Introducing the New Man in my Life............................

Well-as per usual,we have an another excuse for being late with our updates....I've had my hands full with the new little Man in my Life-or perhaps he's Dita's Toyboy?!....either way, meet "Esto" who arrived last Wednesday to join the family..............

This gorgeous little guy is from Italian parentage and has a very posh Pedigree to boot so we're hoping for good things if and when he decides to join Dastardly Dita in the showring later in the year.

Pictured above at 6 weeks-this is him below at 9 weeks old so showing great promise already...

Dita is already besotted...................

This weekend just gone saw us travel North to Rambouillet near Paris for the 39'eme French Dobermann Club's Nationale d'Elevage Championship Show with our little starlet....oh my goodness what a BEAUTIFUL place........maybe this link can give you some idea of how simply stunning this Chateau and Grounds are...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1n8BdjyxvU

it just took my breath away as we drove through the grounds in the early morning mist as we made our way to La Bergerie where the Show was being held....

The Ring D'Honneur where the best 4 selected from each class get to compete later in the day.....

and the impressive Trophy Table........

and our Dita (facing) in the Ring where she won 3rd in a very strong Jeune Femelle class...

and this Fabulous Trophy............!

and after a weekend away it's amazing how fast things change around here....apparently there was a mini-tempest in the early hours of Sunday morning with Torrential Rain,high winds and a temper by the sounds of it because it took it out on our Barn Roof.......................

OOPS! and typically the Insurance Company have said-what do you expect US to do?!-it was sunny and fine all weekend....er-not so according to our neighbours but very weirdly it appears we are going to have to prove the Mini-whirlwind DID actually happen and was confined to such a small area-half a mile radius infact,nobody else was affected! These things are definitely sent to try us!

And then my Cherry Tree seems to have gone into overdrive...............

I feel all "cherried-out"-we still have a Freezer-full from LAST year which I havn't had chance to use up yet so if you all want to bring your baskets..........!! 

Relaxing after another hectic schedule..............

TOURS EXPOSITION CANINE NATIONALE

DITA wins 1er Jeune Femelle, Meilleur Jeune & Meilleur de Race!!!! at the tender age of just 13 mths!

It's hard work being a Successful Young Lady!

*****

After a week in the UK sorting out 32 years of memories in a house chocka-block of them,emptying drawers,cupboards and burning rubbish & other stuff-it's been quite stressful.The enjoyable part of course was spending time with my son and daughter-in-law to be,and my beautiful Granddaughter whose favourite phrase of the moment is-"Oh dear-Dropped it!" (sooo cute!)

So by the time I returned home on Saturday-it was nice to take a ride over to TOURS where we had entered Dita the demon adolescent in a Championship Dog show as a practise-run for this coming weekend's French Dobermann Classic at Rambouillet nr Paris.

Imagine our absolute delight when under German Judge Madam Hassi Assenmacher-Feyel she won the ultimate prize of Meilleur de Race-Best of Breed beating all the competition there including dogs twice her age!We were absolutely thrilled to say the least.

Meanwhile John and James had been busying themselves at Brocantes amassing a lovely variety of new items for me to Photograph on my return and wow-have we got a special item for you!

All I will say is it is huge,beautiful and we have never seen another whilst in France-so keep your eyes peeled over the next few days and all will be revealed-IF I can manage to find somewhere to photograph it!

We have lots of nice pieces of Enamel too and a wonderful supply of items for our Sewing enthusiasts from an ancient Shop Clearance including full Boxes of unused Bobbines of Thread from the famous manufacturer J.Thiriez et Fils............

Keep watching this space!!

Rose Meryss...............................

I

If any of you wonderful customers of ours have bought some of our delightfully different objects of the past week or so you may remember reading in the descriptions that some of the Articles such as the magnificent Tapestry Monogrammed Pelmet, the Silk Threads still on Original Bon Marche Store Cards etc originated from a House clearance of an Actress? Well, whilst doing my detective work this week (amongst all my other   jobs) & after a second liason with a certain Vendor friend of ours...the very same French Gentleman who did the house clearance from where these exquisite French treasures came from, we talked at length & have discovered who the mystery lady was......her name was "Rose Meryss"-an Operetta Singer & Actress,born in Bordeaux in 1850 as Marie-Rose Baudon who was on stage in Paris between the 1870's-1890's in productions such as "Fantasy" & "Skating".We were given a fascinating insight when we were allowed to view fabulous Antique Portrait Photographs of her, and of her Actor & Actress friends which had been kept from Sale which were signed & written upon in her own handwriting-such wonderful memorabilia of  a Past Life-it almost breathed new life into the objects now making their way to all corners of the world for other to cherish!

