the giverny loot shoot

 Yup, Giverny is where I went to shop today, the fair started in the streets before dawn and I was there, flash light in hand, looking for goodies. and when the sun came up and I needed a pause from brocante I slipped into the gardens of the impressionist museum and immersed myself into my favourite 'white garden'.

Here are a few things I saw at the fair but didn't buy, that includes the little pup above, he was so cute, tied up to a vendors chair, but really really wanting to trot down the street after us!

 

 And here is what I did bring home, pharmacy bottles, unused old linen; a cool leather postman's satchel;  a silver plate water pitcher;.............

 a length of unused dishcloth fabric, dated and perfect for a table runner;

this perfect sized bottle dryer, that I actually found for a friend visiting from Australia;  

and behind it the most amazing roll of 19th century wall paper.... 

this wallpaper is rather wonderful - scratching my tiny brain for ways to use  - what would you do with it?

more white flowers when the going got tough!

 the sweetest egg carrier;

 a pile of old school books and notes from biology lessons, dated 1903!

I have my favourite out of this lot, but tell me please, which is yours?!

the iris season

 Another bank holiday in France, (the month of May is peppered with them this year) and for some reason I found myself driving past Giverny early this morning, before the gardens were open.  Realising that ...

1.   The irises are in full bloom
2.   There was NOBODY in the garden
3.   There are a couple of gaps in the hedge at the bottom of the garden , just at camera height!

 I slammed on the brakes and screeched over to the side of the road.   I so hope you appreciate the lengths I go to just to bring you a good picture!  :-)

 So here is Giverny as most of us will never see it, in full mega-bloom and ... totally empty!

Clark collection at Giverny

If you are in Normandy between now and October, please don't miss this show at the Impresionist Museum in Giverny.  72 glorious French master paintings have been graciously loaned to the museum  by the Clark Collection in Massachusetts.

Sterling and Francine Clark lived in Paris,  where he was a young,  and already wealthy,  lawyer and she was his young and beautiful French wife.  They started buying paintings around 1912, purchasing works they loved and which to them embodied all that was new and fresh in the modern impressionist movement.

What a life!!  They could have been characters plucked from an Edith Wharton novel, glamorous, interesting, part of the elite New York society, who felt at ease anywhere in the world.  How I would have loved to have lived at that time ....

french brocante tours

Wandering away from the holiday season for a while and thinking aloud about a project I have for next summer.  I'd love to have some input please.  

I'm thinking of offering brocante tours here in Spring and Summer 2011.  Along the lines of long weekends including brocantes, good food and wine, private château and garden visits, country walks, possibly a trip to Giverny.  Never straying further than an hour away from our valley.  Accommodation either in our cottage or in nearby  B&B's in friends' châteaux or country homes.

Of course there are companies out there offering this sort of thing already.  Mine would be low key, small groups, never more than I can drive around in a large car.  Personalised and pampered.

I know I can always count on you for an honest opinion and loads of good ideas, so tell me, what do you think I should be offering?

Thank you so much for your help.

lunch chez claude

Well the weather is beautiful this week, so I though you might like to come over and spend the day with me tomorrow.  Try not to arrive too late,  I'll take you to see Giverny, it's only a short drive.

When we arrive we'll stop for a coffee at the Impressionist museum, this used to be the American museum, I love their terrace restaurant, and their small well laid out exhibitions.

Then we'll wander up to Monet's house, the most surprising pink, but we'll say how clever of him to paint his house to match the tulips.

In the garden shop, we'll feel nostalgic over the black and white photos of the man himself.

Of course we'll go through the tunnel to see the water lilies, and  gasp at the peonies and the irises. 

If there aren't too many people I'll show you inside his house; you'll love his blue and white kitchen, yellow dining room and bedrooms.

 And then we'll be able to say we deserve a glass of wine and we'll walk back through the village to have  lunch at the Hotel Baudy.

Their terrace overlooking a meadow is wonderful. When we've finished our meal we'll say that we need to digest and it would be a good idea to walk around the Hotel gardens, and you will discover what a very romantic untamed place that is.

Since you like to paint, you'll adore their artist's studio.

As we emerge from the gardens, we'll sigh and say "oh dear, the crowds have arrived, let's go " then jump back in the car and come home for tea.
If you like we'd even have time for a ride in the forest before you go, unless of course you decide to stay the night...... then we'll just have to make more plans for the next day.

 photos here