June at number 42
Firstly, the garden. Above is what I’ve added to the garden in the past week. Today I’ve added 6 more astilbes (purpurkerze), 2 hostas (big daddy) and three lathyrus pink pearl. The aim is to brighten up the more shady zones. The two gardeners I consulted when we arrived told me it was a very difficult task, not worth the hassle, but after some tweaking I’m approaching the results I’d hoped for.
The herb station this year is doing everything it’s supposed to.
And we’re doing up Summer Girl #2’s bedroom, because we don’t want her to feel Summer Girl #1 gets preferential treatment. We adore them both. And just like parents with their children… I may have a favourite 😀 Only because I think our minds process information in very similar ways. Anyway, we’ve got a little overstuffed Louis XV sofa for her room and a Mir Sarough rug.
I’m also ordering a bigger, better bed + new mattress and sheets this week. We still haven’t done up the bathroom that goes with that bedroom, so hopefully this will compensate a little. Haven’t decided on bedside tables yet. It’s something I usually dread as it’s so hard to find things that are interesting and attractive. I’d seen some stunning glass tables from AMPM recently, but unfortunately they’re too low.
From the AMPM catalogue, glass tables available in green, blue and grey
And finally, flowers
My Mazamet 
I love the glass tables … gorgeous!
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Me too… I might get one even though I don’t really have a place to put it 😀
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Very nice. All of it! Especially like greenhouses
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Well worth doing something to lighten up the shady areas…and what are those two glass items in the greenhouse. I can’t tell if they are cloches or the most enormous ill shaped brandy glasses…
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They are xxl glass hurricane candle holders which in the winter I use as cloches in the green house to start herbs early 😀
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Beautiful as usual inside and out. Well done sir 🙂
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Thank you! I should probably not take credit for nature, but I will anyway 😀
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Gorgeous. All of it.
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Careful now, we’re in the age of #metoo 😛
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😀
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Oh now I’m suffering from glasshouse envy. What a lovely structure. Choice of shady brightener-uppers also sounds very good. The Royal Horticultural Soc page has good for advice on possible others: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/perennials
In the sidebar down the page open the ‘sunlight’ tab. (That sounds like a tab everyone should have implanted).
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Thank you!!!! And I see they’ve got pictures – that’s fantastic. I’m going to go through the list right now 🙂
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So glad it helps. I use it a lot because you can trust what they say 🙂
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nifty lavender rose. I have one that is close, and it gets hot pink tips when it gets some sun.
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I LOVE that colour. My favourite rose by a mile 🙂
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My new kitchen is that color. Love it!
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It’s gorgeous. I’d love one but my garden doesn’t seem to like roses much.
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Really? I think of England as the land of roses…
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Two died after blooming beautifully in the first year – I suspect ants destroyed them as our garden has so many ant nests we’ve lost count. One rose is struggling & is probably in the wrong position but I’m wary of moving it. All it’s leaves fell off last summer, but it’s looking healthy now so I’m hopefully it will live. Ferns, on the other hand, do very well (we have over 25 different types).
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The greenhouse is looking smashing but I reckon it would not do so well down here – we get some serious hailstorms during the summer months and I ain’t no glazier!
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I am envious of the greenhouse as well. Do you grow your own vegetables in there?
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Yes, I grow New Zealand spinach year round and broccolini from fall to spring. But mostly I use it to extend the herb growing season 🙂
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Very lovely!
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Thanks! It’s a slow process, but we’ll get there, eventually 🙂
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I’ve got greenhouse envy. I’ve wanted one for ages but hubby says it would end up on Isle Haute (in the middle of the Bay of Fundy) within weeks of construction. The ides of March got nothin’ on us in winter . . . I, too, love those glass tables but I can imagine little handprints all over them. 🙂
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Wow – is it an every year occurrence?
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Nice! Love the ocean(?) view room 😝
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Me too! Almost everything in the AMPM catalogue is amazing.
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😬
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Cook up something fantastic with all those herbs! #jealous
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It’s soooooo convenient. Completely changed the way I use herbs. Instead of a light sprinkle, they’ve become a much more significant part of how I cook 🙂
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You can make “pesto” with just about any herb, and you don’t have to use cheese or nuts. If I have enough tarragon my fav is a deconstructed béarnaise.
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That sounds amazing. Details please!!!
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Oh boy. I am not as precise as you! I just do it! It’s basically just tarragon (guess 1/3-1/2c with evoo and salt and pepper, process til smooth).
