Dear readers,

Chers lecteurs,

Going shopping in December around here is pure craziness. There's just nowhere to park and even if you can park, there are so many people in the aisles that it gets on my nerves in no time and there's no need to tell you the lines at the cashier are "as long as a day without bread" (French saying).

Alors qu'il est impossible de trouver la moindre place pour garer sa voiture dans les parkings des magasins en ces temps de fêtes, j'ai décidé d'utiliser ma méthode habituelle: dénicher sur Le Bon Coin l'objet de mes rêves et aller le chercher, ayant ainsi l'occasion d'une petite ballade.

So I went shopping my way today. I found something I liked and needed on the Internet, phoned the lady selling it and hopped in the car.

Of course, I wandered in the town the seller lived in.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures... The light was just "bleak" today.I actually love the colour of the skies at this time of the year.

As many old towns, it is built on a hill top... which makes visiting the town rather tiring!

Lamballe is an old medieval town with lots of tiny narrow streets, so taking a picture with a camera like mine is a challenge, as I can never get a whole house in the frame!

Lamballe est une jolie petite ville médiévale dont les rues sont tellement étroites qu'il est difficile d'avoir le recul nécessaire pour prendre des photos!

I swear I didn't drink before taking the pictures! The houses are wonky, either because they are very old or because they never were straight to begin with!

Non, non, je n'avais pas bu avant de prendre les photos. Les maisons ne sont juste pas droites du tout!

I'm so sorry the square was being redone unfortunately for my pictures...

I saw glimpses of beautiful houses hidden behind big gates.

And even a white xxx was blooming in December!

Can you see the house has interior shutters?

Obviously, I couldn't walk those streets without thinking of the unfortunate Princess of Lamballe who was a close friend to Marie-Antoinette and was killed during the 18th century revolution. She never walked those streets, though.

Evidemment, en arpentant ces rues, j'ai eu une pensée pour la pauvre princesse de Lamballe, même si elle n'a probablement jamais mis les pieds dans cette ville!

La Princesse de Lamballe, by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.

Thanks for joining me in that cold and damp weather for the walk!

Now, to see what I bought today, you'll have to come back!

Magali, from The Little White House xxx

Dear readers,

With everything that's happening at the house (you can check here), I thought I deserved, or at least needed, some time off.

My parents live in a lovely town so I left my paintbrushes in their garage and headed downtown.

It's on the seaside.

There are the most beautiful houses to admire while walking by.

It's also a city where there are wonderful bakers.

Tell me your mouth is not watering... Liars!

There's also a shop that has yummy old-fashioned (and still hand-made) lollipops.

In the right jar, the lollipop flavour is typical from Brittany: salted butter fudge. Yummy!

Plus, bonus for me, it's amazing how many English shops there are in this French town!

"Jane Petticoat" has the most perfect china!

The owner of this tea room is always smiling. Have a look inside.

There's even an antique shop that specializes in everything English and old from teaspoons to china cabinets....

The best thing is maybe that the owner has a delicious accent...from Spain!

OK, I was just kidding, not about the accent, she's truly Mediterranean, but about this being the best thing.

The best thing is that it's the only shop on the coast selling...

that's right, Emma Bridgewater mugs!!! I love how Emma Bridegwater create designs that are traditional with a twist. I spend several minutes every week on their website, daydreaming... It would look so beautiful on my future kitchen shelves...

Speaking of, did you know that  Sarah, from Modern Country Style, is having an "Emma Bridgewater giveaway"? Really I shouldn't tell you, but go & visit her blog if you love what you see here:

If you don't already know Sarah's blog by heart, please click below:

Magali, from a very English French town

OK, so there wasn't much of a parade actually as it was my parents and I quietly at home. But it was a super nice day.

D'accord, ce n'était pas une vraie parade, car traditionnellement, mes parents et moi passons Pâques tranquillement ensemble. Mais il faisait tellement beau que la promenade s'est transformée en quelque chose de magique.

The weather was so nice... We went for a walk... Flowers blooming everywhere made it magical.

It does look like a scene from a movie, doesn't it? Like the flowers were put there, just for us!

I really enjoyed the quiet walk and being outside of my garden for the day... It actually gave me strength to go back gardening the next day with new energy! My mother gave me a book called "How to organise your garden" and the author says  it's good to make a sketch of what we want when redoing a garden... I'll try to do that during the week.

J'ai adoré sortir de mon jardin qui me demande tant de travail en ce moment. Cette pause m'a redonné de l'énergie... En plus, mes parents m'ont donné un énorme coup de main sur le déracinage!

A last glimpse of the flowers in my garden:

Ma maman m'a offert un livre de conseils sur comment créer son jardin: ils recommandent de faire un dessin de ce que l'on a en tête. Je vais essayer ça dans la semaine!

Magali, from the Little White House

If you've had a look at the weather button I have on the blog, you know it's been raining for days here... So much for my theory saying that there is at least a ray of sunshine a day here!!! I think it would cheer me up to remember better days, maybe it could also cheer you up.

A few month ago, the sun was out every morning, not lazy as it is now!

This is in memory of my beloved (and authentic) Panama hat, that unfortunately drowned in the sea a few days later. I so blame myself for not teaching it how to swim.

Can you see the medieval castle in the background? This place is just breathtaking, and only an hour away from the Little White House.

I loved the castle as I'm a history buff... But I really adored "Dame Isabelle's Garden". The owners actually still live in the castle (can you imagine living here? Wow!) and Dame Isabelle designed a medieval garden.

This is how it looked at the very beginning of spring:

And in the middle of the summer (taken from the opposite angle):

I'm dreaming of a medieval square garden in my second garden later on and this one was inspiring (the square above is the one with aromatic herbs aka in French as "jardin de simples"). Right now, my garden looks like a jungle, but a gardener is coming to help me in February: we'll remove some of the trees, shrubs and the remains of the very old henhouse, so next year I'll begin a fruit garden. Why waiting February? Because we need to have access to my garden through the field behind the garden and right now something is growing there... The farmer said it would be ok in February... Can't wait.

If you're interested in history, you might want to visit the website: Fort La Latte.

They even have a picture of the huge fireplace inside the Governor's house that you don't get to visit as it is still the home of the owners.