Parlez-vous Français?

I must THINK before I speak French.

I have a grand plan to practice and learn more of the French language since France has become our annual vacation location. I have repeated this plan for the last few years, but haven't made sufficient progress.

I really need to improve my command of the language. Seriously. It's time.

With only five months until the next trip, I am setting goals to increase my vocabulary, improve my conjugation of verbs and my ability to converse. I'm also listening to many of the songs of the late Edith Piaf (La Vie En Rose fame) to make this task more enjoyable.

Languages are tedious to learn. I'm easily distracted.

My education included four years of French. Taught by a US Southern lady. Drawl and all! Not so good. Humorous, in fact. Slow and drawn-out syllables.

My pronunciation is an embarrassment when I speak, but I have found that making the effort is truly rewarding. The French appear to forgive me (and probably laugh when I leave) as long as I use these magic words:

Bonjour (madame, mademoiselle or monsieur). Always say hello.
S'il vous plait. Please.
Merci. Thank you.
Au revoir. Goodbye.

Those four years of classes were rather academic and severely lacked conversational training. I read French better than I speak it. I understand it better than I speak it. However, I cannot put answers together very quickly. I have to think about it awhile—too long!

My husband with his four years of the language, doesn't understand the spoken fast-French.  But, he is very skilled at constructing sentences rather quickly.

Much to the amusement of the French—our interactions go something like this:

• I order our food or ask a question in my pre-planned French.
• I mostly understand the French reply.
• I translate to my husband in English.
• He answers in French. 

This causes some confusion about our American culture or maybe our marriage. It seems that, as a woman, I must not be allowed to reply! Honestly, my husband is not a male chauvinist at all.

Separately, we cannot function with the language. Together, we are one! C'est lui pour moi. Moi pour lui. (He's for me. I'm for him.)

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Last of the Tomatoes

Last of the TomatoesOctober 29, 2010
With the milder weather I've been able to continue harvesting tomatoes that I left on the vines as long as possible.  Green tomatoes can be coaxed into ripening with a bit of time and patience.  The flavour will not be as pronounced as those tomatoes ripened on the vine but they are still quite delicious.  Green tomatoes with a small tinge of pink will ripen

summer revisited

As I was cleaning out my computer I came across all sorts of old summer pictures that I never shared.  Being out of town for most of the summer and having all sorts of fabulous guest bloggers, I never got around to posting some of these.  And then with a new computer, I kind of forgot they were even there.  I guess I could just toss them, but I love the feeling they give me of the laid back days of summer.  Perhaps, as I am in the midst of holiday madness (yes, the holidays began for me in October and won't slow down until Christmas has passed...), I can at least sit and imagine myself back to the calmness of the beach.  In my relaxed beach mode, I even put together a couple cute summer tutorials that I never shared, but I think if you put the right twist on them you could change them up for the holidays.  If nothing but for myself, I have decided to put together a handful of "summer revisited" posts to share over the next few weeks.  Hope no one minds that this blog will be talking about summer and Christmas simultaneously...

This summer I decided I was going to fix up the little bit of garden area I have on the front patio in Balboa.  So, with a truck full of plants and a good friend to help, we decided we could be landscape designers with the best of them...  or at least have ourselves a good time trying.

With the limited space we have on our front porch, the plants get so lost behind the furniture, so we decided to give the new plants some height...

If I disappear suddenly next week, its because I looked at these pictures too long and had to escape back to the beach.  So, if I am missing, you know where to find me...

Thanks for stopping by and now I am back to the store to finish setting for Christmas.

Featured on Remodelaholic Blog

Just a little shout out to let you know that my master bath remodel has been featured on The Remodelaholic blog!

If you missed seeing the ugly befores, durings and afters click here to see the whole story. 

Thank you Cassity from Remodelaholic!  I am honored.

Welcome Home,

Penny

p.s. don't forget my CSN giveaway ends Nov 4th.  To enter click here.

And the Krups Espresso/Coffee Machine give away ends Nov 22.  To enter click the coffee machine on my side bar.

Still No Frost!

What an incredibly odd year with respect to weather!  Here it is November first and we still haven't had a frost.  The good news is now the house is on the market we've been able to get a few things done outside like painting.  The best news is I'm still picking peppers, the odd tomato and herbs from the garden. The bad news is even though the gardens are still producing, cleaning them out would

So, Where Was It?

So Where Was It?  Forty one of you commented on this Weekend ~ Where is it?

Of the forty one, 19 guessed correctly.  Here are the pictures again.  This time, you will see the whole picture without any cropping.  (All can be enlarged by clicking on them).  They are in the same order as the original post.

This first picture was taken in Avignon, France.

This next picture is taken at the Biltmore Estate at Antler Hill Village in Asheville, NC

This final picture was taken in Rome, Italy at an open air market near the Trevi Fountain.

Come back next weekend for another game of Weekend ~ Where Is It?

And come back tomorrow for a special CSN Giveaway!

Welcome Home,

Penny

P.S.  And don't forget to enter my Espresso/Coffee machine giveaway, by clicking on the link on my sidebar.

Autumn Colors in our Garden

Hello everyone,

I want to share some of the autumn colors in our garden with you today. It was a nice day to be out doing some clean up jobs but I got side tracked a bit with my camera as I love to record the changes in the garden-daily it might seem to some of you! I enjoy all my garden photos so much in the winter time when I start to dream of it's return. I am sure all you gardener's do that too.

I love how the foliage of the hardy rugosa type roses turn bright autumn colors.

With pretty rosehips.

Some of the burning bushes have lost most of their leaves while a few in shadier spots are just turning.

I still enjoy the hydrangeas even through they have turned brown.They give such a long season of color.

The purple nineback.

Sedum is another easy care plant with a long season of interest.

Even seed heads give interest and beauty and feed the birds besides.

The sumac are so pretty in the fall.

Still lots of berries on the golden elders although the birds have been enjoying them for weeks now.

I was pleasantly surprised to see we still have a few roses blooming-I think this one is sexy rexy.

close up shot.

This little fairy(3 year old granddaughter Abby) came to visit and was the original reason for grabbing my camera. She is proudly holding a bag of treats from a Halloween party-I see a sugar high coming on!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Carolyn