
As seen in our local paper tonight.
Who said the Minervois wasn’t rocking?

As seen in our local paper tonight.
Who said the Minervois wasn’t rocking?

It’s girly wirly fleur time on the blog. We were out on our morning walk and in the distance I spied the first blossom for the year…

Quelle belle surprise. It’s cold and about to snow again, friends left right and centre are ‘aol’ with colds and flu, but the sight of that beautiful pink… I go crazy in my head with excitement when I see the first trees in flower – and this was my first for 2013.

I know it’s only early Feb, but it gets me thinking of all the flowers to come – and Ding! goes my head with visions of colour and splendour from last year’s pickings.
So hell yeah, let’s have a cheesy insert to follow.
A ‘Collage de Fleurs’!…

So how idid it feel to be home? Wonderful.
One minute you’re here, in a flash you’re there and suddenly and wonderfully, it feels like you’ve never left. The brown grass is the same, the clean grid of houses is the same, Mum and Dad are at the airport to pick us up and cruise us home, their dog is at the door, all the smells are the same, the beautiful trees are the same, the coffee is a lot better than you know where… A lot of things have never changed and I love it.
But there is a weird part to coming back and this part is where you fit in with people. Being away for most of the year means you have to step back and accept the distance from these loved people on an everyday level. Sure, I make calls home and speak to my parents often, but it isn’t the same and I’ve had to sort of ‘train’ myself to endure the distance by allowing myself to let go. It’s too hard for me to keep it up 100% in two places at once. My heart is in both, but I take a step back and act less wherever I am not. Then suddenly, I come back and have to get a handle on my excitement – near-hysteria – over seeing all these adored people in person again. This can be really strange. I act either overwhelmed and vague or like a babbling idiot, wanting to toast every moment with everyone with gallons of bubbles. Not good for the head.
Look, sorry for the blah it’s hard to explain. I’ll try and explain it better later.
For now I want to celebrate having new eyes on home. Images and places I always took for granted seem to be so exotic now! Australia can be so tres chic – and oh so wonderfully tres kitsch. I always knew this I guess about home, but now I love it even more.



















Talk about extremes. 44 degrees Celsius and then minus 4 in just over a week. 15 000km apart.
There’s ground to cover from my trip to Oz, but I just had to share these pics first!
We were ragged and hot (and sick) and then arrived home to this…
Crazy!!
l’Australie…



La France…

But stay tuned! Pics from Oz to follow…

A big Hip hip to this New Year, 2013! May it be a good one for all and a happy and healthy one.
Just thought I’d say I haven’t forgotten about the blog, just busy cruising the streets in S.A. (South Australia) and lapping up as much quality time as possible, before the annually dreaded departure. Gotta make the most of it!
But somehow there’s those petite ‘mon Dieu’ surprises that always bring France back to mind…

Back soon…