Samedi shopping...........

 

How on earth an I supposed to concentrate on shopping when...................

 

 

 

 

 

 

....When these old shop fronts are absolutely edible!!!

Bon weekend mes belles and Len who is not a fairy.
xxxx

A little money laundering..................

We were all set to rush off to la poste today with all our packages ready to catch the lorry that leaves for Paris at 2.30. Mark grabbed his wallet and realised our bank card was missing so we launched a search.

Half an hour later we still hadn`t found it so we tried to track back to the last time we used it and what we were wearing. Mark thought he might have slipped it into his shirt pocket, the shirt that had just been on a hot wash cycle in the washing machine.

And oui! There it was lying in the drum looking quite shiny. We set off for La poste and tried it in the bank cash point on the way.....................saved!!! It worked perfectly!!!

I shall be checking his pockets in future!

Have a wonderful weekend mes belles.....

The old mill...............

This old local flour mill is so beautiful.

Slowly crumbling with what is left of the old wooden mill wheel all knotted up in ivy and thorns.

I don`t suppose anyone even knows who owns it anymore

 

 

The brook that would have turned the wheel still rushes past and the water diverts inside the mill but sits in a stagnant pool without the wheel to move it along.

In the early 1800s it would have been a hive of activity milling flour for the village.


Silent, still and so sad now.


Every time we pass it calls out to me to bring it back to life it and get that wheel working again.

Can you imagine living in that huge beamed high ceiling cottage with the sound of the water slooshing around the wheel?

A la prochaine mes belles
xxx

Recovery by chocolate!!

I am recovering at home after an operation yesterday and was feeling quite sorry for myself when the postman arrived with a huge padded envelope addressed to me.

All it had on the back was the word "ENJOY" and inside, with no message or note, was a HUGE block of Dairy Milk chocolate and a matching shopping bag

I instantly didn`t feel so sorry for myself at all!!

An enormous thankyou to the mystery sender and to everyone for the wonderful messages.

A la prochaine mes belles

xxxx

BUM-ble bees............

I know I will be struck by lightening for this but................

......at the village crossroads there is a huge iron Jesus figure that has a whole host of very active bees flying from a hole in his derriere.

Does that make them Bum-ble bees?

A la prochaine mes belles
xxxx

We only nipped out for a baguette but...............

We nipped out for a baguette and of course a quick café  in our favourite bar and we were told about a wonderful old chateau piece that was up for grabs.

Well you know me too well to even consider that I would not be off as quick as a truffle pig in a forest!!

I am so glad we went to investigate as we came home with this huge early 1800s stucco lions head tucked on the back seat of the car!!

 

 

 

 

But, we forgot the baguette!!

I shall be listing him tonight and will be thoroughly enjoying him while he visits for a short while!!

A demain mes belles

xxxxx

Frou Frou`s cottage.........

It may have lashed with rain today but who cared? It was Mr Frou Frou`s birthday at their tiny 18th century cottage that they are renovating just a few villages away.

As you may have read in previous posts I absolutely cannot make any form of cakes and if you ate one of my creations you certainly should not go swimming afterwards. But Miss Frou Frou......oooh la la.... that mademoiselle can bake!!!

The day they took the key to the cottage it was derelict and the kitchen was just a dark dank old room with a concrete floor. But today it is wonderful array of duck egg blue gorgeousness!!

 

 

 

They have worked so hard to create this wonderful space from nothing on a very tight budget. Lots of gorgeous vide grenier finds and I can see an addiction to old red and white spotted enamels starting!!

 

So, I suppose they are allowed to pull funny faces on my photos!

Even Count Kipper of St. Anne pulled a strange face at me!!

Felicitations to Mr Frou Frou on his birthday and to both of them for all their hard work on the cottage.

A la prochaine mes belles
xxx

Captured in time...............

I adore old French manuscripts and documents. Old waxy vellum or handmade parchment paper each one is a special moment captured in time. Each one with it`s own unique story.

A marriage contract, a land agreement, a will or a business deal. All signed with such conviction and stamped with a decorative lawyers notaires stamp.

Wonderful for display rolled with a ribbon tie or placed for all to read. The old sepia ink soft with time, the paper raggety edged.

I came home this weekend with a batch dated from the late 1700s and of course that delicieux silk cushion peeping out from behind!

I hope your weekend unearthed some divine treasures for you too

A la prochaine mes belles

xxxxxxxxx

The lion pit...................

               "Mothers meeting, children invited,
           Fathers can come if they don`t get excited"!

 On Saturday mornings we love to go the café-bar in our  nearest town for a café and a warm croissant amande   and then sit and watch the same ritual, week after week. It has almost become a sport.

Tucked away in a huddle in the corner of the café are a group of wonderfully chic old ladies who meet, without fail, every Saturday to gossip. They lurch between hysterical laughter, gasps of disgust and, of course, the inevitable "ooooh la la`s".

Occasionally one of the men sitting at the bar, who seem even older, will be goaded by his friends or feel confident enough to make his way over to the group to charm the ladies. I love to watch the ritual; it is as if they are all still sixteen!

Every time without fail one particular monsieur will be lured into the group,  be verbally lashed at one end and then spat out at the other licking his wounds - and much to the amusement of  everyone in the café watching them.

It reminds me of gladiators entering the lion pit !

Enough  of me reminiscing  of the goings on at the local café; off to bed now ready for an early start tomorrow morning at the first of three brocantes!       

A peachy derriere.............

I found this divine old signed print at the brocante on Wednesday.....

I knew nothing about it at all but simply had to bring it home.

I deciphered the signature and I have discovered it is  a limited edition signed print by the French artist Antoine Calbet (1860 - 1944)

I wonder who that cheeky minx was?

