A few recent sales, and some new stock

A beautiful antique French cotton nightdress, with handmade ruffles and embroidery, and to finish, a monogramme 'MM'on the front -  Sold. 

A sweet little 'Vichy' spa glass, in its own carrying basket -  Sold

 A little of this crafting fabric 'Montagne' - always sells well - the colours are very popular, and the fabric has a rustic, tactile quality -  Sold

And now for some new stock:

No, not a bridal veil - it's a bed curtain, ciel de lit, perfect for a cradle or single bed - in spotty voile, with a bow at the front, adjustable at the top - sold

 Here is a close-up of the fabric

  These are two white cotton bowties for boys - dating from around 1930, worn for first communion and kept as a souvenir by a doting Mamma or Grandmere. now sold

Some rather lovely and decadent black Chantilly lace, quite wide, perfect to trim lingerie or crafting - sold

Or, how about this salmon pink lingerie lace? sold

And finally, something to keep the hands cosy in this awful weather. Sorry - muff now sold.

Hope you are all keeping warm and dry - or cool and damp - according to which part of the world you're in!

He's got the key of the door, never been 21 before...

Last week, our son Jono turned 21, and to celebrate, we went off to the local Chinese restaurant, where they played 'Happy Birthday' extremely loudly - and in Chinese, which was rather bizarre as we are English and live in France!

Needless to say, everyone else in the restaurant - and it is a large resto and was packed with French families enjoying Sunday lunchtime - all turned to look and clap.  Poor lad!  He really is one of life's gentleman, fairly reserved and certainly hates being the centre of attraction (unless playing his guitar on stage, but that's another story). 

Anyway, he enjoyed himself, and we did too, and reflecting upon the last 21 years, I can't say where those years have gone - flown past in a flash - but he is such a wonderful son, a great person and of course, we wish him the very best for the future.

Now, what went on behind the scenes was that the cake, complete with candles and secretly hidden in a bag on the table, was munched on by Charlie the poodle while my back was turned for ONE minute.  I could have cheerfully strangled him!

Fortunately, birthday boy and his Dad had popped out for 20 minutes , and with some speedy use of some butter and sugar and my trusty old Kenwood Chef, I managed to dollop some butter icing on the top to disguise the three large missing chunks!  (Having carefully cut out all traces of dog munch for hygiene reasons).

So I turned this pathetic offering:

into this slightly better, if very amateurish, offering:

OK, it would never win prizes in a beauty contest, but decorating cakes is not my finest point, and I did have only 20 minutes to do the repair.  Jono thought it was hilarious when I told him and didn't care at all - he loves fruit cake, and has been happily tucking in all week apparently - I packed him off with it back to Uni on Monday.

I am now speaking to Charlie the poodle, but I have told him that if he does it again, I will have all his teeth removed.

(only joking Charlie...)

Cat's cradle

You know the saying 'a cat's cradle'?  Well, I'd never seen a real one until this morning.

 
And the culprit?  Little Minnie.

Games people play - Bezique

This is such a dinky little thing - a counter to keep score when playing the old French card game, Bezique.  I have absolutely no idea how to play Bezique, but snapped this up at a local brocante - now sold.

The little metal flaps flip over to reveal the score - you can just see the numbers impressed into the wood.  It does need a gentle polish to enhance the wood - mahogony I think, but not too much as it does have a great patina.  As rare as hen's teeth - they are usually cardboard, or have metal sliders, but not the little flaps.

I love it - and if you love it too, it is for sale here.

Wet and windy Christmas

Hope you all enjoyed Christmas!  We had a lovely day, but the weather took a turn for the worst so we didn't get a walk with the dog in time.  The heavens opened for literally one minute, resulting in hailstones - here is a piccie showing the stones after a few seconds of rain so it isn't really as impressive as it was at first.

Charlie has really got the hang of opening his presents (usually just a chew) and here he is doing just that.  Trouble is, sometimes he buries them under the cushions on the sofa.

 And here is the Christmas cake our daughter made - the first Royal iced cake she has done.  I think she made a great job of it, but we still don't know what it tastes like as we never seem to have any room to eat it.  It weighs nearly 4 kilos...should keep us going in cake well into spring!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my friends, family and blog pals -  and best wishes for 2014 - may all your dreams come true!

Our little wood

We're very lucky to have a little piece of wooded France - about a couple of acres of mixed woodland, deep in the larger Perigord-Limousin forest.

Our wood is crescent shaped, running by the side of a neighbour's lake, with a little lane running between - perfect for walking the dog and getting some fresh air -  and gives us plenty of opportunity to hunt for mushrooms, collect a bit of firewood and gather holly and ivy.

Having a bad hip for some months I'd stopped long walks, but now the hip is much better, we have started walking again - about an hour a day if we can find the time.  Winter is actually my prefered season - in the summer, there are always far too many other things needing attention - and, it's too hot!

Our little poodle, Charlie, loves it here - but he won't sit still long for a piccie, so this is just a black blur as he jumps up to investigate a large hole in a tree - there was obviously something living in there but Charlie couldn't reach it!

 

Our neighbour has put up a scarecrow to keep away the heron from his precious fish - you can just see it

We don't take any prisioners either - the kids are dragged out with us, plus their respective boy/girl friends

and I get them to look for edible goodies

But all too soon, the sun goes down, time for home