How to teach myself...

Living in a small country, there is something you learn very early in life... there is a lot of foreign soil out there. Where people do things differently, talk differently and all together are different. This either makes you extremely curious about everything, some would say obsessively so, or it makes you just very anxious about everything and everybody that is slightly different from you and yours.
I definitely am a fully paid up member of the first (tribe, I was almost going to say) kind of person. It makes me very happy that I can read, speak and understand Dutch, German and Englisch equally well, to me all three are interchangeable. However, my knowledge of French is lacking far behind. I did quite well in school with it, then abandoned it altogether, on account of the fact that I did not understand the French and therefore that I was never going to France anyway for exactly that reason ( I am the queen of warped logic)... But then for no apparent reason, everything changed late last year.
I had been thinking that I really wanted to go to Paris for a few years, and last November I finally was brave enough to do so... and I fell hard for it. But, I also discovered that my rusty school girl French was really not taking me anywhere. It is the odd word I understand, and I usually can get the gist of what is being said, but I am not able to hold my own in a conversation.
So, being me, that frustrated me no end. I felt I had to do something about it.
I discovered the Petit Nicolas books in Paris, then through some other means discovered that I really love Sempe's drawings, so there was an easy choice. Also that they are children's books made me think that they would be good to start out with. I also got an audiobook with Petit Nicolas stories, to help me get a feel for the rythm of the language. To learn something about the French in general, their culture, way of thinking etc... I got myself a few newspapers, because they are brilliant for that. And just because I am addicted I got myself a few glossy magazines as well.
And there you have it, my self-styled teaching method ( should I patent it?) I really enjoy learning this way. And who knows, one day I could be fluent in French...
A little follow up on my sunflowers. They started to droop a bit, and even though I managed to revive them a couple of times, by the weekend they started to get a bit tired. So... I removed them from their stems alltoghether and put them on this blue plate, as I really like the colour combination. This way, I get a bit more wear out of them and they can cheer me up a bit longer.

Have a great, sunny week!

Somebody cure me...

Off my E-bay habit! With the invention of Paypal, or rather my discovery of it, things went downhill fast... I just love browsing E-bay, and started treating it as my personal fleamarket. I can spend hours browsing and unfortunately will always find something that I really, really, really need...
These are a few of my most recent finds. I got really into Alfred Meakin stuff, and as that is something you do not find a lot of here in this country, E-bay came to the rescue. I adored this plate and had to have it, unfortunately it arrived broken, so now I am trawling the net to have another go...
I so loved the doggy teapot too, it really spells a certain era to me...
Carlton ware and what I call Torquay ware is another thing you will not really see here, so I got myself a few bits and pieces...
There is some more Alfred Meakin (the Montmartre pattern, for obvious reasons), a couple of lovely Susie Cooper platters, a Quimper pin dish, and, and, and...
Are you the victim of certain addictions, obsessions or whatever you want to call it? Please tell me I am not the only person who gets this stuck on things.
I have to apologise for the quality of the photos these last few posts, my poor little camera seems to be getting very tired these days. One day it will completely zonk out on me, I am afraid. So I am desperately looking for another one... Maybe there is one on E-bay?
Leaving you with a picture that I think Matisse would love to paint...
Minus all the dross of course, but there is no escaping books etc in my house.
Off now to my domestic goddess part, baking a lovely blueberry cake and making some ice cream ( my newest obsession). Oh, and to do some knitting of course, need to finish the cardi this weekend!
Enjoy a lovely summer weekend!

It is all yellow these days...

Which is funny, as I never used to like the colour before, suddenly I have developed a " penchant" for it ( oh yes, my French is coming on in leaps and bounds!).
Hello to my lovely bloggy friends, I know, it has been months and months since you heard from me, but indeed, I am still alive and kicking. I am not going to apologise for not being around for so long. There was nothing the matter with me, it simply was a combination of too much working and not being very inspired. It should all get a bit better in this respect, I might get to bore you from time to time again! I am looking forward to catching up with all of your blogs and leaving the odd comment again! Diane, thank you for your comment on my last post, as ever it made me giggle... I wish is all I can say...
This morning I woke up to these lovelies, aren't they just the ticket? I love their colours, they really exude summer to me.
As I opened my eyes even further I noticed how this scarf actually echoes the colours of the flowers. I loved that, it is actually the background of a self portrait by Paul Gauguin. Which is not half as cheery as the background suggests. A couple of months ago I went to a show of paintings by him in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I really love paintings from that period.
Almost a year ago I knitted myself a pea green cardigan. The first thing I knitted again after about 25 years of a knitting free period. I was pretty proud of it, but nobody seemed to notice. Then suddenly as I started to wear it again early summer people started to comment on it. This even resulted in my first commision ever! I am so pleased with that and am really buoyed up now to get a few more. I really love this colour too, and if it were not for the fact that it is discontinued now, I would knit myself something in it too.
Is it just me, or has the light changed again. Suddenly there is such an early autumnal quality to the light again. It catches me by surprise every year right after this:
which spells truly high summer to me. I am glued to the tele every year for this. This year probably more than ever because of my sudden obsession with everything French. Ah well, we all have our little foibles...
Now off to read all your blogs, have a fabulous evening all!