may 31, 2012

Have I mentioned I love where we live? 

may 30, 2012

Don't critique my knife-holding form, please: I'm pretty sure it's not up to snuff.

may 29, 2012

A not-so-uncommon experience: wondering if everything we bought at Ikea will fit into our car. 

may 28, 2012

Spray-varnishing a finished painting. Feels so good to write "finished!"

may 27, 2012

Summa-time alfresco dining with friends in front of our sweet little cottage. Nice.

may 26, 2012

Enjoying Mâcon at sunset with our friend Tina, visiting from Geneva.

may 25, 2012

Current painting: somewhat abstract red poppies.

may 24, 2012

Yeah, it may look geeky (as if that really ever worried Jay) but onion goggles totally save the day when it comes to grilling out for 50 people. 

may 23, 2012

Another potential future team-mate: Cristelle. This girl never stops laughing, she'll be a lot of fun to work with!

may 22, 2012

Enjoying my favorite ice cream shop in France: Adélice in Lyon---it's never too cold out for ice cream!

may 21, 2012

So happy to have a visit from the American couple who is hoping to come work at the Château after us: Bob & Lisa! They're super sweet and we're looking forward to seeing how things will hopefully all work out for this to happen!

may 20, 2012

Forgot to take a picture earlier today while interesting things were happening... so houseplant it is! 

may 19, 2012

Our favorite nap-taking place ever: Cormatin castle. We've done the castle tour enough times that we take a nap while our guests go visit...it's really wonderful.

may 18, 2012

My palette. Oh how artsy.

may 17, 2012

Cake competition at our annual inter-church get-together picnic...I love how intent these girls were in trying to predict the winner---serious business!

may 16, 2012

My friend Nichole made this most amazing Thai dinner, my tastebuds will never ever forget how delicious it was!

may 15, 2012

In the Château garden.

may 14, 2012

Windmill hunting with Anna and Jay. We felt oh so quixotic.

may 13, 2012

Children's weekend at the Château.

may 12, 2012

Aaahhhh...cozy evening.

may 11, 2012

Planting all those geraniums I ordered. 

may 10, 2012

Happy for the arrival of picnic and ice cream weather, and friends to share it with!

may 9, 2012

This is quite possibly my favorite garden in the world: the kitchen garden at Cormatin castle. Nothing's quite growing yet, so it doesn't look all that impressive...but I still envy this gardener and wouldn't mind stealing his job!

may 8, 2012

We felt so integrated today: we had our own stand at our village's flea market! (It's time to get rid of all the junk I've bought at other peoples' stands through the years!) Here's Jay with a book he's definitely NOT going to buy: a French grammar textbook. ;)

may 7, 2012

The geraniums I ordered have arrived!

may 6, 2012

Paintin' away.

may 5, 2012

We visited Giverny, Claude Monet's garden, which is in a small town not too far outside of Paris. It was really cool to see some of the places that he painted, but I shan't lie...it was a little bit disappointing as far as gardens go. And there is a highway that runs through the middle of the garden. No joke. 

may 4, 2012

Up in Paris for two days to hang out with friends on their way back to the States from africa. I don't think this place ever gets old!

may 2, 2012

Gotta love French birthday candles!

may 1, 2012

Happy May Day and Happy Birthday, Jay! We came across this sign advertising and upcoming community hike whilst out on a birthday bike ride in the hills...I can't decide if the illustration is disturbingly creepy or delightfully cute.