Some cuteness

I was given the opportunity to visit an apple tree orchad. The owner also owns lovely animals : some sheeps, goats and a deer.
The sheeps are native from a Breton island. Look at this gorgeous wool!

I thought you might fancy a few photos.

Organic vineyard and abbey garden in Bourgueil

Yesterday, after visiting the abbey, we visited an enclosed (by walls) vineyard of 7 Ha just next door to the abbey. In fact, this area used to be part of the abbey in the past.

The vine they are growing there is Cabernet Franc. Some of the vine plants are about one century old.
The owners of the vineyard converted into organic in 1998.

Here are some photos :

We visited the cave after the vineyard... Very interesting. We could taste a few wines and I loved their wine of 2008 (this is red wine). The bottles on the photo are much older.

Then, we went to the abbey garden. It was the end of the afternoon and the light was a dream.

See yourselves!

Bourgueil Abbey

 Yesterday, I visited the museum of Bourgueil Abbey. Bougueil in a French town located in Tourraine, in a very touristic area, in the Loire Valley.

For those of you who like historical datas, here is what I copied from Wikipedia :

"Bourgueil Abbey (more precisely the abbaye Saint-Pierre de Bourgueil-en-Vallée) was a Benedictine monastery in France (current Indre-et-Loire), founded in 990. It was located at Bourgueil, in historic Anjou and the diocese of Angers. The founder was Emma, countess of Blois, daughter of Theobald I of Blois, and duchess of Aquitaine. It later (1630) was attached to the Congregation of Saint-Maur.

History

Bourgueil was a mansio set up on the Roman main road from Angers to Tours. Other Roman routes converged on Burgolium. Before 977, these lands belonged to Thibaut I of Blois. He gave them as dowry for his daughter Emma.. At this point a priory already existed at Bourgueil.

Emma of Blois, tired of her philandering husband William IV of Aquitaine (935-995), and particularly with his liaison with Aldéarde of Thouars, wife of Herbert I of Thouars, had her rival beaten up and raped.. Emma then fled with her young son, the future William V of Aquitaine, to her brother Odo I, Count of Blois at the château de Chinon. The penitent Emma founded the Abbey in 990, near Chinon. The family was pious and Eudes was a lay abbot of Saint-Martin de Tours and Marmoutier. There were also political reasons, in the Loire region, for the family to stand up to Hugh Capet."

Bougueil used to be beautiful until French Revolution. The Abbay was invade and invaders destructed a big part of it and removed everything with any religious relationship. The only part they did not come into was the hospital part.

Here are the photos I took :

 This is a map of what it looked like in the past.

 Outside.

 Inside the cloister.

 Scuptures in the wooden pannels inside the abbey.

 These stairs are unique in Europe. No pilar to hold them. Just a clever way to pile the stones.

Our visit in Paris-3

I now, I know... It has been months now since I posted parts 1 and 2. I just did not take time to do it.
Here we go now.
Enjoy the tour!

Well, there is no need to comment these :

 

 

 

 

For the following two, I stood in the middle of the road to be able to view both ends :

 

 That was fun :

 In the evening, we stopped at a little restaurant nearby Notre Dame cathedral and we could enjoy musicians :

And lovely food : yummy snails :

Bleuet

Now Christmas is over, I can show you my handmade gifts.

A few months ago, my cousin ordered a bear for her daughter Lise. Due to special circumstances, I endend up finishing the bear much later than expected so we decided Lise who have her bear for Christmas.

Here is Bleuet. He is 38 cm tall and was made from the same synthetic furs as I used for Gregoire's bear (see my older notes). He is fully jointed with safety joints. He also has safety eyes.

Autumn...

I thought you would enjoy these photos I took today :

Theodule

Here is Theodule, the big baby bear I made for Enzo. Enzo is eleven years old and a teddy bear lover.
It was love at first sight when he met Theodule.


I used synthetic fur. Theodule is 36 cm tall and can easily stand as he has got flat feet.