Saturday, August 28, 2010

....and more catching up








I spent my afternoon off this week with one hand up a giraffe's backside. Yes, I know, the things we do. Didn't hurt either of us a bit. My new creation is one of the softies Melly from Melly and Me designed for the Daylesford Craft Experience back in July (it was a great day out and Melly is as lovely as I thought she'd be.) The dear little giraffe is a gift for my new nephew Thomas in NZ. Hope he likes it - do you think he will consider the design merits and how very well it is stuffed as he dribbles on it? Maybe not.

The crafty day out was two days before my trip overseas - what an enjoyable way to get out of packing and house-organising! We've been back home, and back to normal, for three weeks. The weather has been cold and wet for most of that time and it's hard to believe we were away from home for five weeks, seeing fabulous sights, eating wonderful food, having such a good time and feeling WARM.

The highlight of our trip - apart from Monet's garden which is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous - was spending time with friends and family - Majken in Copenhagen, Jean-Luc and Sylvie and their daughter Anne-Laure in France, John and Carol, our Aussie friends, in a small village in Portugal. Randolph and Sue and their extended family came over to Singapore - where we were staying with Rosy, our daughter, who lives in China - from their home in Johore Bahru, Malaysia, to take us out for a big lunch. It's so nice to have friends who live in interesting places!

We spent two weeks in France - a week in Paris and the rest of the time in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Le Puy en-Velay and Avignon - all fabulous places with lovely countryside in between. Must say we got a bit blase about 13th century thises and 16th century thats! I'd go back to France in a heartbeat. Enough writing; hope you enjoy the pics. No captions cos I'm too lazy. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.