Well in reality it’s All Saints Day – no not Halloween, All Saints is held on the 1st November and is a public holiday here in France, but as it on Sunday this year, no public holiday as such. One of the traditions is the placing of flowers (generally chrysanthemums) on graves. Chrysanthemums tend to be associated with death in France because of this tradition. But I will say one thing there are a lot of them for sale at the moment and I think that they are lovely. I’m seriously considering planting some in my garden for next year, but I’m not sure what my French neighbours will think. I also wonder what they think about my pot of Chrysanthemums (a gift from an English friend) that is at my front door!
My lovely chrysanthemums
The window box
Anyway it has been a good two weeks since I last wrote. I’ve had my birthday, which was a lovely relaxing day. Mr P made me breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and a slice of toast along with a small glass of bubbles (along with my coffee). As I had already received my present (my camera from when we went away in September) all I asked for was a card and the breakfast, but my lovely husband also had a red rose, chocolates and a big bottle of Champagne (yes the real stuff) and a wonderful window box of flowers along with my breakfast. I was very impressed and felt incredibly special. Unfortunately I did still have to work that day.
My rose
Last Sunday we went to the local Chestnut festival (yep you did read that correctly). It was a very big fete with lots happening. We met up with Pat’s camera club and slowly lost them all around the fete. We did try to find them again, but alas no luck. However we came across some interesting things – one being a sausage stand selling different types of dried sausages, have a look at the picture below. We did manage to avoid the local chestnut sausage which is basically black pudding with chestnuts. We also nearly got mown down by one of the local bands. After a final walk around (and searching for missing camera club) Pat and I headed home for lunch. The inside of the church was decorated with an incredible display of flowers which was amazing, my photos may not be the best but it gives you an idea.
 every window had these |
 At the entrance |
 The first basket has Kangaroo Sausages! |
 Siena being good (for a moment) |
Talking of flowers (lots of flowers this week) the sunflower in the back yard is still going strong. I’m amazed it has done so well. I guess even though it is cooler, and can get quite cold at night for the most part our days are still reasonable. It was 19 degrees centigrade yesterday and today so it’s not been freezing.
The Christmas party invitations have started, obviously some of these are for the UK. I was thinking about going to two of them – one in the south of England and the other in Yorkshire – spending a couple of days in Leicester in-between. But I must admit, I’ve done so much travelling this year (well it feels like in comparison with the previous year when I only did one trip) that I have pulled out of the York do. So I’m just going to one of my client’s Christmas meal (the meal is costing more than my plane fare – thankfully I don’t have to pay for the meal). The event is also very close to my brother and sister in law’s so I’m getting to spend a couple of days with them which is great. Will have to drag the laptop with me as I will still need to work but I really can’t complain.
So on that note, and just to remind you all, there are now 54 days before Christmas!
Remember Pats blog – http://patblog.patbell.co.uk
And I will see you again in 2 weeks.
The band, complete with drums