Au Revoir Madame Paris

She was a small lady but such a grand person. She had lived her entire life here in the village of Oyes, born on the same farm where she passed away two weeks ago. At a young age she lost her father and that was when she took over the family farm with her husband Felix. Felix passed away some three years ago and madame Paris did feel lonely sometimes. 

Once she said to me "La vie est bien faite et puis elle n'est pas bien faite" So simple and so wise. 

She carried vegetables and eggs to our house but more importantly she carried great wisdom that was always welcome. 

The news of her death was shocking, yes, she had been ill for most of spring but she was always outside and didn't skip one single of the two daily walks she took her dog Dora on, so we were looking forward to seeing more of her during the holidays, exchanging courgettes for lemon cakes and learning more lessons on harvesting fruit and trimming trees. 

We had even brought a print out of a picture Michel took of her and her dog in front of our house. Michel gave it to her daughters on the day of her death. In stead of hanging on her kitchen wall it was used for the cover of the folder distributed at her funeral. 

Michel and I talk about how it is possible that someone we had only known for a year has had such a big impact on us. I can't tell you the answer exactly, but she was a very special person and we will miss her greatly and cherish the memory of Madame Paris. (1930-2011)

Janinne Paris walking Dora, April 2011

Michel 40, Summer Holidays, and Family visit

Finally the long awaited day was here, 2nd of July, party time. We had guests from near and far come and celebrate the forty-year-young birthday boy. 

It was a great day, the weather Gods were on our side and made dinner a sunny, happy feast for everyone. 

We were really happy and honoured to have guests drive all the way from Antwerp, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Some flew in from the Faroes and my cousin from Pennsylvania was here as well, thank you all.  It was quite a day for us. 

We are now officially on our summer holidays and enjoying every minute of it, we are as lucky as to have had and still have plenty of family visits. Leyvoy and Alain were here for a few days and my lovely aunt Turid. 

Both of my sisters have been here with their families, Turid is leaving tomorrow. My friend forever Marita was here with her family and last but not least we have the pleasure of having our omma around us for a few weeks. So nice to compensate for all the time that we miss each other during the year. 

Here are a few pictures, enjoy!

Michel's birthday

The youngest party animals, dressed to kill :)

The Dutch guys

The dance floor

The day after

Madeleine and Sarah in the garden of the Abbey of Saint-Gond, beautiful rental house just 500 meters from our house.

The kids

Sisters and brothers (in law anyway)

Poppies, Klaprozen, Valmuur, but I like best "Coquelicots", so romantic... 

Biking with the dolly in the child seat, well a horsy really...

Magnificent Magna!

Mamma

Dutch friends and Louis 10!!

Hi you all,
I haven't been as active as I  wish on my blog, but here's some news from Oyes.

We were very happy to welcome our Dutch friends Stefan and Marije with their three lovely kids, Malou, Sem and Amélie for some time together. Reminded us of happy times in Amsterdam when we were young(er).
Besides fun and joyous, there visit was highly inspiring, Marije is a great decorator and we even made a deal that they will come and help us out with some painting and decorating over the summer :)... exciting!
They stayed a few days longer than us as their kids were on holiday, did some day trips to Paris and Disneyland.
Ever since we bought the house I've been talking about Paris, this summer I will definitely go there and I will do it on my bike, with my mother :)

Cherry tree, heavy with fruit

Cherry blossom girl

Enjoying hot weather and good food that Stefan and Marije cooked for us :)

Marije

Sem

Malou

Stefan 

Amélie

 Louis boy - 10 years old!!

Louis celebrated his birthday with his two best friends Liam and Lander. Emil invited his long time friend David for the occassion.

We had a nice day out to the medieval city of Provins, the boys got really creative and treated us to several shows in the theater room in the garden.

We had birthday cake and dinner with Mike and Glenis, Lili and Amelia. 

Next time Michel's up for his 40th!! That will be FUN :)

Emil and David relaxing in our new (old) chairs from Liliane and J-P

The big boys hanging out in the shed, far away from the grown-ups ;)

Medieval wasn't quite long ago enough... they went prehistoric :)

We picked the cherries, I put some 5 kg in my freezer, will be good for home made cherry sauce and jam later :)

Kids asleep... a nice cuppa...

L3

They are so funny, gotta love them...

Mr. Handsome <3

It's a kind of magic

It's been a magical spring altogether, the weather has been so so sweet ever since March. 

We were in Oyes last weekend, Louis didn't join us as he had an upcoming exam in his drama class. He spent a quiet weekend at his grandparents' to everyones joy. 

This left an empty seat in the car which was taken in by Karel, Karel is Emil's mate, they go to school together and he lives around the corner. The two 8 year-olds had heaps of fun, playing with water, climbing trees and going for bike rides. 

Madeleine played with neighbour and surrogate sister Lili non-stop as usual, they had a sleep over at our place this time :)

I took some pictures of the young fruits on the different trees, I can look at them for ages, you have to understand that where I come from fruit solely comes from the supermarket... fruit trees is like something out of the garden of Eden. 

Next time we will go for a bit longer, have a long weekend coming up, still plenty of work to do before we're summer ready... 

Almost forgot, Karel and Emil each planted some carrot seeds... I wonder how that will work out, but being in the garden of Eden I guess they will just grow :)

Until next time my friends, so long!

Water fun with Karel

Emil

Karel

Roses are red

 My babies :)

Apples

More apples

Apples again

Raspberries

raspberries

don't know what these are, don't think they're eatable

Pèche is a beautiful word, and these are the cutest peaches ever :)

And the cherries almost ripe now

And here's the princesses of the "Reine Claude" tree (prunes)

Friends and relaxation

A lovely weekend in the sign of friendship.  Sas and I hit the road on Thursday evening with Madeleine and Maxime on the back seat, teeth brushed and pyjamas on for a quiet route.

We had the best weekend, the weather Gods spoiled us with loads of sunshine. The garden looks beautiful (what else is new ;) ) the roses are out now, big pink roses.

I mowed the lawn, planted some flowers and some basil. We walked about in the village, went out for lunch in Sézanne, had a barbecue with Glenis and Mike and enjoyed lang talks and good laughs.

The other little girlfriends well worth mentionning, Lili and Madeleine, didn't lose sight of each other the whole weekend. Started Friday at noon between classes, Friday night finishing off with a sleepover at Lili's, breakfast together then out for lunch in Sézanne, with the appropriate hand bags and hats of course, play play play in the afternoon.

I was quite pleased to have her back at 10 pm... after she'd managed to join the B&B guests for a barbecue :)

Will be heading back down in two weeks time, can't wait.



Sas and Maxime in l'Eclerc




Lunch in front of the cathedral in Sézanne