English Roses from France - Giveaway Winner!

Well, I'm about to close my giveaway and draw the winner, but please bear with me while I go through my progress on those Rentrée Resolutions - that's what my (now traditional) back-to-school giveaway is all about! If you haven't looked at all the comments on my original post, they're well worth a browse - and also a check back to the previous year, when resolutions had a slightly different 'feel'. I think my favourite this year may be Autumn Mist's, which is : "To stop interrupting people when they're talking, a terrible habit I've had for years. I think I'm improving in this, but I daren't ask anyone!" I love it and I identify with it. But that doesn't make her the winner! I shall sort that out with random.org in a minute... So, my resolutions: Join the Library - getting there! I popped in when I was passing by unexpectedly the other day and discovered (unsurprisingly) that I'd need a 'justificatif domicile' to show my address before I could join. So now our electricity bill is tucked into my diary for the next time I pass:

Buy and read the newspaper: I'm doing that quite often and have learned a lot and, I should think, improving my French too. But doesn't it create a lot of recycling?

Cycling more often: I've buzzed about town quite a lot on my bike this week. I've only done one planned cycle ride, though.

I'll just take this opportunity to show off our improved bike-storage facilities:

The spare bikes are on the wall and only the four we need every day are in the rack. This should make it a lot easier to get them out, and back in, on school days. The helmets are on new hooks on the door, too - thanks, Ben!

And finally, the Forum des Associations didn't come up with any craft classes or groups that really tempted me. Where is the French version of Vicki's and Dawn's group, or Josie-Mary's? Answer - I don't think they exist. So I have decided on a project based on a book I picked up at a Vide Grenier a few years ago:

I'm going to collect together photos of our gîte holiday and put them into a Scrap Book (yes, a Scrap Book, not just a scrap book) as a Christmas present for my parents in law - if you remember, it was a full family holiday to celebrate their golden wedding. I'd love any advice on scrapbooking from you all - I've bought (some of it new - eek!) some materials, as I realised I would have spent quite a lot on joining a group and buying equipment, so there seems no harm in setting up properly for a home project. I need to timetable myself some weekly time on this - I'm really looking forward to it!

So now I'm going to pop over and close my Giveaway, and then I'll head back here and tell you the winner!

HURRAY! The winner is Kit! Kit has the blog A Montana Life and she currently has a fantastic picture on her blog - you've got to go over and see it! Congratulations, Kit - please email me your address and I will post you your roses!