SHOPS TO DIE FOR

Let me say at the beginning of this post that I'm not a great shopper.
I'm not a tourist that spends too much time in shops buying clothes and souvenirs.
But today I saw the shop to end all shops!!!!
The wonderful Paris Galleries LaFayette.

In fact you could describe this shop as a work of art.
Filled with tastefully displayed, high end merchandise it positively sparkles!

We wandered, gazed, sampled expensive perfumes, ate a delicious pasta lunch with a glass of wine for 18€ and marvelled at the large numbers of folks who could actually afford to buy these expensive goods.

You'll notice from the photos Tony had to do a bit of fiddling with the camera to capture the scene with a tricky light situation but I just had to show them to you today.

Our local shopping centre/mall back home in Indooroopilly is undergoing a huge renovation.

I don't expect it will be anywhere near this when it' s finished!!

Au revoir .

NOW FOR SOME PHOTOS

Just a few photos today to show you some of the sights.

Today we visited the Luxembourg Gardens, the Parthenon and Sainte Chappelle walking all the way and taking virtually all day to do it with lots of stopping and taking photos.

We've had tomato soup and a toasted sandwich at home tonight for tea as we had a delightful lunch across the road from the gardens and now we are both exhausted. As I write this on the iPad Tony is snoring beside me on the couch...... Nothing new even in Paris !!!!

Can you spot the illegal photo of the Monet paintings taken on Tony's phone?

Cheers

MAKING. CONTACT

Hello from Paris!
I am attempting this post from Tony's iPad so everything is experimental this time round.

Our hopes for cool weather have been granted and Paris is turning on some very cool weather for us!
Our coats and scarves that never get an outing in sunny Queensland are doing a fine job and keeping us warm here in lovely Paris. A perfect start.
We have settled into our apartment in the wonderful Marais district, bought necessities from the local Marche and plunged into enjoying Paris . It feels very comfortable the second time around.

Yesterday we walked and walked and walked. We started the day with an early morning visit to rue Montorguiel - a pedestrianised market street where we watched Parisians do their weekly shopping and breakfasted on a croissant and a hot chocolate in a warm cafe. No need for anything with the croissant as you would if you had one at home. It was crisp and buttery and you pull off chunks and just eat it ....... Absolutely Devine!!!! Bought some lovely strawberries and baguettes, jambon, fromage and tomatoes for lunch back at the apartment.

Then we walked down rue St Honore towards the Louvre and looked at the shops. End of Winter sales everywhere and lovely stuff to buy but mainly just looking for us. We strolled through the fore court at the Louvre where the crowds were the usual numbers.  We are a little taken back at the huge and quite intimidating police presence around the streets of Paris and large numbers of soldiers patrolling carrying their guns seemingly on full alert.

Our objective in the afternoon was the Musee de L'Orangerie where huge waterlilly paintings by Monet are displayed. If you saw the movie Midnight in Paris you may remember them from it. It was disappointing that photos were not allowed as just a stone's throw away visitors are clicking away madly in the Louvre and these paintings are truly wonderful. I would have liked to have photos to show you.

Unfortunately I have not worked out how to add photos here as yet but I'll work on it!!!

Cheers... From Paris

CAUGHT UP IN A WHIRLWIND

What a whirlwind of a week we've had here.

 We've had a visit from my brother and his partner passing through in their caravan.
When they arriveD their dear little dog "Honey" had something very wrong with his eye.
It was bright red and really bulging - you can see it in the photo.



A trip to our vet and the verdict was it had been injured, all sight was gone and poor little honey was in a lot of pain.
The only answer was to remove the eye.

 

What a sad and sorry little dog he was when they brought him home late in the afternoon.

I'm pleased to say he is bouncing around just about back to his old self now
and lapping up all the attention his pirate look is getting him.


They left .....
and  Sally arrived with an extra passenger.
Can you see her peeking from the back seat?? 

