Bonne Année from Monsieur Olivet, Happy New Year to all of you from me!

Wishing you all a year full of peace and a slice of fine fromage! See you in the new year everyone!

Pioneer - Penmanship!

Malorie decides to honor her pioneer ancestors by writing in her "best" Spencerian. (note to reader: this is truly not a sample of traditional Spencerian..I applaud those who can!)

A little about Spencerian and the writing used by our Founding Fathers (US) that I found from this document: Although our founding fathers were Americans, their educational heritage had strong ties to the English school curricula, for as a pioneer land of English colonies and then a fledgling country, the United States had not yet developed its own system of handwriting. Thus our colonial patriots had been taught the English Roundhand Script, or Copperplate Script, and they used this style for the writing of important documents....Spencerian is uniquely American.

Very belated posts: Brian Kalina and Anna Lloyd

Where does the time go? I received these lovely items in an international art exchange and am finally posting them so that all of you can see them and hopefully check out more of these artists' work. "Welcome" is by Brian Kalina (bkalina@verizon.net) of Pennington, New Jersey. I enjoyed receiving this hopeful image of a wanderer on his way to adventures in a city. His backpack mimics the swirly landscape he trods on. Wonderful palette, too, Brian! "Superb Blue Wren" is by Anna Lloyd of Australia. Her beautiful blue wren has such strength both in its stance and from his mask. I thank Brian and Anna for participating in the exchange, and for the invitation from Mônica. It's been a pleasure to receive such a varied range of wonderful art pieces.

The last thing to do on the night before Christmas...

was to stroll down the avenue Montaigne to view the window displays. Monsieur Olivet, with one box of peanut brittle left to deliver (for there surely would not be one item left undone on his "to-do" list), paused a moment in front of Les Livres, the bookstore. A sunny scene caught his attention and he smiled when he made out the title of the book wedged in the sand. It was an English book titled, "Hidden Sonoma".

Wishing all of you, my lovely bloggy friends who have been so kind and warm, generous and full of good will, a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. You have meant so very much to me this year. Hugs to all of you – Shirley

PS–I do hope to post a few more of Monsieur's adventures before the New Year, and I hope to visit all of you soon. Off to baking now... : )

Monsieur's woodland friends hatch a plan!

In the still of the winter's night, raccoon leads the discussion of what to do in honor of Monsieur's faithful years of friendship. A lively discussion ensues with the lead idea being to send Monsieur Olivet on a trip, as he had never travelled beyond France before.

What a super holiday I had with the family - thanks everyone for visiting and stopping by while I have been away. I'm finally "caught up" a bit before the holidays really hit hard. I will be catching up with this blog and all of you this week. I hope you all have been well! Happy Holidays!

Crunchy - Illustration Friday

As Winter approaches and the fall leaves have almost all dropped, Monsieur Olivet decides it's time to prepare his annual batch of peanut brittle for all of his woodland friends.

Hi Everyone...I just wanted to say THANKS for coming by this past week. I am so grateful for all of your visits. I will be by as soon as I get back from a holiday with my family..so hope everyone has a creative week ahead! : )