event
http://www.centredebeauregard.com/

Have a great Weekend - now we are in July I should really start on my next blog!

PamelaJayne

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