Coming to the end of Febuary!

And it's been very interesting! We have had rain, yes lots of it...but then we have had sun, beautifully sunny Spring like days...of course we cannot be having Spring days as it's still Winter! The garden is very happy though and the blossoms are enjoying this early warmth....I just hope we don't get a frost or snow now! 

Just like a Spring day!

For me the great thing about all this rain - the lovely drops sitting in the grass!

Love it when the grass sparkles!

First Violets spotted!

More Crocuses are flowering now!

Purple and Green with added sparkle!

Our Golden Plum tree

My faves - Daisies!

So prickly but so pretty!

I know it's a weed but!

So that was Sunday 23rd, all warm and lovely...which led over to Monday which was incredibly lucky as I had a commission for House Marketing photos - that needed blue skies! These will be used to sell this house set in a lovely location and the view is pretty good as well!

And then it was over to one of my favourite places to spend time with the camera, some may remember last year I put up photos of rescued Spanish Galgas and Pedencos - this year there are 2 more that have been fostered in to the fold...

Dimdim - settling in with her new brothers and sisters.

Juno who was attacked and bears the scars.

And then there's the lovely Osaco and Tana

Just a couple of posers really!

For more on Spanish Galgas and Pedencos please go to https://www.facebook.com/PamelaJaynePhotography... For more information on re-homing you can contact Lévriers and Compagnie http://www.levriersetco.fr/

So now we are coming to the end of the month, and March is promising to be a fun month here at PJP,  more Marketing photos, Making Memories shoots.

But my question - will March come in like a Lamb or Lion....?

February so wet!

Well we have lived here in the South West of France for 10 years this year BUT I have never known such a wet month and yes I know we are only 10 days in but if feels like it has not stopped raining for days and days! When in fact just 2 weeks ago I was walking around our garden (soggy garden!) in the warmth of the sunshine with the dog and Lilly Kitty running here, there and everywhere!

I spotted my first Crocuses in the garden which brought a smile straight to my face - there is something about the "first flowers" isn't there?

and then of course there's the bird song accompanying me around whilst we are out there, the Blackbird seemingly has his heart set on the fact Spring is coming, and a  Bumble Bee was buzzing around, albeit he was a tad on the wet side and he was huge and quite clearly trying to move!

Cross and wet - Bumble Bee of February!

Bumble Bee of February trying to find somewhere dry!

And then the rain came back - and then that rain turned to hailstones! But not just once over the last week or so but twice - in fact it was so windy on Saturday the door blew open - scaring the life out of us whilst we were re-organising the office - ok, so were were deep cleaning! And then the biggest hailstones I have seen made an entrance through the cat flap! And it didn't end there 1am and we had thunder...!

Still it was lovely on Friday to hand over a Photo on Wood to a lovely family who are sadly (for me) relocating to the UK - their daughter is so incredible through the lens, she worked so well with me it was fantastic.

Photo on Wood "Making Memories" session

And then my own personal surprise  to start the weekend - a fabulous sale on the Redbubble http://www.redbubble.com/people/papillonbleu   I sell a lot of my images through! and have enjoyed many sales over this years, but this sale was quite possibly one of the best, they will be getting a little bit of my "Life through the Lens"! and to be honest I think my photos will travel further than I will!  I just wish I knew who the purchaser was so I could thank them :D
French Wheels and Onions is one of the Select Colour images sold.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/papillonbleu/works/2323399-french-wheels-and-onions?c=8994-select-colour

So we are into another week - and lots happening in the half term holidays when hopefully the weather improves and we can maybe just maybe take a little trip to the coast!

I do realise whilst I am talking about this awful weather that there are so many really suffering with floods and losing their homes,  at the moment the Somerset plains are in dire straights - you only have to read this to realise how lucky we are here in our little corner of France! http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Daily-Press-backs-Levels-floods-appeal/story-20561461-detail/story.html

Here is to a good week!

February 14th St. Valentine's Day

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Well I could say it's always like Valentine's Day chez nous ;) there is nothing more important in life than being loved and cherished apart from loving and cherishing I think......When we were younger we did celebrate in style but once the girls came along we just loved staying at home instead - you get used to not celebrating when your Husband travels around for work or was out earning a crust at the weekends entertaining other romantic couples - at the RBL!! mmmm...anyway my life would not be what it is without my lovely husband and best friend and our girls so really for me it's a celebration of what we have! Ask anyone what  St. Valentine's is about and we hear the lovely romantic stories but I found this wiki link rather informative (but not so romantic!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine

Anyway that's enough of romance - I have had a pretty exciting month so far...

I had a Product Photo Shoot at the beginning of the month working alongside a lovely young lady who is also very passionate about what she does, hairdressing and latterly creating hair products and designing the style of the bottles etc... it was fun, if not a little infuriating at first as Purple and Black are not kind colours to photograph especially shiny bottles at that - but we got there in the end and I look forward to seeing Laura's interpretations of the photos when she has finished editing them.

Purple!

White!

2 Purples

Little white!

The Family!

I have now also been asked if I would like to sell from another local establishment - would I what?!...well of course I would be very happy to try selling my Limited Edition Prints at this lovely family run Salon de Thé, The Lemon Tree is a great place to be really, lots happening there and always a good cup of hot chocolate and a slice of cake to be had! The Lemon Tree is in Sauzé Vaussais and open Tuesday - Saturday - plenty of chance to have a brew and peruse the great gift ideas for sale there!

For Sale at the Lemon Tree

Finally my lovely friend (she of creating ceramic magic) has her own Facebook page and eventually will be able to share all her lovely handmade items with us all...I have to say I enjoyed helping her create the page and now look forward to watching her work and hopefully getting much deserved support for her work. You can find her newly created page at https://www.facebook.com/LesCeramiquedeLinda?fref=ts why not pop over and take at look at her beautiful flower necklaces?

Finally a very big thank you goes out to my lovely and supportive friend Jacqueline Brown, the Blogging Queen of the Deux Sèvres (and beyond) she gave me a couple hours of her precious time this week to help me get my head around Blogging! A very patient lady indeed, I learnt much and enjoyed finding out more than I ever thought I would remember let alone come home and remember to do! So French Village Diaries is another link I am pleased to share today! French Village Diaries is about the life here en France and how most of us try to live if we can! I love her passion about everything around here and the lives here, I feel very boring in comparison!

Hopefully the next couple of weeks will bring us some much needed sunshine - the Cranes have been heard in some areas - which means Spring should be on the way.....

In the event of trying to find the one photo I have taken of the Cranes I came across one of Scooby and his "girlfriend" Tess - I thought I would share as it was taken on the 14th February ('10) and back to the romance! (and no still can't find the photo of the Cranes!)

Snow was on the ground well not lots obviously but enough for it to be very cold - so standing around watching these two playing really warmed our hearts!

I found this as well and couldn't resist a share - taken just down the road at a local farm!

Have a lovely St. Valentine's day whatever you do/have done to celebrate until the next time a bientot....