Cassis

A few weekends ago, before it turned cold, we took a friend visiting from Australia down to Cassis.

Cassis is a seaside town near Marseille and a truly gorgeous place, as I hope my photos manage to convey.

Parking is never easy in these small towns that have become big tourist draws, but I don't really mind (unless it's raining) as it gives me the chance to wander through the streets and get a better feel for the place.

I loved the wall textures out the front of this house.

Getting closer to the water now.

Cassis harbour. What it's all about.

I thought these flower balls on the lampposts were so pretty I had to take two photos. At least I changed the perspective!

After we had a little look around, we settled down here for lunch. I had a fabulous smoked salmon and cream sauce pasta, washed down with plenty of rosé. Thankfully the kids couldn't finish their pizzas (although I had to arm wrestle the mister to get a piece).

After lunch we all had an ice cream/gelato. My gelato was lavender flavoured - delicate, sweet, aromatic, yum.

Cones in hand (dripping on wrists, smeared on faces) we wandered past more boats to the beach.

Not bad, huh?

Too cold for white pointers though.

The sand still wasn't Australia-worthy, but was much less gravelly than La Ciotat.

The kids had a ball burning off all the sugar in their ice creams.

Once energy stores were depleted the men folk took the kids back up the hill to the car while I detoured by the local church. St Michel's Church was built in the 1800s.

The walls behind the altar were painted with soothing-coloured murals.

Not so soothing for poor Joanie (St Joan of Arc).

And here's St Michel (the Archangel Michael) kicking butt and taking names. The dragon is Satan and he is undergoing some extreme root canal therapy at the hands of God's top general.

A close up of St Michael. On his chest he wears the latin words Quis ut Deus which translates to Who is like God? Hint: don't say 'me' unless you want a new throat entrance, as St Michael symbolises humility before God.

This was the view towards the back of the church.

How about that organ! The most beautiful blue.

As I left I noticed these flower boxes in the church square.

Well fed and tired, we drove back home, only stopping once to take some final pics of this fabulous view on the outskirts of the town.

À bientôt, Cassis!

The one where I stuff myself with cheese at the park.

I apologise in advance for this photo-heavy post. I feel like I didn't pay much attention to autumn last year (given we'd just arrived and I was coping with culture shock) and I'd like to record all it's yumminess.

On Saturday we decided to go to our local sports complex and have a little picnic in the park. We swung by our village market on the way, the mister bought baguette while I went down to see my favourite little fellow at the cheese stall.

He didn't have the 2 inch rounds of goat's cheese that I usually get from him. But he did have some big 4 inch rounds on top of the counter.

What's this one, I asked in perfect French (of course).
A chèvre, extra-fresh, he replied.
Extra? I said.
Yes, made this morning. 

I may have whimpered then, I'm not sure.

I also picked up one with Provençal herbs on top.

Oh, it was good.

So very, very good. 

The playground was nearly empty, probably because the afternoon came over very cloudy and cold. 

First attempt without training wheels. No major falls.

Lots of exploring to do, many rocks to be fished out of baby's mouth.

I took another tour around the garden when we got home. Loving this colour, which won't last much longer:

Olives are ripening (it's olive harvesting season in November).

Hoping someone will move in here for winter. Maybe a European squirrel. I love those little critters.

I don't know what this vine is, but it has the most vivid red leaves which are all dropping off to reveal a sea of berries.

I also spent some time this weekend working on a little something to send to Nato with her magazine.

Try not to laugh all you seasoned sewers, but I managed to successfully use different coloured top and bobbin threads on this project.

How exciting!

Speaking of exciting: the mister decided to use a whole one of these Antilles (Habanero) chillis in our Sunday night omelette.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It seemed like less of a good idea as we ate it.

It was a very, very bad idea this morning.

I will be getting my internals resurfaced sometime this week.

Giveaway Winner and Bits and Bobs

First things first, let's find out who won the magazine. And intersperse it with some autumnal goodness.

After popping over to see Monsieur Random Number Generator, I am happy to announce the winner is:

Nato, who lives in Lebanon and has her own blog Les Temps des Lavandes.

