I have been dumped!!

Excuse me, but I feel that you should be witness to the fact that today I was "dumped"............ and very unceremoniously too! And who was responsible for this dumping? Well.......none other that "mon mari", Mark!

Our plan this afternoon, after doing some shopping and taken two bags of parcels to La Poste, was to take Sir Digbert Fanshaw Brownshaw out for a walk.  We diverted to a couple of brocantes en route (well, who wouldn't?) and then drove to an old disused railway track which is now a nature walk. This particular walk is over 50 miles long with the odd road, picnic spot and car park en route at certain points.

We were on the way to our usual parking spot when Mark spotted another entrance to the track that we had never seen before. So he suggested that he would drop me and Sir Digbert there and he would drive ahead to the car park and start walking up from the other direction until we met.

So........... we started walking in the beautiful sunshine, (one of the best days of the year so far, weatherwise) primroses and daffodils lined the way and not a soul on the track.

And so we walked.....................and walked............................and walked. No sign of Mark and our usual carpark..............and so we continued walking. Sir Digbert started to lag behind and the sun began to set......and still we walked.

The track passed through some dense woodlands where we could have been ravaged by one of the huge "sangliers" (wild pigs) that live in the area.

Who knows what might have happened? I have even known hunters run from the beasts. They are huge and can be viscious - and, in the Springtime,  viscious times ten as they have their young to protect. How could I have climbed a tree holding a Jack Russell terrier? In fact....come to think of it....never mind the Jack Russell. How could I have climbed a tree at all!!

We could have been eaten and no one would ever have found us - just a little pink lead and a cherub brooch would be all that would have been found in the grass.

And so we carried on walking. By this point I was thinking of lighting a fire to start a smoke signal that would demand I was airlifted.....but I walked instead.

If I had known I was going on what the French call a "randonnee" (a hike) I would have been prepared - but I had no backpack, walking books, primus stove, tent, emergency foil-packed energy packs -  all those essential things that Bear Grylls says that you need to survive in the wild. I didn`t even have two boy scouts to rub together to light a fire!

  And still we walked and not a soul in sight;   just the long track stretching out in front of us. The track crossed several deserted road and then continued.

Having had a coffee in the cafe between visiting the brocantes was also making me feel a little uncomfortable; I considered nipping behind a tree but the thought of pulling my jeans down for a sanglier to sink his tusks into my derriere changed my mind - so I walked with my legs crossed.

In the distance I saw a cottage with a plume of smoke coming from its chimney. Should I tramp across the field, knock the door and ask for bread and water if the owner would be kind enough to let me sleep in his barn and work my keep off the land?

Aching feet....tired Jack Russel...getting dark.  Keep walking  ( I'm sure that's what Bear suggested!)

Eventually, in the distance, I saw a figure. At last, I have been saved! But no.  It was simply a young girl "jogging" along the track.  "Bonsoir Madam" she chirped.   " Is it?" I almost replied between clenched teeth. I could see nothing "bon" about it!

Eventually my 'grand amour' did come into view - casually strolling along eating a chocolate bar. Even Diggers was too tired to run and greet him. I considered  pulling down a branch to lash him with it -  but didn`t have the energy.

I crawled to the car on my hands and knees and checked the sign to see that Sir Digbert and I had walked 6 kilometres.

I need cake!!!

A la prochaine mes belles.....

My gateau habit!!

We have such divine patisseries here - their window displays filled with amazing jewel-like confections.............

Each offering is a work of art created with such love by our local artisan patissiers............

So.............. why on earth do I try to make cakes at home when baking has never been my 'forte'.?

Today I decided to make a chocolat gateaux.  I had all the ingredients in the bowl ready to be whisked. I switched on the electrix mixer and plunged it into the mixture But, somehow, the fringed torchon tea towel hanging off  my shoulder suddenly got tangled in the mixer - and I panicked!

If I had used my brain and simply switched the mixer off that would have been the end of the incident. But "non".....not me! Instead of switching off the mixer with the on/off switch, I tried to make my way to the plug socket to pull the plug out - during which time the cloth kept whizzing around  and getting tighter and tighter until smoke starting to seep from the machine!

So now no cake ................ and no working mixer!

Perhaps the next time my gateau habit takes hold I will just reach for the car keys!!!

Photographs for Jeff

This is a glossy one!

Bonjour petite diablo!

Well..... bonjour my 'petites diablos'.................you little devils. Don`t you just adore this old postcard?

The 'little devil' in question was Mademoiselle Germain Lebourg - and the card was sent to her "with tender kisses ....Andre Aubertine". I wonder if she was a little devil or a little angel?

