OLD STUFF

 

The brocante season is under way.  (A brocante being a street market for junk, antiques or bric-a-brac.)  At the one I visited most recently, on an unusually warm and sunny day, I came away with a nice little haul.  Total spend 4.50€.

The little terracotta plant holders were 50 cents each.  (Useful for growing on my collection of spider plant babies, the mother of them being a brocante purchase a few years ago.) They are actually quite new and two of them still had price labels of 3.99€ on the bottom.  

The tall glass jug will come in handy as a vase for tall flowers and foliage and was 1€. 

The enamel bowl was the most expensive item, 2€.  I suppose that word has got round that tatty old enamel items are much sought after by the fans of "shabby chic". 

I bought the bowl because it makes a perfect liner for our bird bath which is otherwise difficult to keep clean.  The bath part is very heavy and not easily lifted for cleaning out.  In the summer it becomes unpleasant with algae, dead insects and bird poo very rapidly.  

I can now lift out the basin, clean it and refill it very quickly and easily.  Daily if necessary.  The little birds already seem to love it.

AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

 

It was a lovely weekend last weekend, warm and sunny and I opened doors and windows to let some welcome warm fresh air into the house.

We were just about to go out for the afternoon when Nick alerted me to a problem.  A large snake was in the dining room looking and sounding very cross.  It's a good job he spotted it just then as locking it into the house with the cat and the dog could have added another level to the excitement.

He Googled "how to get a snake out of the house" and quickly abandoned the motorcycle gloves and old towel that he had grabbed.  A soft broom was the solution.

When it was on the move he followed it round the room and at the first opportunity encouraged it out of the door by which it had entered, unharmed if somewhat perturbed.

We don't know where it came from or where it went.  We were too busy closing doors as it left to notice.  The three large snakes that reside in the roof of the barn were still basking in the warmth of the afternoon under the tiles so this was an extra one.  All's well that ends well.

STILL SCARF WEATHER

Over the winter I have knitted myself a warm scarf. There were just enough balls of wool in the shop but when I got them home one was a different dye lot and a slightly different shade.  So I used it to lengthen the scarf by adding a fringe.  You can barely notice the difference.

Spring may well be just around the corner but the scarf is still in regular use.