Monday, January 19, 2009

tagged


I was very recently tagged by the lovely mama to pick the fourth photo in the fourth folder on my little notepad and talk about it.


Well the fourth folder is Our House and the fifth (reason below) picture turns out to be what we see when we look out of our living room balcony doors during the summer months. I'd taken the picture that day because the day before we had had the awning installed - we're south-facing and until that was put up high summer was really difficult in the main room. We'd have the balcony doors open and in the heat of the midday sun would sometimes be forced to shut the shutters, making it look like a blackout in there. This awning solved the problem nicely though. The morning that the photo had been taken I'd gone out to buy some cafe society furniture to complete the look and of course, being a house in Brittany, the geraniums on the balcony are standard for most houses in our region. Having said that, this photo (taken in July 2007) shows the last lot of geraniums I've ever planted sur le balcon. Last summer I went for a softer look, using lots of floaty pastel plants and I'll do so again this year.Actually we were so pleased with the look of the awning that a week later we decided to change the balcony doors to two clear glass doors that open completely flat against the wall inside the room (called portes Anglaises funnily enough, because of opening inwards), but that is the ninth photo in the stream.

Why didn't I use the fourth photo? I used the fifth because I had in fact already used the fourth about 18 months ago (but here it is again, just to keep the tag correct)


As this is a tag I've got to select four of you to do the same. So - following these rules:

Go to your 4th photo folder on your computer.
*
Post the 4th photo from that folder.
*
Explain the photo.
*
Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun -

I'm going to pick
Lulu Labonne
jenny smith
Lane
cheshire wife

18 comments:

Henry the Dog said...

Oh FFancy - mum is sighing and saying "Oh that looks soooo divine". Mum and Uncle Hugh have a wooden awning and mum says it's not anywhere near as pretty as yours. Personally I don't 'get' all this housey, stuff and all this interior design business and all that, but I didn't want to just 'lurk' without commenting:):)

Anonymous said...

Oh - your house looks delicious!

Blu said...

Lady Fi said delicious and that was the very same word on my lips too. How lovely,I feel all dreamy now.

Marie Reed said...

I moved from Paris to the country about 2 years ago and LOVE the quiet! WHen I am back in Paris I love it for about 1 day tops:)

Dumdad said...

What a silly game but I love the photos! Lovely house.

French Fancy... said...

Henry - I love wooden awnings too. Our house was too white for a wooden one and we wanted to tie up the white of the outside with the blue of the shutters (although it's flaky blue now as the paint is beginning to need redoing - we're on a house economy drive atm)

Lady Fi - delicious is such a lovely word so thanks for that. I have a 'thing' about three syllable words (just one of my funny little ways).

Blu - it's a reminder that it will be hot again one day.

Marie - I love the *idea* of living in Paris but all those thin glitzy women would give me a complex. This way I'm glitzy in Brittany :)

Dumdad - if only you and Henry would accept tags this could have been yours. Ta muchos by the way.

Kathy said...

What a perfect little spot you have created here FF, practical and visually stunning, I can just see you and Mr FF sitting out there with the Sunday papers, a book and maybe a croissant or two. I went and looked at your garden and it really is quite perfect.
It was very warm here this weekend, I think spring has sprung early :)

A Woman Of No Importance said...

Dear Glitzy in Brittany, in the spirit of tagging, and not getting around to read your writing today until too late, I have chosen to tag you over at my blog.

The Meme concerns Six Random Things About You and came to me courtesy of that she-weasel La Belette Rouge.

Hope that's okay with you? Thank you in advance, oh and I just love your pictures - Stunning, I can feel the lovely light shining, on such a grey day here in northern England! x

Lulu LaBonne said...

Ok Frenchie Ms Fancy - I've got the tag, the pic's a bit dull but I'll post anyway. Thanks for inviting me to join in

Tess Kincaid said...

I love that blue and white striped awning! So very French.

Jennysmith said...

what a stunning house, FF, no wonder you fled London. I bet you wouldn't come back here for anything now. Not with such a beautiful place.

Ok, you're on. I've only just learnt how to post photos so should enjoy this one. God knows which one will appear tho'. So watch this space xxxxx

marc aurel said...

That awning looks like it cost quite a few Euro's. It is lovely and I'm sure it is worth it. My brother lives in France and often goes to Brittany for holidays. When they were younger his wife and he loved boating and, I suppose, it was their nearest sea. I've never been there, but always think of "The black rocks of Brittany" in something we did at squeel.

Lane Mathias said...

What a beautiful house. I love the fact the geraniums are 'de rigueur'.
I wish they were compulsory everywhere:-)

Thanks for the tag. I shall delve into my very messy folders:-)

nikkicrumpet said...

Love the awning...LOVE YOUR HOME! It looks like something out of a story book...or something our talented friend Fifi would paint!

A Super Dilettante said...

Hello Ms Fancy, your home is beautiful. I've never been to France but I've always imagined what their houses must be like and how they decorate. You have an artistic eye for colours and the choice of red flowers and these blue stripes canopy go so well together.

French Fancy... said...

Mama - you paint a lovely picture of us out there but the reality is a bit different. We can't get UK Sunday papers out here (I know I know - I could read French ones but I do that as a daily exercise to help my French, I don't want to read the jumbo weekend ones).

We also never eat croissants (do you know a single croissant is 5 WW points and I'm trying to stick to my 20 a day), me because I'm not mad on them* anyway and him because he likes them too much. What usually happens is that most of the time I'm saying 'is that a wasp, is that a mosquito - I'm going in'

* I adore pain au raisins, really squidgy ones and not too over-baked.

Woman of No Importance - do you know every time I see your name I try and think of a way that you could get your acronym to be WIMP. I know, I've got too much spare time :). Thanks for the tag and after I've blogged about the OU mark for my last assignment, I'll pick it up.

Lulu -I'm looking forward to it

willow - yes,we've gone native, cherie

Jenny - your name links now, good. We do love the house, it's true although the rooms are on the small side but there are quite a few of them.

marc - Brittany is stunning. We're not really near the coast (it's about 1hr away) but we have lakes, canals and forests on the doorstep. It's a very popular holiday destination for the French and there are lots of campsites by the nearest lake (which is quite a famous beauty spot and where Mr FF goes sailing in his catamaran)

Lane - Geraniums and hydrangeas are what you see the most of around here in the summer. The soil makes the hydrangeas (they call them hortensias) go some wonderful shades of violet and purple.

nikki - aw, thanks. Over the months I'll put a few pics of some of the rooms. I'd do the front of the house (which is quite cute) but I get paranoid sometimes that (whisper) that I'm giving too much away.

ASD - hello. There is a look specific to Brittany regarding house design. The houses are either white and on about three floors like ours or you get the longere (long farmhouse type ones). I much prefer our sort of house but the disadvantage is that the main room is not on back garden level, access to which is either through the basement or around the side of the front garden. When I come back to the UK now and then the amount of red brick houses is quite a shock.

French Fancy... said...

Hey,Woman Of No Importance -I just checked and I've already been tagged with that one. See, here it is

http://frenchfancy.blogspot.com/2008/11/tag-alert.html

cheshire wife said...

Your balcony looks lovely. Very French!

Thank you for the tag. Sorry I have taken so long to get here. I have been decorating then doing the obligatory cleaning and putting back.

My photos need tidying up. I do not know that they are even in folders. So maybe this is the prompt I need to sort them out.