Bonne weekend mes belles
xxx

Ouch!

I spent all day yesterday truffling for treasures at a really busy brocante. It was a wonderful day and I came home with some delicieux finds but..................................

I seemed to spend all day being hit in the face by backpacks!! I know some dealers sell small items and use a backpack to carry their purchases whilst keeping their hands free.

But, when they whip around to change direction whoever is behind them gets the back pack in the face....especially at my height! Perhaps they should have those warning beeps like lorries use when reversing?

I have decided that the next one that hits me in the face is going to get it. I am going to grip onto the backpack and refuse to let go! If they whip round to see who it is I will whip round with them like a monkey on a stick!!! They are going to have to take it off to save themselves!!!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

A la prochaine mes belles
xxxx

Beam me up............................

How I wish I could find a way to despatch these wonderful 19th century glass domes and bases in the post.

I see them all the time and they are simply wonderful to display collections of old treasures.

At the moment mine holds 18th century frothy parchment pages books and manuscripts tied with ribbons. At Christmas it was filled with old mercury glass globes and holly and was a stunning piece.

But, sadly the glass is always wafer thin and they would not survive the rough handling of the postal service.

 

Why hasn`t someone designed a space age teleport service already!!! I could just click my fingers and voila!

 

A demain mes belles

xxx

The Friday afternoon interview with myself.......

Well bonjour Madame Wells how kind of you to allow me to interview myself. Just a few questions so that people can get to know the "real" madame at the chateau.


Me : Firstly why have you never allowed a photograph of yourself on your blog as most of us have no idea what you look like?

Madame wells : Well I really don`t want to scare anyone away and once I delivered a piece of furniture to an Ebay buyer and she gushed forth with " Wow...you look nothing like I expected you to!". I never asked her if I was better or worse that she expected and have always wondered about it since! Did she think I would wear a bonnet and bustle and have a basket of flowers?


Me : What do you feel is your greatest ambition?

Madame Wells : I would like to know what it feels like to tuck a tea shirt into my jeans and spend the day normally without having to hold my breath until I turn blue.

Me: What did you want to be when you left school and do you still long to do it?

Madame Wells: I wanted to be an air hostess. I can think of nothing worse now that walking up and down the aisle of a plane in nasty court shoes handing out peanuts and smiling.

Me: Where will you be this time next week?

Madame Wells: On the catwalk in Milan standing in for Naomi Campbell who has a cold. They will have to take the dresses in though as they will hang off me.


Me: When was the last time you told a lie?

Madame Wells ; See previous question.

Me; What are you reading at the moment?

Madame Wells: A wonderful book about Casanova`s women. No....it`s not filth....it details the high class Countesses and Ladies he managed to seduce and the effect he had on their lives.

Me: Where is your favourite place to read? In bed?

Madame Wells : Always in the bath and I can be gone for hours. I have been known to emerge like a wrinkled prune and once dropped Jilly Cooper`s "Riders" in the bath which ended up about 2 feet wide when it dried!

Me: What was the item from your truffling days that you regret selling most?

Madame Wells: A set of tiny 19th century hand made silk lampshades with the most wonderful hand-painted vignettes of Marie Antoinette. Each vignette signed and each one different. Why did I sell them? I shall never know!

Me: Your daughter Miss Frou Frou seems to be a  "chip off the old block"  or shall we say a "tassel off the old curtain"?

Madame Wells ; Firstly less of the "old"!  Worryingly she has a very good eye and can run faster than me at the brocante. However, at the moment I have a free reign as she has become obsessed with her new passion of goat keeping. ( honestly!) Three dwarf goats have appeared in her garden and she has become Heidi of the mountains. She may grow plaits and have leather lederhosen soon. Even more worrying is that I believe one of the said goats has been named after me.

Me: If it was a choice between long lingering kiss with Johnny Depp or the last chocolat in the patisserie what would it be?

 Madame Wells - No competition. Definitely the chocolat. Sorry Johnny.

Me:  What would you love to find at the brocante this weekend?

Madame Wells: A huge pair of carved giltwood 18th century angel wings.

Me: What was the last telephone call you answered?

Madame Wells: At 4am this morning I answered the phone to George Clooney he was sobbing again begging me to live with him in his Italian villa.

Me : Back to the question about the last time you told a lie?

Madame Wells flounced out of the room..................

Bonne weekend mes belles

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I only have one good one.............

I only have one leg at the back but I am very attached to it........

SO when I sleep I will hold it if I want to.......just in case someone steals it!!

Charles le Baron du Breuil  tired of this freezing cold is refusing to leave his chair!

A demain mes belles
xxxx

The wolf at the door............

Three 19th century apartments have come up for sale locally.....

From the outside the building is captivating.....oeil de boeuf windows, cherubs, stunning cast iron grille balconnieres....................and those sweet ticking sun canopies!

But what is that wolf all about? How I would love to know the story. Why would someone incorporate a wolf into their house design?

Did the owner come out and howl at the moon?! A wolf is meant to signify power and strength and I am now desperate to know the story behind the old place!

I am even more desperate to take a look inside to see if the interior is as captivating as the outside.

How am I going to get in there mes belles?!

A la prochaine
xxx

A petite Easter herisson.......

After  brocanting today in the freezing cold we decided a steaming hot chocolat and a treat were in order.

 The car was soon loaded with treasures but where to go on Easter Monday? Of course it had to be Patisserie Mathilde!!!

 

As usual their choice and display were magnificent.

 

 

 

 

How can you possibly choose what to have with a hot chocolat when there are so many delights?

I settled for a chocolat herisson ( hedgehog)....

He didn`t keep those spikes very long I can tell you!!

Happy Easter mes belles

xxxxx