09 July 2015

Flowers and paintings, etc.

Back on June 1, CHM and I drove from Mortagne via Chartres to a village just south of the town of Etampes. That puts in just an hour south of Paris. CHM's friends M and P live there, and we were going to have lunch with them in a restaurant in Etampes (pop. 25,000).


M is an accomplished gardener, and she has one of the most extensive and most beautiful flower gardens I've ever seen. I'm happy to have visited them with CHM three or four times now, and each time I take a lot of photos of flowers (as in this recent post).


M is also a painter, and her garden is one of her inspirations. I didn't take many photos of her work, but there are two in this post. Some people are just extraordinarily talented...


Yesterday, our drive to Tours, an hour east west of Saint-Aignan on little roads, went smoothly. We wanted to stop in a second-hand store along the way, but it (of course) was closed exceptionellement until 3 p.m., which was too late for us. We were hoping to find a mirror to hang over a piece of furniture that we have moved into our entryway.


We went on to Ikea, where we found a lamp shade that we were looking for, and ended up finding a mirror there. Now we don't have to look any more. I also discovered that Ikea no longer (if it ever did) sells bayonet-style light bulbs. We have a lot of fixtures and even lamps that require them, and we were hoping to get LED bulbs for those.


We then drove over to the Darty store in Tours Sud (both the south and north sides of the city have big shopping areas and centres commerciaux) to take a look at the refrigerator we want to buy. No luck — they didn't have it in the show room. I'm trying to figure out what to do next.

P.S. I checked Amazon.fr yesterday afternoon and found that they do sell bayonet LED bulbs, so I'll just order some from them. Otherwise, we'll need to start refitting a bunch of lamps and ceiling fixtures with screw sockets.
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23 comments:

  1. Gosia09 July, 2015 07:47

    wow what a fantastic house

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    Replies
    1. chm09 July, 2015 09:25

      No Gosia, this is not the house proper which is out of the photo on the right. This is the cellar/utility room dug into the hill behind!

      Delete
    2. Ken Broadhurst09 July, 2015 11:42

      Bonjour CHM, I ordered and yesterday received C-H de Valbray's cookbook. I've read through several recipes and it looks very good — my style of cooking. One recipe that I plan to make soon is a tourte au poulet fumé, which is made with pâte feuilletée, the chicken of course, lardons fumés, mushrooms, shallots, tarragon, cream, and gruyère cheese. It's on my list...

      Delete
    3. chm09 July, 2015 15:57

      Next year, we go to Saint- Paterne and you ask CHdV to sign your copy. Why not?

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    4. Ken Broadhurst10 July, 2015 10:57

      Why not? Maybe you can give me his e-mail address at some point and I'll write him a note, including a photo of my version of one of his recipes.

      Delete
  2. Le Pré de la Forge09 July, 2015 08:03

    "We have a lot of fixtures and even lamps that require them, and we were hoping to get LED bulbs for those."...
    Ken, try Mini-in-the-Box for LED bulbs...

    http://www.miniinthebox.com/led-light-bulbs_c3115

    or in French...

    http://www.miniinthebox.com/fr/ampoules-led_c3115

    They are quick and efficient and amazingly cheap!

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst09 July, 2015 09:01

      Tim, how much light does a 2W or 3W LED bulb produce in lumens? I just ordered three LEDs from amazon.fr and they are rated 9W, 12W, and 15W. The total price of the order is 13 euros (shipping is free). I just ordered one of each to see how I like them before I order more.

      Delete
    2. Le Pré de la Forge09 July, 2015 10:47

      Ken, the Mini-in-the-Box site gives the output in Lumens for each bulb...
      and it varies [as do the low-energy flourescents]....
      wariation is dependent upon voltage and on the design of the light....
      and whether it is warm, natural or cool...
      but a 3W is around 210 to 240 LM for warm...
      15W is powerful

      Delete
    3. Le Pré de la Forge09 July, 2015 11:17

      Just looked... the 15s are around 1100 to 1500 Lumens....
      and some of the 12s are from 640 to 1100...
      a heck of a variation!!
      The ones that look like bulbs tend to be the lower ones...
      presumption on my part is that it is all the clutter around the LEDs to shape them!

      Delete
  3. Susan09 July, 2015 08:57

    A beautiful garden and lovely paintings. No wonder you enjoy your visits to these people.

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    1. Ken Broadhurst09 July, 2015 13:30

      I really have enjoyed getting to know them a little bit. They have one of the most beautiful properties I have ever seen in France. The scale of it is very human, and the look is very soigné,

      Delete
  4. Carolyn09 July, 2015 12:06

    That's a lovely scene--and it's not even the house itself. I love a good garden, and the paintings you show are very appealing too. Yes, some people have all the talent!

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst09 July, 2015 13:28

      There are actually two houses on the property, one older than the other. The houses are in the middle and the flower garden runs up the hillside in one direction and down the hill in the other. It all has very good exposure to the sun -- too much, M says, much of the time. She is obviously a ball of fire, and 85 years old now.

      Delete
  5. Evelyn09 July, 2015 14:41

    I love the painting with the window- it's full of magic and mystery. The little house fits into the garden perfectly.

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  6. The Beaver09 July, 2015 14:58

    Ken,

    Is it a typo ?
    "our drive to Tours, an hour east of Saint-Aignan on little roads"

    St Aignan is east of Tours - sorry but I tend to visualize locations when I read :-)

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst09 July, 2015 18:30

      Sorry, I meant to say west. I do this all the time, because the Atlantic Ocean is on the "wrong" side here in France. Old habits die hard.

      Delete
  7. Ginny09 July, 2015 16:50

    What a lovely cottage and wonderful paintings! Thanks for sharing them. Glad you found what you needed at Ikea and online.

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    1. Ken Broadhurst09 July, 2015 18:33

      Hi Ginny, it's an amazing garden and the paintings are amazing too. I wish I had had time to take more photos of paintings, but time is always short. We had reservations for lunch and had to get going.

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  8. Diogenes09 July, 2015 17:47

    Amazon, that was a good idea.

    Of course here in the States they've changed all the wattages by law in favor of energy-efficient bulbs. I'm never quite sure what we're buying. But the base is the same.

    I was able to enlarge the frist picture of the garden and it is spectacular. Would love to see more pictures if you have any and it's not an imposition.

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst09 July, 2015 18:32

      I didn't take more pictures of the garden overall this last time I was there. I'll look back to photos of past visits and see what I have.

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    2. chm09 July, 2015 18:48

      Hi D & D,
      I have a number of pictures of the lower garden taken two or three years ago. I'm leaving tomorrow night for a few days in Normandy and if I find time there I'll look for theses photos and send them to you, but I'll definitively do that when I'm back in Paris. You'll enjoy them.

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  9. Seine Judeet (Judith)09 July, 2015 19:48

    wow wow wow, all very interesting and beautiful!

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  10. Carolyn10 July, 2015 12:26

    Ken and chm, I also would love to see those photos, if possible.

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