Our dress up tea

The wearable art group that I lead for ASG came to my house for a dress up tea.

Cheryl knit a dish cloth for each of us.
We exchanged gifts that we had made and had show and tell which we really enjoy. We always learn from each other.
Edie looks just wonderful.
We shared treats and teas.

More thoughts about Paris

I continue to think of my experiences in Paris. I have begun to look around to see if I can find anything here that is from France along the lines of food. I found the French butter that I ate there. I have also found a box of cookies, some wine and some cheeses. The food impressed me and I wasn't ready to let go of the experience yet. So now I can continue for awhile longer.

I often think of the sights that I saw there and am still trying to digest them. This was a interesting window display. Some nice large buttons on this jacket.
The middle hat is the one that I bought. It is a warm hat, so I won't get a lot of use of it here. This was a common style of hat woren there and then a nice long scarf around the neck.
I thought this was a pretty interesting jacket. Pretty busy looking.

Our Last Day in Paris

Just look at all that fabric. I didn't get any though. Most of the discounted fabric didn't look very good to me.

This store had some beautiful fabrics, but not discontinued. I also found some stores that had some very unusual buttons and trims. I did get a few of those. I also found a bead store and enjoyed a little there.
We are losing our energy. We walked to the fabric district and took the bus back.
I thought this was interesting as they do not have snow or cold to experience Christmas so they use all white to feel the spirit. They sell many white flowers now to feel the holiday. They have small trees as I am sure their apartments are not big enough for a large size.

We visited a park a block from our apartment at about 5:30 at night. I realized that the children being raised in apartments have no back yards and the parents are there with their strollers in the dark with their children. There were a few lights, but it was the only time they could play outside after school. We went out to dinner to a local cafe and I was able to have oysters. They only have them in France for two months of the year.

Tomorrow we start home the long trek. I had a tear in my eye to leave. It has been a very wonderful trip. Some great memories. There is more to see and hopefully I can come back to see again. My husbands energy has run out and we had to give up the two day trip to Munich to see some friends.

Thanks for joining and enjoying Paris with us.

Another Day in Paris

We are discovering new things each day that we have not seen before. This apartment has a washer, but no dryer. It is too cold to put clothes to dry out on the balcony, so we found this rack which took investigating to put together. Our apartment is so small that there is only room for this rack during the day when we are gone and when the pull bed is folded. It would really be a challenge to live in this small apartment all the time.Then we went out to eat. The owner of the apartment has left us some names of local places that the locals eat and a map. They are less expensive then the tourists end up in.
I decided to try escargot for the first time. I thought they were good. My husband almost turned green watching me eat them. He said that I would soon be making a trail across the floor.
I had a nice salad with horseradish dressing. A little hot that built, but good. Then duck under mash potatoes and cheese on top. Very good.
Then we took the bus down to the river and the department store Le Bon Marche. It is just something to walk around in the store. What beautiful clothes. On this trip we only got lost our usual two times. We learned that the bus we took would not pick you up at the spot that it let you off. We had to find the street where it returned on its route. We also learned that when you want to get off the bus you push a red button which tells the bus driver you want off on the next stop and then this part we went by our stop because you have to push a yellow button to open the door at the stop or the bus driver just drives to the next stop. Some friends have commented that perhaps it would be easier to use the metro. We thought it would be nice to ride a bus so we could be above the ground and see the sights. Although I think we have decided that it isn't that far and we would just walk. But, of course, it is farther then we think and then with all of our being lost, it is longer.

A Walking Tour

After our long walk yesterday I needed a rest day. A nice hot bath, a cup of tea and then some knitting. My husband decided to take on Paris by himself and walked the sights for 4 1/2 hours. This time getting lost twice. Here are a few of the sights he past.

How to get a lot of walking in Paris

We began our day in walking to our three hour cooking class with a French Chief which turned out to be a American from Texas. There were five of us in the class and we made five desserts. They were delicious and very interesting and fun to make. We learned much.

