Toile | My Husband Drives A Lemon

Inspired by the Normandy coastline, its abundance of little creeks and inlets, and its majestic chalk cliffs which dominate the coastline, this shoal of fishes in fabrics inspired by the Impressionist painters who graced the region around the 1860’s are filled with beautiful scented Provencale lavender.

Last year the entire shoal sold out in a matter of hours, and I find them once again in great demand and have been busy “creating” when I find a rare moment of peace. The scented “poissons” are perfect for laying between layers of clothes in a chest of drawers, or hanging from a lone door handle to gently fragrance a room. I should know, because with 50 poisson already wallowing in the shallows of my grandmother’s old wooden trough, my home smells wonderful!

If you would like a few to buy as gifts this Christmas for an elderly aunt or an ageing grandmother, contact me in the comments section and I will be in touch.

This shoal have been netted by my children’s school Christmas Fête,

..but there are plenty more making their way upstream!

The glorious sunshine and the anticipation of finding the Thursday Brocante on the Rive Gauche promised to make this morning a great one. The station square was sunny and bright as I headed for the metro station and my intended destination of ‘Joffre Mutualité’.

The metro stop for the brocante is the first one after crossing the Seine, and it took a few moments and a stop to ask directions before I came across the covered market.

…but I knew I was onto a good thing when I came across a multitude of white vans parked haphazardly on the side of the road – when there are this many vans in one spot it can only mean one thing… Brocante!

Full of anticipation I went to see what was on offer…

I have a bit of a thing for old french gilt mirrors – but at 80€ I had to ‘reflechir un peu’.

I couldn ‘t resist this ‘still life’ and was quite taken by the ‘fishy’ picture.

I was just sneakily taking this photo, having asked all the other stall-holders for permission, and frankly just getting a little too blasé for my own good, when a deep voice thundered from behind me,

“ça va coûter 10€ pour prendre un photo…’ (that’ll be 10€ to take the photo)

and lo and behold if it wasn’t my old friend ‘the second hand bookstore’ owner! Needless to say we exchanged greetings and then I carried on regardless before wandering off to see what else was on offer…