And proof that internet karma is real, she is hosting her own giveaway at the moment too!

Now Nato, you cheeky bear, your profile is set to No Reply Comment, so I can't email you. Please drop me an email when you get the chance so I can send you your spoils!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered and left me comments - all your input was greatly appreciated.

An update on the bathroom tiles baby quilt (untrimmed and a bit wrinkly, sorry): the top's complete and I'm really happy with how it's turned out. The colour graduation makes me smile. I'm strange like that.

And finally, a bit of music to kick off your weekend.

Do you like:

• a catchy tune
• 50s vintage
• pretty French girls

Then you're going to love this one! Mes Défauts (My Failings) by Superbus. 

*Lingerie warning: Phwoar! (but pretty tame as far as videoclips go)*

Have a great weekend, folks!

La Ciotat

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on the giveaway post. It's nice to know you're all happy with the way things are and that I should just keep on keeping on.

If you haven't commented to enter the magazine giveaway, why not do that now?

Today I'm catching up on a travel post, a nice one now that the weather is turning chilly.

La Ciotat is a seaside town close to Marseille.

Finding a car park was hard work, but we managed to find one a short stroll from the ocean.

Walking down we noticed lots of houses with these gorgeous hand painted name plates.

Bit of sun glare on that last one, sorry.

As we got closer we could see a hint of beach:

That large rock is known as the Eagle's Beak. The kids reckoned it looked more like the Pointy Headed Man

The water's edge was full of sunbathers, picnickers, snorkellers and scuba divers. The latter were exploring the underwater portion of the calanques (limestone inlets) found along the coast between Marseille and Cassis.

I'm actually having trouble writing the word beach. I'm Australian you see, and this is not a beach. This is gravel.

But for these Mediterranean views I'm sure many people would lie on worse.

I loved the spot shown above, and took this photo from a small road overlooking the coast line. As I shot away the mister seemed very interested in the beach below. A quick glance confirmed what I'd guessed - he'd found a pair of white pointers*. Well, actually bronze whalers** to be precise. Rest assured no photos were taken of the wildlife!

After our walk around we took the hilltop road home, which passed above Cassis (another lovely seaside town which I'll show you another day).

The road itself was fabulous.

And the views even more so.

Sigh. How long 'til summer again?

* Australian slang for a woman sunbathing topless
* A woman who sunbathes topless frequently. (i.e her pointers are no longer white)

ETA: I've been playing around with my photo size because I want them to be bigger- please let me know if I've made a mess of it (seems to look alright on my computer).

Magazine Giveaway

Today's giveaway is brought to you by: my stupidity.

You see, I subscribe to two French lifestyle/home decorating magazines (was hard to choose just two). I always forget which two, but I have a good memory for the covers, so if I was to say, ahem, sneak into the newsagent to buy an extra mag, I would know which I already have.

In Australia one of the perks of subscribing is getting your mag at home before it hits the stands. I thought this would be the same in France, so when I was in my local presse and saw an unfamiliar yet gorgeous cover, I bought it.

And two days later, the same magazine arrived in my mail box.

But hey, my stupidity is your gain, non?

The magazine is called Prima Maison - I'm not sure if it's sold anywhere else in the world, but at least this way I'll pay to post it to you!

It always gives me lots of ideas for decorating, quilting, sewing, crafting, cooking - you name it.

Disclosure: it's all in French. I know, duh, but I'm just saying - I don't want anyone getting cranky when I send them a magazine all writ in for'ner talk.

So if you think this would interest you, leave me a comment and I'll pick a name out of the hat around 9 am on Friday morning, French time. (7pm Friday night Sydney time, 4am Friday morning New York time, boy this international stuff is complicated.)

If you're looking for something to say in your comment, why not let me know what brings you here:

1. The crafty/sewing stuff
2. The French stuff
3. All of it, baby, yeah!

And to those who drop by this blog and live in France, feel free to comment as well - if you win I will whip you up a little something instead for a prize (seeing as you can just wander down and pick up your own copy for less than 4€)