Jane Aston, painter.

Today must be a holiday for France There was a little fete down the road for vintage cars, Hunting, Percheron horses and a brocante, photography exhibition and a cafe with wine and chips. I had a wonderful time. It's probably the most sociable I have been since I arrived here 5 years ago. I am slowly building up a small network of friends and get somewhere with the language. The fete was in the village I did an exhibition back in May in. The exhibition I took part in at the Mairie is coming to an end soon. I am getting ready to flea and then I am back to painting. I bought a piano stool at the brocante. It fits in my little study and allows me to swivel round and be at the right height to paint I hope. 2 of it's 3 legs match and it needed fixing as the round base was split but for 4 euros very sweet.

These are Peugeots with engines in the back

These are the local Nivernais breed of dogs used for chasse.  My friend has 2. They have very soft, curly coats. They are a bit like greyhounds fine with people and like to chase cats.

These look like Foxhounds. When they first arrived they were very feisty and howling but soon realised they weren't expected to do much. I 'm not a fan of hunting but all the animals involved I love. They were howling but after a few hours they were more relaxed. The people cut down branches to shade them.

I bought these Dutch clog shoes off some Dutch people with lots of blue enamel jugs all around their house.They had very little wear on the tread but I couldn't quite make out the make of them as the label was a bit worn. I'm trying to find out the manufacturer now as I think I'd like to look out for them again. They are a greenier in real life. 

Percherons how beautiful are these.

Nivernais again.