There are still more delights to come including a Fabulous Large Art-Nouveau Bed Throw & Exquisite & Original trinkets & Keepsakes from this same home......

Meanwhile...back to reality and we have been paying for the Veterinaire to take more holidays....(or keeping him in wine or Cognac or whatever he partakes in)......our second old lady "Mia" has been taken poorly AGAIN.......huge mass swelling on her shoulder and feeling very sorry for herself  (not good,-she resembled Quasimodo for a while)...........

..........MAYBE NOT!..............

however,after another fortune spent on Cortisone injections,Antibiotics,Anti-inflammatory Painkillers & Diagnostic bloodtests...she's showing some slow but sure signs of improvement and has,thisafternoon been outside sunbathing and rolling around on her back with her legs in the air grunting (not very ladylike but still.....!).Unfortunately one day all our dogs become senior citizens and need our love and attention more than ever-how I WISH they lived as long as humans....

How I wish they could all be forever young.......this was our Mia a good few years back,soooo beautiful!

Meanwhile back to the grindstone so am going to have a mammoth sorting-out session,and you will have a wonderful selection this next week of a little something for ALL tastes & pockets,until next time...

BON WEEKEND!!

Rain,Rain-GO AWAY!!...come again another day......

This was the Lane where I take Dita for a walk sometimes.....completely waterlogged......she WASN'T impressed....

and NEITHER was I-My wellies were LEAKING...........................!

well are you surprised after THAT lot?!

Well this-morning is a much brighter prospect than of late-yesterday was simply glorious and lots of washing & drying was done-and even Ironing,courtesy of our visitor James who's a dab hand at being helpful! 

The weekend saw quite a number of Brocantes in full swing despite the terrible forecast & whilst we got drowned at a few-also had a good day Tuesday where it was Bank Holiday here in France-Fete du Travail or Labour Day-well EVERY day is a Labour Day for us so it didn't make any difference!

We tootled off further south on Saturday to an advertised Brocante in Brousse-to find it wasn't actually taking place until May 13th......as we travelled round a deserted village at 7am in the morning we realised someone was either having a laugh at our expense or had got it seriously wrong on the Internet! So we re-programmed the Satnav and had a a further tootle even further South and ended up at the Seaside!!!-IN THE RAIN!!.........................

This is the USUALLY Glorious beach of St.Georges de Didonne-a real suntrap and tourist destination-NOT THAT DAY!!

This was Dita's first-ever experience of the Sand & Sea................don't think she was THAT impressed somehow....!

and then she spotted her first-ever Seagull..........."Mummy-what's THAT?" ....!!!

She was a bit miffed when it flew away before she got chance to "play" with it..

So after depressing you all with the gloom and doom of Rainy Grey Days on the beach...I can brighten your spirits by telling you we have found plenty of lovely beautiful things for you all to ponder over.....

this Gorgeous Pelmet came from the house clearance of an Actress.....who was she we wonder?

Maybe her Initials were woven into this Wonderful Antique Textile?

I was lucky enough to obtain this Beautiful Item but wanted to delve further into her possessions for a clue-but the family photographs & paperwork were already being gone through by a dealer who has plonked himself in the back of the Vendor's van and wouldn't move or give way to anyone else so I had to leave it and delve through items which had already been put out for Sale......many of which will be making their way onto the site over the coming days-so have fun browsing mes amis!!

Another Success,Caring for the Elderly.... and a Migraine.....

It's been a strange week-lots of highs & lows.......Sunday saw John and son James head off  3.5 hrs North for the Dobermann Club of France Regionale d'Elevage Delegation Pays de Loire & Poitou with the Demon delinquent Dita, whilst I stayed at home in my new capacity of Carer for the Elderly-namely looking after & caring for our two Golden Oldies-Phoebe (or Phoobie-doo as she is affectionately known as ) and Mia (Mia Mousse).

I had a Phonecall mid-morning informing me of yet another success-1er Ex.Jeune Femelle N/F which translated means 1st Junior Black & Feu Female graded Excellent!

She really is doing us proud as she steadily matures into a quite Beautiful young Lady-despite becoming naughtier by the minute here at home.Yet another Trophy for the growing Collection.....

