Day 14 - Breakfast Treat

I simply love market days on Wednesdays and Saturdays

in the city of Lausanne.

Not only is the choice of fresh produce just amazing,

but going downtown on market days is a wonderful excuse to have breakfast out.

Do you have breakfast out sometimes?

I love to go upstairs in the Coccinelle Café.

There's a great view down onto the busier side of the café and it's less crowded.

I just know that all of you would like to see the delicious things they serve:

Croissants

Escargots (raisin buns with a touch of vanilla pastry cream)

Torsades aux pépites de chocolat (Chocolate Chip Twisted pastry)

Apple Turnovers

Brioches

Almond Pastries.

This morning, I had an escargot (my favourite) and a peppermint tea in an adorable

ladybird teapot.

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend.

It's very hot and heavy here and thunderstorms are on their way.

Luckily there is excellent tennis at Wimbledon to watch on TV!

Day 13 - "IF"

IF

If I had a garden,

it would have lavender growing all along the path right up to the front door

and roses growing over an archway.

If I lived in a house,

the front door mat would have the word 'WELCOME'

written on it.

There would be a different wreath for every season on the front door.

If I had a big kitchen,

I would invite everyone for breakfast or tea

with a gingham tablecloth on the big wooden table

with tantalizing smells coming from the oven or the stove!

BUT

where I live now, I have a balcony and flowers and always a cloth on my table

and a wreath on my front door.

I have organic coffee or herb teas for any visitor coming this way

and I don't have backache

from bending down gardening!

I'm still on the lookout for a front-door mat which has

WELCOME

written on it,

Life is as it is

Life can be good in all circumstances

We just need to recognize them!

Day 12 - Shopping Spree

A collage today

and what a day!

I met with a good friend to enjoy a shopping spree

and to have a salad lunch out!

We both wanted to go to a shoe shop.

I managed to find some elegant shoes with a lovely low wedge heel

for my son's wedding next month!

I also found a wonderful little bag in material

made by a very creative and gifted crafts-lady.

She was showing her beautiful creations in a downtown exhibition and sale.

Finding comfortable sandals was also important

for when my court shoes start to maybe pinch a little on the evening of the wedding.

Don't you love the dainty crocheted necklace

made by another artist?

I was wondering if I could make one of those myself!

So today I feel happy,

but also exhausted!

All those hills to walk up and down in the city of Lausanne!

Now it's time to rest and relax

and an early night for sure!

Day 11 - Mystery

Today's walk took me into shady spots along the stream in my neighbourhood.

I loved how the dark areas were partially illuminated by the bright sun

and how the green of the leaves looked so fresh and inviting.

Everything looked a little mysterious

and it reminded me that we don't always need to see the whole picture.

Sometimes, just one moment at a time is sufficient.

Just one moment.

Now

is all that is needed

to see the essential.

Seeing beyond looking.

Day 10 - Refreshing

During these very hot days,

we're looking for cooling and refreshing drinks.

This is one of my favourites:

Cucumber, lemon slices and sliced ginger.

Put everything into a glass jar

and refrigerate.

Pour a glass to drink

and fill up the big jar again.

I usually keep my flavoured drinks for two days

and then make a new one, varying the flavours.

I use the ingredients in my salad or cooking afterwards.

The ingredients.

Try this refreshing drink and let me know how you like it!

Day 9 - Layers

Discovered on my walk

This sumptuous rose

with delicately cut-out petals

How to resist such beauty?

Day 8 - The Wind

How can we see the wind?

Since the wind is the movement of air, we cannot actually see it, 

because it's simply moving air,

but we can definitely feel it on our skin or in our hair

and we can see movement happening because of the wind.

I'm thinking of ripples on the water

or choppy seas

or in the movements of leaves

without forgetting all windmills large and small!

Early this morning, the lighting on my balcony was gorgeous.

The dappled greens of the tree at one end

created beautiful bokeh

as I took this photo of my colourful windmill.

I love having windmills in my garden and have one at each end of my balcony.

I am also going to show you how I created yesterday's abstract!

It was simply one of my lovely windmills blowing madly in yesterday's strong winds!

I took several shots to capture the colours in different positions,

cropped them a little to exclude most of the leaves

and then created a fun collage

Wishing you a wonderful and colourful Sunday!

See you tomorrow when you pop by!