"May Day in Gourdon".

The first of May is a national holiday called "Fête du Travail" (Labour Day) or May Day in France, and is the first of numerous holidays during the month of May.

We spent the day in Gourdon, first strolling the Boulevard and checking out the habitants' tables of wares at the annual Vide-grenier.

There was a gorgeous set of French porcelain dishes for a reasonable price but some discussion was held about how to transport these fragile items back to Canada.

The service would be handy when we have a houseful for our family dinners.

Today, I found a tiny silver-plated mustard pot with a cobalt blue glass insert and spoon.

Monsieur Honey was looking for some "Trench Art" from WW1 (1914-1918).
The soldiers would chase, hammer and engrave patterns and pictures into spent brass gun shells and send them home to their families as souvenirs.
This was an activity that the soldiers did in their down time in between battles.

A young entrepreneur with his wagon full of lily of the valley.
French tradition is to give your friends and loved ones a bunch of lily of the valley as a wish for good luck.

Baskets and more baskets.

Need something for your bathroom renovation...what do you think of these, Plumber Mike?

The porcelain dishes.

Some pie irons for the camp fire?

Today's treasure....

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at one of Gourdon's many cafés, Le Pot Occitan.

In addition to the Vide-grenier, there was an antique car and moped rally and display.

A bicycle made for two.... Tandem Moped.

The town streets and cafés were bustling with people enjoying their day off.

Here is a token of good luck to all my family and friends.

An Open and Shut Case

"French shutters" have many purposes from aesthetics to "French" style air conditioning and for security.

There are many designs and styles...both the tried and true old ones and now the new reproductions.

The traditional ones are virtually all made of wood, with some more modern ones being the rollup metal style.

Colour, colour and more colour...there are varying shades of French blue (similar to Bugatti race car blue and the colour of Gitan cigarette packaging) and then many shades of green, red, yellow and the natural wood stained ones.

Everywhere I go, I notice these wonderful additions to the doors and windows of the homes and buildings in France.

Once in awhile, I will come across some shutters on an abandoned house or barn that seem to be calling my name and crying for attention ... ripe for restoration and just waiting to be loved again.

This time of the year, many of the shutters are being opened as the seasonal owners and visitors are returning to enjoy the French life in the Lot Valley.

So is it an open and shut case?

Open shutters to me say "Welcome"..... Bienvenue!

In God's House...