Le Lièvre et la Tortue...

Christian et moi à la brocante, c'est toujours un peu la même histoire... 

La fable du Lièvre et de la Tortue, vous connaissez? Moi, j'ai déjà fait deux fois le tour et dilapidé toute ma fortune du jour tandis que lui commence seulement à approcher du deuxième stand (j'avoue que c'est souvent fort utile lorsque je n'ai déjà plus un rond en poche et que lui n'a encore rien sorti de son mignon porte-feuille!). Bon, tout ça pour dire, qu'hier, donc, à la brocante où nous étions déjà depuis le matin, où mon budget et ma patience s'étaient déjà envolés depuis peu (les 15 heures venaient quand même de sonner au beffroi...) et où j'essayais, dénué de tout agacement (mon œil!)de retrouver Christian, je me sentais à bout de nerfs et prêt à tuer quelqu'un...

Me rendant compte qu'il était toujours au même stand de livres que la dernière fois que je l'avais aperçu plus d'une heure auparavant, j'étais sur le point de m'adresser à lui en ces termes, toute diplomatie abolie, deux points ouvrez les guillemets: "Mais (censuré) ça fait deux (censuré) heures (censuré) que (censuré) tu es là (censuré) (censuré) censuré) on avance un peu maintenant (censuré) mais... hôôôô...hôôôô que c'est beau...hôôôôô... et il y en a deux! Hôôôôô, c'est combien? Vous n'en n'avez pas d'autres? Ok, c'est bon, j'achète!"... Et voici donc comment, grâce à la Tortue, le Lièvre fit sa plus belle trouvaille de la journée: deux recueils de magazine des années folles, brochés et recouverts du plus beau tissu imprimé d'époque... Mon Dieu que je les aime ces motifs aux couleurs passées!
Rien ne sert de courir, il faut ouvrir le bon œil, sans doute...

Winter mood...

Now that I think about it...














With a little perspective...












Seems to me that I was in a "Winter mood" on my buying trip last week...






Days are shorter now and I wonder if I might be suffering from a lack of luminosity...





and this could explain why I only brought back "shimmering" and "sparkling" items...











Anyway: let there be light!!!

Adèle & Joséphine's precious postcards.

In a cupboard here lies hidden and protected what certainly was once Adèle and Joséphine's greatest treasure...










A very old album filled to the brim with the sweetest antique postcards...








Antiques have a strange power on our romantic minds and are able to bring us in a long forgotten world, a fantasy world...

but this is only true today and for some, at a age of technology and permanent connexion...




Adèle and Joséphine didn't had any television or computer, and they were even not "on Facebook"...



Lives and life were different at the "Belle Epoque" at around 1900...




November 2014, dark cold evening, I'm looking at that old odd album containing postcards each adressed to both Joséphine and Adèle, and most signed by "Tante Maria"...




Who was she? Who were them? I wonder...












And I imagine a cold evening in a dark drawing room only lit by candlelight... Two little girls working together on their album, on their precious postcard collection...





What were they going to get from Tante Maria for Christmas? I wonder...

The wind is cold and Adèle and Joséphine and Tante Maria are all long gone with it...

What was it like then? I wonder...

boxoholic?!?

I love boxes... 

I can't stop buying boxes! 








I love them to be vintage and covered with floral fabric if not with antique wallpaper.

Do you love boxes?













This week-end,I found (amongst others) that one brilliantly colored, hand made and Art-Deco... Yes, I found it nice... but when I saw the inside, I had to buy it!



It is covered with antique and faded fabric with pattern of cherubs, roses and birds...
What would you hide and treasure in that kind of box?






And then, another one very special to me...
Covered with paper showing a galant scene...
But inside, there is an hidden note... how sweet is this!




So you just discovered a few of my favorite boxes...

Madame Alfred Carrière...

Do you know Madame Alfred Carrière? 

She is the jewel in my garden... 

It is an old rose discovered in 1879. A Victorian plant, yes it is... and great for vases too!



Some grow it as a climber but it is a huge and vigourous plant that I believe at its best used as a big opulent shrub... 







It has long arched stems that are now covered with fragrant blooms, off-white color on a light green folliage. 






My favourite, for sure, and it repeat flowering all summer.






As romantic inside as outside...









Madame Alfred Carrière, do you want to be forever in my garden?

Be sure to grow it in yours... Did I mention that it is an almost thorn-less rose? And it is also a good rose for shady area...

I did it again...

Ben de Papignies this morning at the brocante, 7.00 a.m.:

"I would like to buy the tablecloth... Yes, the tablecloth there, under all your beautiful antique items! Yes, that one, please. No, I'm not interested by the other and I would like to buy it for a ridiculously low price please!"

I did it again and it worked. The seller first had to move all his precious knickknacks and trinkets and then he was able to handle me the precious fabric. 

Well, I should be used to this as this was not the first time but It always leave me speechless when it works... and as far as I can remember, no seller did ever refused and I love my new antique tablecloth... Here are some pics, with some today's discoveries.

Cheers.

Sunday petite Brocante...

Last Sunday, we were selling at a local flea market... It was a great day with good sales, funny peoples, friendly customers and great organisers. Many thanks to all of you.






Here are some pics taken by my Dear friend Mélanie, who was selling there too. We are planning to be back there on the 7th of September...