Summer snapshots

I have been tagged recently by Gill and Leanne and I've been very slow at responding - sorry, I don't like compiling lists (I always forget the most important things to include). Anyway, as it's been a grey, wet and cold day I thought I'd share some facts about me and my summer holidays.


One of my favourite smells and tastes of summer has to be vanilla. It reminds me of France and all those delicious puddings and pastries. I love cooking with sugar that has had vanilla pods stored with it - mmmm delicious! I recently bought a Vanilla Pudding candle from Victoria's Coasts of Cornwall Candle Company and it transports me immediately to France - wonderful!


I love the sun and feeling its warmth on my face but on days when it is just too hot, I love walking through the woods where it's cool and quiet. Walking in the countryside in the summer has to be one of my favourite thing to do.


I love the summer, adore it and love going away. However, I hate packing and must be the world's worst packer. I pack for every eventuality, rain, sun, snow and drought. We leave home laden down with luggage, a quarter of it gets worn and somehow all of it needs washing! It's the same with toiletries - I pack as if we're entering a war zone, the contents of half of a pharmacy in my case!!


One of the things I always have to take with me on holiday is a pile of books - new and waiting to be devoured. I'm a bookworm and one of my greatest pleasures is lying on a beach, on a hillside, in my garden, on a sofa or in bed with a good book to read.
One of the worst books I took on holiday was The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - it's a great book, but so harrowing, I read it in the evenings in a cottage we rented in a quiet French seaside village, the girls were sleeping on the floor above us and the floorboards creaked and the windows rattled, I don't think I slept at all for the first week.


I remember when I was still at school spending, what seemed like, the entire summer holidays lying in our garden on one of those swing chairs reading Agatha Christie books. Practically one a day, I was completely hooked, I tried rereading them recently but they don't have the same attraction anymore!


This has to be one of my favourite places to spend the holidays. A beach in Normandy where we have spent several holidays. It was the place where my youngest spent an entire fortnight walking in circles on the beach, for some reason as a toddler on the beach she could never walk in a straight line, so we'd be following her across this very big beach spiralling down to the sea. It's here where we've seen dolphins and my oldest's dream came true when she turned round in the sea to see that they were swimming right behind her. I think if we could ever have a dream holiday home it would be here on the cliffs overlooking this beautiful sandy beach where we've had so much fun together and with friends.


There I think I've bored you all enough with what I like getting up to in the summer, but it does feel good to have got that list out of the way!
I'm going to curl up on the sofa now and watch a video but before I do, thanks to Heidi, Meggie and Gill - who all have really lovely blogs - for nominating me again for the Nice Matters Award, I'm very touched. Let's all share this one together- I'm not really one for making lists. Hope you're enjoying your holidays.