Abats Jour

I also have plainer ones white with a Pie Crust frilly edge. They look a bit like draped hankerchiefs in glass.

This is one of the 'bombs' or light pulleys. They are filled with lead.

Light switches with bone handles.

Porte Manteau I managed to find a pair.

Brass fitting for the glass shade.

A few more things including a heavy green glass jar. 

George rebuilt this dry stone wall it fell after rain. I have been balancing pots all around with tomatoes and Geraniums.

The Clematis are out around the bedroom window they are climbing up this sisal string I found at a Brocantes.

I'm quite proud of this some old implements used to tie the sisal to.

An old pitchfork to secure the sisal to so beans and sweet peas have some support. The other end is attached to guttering!

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. 

Yesterday I wondered round my garden and spotted these Shield Bugs and then another red and black bug along with the red and black jumping bug. Guide

Red Currants are intensely red.

The church in Semelay was open yesterday. Someone had been washing the floor. It has lovely old carvings, Romanesque. I used to visit lots of churches in Herefordshire when I lived there. Kilpeck church was one of the best with crocodiles around the door and carved corbels of rabbits, Sheelagh's and all sorts. Autun nearby in France is a treat for anyone who is interested with carvings attributed to Giselbertus, great name. I love the font at Canon Froome too. It has fisherman and their nets and fishes.

Remilly vides greniers I bought scissors, a box wood screwdriver and a small file. I think the file came from a child's tool box. I also bought a couple of gilt frames and George found a pot used originally for storing meat in fat or salt. It still has it's lid.

Local architecture. 2 sweet cottages in Semelay

I had a chat to a man in Semelay about a strip of garden that seems to belong to noone in particular. Maybe a bit of Guerilla gardening. These lillies are everywhere here and they withstand the freezing winters. I have some but mine are not yet out. 

Lunch out yesterday. Most of the restaurants here are quite traditional and mostly heavily biased on meat. The small restaurant in Semelay does a lovely warm goats cheese in parcels with salad.

The countryside is very pretty. Lots of these Cumulus clouds around yesterday.

Marigolds have been going since February this year, the mild winter meant they didn't die back. I spotted this double one this week.

Chives attract Tortoiseshells.

Lovely flowering succulents.

These white Lupins are wonderful in the evening light. Most of the Lupins have been eaten by slugs this year.

Inspired by another blog I read today Butterfly in My Hair.

Warm few days here. It's been a public holiday so the lawn mowers were busy, not ours. We have sheep remember! I just like to make paths around my garden and there are a couple of lawns but it's not something I can manage at the moment. I saw a feature on Gardener's World on the BBC 2 about the National Collection of Aquilegia's. (NCCPG) Currently in the possession of Carrie Thomas. Bees nibble holes on the ends of the Spurs  to find short cuts to the nectar I saw this earlier today and because I'd only just learnt about this interesting thing I took photos.  These plants are resistant to slugs too, current obsession. There was also a demo about crossing 2 flowers to create new varieties. I have been aware of this being done with Hellebores. I have a few Hellebores but just tiny plants I have not yet seen flower. Perhaps this plant might just start me off. I took some pollen and brushed it on the Stigma having removed the petals and sepals. I feels quite scientific but actually it is very simple. The plan is to remember to collect the seeds and seeing the result of a cross of 2 flowers that you like for colour, form or whatever.
About the exhibition I took part in locally, I sold 2 paintings to people I knew and I bought cards off one lady who bought one of my paintings. I had a table of small affordable abstract paintings alongside some of my landscapes. I am not ready to sell the landscapes yet. I posted some of my small landscapes on Facebook a while back and really I was amazed by how people liked them. Then while looking yesterday around the exhibition an artist friend described some of the painting as too complicated and too expensive. I guess it's all about being in the right place for whoever you are trying to communicate with. This was in the context of selling. I think next year I should spend more time during the day to see who comes around and just generally find out more. I nipped by yesterday and was given useful information about where to get cards printed nearby. Business cards and cards of artworks. 

Below are some of the nibbled holes.