The Eagle has landed.............

I am locking my armoires as we speak .  Why?..... because the eagle has landed!!!

Amy " Mademoiselle Tartelette" from Oregon, USA is on her way. Currently in the South of France she is making her way up country, truffling for treasures.

That girl sure has "eagle eyes";  the last time she spotted, whilst languishing in the bath, just the tiniest corner of a rare panel of Toile de Jouy peeking out from an armoire. This panel is now in her bathroom in Oregon having been made into a window blind!!! Stolen, borrowed, truffled....whatever!

But you know, it`s not too bad as the giving of presents can work both ways! Tartelette sent me the MOST divine chateau pelmet which takes pride of place above the window in my dining room.

 

 

She also sent me the most amazing set of four tiny silk 19th century lampshades with gilded wirework lattice trim that happened to sit perfectly on my girondolle light.  I am considering hiding them as she might want to take them back home when she sees how divine they look!!

Miss Tartelette always takes up residence in the attic bedroom right up in the roof of our tiny chateau. I have a plan this time to lure her in there with chocolat from Monsieur Besnier, ( our local and fantastic chocolatier), a few timeworn treasures and a vase or roses by her bedside. Once she is in I shall padlock the stairs and then raid her car to see what she has bought " en route" !!.

She is stopping off in Paris on the way here and I am just pondering whether to take the train down to meet her for a little flea market heaven at the weekend before our "big" truffling road trip next week.

Soooo...........mes belles.....next week I shall be 'AWOL' as we set off on our brocanting road trip. Who knows what we will find but I can be sure that my sides will be hurting from laughing; they always do! Did I tell you that the last time that Tartelette and I went brocanting she was worn out by mid-morning - and simply lay out flat on someone`s garden wall for a snooze!

We both laughed till we cried when an irate little monsieur  came out of his door, gesticulating wildly and ordered off his new wall!!

But we bought well , and couldn`t get one more item in the car.Tartelette`s hand is just peeping through ;can you see? If you look even closer at that sheet bottom left you will see a crown monogram!

 

 

She phoned me this morning to say the weather was wonderful in Avignon with the sunshine is beating down. All I can say is that something here is beating down too, but and it`s not the sun - it`s lashing rain!

But , despite the weather, my 19th century balconniere window grilles are finally being fixed in place. I am over the moon as they look as if they have always been there.

And then, here is the latest dilemma.  Well not a dilemma really; it`s something I keep thinking about and cannot decide what to do.

I bought this batch of 1930s/40s letters from a man who had cleared a house. The tied bundle of letters have the year they were sent  ( from 1935 to 1940) written on the 'wrapping' paper. All from a Captain in the French army to his wife or sweetheart. I have read just a couple and they are the most wonderful love letters. There are some photographs among the letters too.

 The letters have clearly been treasured and, as you can see, I haven`t even unwrapped them.

So, they are all letters from the Captain to his love and are written  almost daily. But there is one envelope, with the latest date (dated 1940)  that contains a batch of HER letters to HIM...and has been returned, with all the letters unopened.The outer envelope simply says "letters destined for Captain Raynaud". Does this mean he didn`t come back from the war and the army returned them to her? What intrigue!

I was going to sell them as an archive batch but I don`t think I can. I know there is a story in there that will unravel as the letters are translated. I know I don`t have time either to sit and go through the lot all in one go.

So....mes belles....I have an idea. Should we do one letter at a time together and I can tell you all what each one says until we reach the end of this story? Some of the wording is difficult to read but I could decipher what I could. They must have had children as there is a child`s letter to father ( which as also returned in the 'unopened' bundle. The story may turn out to have a sad, traumatic ending though and we may need handkerchiefs at the end?

I could end my normal blogs with an update of each letter opened.

What do you think?

A prochaine mes belles

xxxx