Making the Most of It.

Today (Saturday) there was not too much sunshine, with rain on and off most of the day that quickly altered the plans to do some outside activities and gardening. 

At midday, noon... we decided to go to town for a quick pickup and as we were heading out we decided to check out an advertised Brocante/ Vide-Grenier in Daglan in the Dordogne.

What a lovely village and deserving of a return visit on a dry, sunny day when we can stroll the streets, alleyways and enjoy a coffee at an outside café.

At the" Brocante/ Vide-Greniers" the die-hard sellers were set up with their wares in the rain sodden grounds, and the dealers with higher quality items were set up inside the  "Salle de Fêtes".

There was a beautiful dining room table with eight chairs that appealed to me today...but again too large for the suitcases.

Another item of interest today was the umbrella stand...but it came with no umbrellas which would have been useful.

An unique umbrella stand.

Some cast iron pots (planters), a bird cage, a garden frog...lots of things to add character to a garden.

What a novel idea...the drawer fronts are made of wine box lids.

What's behind this fence?

A lovely hidden garden.

A street view in Daglan.

The old "Mairie"..the Mayor's office/Town hall.

And behind gate number one.....

French "ABC's".

Our Sunday adventure took us southeast to Montfaucon, where a "Foire à Tout" was being held.
The literal translation is "a fair with everything".

 

This village provided a wonderful setting for the Brocante, Vide-Greniers, flower market, vendors with their regional products and local artists...painters, authors, potters displaying and selling their works of art.

The sun was shining as we wondered through the stalls at the "Brocante", visited the flower market, and the artisan displays.

Although no antique treasures were purchased today, we did have our eye on an original oil painting which came with the provenance of the artist.
It was a tempting painting of the sea in an attractive frame.

We did make some purchases which included some food items that I will talk about later.

We bought a lovely hand-painted tile which will be useful as a trivet in our Canadian kitchen, a small sachet of Quercy saffron that we will use in some recipes while cooking in France and a hand crafted 3-D note card...who will we send this to?

A is for Apple pie ... actually "croustade aux pommes" the dough/ pastry is similar to the elephant ears that my daughter-in-law's Portuguese Grandmother makes....so delicious!
I have already done a google search for some authentic recipes...this may be our new dessert for our "Family Thanksgiving" in October.

B is for Brocante....you already know what these are if you have been following the blog...this is Monsieur Honey's newest hobby.
We've been to many of these which are also called "Vide-greniers" or in North American / Canadian terms ....flea markets or community yard sales sometimes spiced up with actual antique dealers who travel the circuit.

C is for Cheese....

"Say Cheese"! ... as we were leaving the fair, the cheese artisan caught our attention and offered free samples of his products ... an aged cheese made from three different milks particularly tantalized Monsieur Honey's taste buds, and the words rambled quickly from his lips, "une petite pièce, s'il vous plaît" without any notice of the price....this was like the Golden Egg of Cheeses...at €59.95 per kg....our small piece cost €17.09.
It better be good, Monsieur Honey!

The sunshine and warm temperatures drew me to the Flower Market, where I found some beautiful deep red geraniums, some snapdragons, and other bedding plants to fill some pots at the cottage...and that was my project for the sunny afternoon.

It was a wonderful way to spend the first Sunday in May!