Sunday, November 16, 2014

FRANCE - A CHANCE OF A LIFETIME!

Me + a Surgical Boot + France = 
Well, I'd like to go back when I can walk.
However, I was able to get some fabulous pictures of the south of France. 
I went for an art retreat being taught by my sweet friend,
Stephanie Rubiano. We traveled together to get there, finally ending up
in Darfort, France, a tiny village where we stayed in a chateau
on one of a few streets that made up the village. 
I'm going to share the trip with you in photos. 
Some explanations, mostly just the photos. Enjoy!!
(And I apologize for the crazy spacing - I can't make it change!)

Flying overseas isn't fun. I can assure you that when I go back
(and I sincerely hope to go back someday) that I'm flying 
business class. I will. May have to take out a loan. ;)
.

This was a little disconcerting. This was the Toulouse, France, airport. 
I was determined to get a picture on the sly. Done. 
Didn't want to chance being thrown into a French prison for taking covert
pictures of their machine gun totting military.




A wonderful gathering place at the bottom of the two or three
streets in Darfort.

Our street in Dufort. 



The living room of our chateau.


Staircase to second floor where we slept in amazing bedrooms.
Windows open all the way and there aren't screens in the whole of
the south of France. And, no, no problems with bugs.
There's also another staircase to the 3rd floor art studio.
Quite the challenge when you're wearing a surgical boot!


Tracy's crown for her project.


Working hard in class.


Marilyn working on her piece.


Stephanie, the teacher, is on the right.

The kitchen - notice how small the ice box is - 
that's because the chef goes to market every day and buys fresh.
It was so refreshing eating what she concocted with 
fresh fruits and vegetables she would buy.




I love the look of the whites drying against the stone wall.

Dessert - freshly made yogurt with fresh fruits. Delicious.


The waterfall off of the back of the patio.
It was such a beautiful sound.

Market


Homemade breads. A staple.





The street(s) surrounding market.

The houses are old, beautiful old, and built up (like 3 floors).

I love architecture - especially doors, old buildings and windows.
Me and my camera. #love




The beauty touched my heart deeply.

A flea. So wonderful.


My treasures start here. I found some things I absolutely loved!



A vintage child's dress. 
(Maybe one day a granddaughter's dress. The thought makes me smile.)

A lady's vintage nightgown. A gift to my best friend, Annette.


French kitchen towels. I LOVE THEM. The monograms; who owned them before?; what kind
of life did they live? I think that question about the child's dress and the lady's nightgown.


Wine was a drink of choice! This man is eating alone. I LOVED the people
and capturing their uniqueness with my camera.


Sunflower fields are abundant. We arrived at the end of the season 
but they were still beautiful!




Our hostess and chef in the red shoes saying goodbye to us all in front of our chateau. 
She was such a wonderful cook and a delightful hostess. 
She made our visit so comfortable!

I hope you enjoyed some of the hundreds of photos I took.
I hope you got a feeling of the south of France and my experience.
And, as you leave Durfort, and all villages, you see this kind of sign.
Love it.
          Love you,

Sunday, September 7, 2014

A WEDDING IN PHOTOS

Wow. I had no idea how long it would take to upload a mere percentage of the photos taken of Blake and Heather's wedding by my sister, Joan, a professional photographer (and home chef). Add to those the ones taken by the semi-neverwillbeprofessional photographer, me, of the reception. I gave up two days to post this blog. But, oh, it's so worth it.

I want you to feel like you were there with me or if you were there with me, I want you to re-live July 25th, 2014. What an amazing day of love, of marriage, of wonderful new family, of friends dear to my heart, of #family. Having my precious family, the people I love the most in the world, all together - absolutely priceless! My amazing U.B.,  my precious PAJ, my most wonderful sister, my heart - my cousin, Melinda, my sweetest little cousin, Marti LJ & precious Vince, my Annette, Uncle John, the boys, Frank, my most wonderful SIL, Eileen & my darling niece, Meghan, my nephew, Tyler, and his sweet family. And everyone else that I've forgotten to list. (I'm sorry) The entire day was such a blessing. My son, Blake, married the love of his life, Heather, my new daughter. She is such a great DIL - I knew she would be before they even got married.

I have Jana, my first DIL whom I adore and Clay, Craig & Morgan, Clay's precious girlfriend. Adding Frank to that equation and I would call myself the most blessed person I know. Ya know what I mean? So, here's the day in photos. Just a small number considering over 1,000 were taken by Joan (999) and myself (not 999).











Our new family, David and Barbara Hosler, Heather's folks. Precious people.
Oh, and the second row, our Craig and Sammy, our "new son".


I want to show you some of the decorations at the reception...

The Couple's Table





 What a big smile! A Michigan groom's cake.
Happy, happy Michigan fan!

Heather and Blake invited guests to highlight their favorite
passage in their Bible. Lovely!


 First Dance

 Father Daughter Dance

Mother Son Dance

That family #I LOVE.
Meghan, Marti, Melinda, me, Frank, PAJ, Eileen
and Joan!

I learned something new during the reception.
My precious son, Clay, breaks it out whenever The Wobble
is played. Evidently our new Sam does, too!

 Seriously?? What a hoot! I had no idea!!

 Line dancing took over.


 A selfie of Blake and two of the women with whom he teaches. 
So many of the staff at his school came to the wedding - they really love
this sweet boy and he loves them. It was a lot of fun visiting with them all!



Heather with Clay's girlfriend, Morgan, a bridesmaid.

A re-inactment of a photo taken at Blake, Hannah (Jones Brown) and Brat's 
8th grade graduation.
I just love this picture. Brittany (Stone Ishmael) was a bridesmaid 
and Blake's best friend since elementary school.




The End to a wonderful experience
and the beginning of a God centered marriage.

I hope you enjoyed the photos
and I want to thank you for reading my blog!
Sweet comments always welcome!!

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