April 2012 – Myfrenchkitchen

Today, 22 April 2012 is Earth day.I would like to add my small contribution to help make the world conscious of the wonder of this planet we are privileged to inhabit. We have only one lifetime we to enjoy it and at the same time secure and preserve it for the future.

If we can teach our children from a young age to see nature from close-up, we will see a beauty deeper than just by scanning the surface: Taking walks in nature, having closer looks at what lies beneath a leaf or a branch, having them plant their own bean in a saucer lined with cotton wool, giving them their own corner in a garden to plant annuals, teaching them the benefits of insects and other crawling critters we normally flee from, having books on our shelves about nature, riding bicycle with them rather than transporting them to ballet in a car, teaching them the precious value of water, lie on our backs with them and discovering the stars, smelling wet earth, freshly cut grass…so much that we can learn from nature just by being present, so much nature can teach us when we pay attention…

…garden snail…

..argiope brunechii female..

..Arion rufus(red slug)..

..Forest shield bug on Scottish thistle..

..wild flowers in correze…

..Bufo bufo, common toad..

..Mellicta Athalia, butterfly..

..Lacerta agilis, common lizard..

…wild birds..

..water canal at Le Pescher..

..Birds of the Loire..

..La Loire in July..

Read about earth day 2012 here.

à bientôt

Ronelle

I am preparing a post on Pierrot Gourmand, our very popular and well known “clown” associated with lollipops and ‘bonbons’ here. While I am/was busy writing and making lollipops and driving everywhere to photograph Pierrot and his lollipops all over town, I ran into a book which found it’s way(all on its own, believe me) into my basket(that one that fills up far too quickly in a book store…!). Jardins a vivre, from Art et Décoration. Since my post on “cher Pierrot” is taking quite long, I thought I would share some images of this book and of two others, with you in the meantime. I don’t know if they are available in English, because it is books based on the magazine, Art et Décoration, a French magazine I’ve been buying for more than 16 years, on and off. Apart from my most favorite magazine Campagne Décoration, which was born in 2000 and of which I haven’t missed a single issue since 2001, Art et Décoration is the magazine I’ve been buying the longest, albeit sporadically…browse through it in the store and then decide if it has enough tips to own it. But more about Décoration Campagne later, let’s talk about Art et Décoration for now.

The latest trend for magazines is to capture their articles and particularly the images into hard bound pretty coffee table books. Art et Décoration did exactly that. Very nice books to browse, have on your coffee table or fall asleep with!

So, let’s indulge in some of the magnificent images from the three following books:

1. Jardins à vivre; Karine Villame, Collectif; Massin