Alas,the happiness subsided as one of my dreaded Migraines took hold later that evening (must have been all the excitement) and started to pound away at my brain,rendering me pretty useless so far this week as it is still with me though in a lesser form than at first. Which explains the lack of listings for a few days as the Computer Screen doesn't exactly help matters.I havn't had a really bad Migraine for quite a long time-I just hope they're not back to haunt me as despite any form of specialist medication,they don't tend to respond to any of it. I've even had MRI scans on my head before now (yes,apparently there IS a Brain in there somewhere-despite my Blonde hair on top)!

I have been dashing in and out to avoid the showers thismorning in an attempt to Photograph the latest batch of goodies....whilst Dita has been dashing in & out making a mockery of John's attempt to help me by hanging washing out on the line-as fast as it's been going up in the breeze it's been seen disappearing like a blur past the front door as she attempts to dry it for him in her mouth whilst racing round the garden with sheets & towels wafting in the wind behind her from her jaws......oh what did we ever do to deserve this?!!

One of the things she didn't get her paws on was this huge Antique Lace Throw with glorious Cherubs abound..........

and so I will endeavor to get myself back into work-mode so I can tickle your Shabby-Chic tastebuds with more delightful finds......see you soon!

Double Celebration.................

Wednesday saw a very Special day for us-one that we never thought would happen due to events at the weekend when poor Old Lady Phoebe took a sudden turn for the worst and collapsed. For three days it was touch and go but Wednesday duly arrived, a miracle happened-& she reached her 11th Birthday in fighting spirits! Uncannily-on the very same day- Dita ditched her "Demon Puppy" title and turned into the Demon 1 year old nightmare adolescent!! So a double celebration was had & lots of sausages,cold meat & cake was consumed by all three........(just for that evening)

Phoebe of course was looking for extra helpings as she WAS the eldest!...............

and so we had a Family photograph but trying to keep three enthusiastic Sausage-eaters at bay is some feat!...................."SIT"!..........

WHOOOAAA-WAAIIIITTTTTT!!!

Unfortunately since this picture was taken, our poor Mia has also now taken a turn for the worst and is not well at all.........so we pray for a full recovery....at least the best recovery that can be expected for an elderly dog............like in the case of Phoebe who literally couldn't walk & kept falling over........she is now whizzing round again like a drunken version of Speedy Gonzalez......wobbling all over the place but happy in her own little world & full of the joys of spring again which is so lovely to see-for any of you who are doglovers-I'm sure you can appreciate how precious they are and how hard it can be when they become elderly.

SO-Back to business and onwards & forwards we go..........with some more delights for your Perusal....

more Luscious Antique Lace from the "shoe-box" Find..........

and some other little surprises!..............

yes-we found not one but TWO Boudoir Display pieces.........here's the latest!

and last but not least......this cheeky little Chappie..........

Au revoir for now!

A Ladies Paradise.........

A few months ago we sold this Stunning Antique French Lace & Lavender Silk Ribbon Bonnet.....nothing unusual in that you may say,but this beautiful Rare Bonnet will be on your television screen sometime in the future-as it went to the BBC to be used in a Period Drama Production based on a Novel by Émile Zola entitled "The Ladies Paradise"-adapted from the Original "Au Bonheur des Dames"-set in Paris in the 1890's.

Adapted for television by the writer Bill Gallagher (of Larkrise to Candleford fame) the BBC Version will be set in a Northern Town (we're led to believe Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and focuses on a Young Woman who finds herself homeless following the death of her father and who takes to the City to become a store clerk & subsequently discovers the joys and temptations of shopping (well I can certainly identify with THAT!)

But behind the beautiful Facade of the Department store of the same name-Ladies' Paradise-lies a world of Intrigue,Business and Power struggle................mmmmmm-will look forward to that! To say we are delighted that some of our items will be used in this Drama is an understatement!

so onwards we keep searching.............!

Meanwhile,Ribbons & Bows & more Lovely Antique Lace will be making its' way onto our site over the next week following our Wonderful discovery (or should I say John's clever discovery)....

delightful Narrow or Wide rolls..........

in Pastel Pinks.................................

collectable ensembles & wonderful labels..............

in all colours ,widths & fabrics - ideal for trimming!

Plenty of choice for all sorts of Sewing Projects...........so take a peek!
A Bientot!!