spring guests to monet's garden

The weather may have been throwing its worst at us this week, but we don't mind, a pair of boots, a hat and we are still game to get out and about.

When I visited  Giverny  last week, I was a little too early for my favourite season when the irises and peonies are on show.

But the lily pond looked calm and magical, and the gardens were a riot of colour with all the spring flowers.

  The tulips were magnificent, and by their thousands!

And peonies in bud, are really almost as stunning as fully opened.

I'll just have to go back next week! If you 've already been to Giverny, do you have a favourite moment of the year?

a wet and windy loot shoot

There is a LOT of weather around this week, we have had rain and wind all week long, and I almost stayed in bed this morning, instead of braving the elements to check out the brocante fairs.

 

The first two were disastrous, I found almost nothing, but the third was totally worthwhile.  In a lovely setting on grass under huge beech trees;  pretty but very, very muddy.

The wind raged incessantly as I stomped around the fair with a friend, pausing now and again to shelter under a tree when the rain got too heavy.

Amazingly there were still people selling, and I was pleased with my haul.  Also amazingly I found a mannequin, the second in two weeks, having found none for a year!

Ghetto and Gibson helped me set everything out in the garden for a quick, if damp loot shoot between showers.

They liked what I bought, but they would have liked even more to come with me this morning ..... in their dreams!

So without more ado, here is what I found, I hope you enjoy and  I wish you a fun and sunny week ahead.

PS  Ghetto hopes you like his haircut, a bit tidier than when you saw him on Friday!

wisteria over french gates

 In our valley,  people like to have high stone walls around their homes.  The walls make you feel safe, and private and ..... 

 they are great for training climbing plants like wisteria,  clematis and Virginia creeper.

 Many houses have  wisterias over one hundred years old twisting

 and turning their way around gates and pillars.

and the great thing about wisteria, is that it can make even a ramshackle fence 

look romantic,  especially when the wall beneath is covered in a pink flowering weed.

Wishing you a fragrant weekend,

 thank you for reading my blog, you are the best!

Gibson and Ghetto get back together

 I.N.S.E.P.A.R.A.B.L.E - that is the only way to describe Gibson and Ghetto ever since the little monster came home last week!

As you can see from the pictures, Ghetto has gone for the hippy-look this season, with long unkempt dreadlocks, but we try not to talk about it, we'd hate to upset him.

Gibson is forever the patient, generous and understanding one, although now and again he does shoot me a look that says,

 "do I REALLY have to put up with this nonsense?"

or  

"doesn't he EVER slow down?!"

Only a few more days and the dynamo will be gone again, and the house
will feel strangely quieter..... and tidier!

Just saying.

a French home to love in Normandy

How charming is this little house in deepest Normandy.   It is featured in the French magazine Campagne et Decoration, and dates from 1853.   The owners obviously love to shop at the local brocantes and have furnished the property with their beautiful and eclectic collection of  treasure.

I love the soft tones achieved with pale but not white walls, neutral coloured chairs and natural wood for the beams and some of the furniture.

I love the ceiling treatment in this bedroom in the eaves.  The natural timbers and the huge beams are stunning.

A place to feel at home in, don't you think?

all photos thanks to Campagne et Decoration

french paintings - taking time to observe

I love to collect small paintings, framed or unframed I don't mind that much.  A casual display of mismatched pictures on canvas, board or even card just makes me happy.

The reason behind the huge charm of the old paintings is that they speak to us of another time when  knowing how to paint was a normal part of a good education and when  they took time to sit down and observe.

In the French school system there is little time given to nurturing a child's creativity, and even the students who specialise in an artistic discipline are no longer taught how to draw, the curriculum prefers to give them a good grounding in draughtsmen's software than charcoal and paints.  The result is that students who choose to study art or architecture at university, have to spend their first year going back to basics and learning how to ... observe.

Because surely that is what art is all about, be it drawing, painting or even writing : the ability to observe and interpret what we see.

Can you tell that I have a bee in my bonnet?!

Last week I was fortunate enough to buy several paintings from the French lady I told you about.  I kept this one painted on card, almost certainly by an amateur who just took pleasure in walking out with a box of paints and a folding stool until he found a view that appealed and sat down to paint.   He painted this pretty scene of a country lane, and then ....

flipped the card over and painted some trees beside a lake!  How could I possibly frame this one, I'd never be able to choose which side I like best!!

So because I know that this is a dying art, and that my children's generation favour a screen to an easel, I shall continue buying these pieces of amateur art whenever I have the opportunity.

Just yesterday I bought this little painting at our local auction house.  Not quite so amateur, since the painters name is known and displayed on the frame, but it still has its charm.  He took the time to sit down and paint an ordinary house, to observe, to transmit.  You can see more about the painting here.

How about you?  What is your favourite object that reminds you to slow down and take the time to observe?

a special kitchen ware brocante

Continuing to find ideas for those of you visiting France and looking for a good day out.  On the 13th  May next, in the beautiful town of Beaune, 3 hours south of Paris, there will be the annual sale and brocante event La Vaisselle des Chefs.

This is a charmingly French tradition, uniting the best restaurants in the area with the best antique and brocante dealers.  For the restaurants it is the opportunity to sell their crockery and cutlery that is due for renewal, and for the antique dealers a chance to meet with a specialised public, keen to buy anything culinary to embellish their kitchens at home.

On the website for the sale, you can even find a list of the Chefs de Cuisine  and the articles they will be contributing for sale.  We learn for example that one chef will be selling old hotel silver, another will be selling cutlery and table linen and that a château restaurant will be offering a service of porcelain decorated with their coat of arms.

I don't expect to get there that day , but if any of you make it, I would love to hear what you find: your very own culinary loot shoot!