I'd like to introduce you to Scout - Sally's new puppy - a little ball of fluff and mischief !
 

We spent a lot of time playing with her.
What a little dynamo!

But like most babies she runs out of steam and crashes

and then she's zonked out for a couple of hours and all is peaceful.

Here she's asleep on her quilt - specially made by her grandma to match her Mum's !!
 

Isn't she the cutest thing???


Next came Nana's ( Tony's mother )
92nd  birthday afternoon tea.
It was lovely to get all the family together.
( except for Brett &Sarah - we miss them on these family occasions )




She had a lovely time.



When they all left on Sunday afternoon I told Tony I was locking the doors so no-one else could visit !!

Only three days to go and the suitcases were still on top of the cupboard !!

Monday was spent running around getting last minute things including money !

Tuesday was packing day.
It took me all day till about 3:00pm with a stop for lunch.

I always divide our clothes evenly between cases to guard against luggage going missing.

How dreadful would it be if the suitcase containing all my clothes went missing and Tony's  all arrived safely??

So I carefully mix them up with half of each in each suitcase !!

On arrival at our destination,I unpack into our first accommodation and when I pack up in a week's time, I rearrange everything into his and hers from then on.  ( or hers and his & hers !!)

That done I began to attend to the potplants in the garden room and this is when everything came unstuck.

I bent down to lift a potted palm and a sharp new shoot pierced my eye !!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the doctor's surgery, then the Emergency Room at our local private hospital, then a visit early this morning  ( Wednesday ) to an Eye Specialist.

 

Luckily it is not serious and I've been given the all clear to fly out tomorrow

 for Paris !

 

Phew !

 

Don't know whether I'll be able to blog while I'm away as we only have Tony's ipad with us

but I'll be back at the end of May with lots of stories and photos so until then.....

 

Cheers.

 

TREE CHANGE ANYONE ?

Good friends have recently made a " tree change".

They've sold their house in the city - in our street- and moved from the suburbs of the city  to the country.

This is the country they have chosen.

The area they have chosen is called the Glasshouse Mountains.
Those strange looking mountains in the photo are the Glasshouse Mountains.
Thousands of years ago they were volcanos.
Now all that is left after the outside has been eroded away is the volcano's plug in the centre of the volcano.

They were named by Captain Cook as he sailed past in 1770.
(He thought they looked like glasshouses -go figure !!)



The land surrounding these remnants of volcanos has rich dark soil and is  great for agriculture.

Mangos, pineapples, macadamia nuts, avocados, lychees, kiwi fruit and strawberries are just a few of the crops that thrive in the area.


Today we left home at 7:30 and headed north to join them for breakfast at a local cafe ........




sitting on this pleasant verandah



with  this delightful view.

These are mango trees




and calmly lazing in the shade beneath these trees

 

were a few locals ! 

  

 

 It was quiet.
The sky was blue and the sun not too hot.

A delightful spot.....

 

and look what's growing in their garden!

I'm sure they'll be happy there.

Cheers

BUNNIES OR BILBIES ON THE HIPS?

 

On the morning of Easter Sunday I awoke to find a trail of Easter goodies from the front door to the bedroom.

 

The Easter Bunny had paid us a visit!

 ( must have found a special at Woolworths by the amount of goodies that he left behind !!)

 

 

 

Yes, I said the Easter Bunny

 

not the Easter Bilby.

 

 

 

It's very hard to break the habit of years of Easter Bunnies and replace them with Easter Bilbies

.

 

 

 

If you are having trouble understanding this post perhaps you should follow this link to a post from way back in 2011.

 

 

Whichever way you look at it, all that chocolate is going to make it harder to fit into that aeroplane seat in three weeks time !!

 

Cheers.

DONE

Well it's official!

I hate quilting !!

The little quilt is finished - quilted in the ditch very badly  by me !




Never again.

 

Like making the tops but not prepared to wreck all that hard work by quilting it myself ever again !!