Jane Aston, painter.

Brocante: Vides Greniers

We went to 2 of these this weekend. We don't go very far so our limit is about 20 kms.  The roads are very windy and in our little car it's about as much as you want to go. I bought a few things from this stall. The guy Fred was from Corbigny and had an internet site. He was also selling all kinds of Basil, I bought a lemon basil. I bought a Abats Jour or glass light shade the kind that I can hopefully transform into an up and down light with a pulley and porcelain ceiling rose. I have been collecting interupteurs or light switches and bits and pieces this year. The shade was 10 euros and all the bits and pieces are centimes. If you try and find these things on the internet they are really highly priced. I really liked these café chairs, above. The colour mostly but also the aged look. I think he wanted 15 each one. I bought a table and chairs for my little garden from a vides greniers in Rousillon en Morvan for just 10 euros. My set was less old and a bit more flimsy but that's what happens if you deliberate. It's confusing. 

Fred is the guy in works dungarees.

It hadn't rained for weeks. We have some today at last. You can see how dry everything is.

Longest day 

Wood stacked to be cut for the wood stove. This is the 10 steres we got for a VW van that was in the field. It's quite hard finding secondhand vehicles here. So everything seems to have a higher value than you would imagine. 

Black Petunias

 Tomatoes in this old drum. I'm trying again to grow them this time I am trying to grow trailing ones. Everyone covers them here to protect from the rain. I will make some sort of shelter for them.

There are unfamiliar and familiar creatures everywhere. I believe this is a Flower Long Horned Beetle they, as adults feed on nectar and pollen so not a pest. We have grass snakes keeping warm under plastic sheets along with slow worms. I sat at my desk yesterday evening and watched a snake climb over the roof and down a vine alongside an open window and slide into a hole into a stone wall. There are juvenile hedgehogs snuffling around the hedges at dusk and I have a frog in my water reservoir.