Spring in the air reminds us that we are blessed to be living in a 230 year-old cottage in a beautiful country. Our little community is surrounded by pastures and hay fields which have supported farmers for at least that many years.

This fence is just down the road a bit from us. I did it on cappuccino paper with ink and graphite, and just a touch of Koi watercolor gray.

We watch A Place in the Sun, a show about folks looking for properties to buy in France and Spain. One of the most common requests that the buyers ask for is old world charm, beams and stone. It is easy to take for granted how fortunate we are – I sit every morning sipping coffee with beams and thick stone walls overhead. Here is one of the small windows in our living room – ink and Koi marker.

This week we took a road trip about four hours south to the Nouvelle–Aquitaine village of Montmorillon. Our friends Heidi and Richard, who are from Seattle, bought a house and moved there to renovate it just six months before we came to France. We met them through a mutual friend of Tricia’s sister but we had never met in person. They have given us some valuable tips so we wanted to meet and say thank you.

Montmorillon is a quiet village, perfect for sketching over morning coffee.

We stayed in a BnB just a few blocks away from the center of town and our friends. Village roofs out the window are always good for a sketch.

Yesterday we drove 122 miles to La Rochelle, a town on the Atlantic Ocean. of course my morning started with un café allongé and a sketch of a couple of locals at Bistro Le Parisien.

Sometimes our travels are as close as where we drink our morning coffee, sometimes they are a bit further, what is most important is that we enjoy the journey be it short or long, and of course take the time to capture it on paper.