Yummy Food and New Friends

 Yesterday (Sunday) was one of our favourite days in France. Blogging friend Lesley, whom we met for dinner at La Table des Assiettes on Saturday night, invited us to her home where we met her delightful children and headed out with the family on a seaside jaunt. We hiked to the top of the highest dune in Europe,  strolled along sandy beaches and noted charming local architecture, ate crêpes and

trying again with the charcuterie . . .

I see that Blogger has had numerous reports of problems with images uploading so it's not just me -- even Eric at ParisDailyPhoto is experiencing issues with photos, and he's been doing this for many years!I also note that, having finally shut my netbook down properly the other day, start-up brought some updating of Picasa, another potential contributor.So I'm going to try one more fix, and use

The Missing Photos . . .

I'm admitting defeat here -- since I'm doing what I always do, I'm going to have to assume the problem is with Blogger, not me, and I'm going to hope it will have "gone away" magically by the time I try to post again.And maybe these photos will eventually materialize. Meanwhile, sorry . . .  I'm not sure why the photos won't load in the previous post -- I've tried several different fixes, but no

Simple Pleasures . . . in Bordeaux

 Yesterday's lunch, eaten in the Bordeaux sunshine -- Salade Landaise, which seems even better than the Salade Auvergnate I usually order. If you're a vegetarian, you won't be impressed, obviously, nor will you be if you dislike charcuterie.  As for me, I loved the warm gésiers and the smoked magret (duck breast) you see edging the bottom of the plate was amazing -- such an intense flavour. The

Oh to be in London, now that spring is here

This is the sort of delightful surprise that makes walking in London so rewarding. Camels as supports for benches?  All along the riverfront, these never fail to make me smile. . . . by the way, that's Pater just ahead. Here's a closer view  --  I think he looks rather dapper, dressing from his carry-on only wardrobe as well.  We'll see how the look weathers over the next six weeks . . . Our

Battening down the hatches -- Mater worries like a Mater!

In 2006, some of you might remember hearing, hurricane-force winds took down one thousand (yes, 1000!) trees in Vancouver's Stanley Park. The devastation was visually and emotionally stunning to us on the West Coast. In the same storm, over 240,000 were without power at one point.Yesterday, warnings went out all along the BC Coast and Vancouver Island that we should expect another storm

Eating in Yountville

Bored as I am with being convalescent and house-bound, it occurs to me that this would be the perfect time to dip back into vacation memories. Sadly, while I take notes when we travel to Europe, I didn't bother in California, assuming, I guess, that I could surely remember for a trip of only one week. Sadly, my memory is not even up to that. Pater's isn't much better. But we did resurrect three