Tongue in Cheek

The French Flea market

               

A massive flea market is taking place in the south of France TODAY!! This massive, glorious, once a year flea market is not far from where I live....

The Announcement:

84	CARPENTRAS  (15 Km de L'Isle sur la Sorgue)  GRAND VIDE-GRENIERS DE L'HIVER - Marche Gare - Route de Pernes Les Fontaines - 7h-18h - Extérieur - Entrée gratuite Tel : 06.80.85.89.22 - 04.66.53.54.92 - Fax: 04.66.53.54.92 1200 Professionnels + Particuliers + Habitants

In English it reads like this:

84 (The county department number.)

Carpentras, (is the name of the town.) Then it says it is 15 Kilometers away from a more known town called, L'Isle sur la Sorgue.

It goes on to say:

Large Winter Flea Market- to be held at the market place by the train station - Pernes Route Pernes Les Fontaines - 7:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m. - Outside - Free entrance.

Telephone number : 06.80.85.89.22 - 04.66.53.54.92 - Fax: 04.66.53.54.92

Then the cream de la cream of information... The announcement says how many dealers will be setting up: 1200 Professionals antique dealers, flea market dealers and locals will be selling. Be still my heart! Yes folks this is heaven. This is a dream. This is my idea of a lucky, good day. 1200 professional antique dealers, plus other local dealers, and car boots, and garage sales all wrapped into one day in one place.   I am so sorry you cannot be here. Honestly I am. I bet it is enough to make you green. If it is any consolation, if it helps at all to know, I cannot go either. So sad, so true, so not what I had plan to do. Now who has chocolate to share with me?

photos: Buttons. Maybe only buttons will be for sale at the flea market... that would make me feel better.

Stories unfold in the Details

               

Details, that is the type of photos I like to take. Close ups. So close you sense you can see the atoms doing a dance. Maybe the idea is to get inside the object? I don't know... but I like focusing the camera on the little details, the corners, the forgot spot, where the heart of the matter seems to beat.

Hand to heart.

               

Take for example this armchairs arm. Carved wood, brass tacks, worn, velvet brocade upholstery, faded paint... The texture is rich, the details endless, the history evident. It has been touched, it has lived.

When focusing on the entire armchair those inviting details are lost, and it is reduced to just another worn out armchair.

A place to be still.

               

Layers upon layers of time. The French word on the leather bond book, "Chansons" translates to, "Songs." Antique books invite you to hold them, open them, as if holding hands through time.. there is movement in those worn pages, collective thoughts, like a song asking you to join in. Soul humming.

Stories unfold.

               

Communicating through the presence of silence.

Telling time, telling your story.

Photos: Taking time to notice the little things.

What you can find at a French Flea market

               

Letters, ledgers, love notes, life of long ago living in between the lines.

               

Daring adventures, dreams,  lists of wants and needs. Bits and pieces of someone who once walked the path before you.

               

Notebooks, cookbooks, books... plenty of books. Children's paper dolls and postcards and newspaper clippings, traces, the spirit of French creativity and ways of being.

               

What was the best thing you ever found at a flea market? It doesn't have to be expensive, valuable, rare... it could be something that you simple like. One of my most favorite finds... other than paper?

               

Considering very few things in my home are new, it would be hard to decided.

The pleasure of going to a flea market 'BROCANTE' in French, is that it is like a museum. Where the traces of history, and culture wait for you to rediscover different periods, places and time. Where you can touch and take home a piece of France. Why do I love the Brocante? It engraves a song in my soul, I feel connected to a past that teaches me about today.

Photos: Flea market finds that fashion my home.

Unfolding

               

A French antique folding fan. Hand painted on canvas. A young woman with a simple black ribbon tied flirtatiously, leans against a stone railing. Waiting... and gives a hint of a smile.

Behind each fold the scene is told. The story begins by unfolding little by little...

That Crazy thing called Love.

               

Flowers bloomed in her mind whenever she thought of going to an antique market and her eyes went glossy like that look one gets when they are falling in love.

               

Nothing matters when you love what you are doing. It doesn't matter if you have to wake at the crack of dawn. It doesn't matter if it is raining, cold, or dark outside. It doesn't even matter if the hot chocolate you usually drink at your favorite cafe at the flea market changes and tastes bad. When you love what you are doing you do it gladly without counting anything as negative. Yes, when you love what you are doing nothing matters love is crazy like that.

               

It doesn't matter if you get lost, or go to the wrong address, or find the shop closed once you get there. No nothing matters, you know that such things comes with the territory. Yes, there will be days where nothing goes right... Where the other person gets the best deal, finds the one of a kind, or buys the same thing as you bought but for a better price, and you realize that the one you have is a copy... Yeah there are days that hit you on the head and still your heart will sing heaven!

Love does that.

Photos: Out and about on a cold Sunday morning.

Monogram Linen with meaning

               

Linens with monograms. Especially in red. Letters stitched beyond my ability, perfectly and precise.

Often at dinner my friends will ask, who is LD (or whatever initials they see on their napkin as no two napkins have the same monograms in my home..)

Lovely Dinner, Likable Dreams, Living Daringly, Lip Dabber...

L.D. can be anything. What name would you give it?

Photo: French antique monogram linen.

A cup that runneth over

                          

A cup can be used to drink tea. or hot chocolate. or a shot of Calvados over ice cream. It also can be used for holding pennies, or trinkets like paper clips, or baby teeth. A cup of hot tea can come in handy as a hand warmer, it is a generous thing. A cup can hold a votive and be used as a portable lantern to show you the way. Or it can measure spices or as a candy cup to feed your ideas. A cup is one with multiple uses and it never complains. A cup is a place where you can put your thoughts like prayers ...trust it will sip them gently as you talk.

photo: An antique cup from Japan.

Collecting French Antiques

Chandelier found at an antique shop. Bust found at an antique market under the table of a vendor. I thought maybe it was sold since it was under the table.

First Rule: Ask questions. Don't assume that because something is put aside, or looks really nice that it is either sold or too expensive.

Set of 24 hundred year old wine glasses. Found at a second hand bicycle shop.

Second Rule: Do not be surprised to find things in unusual places.

Vintage mattress fabric and silver knives.

Third Rule: Think outside of the box. Use things in different ways. Experiment with texture and design.

Stone urn, collection of seashells, vanity mirror, and a small frame with engraving.

Fourth Rule: Collect similar objects and display them together.

Silver sugar bowl, and teaspoons. Spode tea set.

Fifth Rule: Use your antiques, don't buy them to put away in the cupboard. Enjoy them daily.

My Nephew in an antique baptismal gown.

Sixth Rule: Share the things you love!

Love Happens

               

The amazing thing. Yes the amazing thing. The amazing thing how out of nowhere love strikes and cuts through the darkness showing the way. When you feel it touch you, grab it and never let go. The ride of the arrow is one you don't want to miss.

Photo: 18th century painting of cupid's preparing the love arrow.

French Brocante

Feed your soul and your heart will rejoice.