Lavender blue

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. ~~
~~Pablo Picasso~~

What’s in a name? The Romans called it lavender which may have come from the Latin verb “lavare” which means “to wash” or from the word “livendulo” which means “livid or bluish”. The Greeks referred to it as Nardus after the city of Naardus in Syria. People in India called it spikenard, which referred to the shape of its flowers. Read more here.

The old lavoir in Fougères

Washing in solitude

Flowers on the banks of the river Nancon in Fougeres

I had lunch right next to the river the other day in Fougères at a little restaurant called l'Estiminette, which means little bar/bistro/especially a shabby one!!! It is really nice, honestly. Because of the strange summer weather we sat outside with our jackets on!

Apparently estiminette is from Walloon for cow shed!..link here.

Just in case you did not know Walloons are French speaking people from Belgium.

My search for the roots of the word lavender was inspired by Deborah's blog, see lots of lovely lavender here.

We are all washed out here, clothes drying indoors as the rain pours day after day!

French words

A washing machine is a lave linge.

A washer woman is a lavandière