Bonnes Vacances à Tous! Felices Vacaciones para Todos! Second Thoughts about Friend's Day...about you!!! and the Château de Chaumont

Well, I'm not starting the "big family vacations yet" (that will be in August) but considering that my three children have left in summer camps around the world...(lucky kids!) I have decided to take only a few days off, escaping to my favourite retreat, the south of France, but not the crowded beaches, but the small villages, full of charm, full of authentic people, who cherish their traditions, their "cuisine"....and this is what I want to profit from! in the company of my husband !! We will also take the opportunity to visit some friends who live there too....

But before leaving you, I wanted to tell you that I have been thinking a lot about this Friend's Day...about how I celebrated with the friends that were here, but I also thought of you.... Yes, because ever since my blog started, seven months ago, you, some of you in particular, have been there, like real friends...supporting me with your comments, making me laugh sometimes, encouraging me to grow, to outdo myself....and I always wonder how that is possible, I find it so incredible!!, how are there people around the world who use their precious time to write to ME??? Sometimes people  I've known for years don't write to me...! Yet, you do! You, strange friends...strange because sometimes I don't really know your real names....I don't know your faces!!! I could be sitting next to you at an airport, without knowing that you are my dear Stella, or Bunkycooks, or Barbara, or Wheels and Lollipops, or Heavenly Housewife (and I should mention so many of you that always write to me, always!) Of course I would recognize Chef Chuck! the only man that writes to me always!! He is famous! He's on TV !! 

Thanks to all of you !! My dear new friends! Anonymous friends!! Still, your presence makes me happy...I feel you near me (even if the Atlantic Ocean separates us....or another ocean!) Tomorrow night, in the south of France, I will raise my champagne glass, on Friend's Day, for all of you!!!

The incredible "shade-chair" of the picture can be found in the Château de Chaumont....

If you want to see more pictures, click below....

Yes, this is one of the amazing châteaux in the Loire Valley...one of my favorites..because it is like those in the fairy-tale stories, because of its history...(apparently Catherine de Medici, Henry II's wife, bought this castle, and there she housed her favorite astrologers AND then also, she "kindly" asked her late husband's lover, to move from Chenonceau to this castle ???!!! These people were clearly weird...! Why doesn't anyone ask ME to move to Chaumont as "punishment"?

Ok, leaving aside all these royal eccentricities, the château houses every summer a "Festival de Jardins" (a garden exhibit) but not the typical "jardins à la française" but rather, small compositions designed by modern landscapers, where mostly they try to convey a message, transmit feelings, ideas, philosophies....

Well, here's the English garden! Nice idea...I could have used all these plates and cups as props for my cakes !!

Space devoted to the birds of France...we all played like children, pressing the buttons to hear the different species "singing" and reading about them...Wanna sit?

Here's the "jardin vilain" (ugly, dirty garden) that made all the people laugh...yet the guy shows that even with no sense for aesthetics you can still have a garden! The supermarket trolley set our "green-awareness" working...how many years will it take the Earth to get rid of our "human" presence....the day we all disppear?

Sculptures..... aromatic plants "bottled" to capture their "eau de parfum".....

Flowers of course !!

And Nature....and its perfection! The work of humankind and its perfection too !! A real blessing when man accompanies nature, not rivals with....Food for thought, and day to be enjoyed!