Sunflowers, castles and a detour to some new little beings …

In France, we are and with many adventures already.  The call of newborns and the promise of a Mermaid car enticed my eldest and I on a cross channel journey.  We travelled by air, on land and sea from here to here via Big Ben and the White Cliffs of Dover to much of the length of France from the coastal north in Calais, on the flats to the highlands, past a plethora of centuries old castles rising on hills like the magical Severac Le Chateau http://www.severac-le-chateau.com/, right down south to the fields of sunflowers I spy from out of my window right now.  Some favourite gratefuls include my eldest and her wit, navigating the Mermaid car out of the back streets of Paris on a Friday night with just a compass – she is amazing,  the restored 12-14 Century bridge in the small commune of Grez-ur-Loing where artists and musicians have lived and worked over the centuries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grez-sur-Loing#/media/File:Grez_sur_Loing-20170402.jpg – thank you to Eric and family for their ‘must go’ from our chance meeting with them in the streets of Nemours where the terrific ‘Masculine’ exhibition in the 12 Century Chateau Musee e Nemours gave me some delight in the light of the works by Paul Leroy http://art.rmngp.fr/fr/library/artworks/paul-leroy_le-mendiant-aveugle-de-l-oasis-d-el-bordj_huile-sur-toile_1890, the smiles and waves on the lanes to the motorways across this land as the Mermaid car weaved its way, a whimsical pit stop with imagination from Carll Cneuts birds in muse de l’illustration jeunesse http://festivaldesillustrateurs.com/evenements/cneut-carll/ and with a high note right at the middle of the journey, meeting Rafi and Zivah (just a moment with them drawn here) and their beautiful family who gave us many more favourite gratefuls.