Belated Merry Christmas and have a very Happy New Year!

I cannot believe what happened to the time during December - such a busy month one way and another... Just hope you've all been enjoying a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year for 2010 will celebrated in style!

On the 13th December we celebrated my 44th Birthday - it was a beautiful sunny day despite being cold and with everything going on I opted for a quiet day spent on the beach up near St Malo at St Servan - a lovely walk along the beach and down to a completely private little cove looking out to sea - basking in warm sunshine and totally sheltered from the biting wind - we returned Lucy (dog) to the car and then sat outside in the sun overlooking the beach in a little cafe enjoying delicious hot chocolates and crepes filled with a real Breton speciality - Caramel Beurre Sale! You couldn't ask for much more!

We had some fantastically cold and frosty weather here before Christmas - enough to warrant getting out with my camera - I just love the frosty weather for taking pictures and the birds here were very much enjoying all the food I'd been putting out - I felt terrible going away with the snow and ice on the ground and knowing that in a few days it would all run out - the table and feeders now fully stocked up, the birds have been returning today which is great to see.




On the 18th December we went over to the UK to join my family for Christmas near to Falmouth - we only just managed to make the ferry over from France as having had literally no snow here for over a year we had a fall of snow - about 3cm which was enough to make the roads difficult to drive on - we passed a number of trucks and vehicles stuck in the snow on the main roads which was also made more hazardous by black ice as well. Cornwall, unlike many areas of the UK escaped the worst of the wintry weather - we did end up with some horrible icy roads for a couple of days which kept me away from the shops and meant that we ended up enjoying long coastal walks along the Helford River in winter sunshine. The light down there is fantastic and we captured some wonderful views and skies too.














We returned here yesterday - relieved to actually get back as the car was making all sorts of noises after getting off the ferry at Cherbourg, it sounded like a failing fan belt but unfortunately for us we discovered it was the alternator and were faced with rather a large bill - not what you really want just after Christmas but at least our local garage managed to fix it all yesterday - not bad seeing as we arrived at 10.30am - we got the car returned by 6pm. There are some things in France which you just can't fault!

I wonder what 2010 will bring in the garden and also what the weather will bring over the next week or so, as it looks as if we're in for some more snow at the weekend which I must admit would be welcome - at least we'd be able to enjoy it this time!

Have a very Happy and Peaceful New Year for 2010 and I really look forward to your visits over this year and to visiting your blogs for those of you who have them - I do hope that I'll get the time to post a bit more regularly throughout the year - do be patient when I'm not around but my work as both a gardener and garden designer keeps me pretty busy especially at certain times of year - so if I don't reply straight away - you really aren't forgotten - I promise... take care and have fun.... Miranda x