Beuzeville Part 1

This is the small town we're closest to. It's about three miles from the chateau. It's a very pretty town and has a lot of services, including about ten restaurants. The plaque in the top and second pictures is on the church and is a visible reminder of World War 2. There are a lot of such reminders - the town's graveyard has several Union Jacks still flying, and the commonwealth war graves are still tended.

The donkeys were in the middle of town. Did I mention we're in a big agricultural area? Also in the middle of town are cows, miniature horses and chickens. Everything is in backyards. The house below seems deserted and we thought it looked pretty.

All the main streets have flower baskets on the lampposts. I thought they looked nice. This is looking south in town from just south of the church.

LeMans

These are posted, not because I went to LeMans, but because my husband, a coworker, and my son did. They went for the qualifying trials on Sunday and I stayed home and stitched. I decided maybe someone's interested in racing and besides, he wanted to show off pictures to my daughter still in the States, so here they are. He goes back weekend after next for the 24 Hours of LeMans with my son. I expect I'll post more pictures of it then.

I'm temporarily out of pictures, but will have new ones, including stitching, on Friday.

Pont Audemer

Pont Audemer is the nearest town of any real size to us. We went there after Deauville on Saturday. The top picture is of the stitch shop I found just off the square with the church of St. Ouen. It not only has cross stitch supplies, but needlepoint and quilting. It's really unusual to find quilting supplies in France. The owners spoke English, too! Anyway, I bought a few things and will take pictures of them on Friday. I'll definitely be going back there next week, too. The second picture is of the church. I loved the idea of begonias growing out of the walls. There are supposedly some really pretty stained glass windows inside, but we didn't go in this trip.

The last three pictures are of the area around one of the main squares. It was a busy day and we ate lunch in one of the creperies opposite the church.

October is Done

I'm kind of sad to see the end of this round robin. It was great seeing what everyone else did and such. But it's gone now, and I might have to think of signing up for it again. I had a really hard time finding a calendula pattern and finally found one in a leaflet of birthday mugs from Leisure Arts. The piece is in the mail and Yveline should get it in the next couple of days.

Deauville

On Saturday, we went to one of my favorite places - Deauville. The market there is large and always has great stuff. These are pictures of the market and of the square that the market is off of. If you get a chance to go to Normandy, Deauville is worth a stop. It's a great town - has a lot of shops and cafes, a casino, a beach, and a horse track.

Toiling on Tiramisu

I titled this more for the alliteration than the feeling of having to work hard on this piece. I think it's coming along nicely. Worked on it yesterday while my husband and son were at LeMans for the day. I'm getting more used to thinking of things in the reversible way, though the variegated thread makes it much harder when I use it. Everything has to be short! For that reason, it's much better for areas where you can work in branching motifs and then move on a bit.

The Rest of the Chateau Pictures

These were all taken pretty much at the back of the chateau. Did I mention that besides the garden, there's a separate bocce court? It's surrounded by a stone wall and pergolas with tables, benches and chairs. The place is gorgeous and I'm getting used to being in it. Today was beautiful weather and I spent some time stitching on the terrace.