Happy St. Patrick's Day

I thought this mosaic I did with my class of students with Learning Disabilities was the perfect thing to share with you for St. Patrick's Day - being a rainbow that I'm sure has a pot of gold buried at each end.

We spent a fun class making these using dyed crushed egg shells and lots of glue.  The students had to work for each of the colours they got to add to the page so they were learning and having fun at the same time.  Their teacher told me they are going to go wild and design their own pictures with the leftover eggshells which sounded like a lot of fun too.

 Happy St. Patrick's day to all of you!  Do you have special plans for the day?

Linked to Spring Craft Party at Centsational Girl

Day Trips Around Normandy France - Honfleur

France is so gorgeous that you can literally take a different day trip every single day of the week and always find something amazing to see.  Recently I showed you the the day we spent at gorgeous Étretat and today I wanted to show you Honfleur.  


Honfleur is a quaint historic coastal town located on the estuary of the River Siene.  We visited it on a lovely warm summer day - one of those days when the sky is so blue it almost hurts your eyes and it brings all the colours to life.  

Our French friends took us to Honfleur via a small town called Vieux-Port which is part of la Route des Chaumières (which translates as Route of Thatched Houses).   Vieux-Port is about a 45 minute drive from Honfleur and well worth stopping at on your way.   It is a postcard-pretty town along the River Seine famous for its tudor-style homes with thatched roofs and holly hedges.

  

I have never seen plants grown along the seam on thatched roofs, but they did that quite often here - on both gates and homes.  It apparently helps strengthen the seam.

When you finally do arrive at Honfleur after enjoying the gorgeous homes in Vieux-Port, you will not be disappointed.  Honfleur is the kind of quaint town where you find yourself spending the day ambling along pretty streets, climbing narrow stairs, poking your head down alleyways, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the harbour, and just generally soaking up the atmosphere.  Whenever my husband and I visit places like this we always wonder why we live where we do.  

At the heart of Honfleur is the picturesque harbour.

If you are thinking of visiting Honfleur with children - you might want to take a ride on the vintage merry-go-round near the harbour.

Sainte-Catherine Church in Honfleur is the largest wooden church in France.  I loved the patterns made in the wood shingles down the front side of the church.

It has a ceiling that was built to look like a ship's hull,

The town is full of lovely touches like this beautiful door, the chimney pots, the mermaid inset into the wall, and the window boxes full of flowers.

Of special significance for Canadians - well really for any history buff - is knowing that this is where Samuel de Champlain set sail from in 1608 to establish Quebec City.  They installed a plaque on a wall dedicated to him.

Writing this brings back such fond memories for me.  

WISH Wednesday #22

Being that it is St. Patrick's Day in a few days, it seemed appropriate to find a green room for WISH Wednesday.  I'm not sure I would ever have the nerve to paint my cabinets kelly green, but I do think it looks amazing.

Apartment Therapy

These two photos are of the same kitchen, although I notice that the green is quite different (personally I prefer the green in the first photo).  I think all the white in the peninsula cabinet and on the walls and the black in the open shelves, the counter, the stools and the dining room chairs help to balance such an intense colour .  I love the tall wall of tiles with the dark wood open shelves on it and the herringbone wood floor pattern.  And I think the tiny hits of orange are a perfect contrast.

Do you like the dark green cabinets?  Could you paint your kitchen green?

It's Here and I'm Not

I finally found a copy of the magazine that has my first published photograph in it.  It was a pretty exciting moment for me.  There I was standing in the magazine aisle at Loblaws holding the Ladies Home Journal open to page 54 and grinning like a Cheshire cat.   I want to thank Ladies Home Journal for including me in the article and to welcome anyone who is stopping by after reading the article or visiting the LHJ website.

Malcolm and Christie came for a visit yesterday and it was so nice to see them.  It has been difficult to arrange visits since Christmas because of conflicting schedules so we were excited when they said they would be able to come and stay overnight.  I wanted to show you (like any proud momma would) what Malcolm brought me. 

He's turned into quite the accomplished chef.  I'm going to be sharing some of his favourite recipes with you in the near future (just as soon as I make the dishes). In other news, I'm away this week on a road trip.  William and I are off visiting two universities so he can decide which one he would like to attend.   We're going to stop at the cottage on the way home so we can visit my parents and relax a bit as this is our March Break.   I'll be back with some photos next week. I hope those of you with the week off have a nice relaxing time.   I've lined up a St. Patrick's day inspired WISH Wednesday photo and another day trip in Normandy France for Friday to keep you all entertained while I'm away.

A Wedding Shower Present Idea

Spring is just around the corner and that means so is wedding season.  I have an idea that I've been meaning to share with you for a bridal shower gift.  Long ago a friend gave me this idea and I thought it was fantastic.  Funny thing is I have never actually given it.  I have been in the lull between attending showers for my friends and attending showers for my children and their friends and haven't been to very many showers for years so I had no place to use the idea.  However being the helpful person that I am, I thought I would pass it on to you.



Wouldn't it be fun to give a set of seasonal tea towels to a young bride in your life.  It would be a practical gift, one that doesn't matter if there are duplicates, and one that would help the new couple add a bit of decoration to their home.  The trickiest part of this gift is that you need to plan ahead.  As each celebration rolls around then you need to buy a few tea towels - maybe even in the sales after the special day is over.  As the year progresses and you collect each celebration you end up with a complete collection to give.   You could also collect other things such as placemats, serviettes, and napkin rings to help set a festive table.

I took some pictures of my seasonal tea towels - because honestly what's a post without photos -  but when I got my tea towels out to take pictures of them I realized that many of them are past their finest and are a bit worn and faded.  Anyway it gives you the idea.
The different tea towels I have include one for St. Patrick's Day and several for spring/Easter.

I don't really have any for the summer per se, but I have a back-to-school tea towel, and of course, several Hallowe'en tea towels.

I also have many Christmas tea towels and one Valentine's Day one.

What seasonal tea towels do you have?  Wouldn't they have been a fun gift to receive when you were first starting out.