It was about 35 minutes to walk to the cooking class. Then on the way back we got lost and it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get back. Paris is like Las Vegas and it has a lot of night life. People were walking all over and a lot of tourists. We saw a great deal more then we had planned and our feet and legs sure hurt this morning. Although my husband decided the best way to get the legs working again is out now walking them out. I prefer a nice hot bath.
This is a flower shop, which there are many and I had to get some tulips to enjoy while here.
We are getting the hang of life here and during our walk we picked up some green beans, olives, milk, and bread. People here stop at the bakery and get their bread and then carry it and eat off the top of the long loaf on their way. When we got lost I just tore off a piece of bread every so often and I was good. We have used a taxi a couple of times to get somewhere, but tonight I think we will take our local bus and see where it goes. Need to save my legs for a day at least.

A incredible day and night

In the morning we walked over to the market area.I bought these which I wasn't sure what they were, but I think they are currents. They are somewhat sour. I also got some very skinny green beans, one brown green tomato, and a full cooked beet. They had fully cooked beets and egg plant in a produce market. So for lunch I had green beans which I boiled to just right with a little french butter, sliced beet(just had to take off the skin)(sweetest I have ever tasted) and slice tomato.
After this we walked to the Sacre Coer Church. Beautiful inside, but no pictures. So many steps up to it. You could take a tram up, but we opted to climb. Took awhile. Not in shape like some people passing us on the steps. Then I was delighted to be able to find the Fabric District at the foot of the stairs. Believe it or not I didn't visit yet. Will have to go back another day. We were just too tried by then to shop. All of this walking was at least four miles if not more. Not counting the stairs.
Then in the evening we went on a 2.5 hour ride on the water and had a wonderful dinner and music. My husband was so excited that he could take pictures of Paris in the night. He keep running up stairs to the upper deck so he could get just the right picture. The food was wonderful and wine too.
I stopped in the market and bought this forced bulb. Smells so good.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoying our trip with us.

Celebrating Thanksgiving

This the apartment across from our apartment.This our balcony.
This what you see when you look down our street.
This the chocolate store that I went into and got a candy bar with fruit fillings in each section.
We are still having trouble with the time change, so we didn't make it out until four this afternoon. We needed a rest day. We went out and checked out the area. I found a cheese shop and got a couple pieces and a few slices of hard salami to have with some bread we got yesterday. We also go some butter and it is the best I have ever eaten. There are many shops down a street very close to where we are. There also is a super market. I got some wine yesterday and just got the grocery store brand and it delicious. They are beginning to decorate with Christmas lights on some streets. Very pretty.

We decided this is Thanksgiving Day and we had to go out and have a nice dinner. I have read that turkeys are very expensive, so they do not have them much here. The owner of the apartment told us of a place he recommended for us to eat, so we tried it. My husband had beef with onions on top and french fries and I had veal with mushroom sauce and noodles, one carrot and one broccoli. For dessert I had Creme Brulee. The best ever. Their sauces are great too.

A trip to europe for us

Happy Thanksgiving from Paris... We feel so blessed to be here.

We left Orcutt in the morning to drive up to San Fransico on November 21 to connect with our flight to London at 5:08. It took us 9 1/2 hours. My husband picked a Hilton out in the country. This boarding school was around the corner from our hotel and on our way walking 1.5 miles to the small town of Cebhorn.

This was the little shop that I found some soft cheese, olives and salad for lunch.
We stayed two days trying to get rested up with the time change.
Just before we were to board the train for Paris my husband dropped his ticket.
It took us 2.5 hours to take the train to Paris from London. Looking out the window showed how beautiful farms are in France. This is a picture of the apartment we rented for nine days. Very small. This evening we are going to walk around and see if we can find a place to eat. The owner of the apartment gave us a lot of leads of place to see and eat. This is so exciting.

A New Home

I took a trip to visit my family in Minnesota. This is my niece enjoying the rooster and now he has a new home.

Our Winery Sale

Here is my friend Claudia's banners leading up to the gallery.

Eddie
Sandy
Tina
Mine

Completed for the Sale

Some silk organza pins that I made for the sale. Dyed them with procion dye.

One Last One for the Sale

Vintage Kimono Scarves

I made these 90 inch long scarves from vintage kimonos.

Added some detail to each one. This one has little silk ribbon flowers.
This one has silver piping.
This one has vintage buttons.

Some more scarves

These are some more scarves that I am making for the Harvest Festival.

This one was silk screened.
These were clapped.
The red one was silk screen and then I burned the bottom edge of the scarf and the tassels. The turquiose one was rusted and then silk screened on one cornor.

Butterflies

Wanted to share these pictures with you that my cousin from Minnesota sent me. To me there just isn't anything like a monarch.