I'm Definitely Not POSH

I recently found out what posh means and apparently I'm not posh!  The word posh comes from the days when the Brits travelling to India by ship and the best cabins were on the port (left) side out to India and on the starboard (right) side home  - Port Out Starboard Home.  I am apparently not posh, however, as I was seated on the starboard side of the plane (if airplanes have a port and starboard side) the entire way to Bangladesh.  

Kim and I minutes after e met up in the Abu Dhabi airport - do we look a little relieved?

Not to worry, though, I'm thrilled to be here after all those months of planning and waiting. Incredibly my friend Kim and I met up in Abu Dhabi (in the Middle East) just as planned - she was flying in from Toronto and I was flying in from Europe.  It was the middle of the night and a beautiful round moon shone over the tip of the wing the whole way to Bangladesh.  We had a wild noisy ride to the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed once we landed.  I was in the front seat of the van and believe me there were many moments that made me twitchy with people crossing the roads between cars and buses competing to get ahead of each other and rickshaws along the side of the road.  Not to mention the noise - whistles and horns and motors.  Oh my!  

Both Kim and I have completed our first lectures and feel exhausted, but satisfied that we are accomplishing something.  I am teaching a course on Autism and Developmental Delays to a third year class and an Introduction to Speech-Language Therapy to the first years.  The students are keen to learn and ask us to slow down if we speak too quickly or to explain it again if they don't understand what we are saying.  

The heat is very intense - think bathroom-after-a-long-hot-shower hot!  And surprisingly it hasn't rained yet, although it is the monsoon season.  We have huge overhead fans that are going continually to keep us somewhat cool and we wet our shawls to cool us down.  Kim and I went out on the first day and bought material and had a tailor make us some salwar kameezes to wear.  The cotton is a lovely soft thin cotton and they are loose so really are the coolest things to wear while maintaining the appropriate level of modesty.

They are very used to foreigners here at CRP so the food is safe and just the right amount of spices.  So far I've loved everything that was served and could really get used to having someone cook lunch and dinner for me.  We get our own breakfast - usually tea, toast, and oranges.

I just thought you might want to see a few glimpses of how life is unfolding in Bangladesh.  The lectures are taking a lot of time to prepare so we have long, tiring, but satisfying days.

Three Amusing French Sights

I've already shared many of the things that impressed me about France in previous posts, but here are a few that struck my funny bone.


1) The seven brides (with their grooms) that we saw at the Arch de Truimph.

2)  The security guards, police, and vans along a street near the Seine all gathered together, so we were told, because they were having a Carnival later in the day.  Yikes - it must be some kind of wild carnival!

3. Everyone gathered around the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.  There are so many people that you can hardly see her way off in the distance.  She's one popular lady, is all I can say!

Inspired By Life in France

I'm en route to Bangladesh right now, and while I have a bit of time with internet access I thought I would reminisce about all the inspiring things I saw in France - things I would love to incorporate into my life and home.


I was inspired by the colourful flowers in the gardens.  Okay, I do realize that the garden in the photo below is at Versailles and they do everything on a grand scale, but I love the mix of colours - a girl can dream!

I was inspired by the window boxes and planters that adorned everyone's homes.

I fell in love with the amazing pink, purple, and blue hydrangea bushes we saw blooming everywhere we went.  I have an overwhelming desire to run out and plant a hydrangea when I get home.

I was also inspired by the wild flowers growing along the roadsides.  I was crazy about the wild poppies (called coquelicot in France) and would love to plant some of them as well.

I was inspired by all the delicious food and wine and would definitely love to bring more of that into my life.

I have a sweet tooth so the pastries and macaroons stole my heart.  I especially loved the way they were displayed in the shops.  Aren't they divine!

I can't forget the subway tiles.  I didn't realize that the Paris subway was lined with white rectangular glazed tiles, hence the name.  They really are classic and so lovely.  I would love to use them in a kitchen or bathroom some day.

I also was inspired by the lovely soft colours in the florals I saw on a wallpaper in the Napoleon III rooms in the Louvre (seen below in detail and then in a more distant shot of the room),

and the same colours on Marie Antoinette's bed in Versailles.

I was also inspired by the garden chairs I saw in the Jardin de Tuileries near the Louvre.  So simple, so inviting, so comfortable!

Doesn't France inspire you?  It makes me want to add more beauty to my life, to take more time and care with how things look and taste, and to slow down and enjoy life.  

Au Revoir France

It seems amazing to me that our ten days in France are coming to a close.  It has been just as wonderful and memorable a holiday as we had hoped.   We spent the first three days, just the two of us, in Paris (well, along with a few hundred thousands Parisians), and then we joined our French friends in Normandy. 


Our vacation was equal parts - 


good food,

Eating Mussels in Etretat - yep I ate the whole bowl full!

amazing sights,

The Louvre in the early morning sunlight

some famous,

some not so famous,

Garden in a small village near Honfleur, Normandy

and, of course, romantic.

The beautiful crescent moon over the Seine on our last night in Paris.

Today hubby goes home overloaded with photos (yep, I took over 3000 photos - my kind of souvenir) and fantastic memories and I head off to Bangladesh.  

Good bye France!  And good bye hubby - see you in five weeks!

Guest Post - Ricki Jill from Art @ Home

Today Ricki Jill from Art @ Home has volunteered to help me out by writing a guest post while I am away for the summer.  She lives in Alabama and writes a lovely blog that features art, books, decorating, and her wonderful family.  You should pop on over for a visit - after you read her post here that is.  Thanks Ricki Jill!

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My name is Ricki Jill, and my blog is called Art @ Home.  I like to blog about art, books, my family, and fun activities.  When Grace asked me to guest post while she helps others in Bangladesh, I was more than happy to help; it is an honor!  Sense and Simplicity is one of my favorite blogs.  Grace was one of my very first "bloggy friends,"   and she has helped me out on more than one occasion as a Newbie Blogger.


Grace has asked that I answer these three questions in my post:


1.   What is the oldest thing in your home?


2.   What is your favorite thing you have either made or remade?


3.   What is your favorite room in your house and why?


The oldest thing in our home is the antique English walnut armoire we now have in our dining room.  The armoire was brought over from England by Mr. Art@Home's great grandfather, Charles Peter Treleaven.  Charles was a ship's captain for the White Star Line, and he was originally from Cornwall, England.  He moved his family to New Orleans in 1895, and then he sent his three sons to Mississippi State.  He wanted his sons to be landlocked and not away from their families for months at a time.  The armoire probably originated from his wife's family, Ethol Elizabeth Miller.  My sister-in-law, Lundy, provided me with most of this information, and she thinks the armoire might have been made in the 1870's.  Trip's family always used the armoire for clothing, but I am using it for silver, linens, and craft supplies.

The favorite thing I have made is certainly not my best, but it is special to me.  My friends had been encouraging me to take art classes for a very long time, so they bought me a birthday outing to Sips 'n Strokes.  We had the most fun, and I painted this Burning Rose that night.  One reason it was fun is because we used palette knives!  Their encouragement eventually led me to Red Dot and my art classes.  This painting is so obnoxious (there is even puff paint on it) that I had to buy the gaudiest frame I could find and hang it in my dining room!

You might think that our dining room is my favorite room based on the answers to questions 1 and 2, but my favorite room {lately} is our family room.  It is not our prettiest room, but it is comfortable.  Plus, it has the best ceiling fan in the house!

Thanks so much for visiting Sense and Simplicity while Grace is away.  I enjoyed writing this post for y'all!

Blessings!
Ricki Jill