On my last blog Rhonda sent me a message saying that she had indeed been kissed in front of  La Tour Eiffel , but by a pigeon! I need to know. Has he called? Has he written? Has he emailed? No? Typical Frenchman.....love them and leave them! Oh..... the pain of a holiday romance!

Next............(yes, I know, it's a busy blog so sit up straight and keep up mes belles!) can you help me identify this wonderful fine lace? I have a roll of it from a batch of textiles that date from the late 1800s. It is fine and blonde in colour and quite silky. Does anyone know its name?

I confess that when it comes to lace I am as useless as a useless person in a useless shop buying something useless!

Sir Digbert Fanshaw Brownshaw has had his second brush with death in just one week. Today we went to the supermarche and as we got back into the car an old friend walked over to the driver's side window to say hello. Digger, at the same time, had his head out of my window sniffing the breeze. I joined in with the conversation and, without looking, I started to close my window with the automatic button.....but I didn`t think that Digger still had his head poking out. You get the picture by now? Poor Digs with his nose trapped half in and half out with bulging eyes. He didn`t say anything as I released him but just gave me a dirty look. No doubt he is in his ticking lined basket as we speak looking for the phone number for the animal rescue.

If you are listening to the music on the blog there is a very interesting old film to go with it. If you go to the bottom of the page to the music box and press VIDEO you can see it. Heaven knows what`s going on but I assume the man in the tights is Le Diablo!!
A demain mes belles............

La Tour Eiffel.......

I truffled out this wonderful old poster at the weekend brocante. Dated 1889 and still in its original frame...............

Divine faded old sepia it tells of the new Tour Eiffel and what she would be like when she was built............mais oui...........she is a lady!!!

The "Universelle Exposition" of 1889 was to be a World's Fair held in Paris between May and October of that year, it being the 100th anniversary of the storming of the bastille and traditionally considered to be the start of the French Revolution.

The Eiffel Tower was designed and built to be the main focus point of the exhibiton, serving as an entrance arch to the fair itself. By the time the exhibition began the tower had not been fully completed (visitors were only permitted to ascend to the second tier.) but that did not stop the the tower itself being advertised and brought to the attention of not only Parisians but to the world in general - and this poster does just that.

Around the central picture of what the tower would look like are descriptions regarding the many technical details of the tower; her dimensions, the pressure on her foundations, her weight ( rude!) details about the lifts and stairwells and comparisons with other tall building, not only in France but throughout the rest of the world. The poster also states out the principle uses for the tower in addition to being a national landmark.

Some 123 years later she still stands proud but she has had a few near misses!!  She was struck by lightning in 1902.....

and remained intact! But now, each Bastille day she explodes with fireworks.......

In 1909 she was on the brink of being demolished following the protests of the ‘aristocratic Elité that did not consider the tower representative for the elegant city of Paris. But this was avoided thanks to the possibility that she could be used as an exceptional platform for the new radio technology. Even today many French people do not show their approval of her, considering the monument not very aesthetic.




The tower was lit with thousands of twinkling lights to greet the year 2000. She was so beautiful and elegant that the Electric Company, despite the excessive consumption of energy decided to leave the lights illuminating the iron lady on a permanent basis.


Even on a cold snowy day in Paris she is still magnificent...

How many lovers have kissed with her looking on?

Her nickname is La Dame de Fer..............The Iron Lady.


Have you ever been kissed in front of her?

Some of yesterdays treasures...........Adieu mon coeur!

A whole day trawling the brocantes and street markets yesterday................heaven!! I lost my heart so many times.....Adieu mon coeur!

I found this 1920s hand-painted linen boudoir doll face ............

I don`t think it has ever been used and was wrapped in old tea coloured tissue paper.

She would be perfect for a restoration project.

Delicious shabby old tin candle holders with spring clips...............

still wax covered....I wonder when it was that they last transformed a Christmas tree into a twinkling delight?

A host of trousseau monogram stamps.

Divine old school work books.

Old sepia ink documents and manuscripts dating from the 1600s with some delicious wax seals still intact.

Couronne crowns are always a wonderful find!

A scrumptious vintage Italian wedding cake box with a train label for Nice and then on to Grasse in Provence.

Regal medals with ribbons.

Divine old trousseau linens with handworked monograms.

Religious medals with their old soft blue ribbons still attached.

Old jewellers postage boxes still with red wax seals.

A host of softly coloured 19th century boudoir prints...........Grand amour at the ball.................

Mademoiselle is gently awoken by her maid..........

Le Coucher............Mademoiselle is helped to her slumber by her servants.

The suitor waits whilst his Mademoiselle is pampered.

Don`t you just adore Sundays and a host of brocantes filled with treasures?