01 June 2012

Roses

It's that time of year — early June. The roses around our house are coming into their own. So far, 2012 seems like a good year for them. Maybe the three-week cold spell we had in February reinvigorated them.

Today is June 1, our longtime anniversary. Twenty-nine years now, and nine years in France. Walt and I flew from Washington-Dulles airport to Paris on June 1, 2003, to move into the house we still live in. We "camped out" in the house for a few weeks, and finally our container of furniture and other belongings arrived in mid-July that year.

We've never really looked back. We go to our home towns in North Carolina and New York State fairly regularly to see family and friends, but Saint-Aignan is our home now. Older French friends seem to find it strange that we would just change countries of residence the way we did, but most of them are people who've never been outside France or hardly ever flown on an airplane.

CHM is coming to visit starting tomorrow. I'll go "collect him" at the train station in Blois at noon and we'll have lunch in a restaurant up there. We have a full week of activities ahead of us. Now is the time to stop and smell the roses, if you know what I mean. Beautiful weather, good friends, fun times.

I was going to say these pictures are examples of what my new camera can do, but I checked and realized that these are photos I took with my "old" camera, the Lumix DMC-ZS1. You might wonder why a I bothered to get a new camera. Sorry, CHM, we don't have any blue roses!

10 comments:

  1. The roses don't want the blues!

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  2. Lol, chm! Have a good week in Saint Aignan.
    Your new camera is quite small with a better zoom- better for us who like your photos.
    Do you have Japanese beetles? Ours arrived this week, yuck!

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  3. Beautiful roses :) Happy anniversary day. Isn't it nice to be in June!

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  4. Whatever camera you photographed them with, these roses are beautiful....And now you have two anniversaries to celebrate. Could be worse, but hardly better.

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  5. You write so nicely Ken. And as usual the photos are beautiful. . Congratulations to you and Walt on a wonderful anniversary in a great year for you both. France obviously suits you well. And taking the time to smell the roses is my favourite suggestion to friends in need of time out. Louise

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  6. Congratulations on this anniversary. How many do you two have at this point? Let's face it, how many anniversaries can a person remember?

    While chm is there, please give him a lesson in how to photograph blue flowers and then he can help me, she says hopefully.

    Will the rose festival at Chedigny be going on during his visit? This is such a gorgeous time of year.

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  7. Bonjour cousin,

    Un bon et beau séjour @ la Renaudière.

    Ken

    It is June and time to take it one day at a time - Enjoy the visits and the company of the visitors.
    Happy anniversary .

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  8. The roses are beautiful. I can almost smell them.

    Happy true anniversary and anniversary of your move. You guys are an inspiration!

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  9. Merci Cousine, I'll try my best but I'm not really hopeful! LOL and MDR

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  10. June is rose month in Oregon, too.
    Time to visit the Rose Garden.

    Another anniversary to celebrate! I like celebrations and I think you do, too!

    Mary in Oregon

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