You can then use it with hollandaise as a drizzle over or if you want to be a bit healthier, use on its own over something (ie great on poached eggs or a cold soup).
Cilantro pesto is great on quesadillas, rosemary works well on grilled meats, play with the type of nuts to emphasize the herb more. I find raw almonds milder than pine nuts and less expensive.
You have lots of raw materials go play and you tell me!! 😉
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Thanks for the tip about almonds instead of pine nuts.
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Always the blanched kind!!!
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Love the rug and ADORE the greenhouse. Maybe one day…-sigh-
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How’s your little one doing?
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Pretty well, actually. We’ve had a couple of very cold nights yet I’ve still got tomato seedlings flowering and growing fruit inside. The tomatoes plants are dwarfs, or maybe just stunted. lol Nevertheless, it’s officially winter and I’ll be getting some more tomatoes eventually. Very happy. Oh and the basil likes it in there too.
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Oh!Em!Gee! I HAVE to tell you about this A-Maze-Ing product I bought. It is literally like a miracle machine. I thought to mention it after seeing the pics of the greenhouse.
I looked it up an Amazon France for you, I have the version 5 which includes a blade for smaller windows and for big windows.
If you think of a patio doors, and the patio door is really two doors, I have 24 of them suckers. This machine is a virtual lifesaver and it really really does work as advertised. I am sure you have a cleaning lady, I suggest you buy this and then show the cleaning lady how to use it, and I know calling her a lady is rather sexist, you very well could have a cleaning man.
This IS a miracle machine. Because so many of my outside windows were so dirty because of lack of cleaning (I mean c’mon 24 patio doors, both sides?), I used Mr Clean, just a little bit of Mr Clean in a bucket of water and I used a green sponge scrubbie on the initial cleaning on the outside as they were so bad, pitted with dead insect goo. Going forward I will just use their spray bottle and cleaner as I have inside and outside windows really clean now.
The Karcher liquid cleaner is excellent by the way. But so many of my windows (NOT ALL!) were in such grimy state, I did not use their Karcher liquid cleaning product. When I bought the machine I bought a big bottle of their cleaner also. I used the diluted Mr Clean to get me a fresh start, because many many windows on the outside were so grubby (hate admitting that in public actually) to start with.
Initially I used dish soap (it worked) but that was so foamy in the collection tank, Mr Clean did better because it cleans well and doesn’t foam. You might not think you can clean a window with Mr Clean, or dish soap because you are worried about a film, but this damned machine really WORKS, you don’t get a film. It really does work. I saw all those windows on your greenhouse and thought I should pass this along. Your cleaning lady (or cleaning man) will kiss your feet if you buy this. Trust me, 24 big patio doors, I am an expert. And they include a small blade for windows that have panes in them.
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Fantastic!!!! For months I’ve been wondering about that machine. I’m always asking people we know if they have it because I wanted a *real* review as the ones online are mixed. We have no cleaning person… I do the windows, Mike vacuums 🙂
I’ll order one today!
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Great! Do write back once you try it. Initially if your windows are bad, use Mr Clean (do you have that in France) in a bucket of hot water, and a green scrubbie. Then just vacuum off the cleaning water. For any minor streaks I have a clean rag I will polish the streak out with, but 90% you will not get streaks.
If you stand up in your window sills I bet you can reach to the top outside of your windows as you have such huge windowsills, you can probably stand on them if you lean outside. I’m so happy you are buying this and can’t wait for your review.
It actually goes super fast if you have two people. One scrubs (or sprays and wipes in the future when your winders are back in good dhape) and the other one comes right behond and vaccuums. You can obviously do it yourself but it is a lot quicker with two people. I had to literally drag my husband into working with mo on the windows bust after the first 30 seconds with the machine he was sold. The machine doesn’t stay charged that long but that’s okay as it kind of forces you to do a few a day, and then the next day a few more. I used it on the glass shower panel in the bathroom and on my mirrors, it worked great on the mirrors also.
The shower door glass panel I just used an bathroom cleaner with a good calcium and lime cleaner in it, scrubbed a little bit with the green scrubbie, rinsed with the shower head and then just vacuumed and it came out sparkling clean. I always hated doing that shower glass.
I can’t wait to see how you like it.
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Aaaahhhh – there are 8 different models. Which one do you have?
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Model 5, it is something like WV5, not sure on the letters but it has a 5 in the version number.
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