Happy Earth Day!

We have a beautiful planet. We need to take care of her. Happy Earth Day!

French Elections

On Sunday, the French citizens will vote for the President. It is called the "Elections Présidentielles". There are many candidates for the first round ("Premier Tour"). And for the second round ("Second Tour"), only the two main ones will compete. Many women are in the elections this year, representing different views.
Voters need to be registered in a "bureau de vote", generally in the city or town where they live. The day of the elections, usually a Sunday, they go to their "bureau de vote". It may be the City Hall ("Mairie") or a school.

There, each voter takes an empty envelop, and little papers with the name of the candidates. Each paper contains only 1 name. Then, the voter goes into what looks like a dressing room "l'isoloir" where in complete confidentiality, he/she puts one paper with the name of the chosen candidate in the envelop. Then, out of the "isoloir", the voter goes to the secured vote box. He/she gives his/her "carte d'électeur" to a board member who reads his/her name out loud. Two persons, each with a copy of the voters list in the form of a book, look for his/her name, then presents one book to sign to the voter. The voter then places the envelop in the opening of the box, and when the envelop falls, the board president -usually the mayor ("Maire") says "a voté !" (meaning that the voter voted).

When the election time ends, the "bureau de vote" is declared closed. The population gathers in the room, as the book keepers counts the number of voters. Then, the mayor or a broad member unlocks the vote box and counts the number of papers. The number needs to correspond to the number of voters from the book. Then, the mayor starts to read the papers. Again, two persons are recording the number of vote for each candidate. At the end, the papers are recounted and the numbers for each candidate need to match the number recorder by each book keepers. The results are announced and then communicated to the "préfecture" for compilation with the other cities.

Mairie d'Ayguesvives (Ayguesvives City Hall) now in one of the two town castles. Behind the building is a big park. Non religious weddings also happen here.

Architecture details from the city of Angers

The city of Angers has beautiful architecture details.
Here are some of them from downtown. My favorite is the first one (very romantic)

New creation: The Spring baskets are here!

The Spring baskets are here! Order yours now!

Beautiful on a table or a desk, especially in the summer, these baskets can hold many things! The outside fabric represents a nice paisley composition (in green, white or yellow). The inside is quilted in white. Reversible. Washable. Flat storage. 6" x 6" x 2.5" (flat: 12" x 12")

Order here!

New creation: A cute Jam jar skirt

An elegant embroidery skirt for your homemade or bought jam jar!
This cute skirt covers standard size jars. Washable, it is easy to use daily for breakfast or snack time.


Order here!

Little French Tea House

In Amboise, in the heart of the village, a little Tea House welcomes the castle visitors and the Da Vinci admirers. This is a small place, with a few tables and chairs. It is cozy like in a living room.

The owner is extremely nice, and when my sister and I asked if he had some pastries, he went to the Boulangerie to get some for us!

Bedrooms for Queens and Kings -Chenonceau-

The Loire Valley hosts many castles built or remodeled for Kings and Queens. Bedrooms are always amazing pieces of style. Here are some Chenonceau beds.

The castle was given to Diane of Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II. Then after the King death, Catherine of Medicis, Queen of France, took it back and ruled France Kingdom from there.







One of the bedroom is black and dark. Louise of Lorraine, widow of Henri II, lived there for 12 years after his husband was killed. She closed herself from the world and forgot herself in prayers. The bedroom feels like a tomb.

Le Clos Lucé -Last home of Leonardo Da Vinci-

Le Clos Lucé is a castle in Amboise, in the Loire Valley.
The castle is located at a walking distance of 20 minutes from the Loire river. Leonardo lived at the Clos Lucé for 3 years and died there after months of illness.

Leonardo Da Vinci moved to France in 1516 at the request of François the First, King of France, and great admirer of the Italian Renaissance.





Many of his paintings, notes, drawings were in the house after his death but were lost after. The Joconde painting stayed at the Clos Lucé during Leonardo's lifetime and was brought to Fontainebleau by Francois the First afterward. During World War II, the painting was brought back to Amboise castle so the Germans would not find it. When the Amboise location was no longer safe, the painting was hidden in South of France. At the end of the war, The Joconde was back in Paris, where she is now displayed at the Louvre museum.


The Clos Lucé is now open to the public. Although all the rooms cannot be visited, it is overwhelming to enter Leonardo's bedroom and his study cabinet at the 2nd floor.

Leonardo's bedroom is a "small" room with a small canopy bed in red velvet. A nice fireplace was certainly warming the room a lot.

From the window, the view opens on Amboise and its castle. Leonardo commented on this beautiful view in his booknotes.



The view is similar from his study cabinet, a bigger room with more light and a bigger fireplace. The bedroom and the study room are connected by a single door.




At the first floor, a small chapel showed a simple and powerful praying place. The paintings from Leonardo's disciples give a true Italian tone. The chapel was built by King Charles VIII for his spouse Anne de Bretagne, who was deeply affected by the lost of her young kids.


The legend says that an underground tunnel connects Leonardo's house with the Amboise King Castle. Although we can see the entrance of the tunnel at the bottom of the house, there is no clear evidence of the existence of the secret pathway.

The doors frames at the entrance are beautiful pieces of architecture:

The underground and the parc are now a museum of Leonardo's inventions. It is amazing to see how genius he was.

Leonardo's is buried in the Amboise castle chapel -in what is left of the Amboise King castle-, where if he could, he would admire everyday the marvelous way people can now take pictures of everything!



References:
Le Clos Lucé (en)
Le Clos Lucé (fr)
Le Clos Lucé (fr)

Leonardo Da Vinci(en)

C'est le printemps !

Today is the beginning of the Spring.
In Seattle, the sun is out this morning and the trees are blooming. It is beautiful!
Regarding Spring in the state of Maine, I found a cute article in the Eagle Tribune .


When I was in France, two weeks ago, Spring seemed to be already there. The temperatures were warmer and the flowers were performing a colorful firework.
The following flower was in a greenhouse in Toulouse (France) and it is a nice picture to celebrate Spring. Enjoy!

Trip to France

I am back from a wonderful trip to France where I visited my family and friends, as well as looked around for the French decoration. France is currently completely tuned to the Indian style with fuchsia, orange and red colors and the gold embellishments. Curtains, pillows, table clothes, plates, candles... everything is declined on this theme. I find this very nice and pretty.
During my stay, I also visited some Loire Valley castles. I will talk more about this in the coming posts.
In the meantime, enjoy this view of the Chambord castle.

Isabelle