Monet's house & garden

Yesterday night, I returned from a short holiday in Giverny, France. Main goal of our visit: the house of Monet and his oh so famous garden and the waterlily pond.

We went there early in the morning, and I managed to take this picture of the entrance of the house. Half an hour later, the place was crowded with mostly American and Japanese tourists.

At this time of year, the garden is a lust for the eye. Such a pity you can't smell the peonies...


And then of course the pond... you just have to see it for yourself.


After our three hours visit, time to get a salad and coffee afterwards at Hotel Baudy, the place where all the artists (mostly Americans) would stay in Monet's time. Just lovely!



We had a room with a view at an old mill. Our stay for three days was too short... my husband wanted to paint a lot of the scenery there, but the weather wasn't so good.
If you want to have a look at his (wonderful) paintings, go here.

Golden days

September glow on the pond,

the company of a lovely cat,

autumn flowers,

...and working on my sampler!
It has been a hectic week, lots and lots of work, but I tried to enjoy my garden as much as possible (a lot of coffee-breaks).

Busy bee

And yet again it was a busy, busy week, with a trip to Brussels, for the opening of this exposition.


On the one day I was home this week, I found the time to bake a mascarpone cake roll with raspberries, picked in my own garden. Normally they are all eaten by blackbirds, but not this summer!

Yesterday, we went to Ghent, to visit the Art School where my son studies. We saw a lot of promising art work.


And then we took the yellow brick road to...

...an information day about bees and beekeeping at the university of Ghent. We were invited by a good friend who works there.

Today, the summer holiday is starting. I hope it will be two months of reading, working in the house and the garden, crafting,....
I begin my week with a moment of meditation by the pond. And you?

June

A nice discovery this week: we have hundreds of tiny fish in our pond, too little to take a picture of them! But I tried to photograph the proud parents...