Hello Everyone and I apologize for being late with this weekly blog.

Still not recouperated from the weekend.  We went to my friends

birthday party, promising ourselves to only being there for a few hours

and not drinking - to finally getting out at 2.00 a.m. and me full of red wine and

champagne - well you can`t be a party pooper can you? Hubby was on his
high horse and only drank one glass of champers for the toast.

The only problem was we were going to a new open air Brocante the next

morning or should I say the same morning and, being so far away, we had

to make a start at 4.00 a.m. to have any chance of getting some great things.

Needless to say it was pouring down with rain, sleet and high winds all the

way.  When we got there it was still coming down like stair rods, but, as

professionals (or more like a bag lady and her husband) like the Royal Mail - we had

to get through.

We pushed and shoved through the sodden masses wondering if Etsy knew what

we poor sellers have to go through and managed to grab some great stuff in the

end.

It got that packed by about 10.00 in the morning  we were carried through the streets without putting a foot

on the ground and finally admitted defeat.

But not until we saw a brilliant and very unusual item.

www.etsy.com/shop/littlefrenchowl

20 beautiful pewter cheese name tags - Brilliant for a wine and cheese party.

When I revived and looked at my purchases I thought it was all worthwhile - but

never going there again.  It was too near Paris and a lot of them were charging

Paris prices which we would not charge our customers, but luckily the Parisiens
like to sleep in, so we grabbed all our bargains before most of them were awake.

And after a nice hot bath

 I slept like a log - dreaming of flying over stalls full of gold and silver but
not being able to land  !!!

tant - pis  -  there is always another time.
Au revoir mes amis
Ollie

Hello Little French Owl again

It has been a lovely week.  The sun shining, the little red squirrels still hiding their nuts and I`m going to sleep with the owls and night jays calling to one another.

It really has been a busy week for me.  On sunday I went to a new vide - grenier (boot sale) the first one in this particular village .  Arrived around day break. Normally it is usually a 6.00 am start but this one, being the first one ever was a little laid back. After parking and seeing the stalls were still being set up, we went to a local cafe for some hot chocolate to warm us up.

On the next table were a couple of farmers talking about a nearby village that had a bit of a show going on so we decided to go there after.

The vide-grenier was great - had a lovely array of stuff which I grabbed.  The best thing I managed to buy was a really old 6 sided wooden cubed jigsaw.  It will be the antique of the future.

After about an hour, we had finished and decided to go and look at this village.  It was incredible, the villagers really had gone to town putting up models and scenes.  Of course we took millions of photos as we hadn`t seen anything like this before.

Lunch time arrived and I was feeling really shattered being up since 5.00 am.  We decided to go home but on the way spied a Brocante I had never seen before, which, unusually, was open on a Sunday and even at lunchtime which is never heard of.

Oh!  I was in my element.  It was like Aladdins cave.  I forgot my tiredness and studied everything they had, buying some lovely things and promising to go back there even if it was out of my way.


Old babies bonnets, beautiful silver plated knife rests which are really old and in perfect condition.
Crucifixes and a really gorgeous mother of pearl rosary which is antique but in perfect condition.  Must have been a present to someone who thought it too lovely to use, just kept using her old one.

                                                    www.etsy.com/shop/LittleFrenchOwl

 

After that it was quite late in the afternoon so we popped into a small local cafe and had a croque monsieur each.  Just a toasted cheese and ham sandwich, but what I like about the french ones they are actually fried in butter and taste delicious.  If you are feeling extra hungry you can order a croque madame which is just the same but with an egg on top.

bon appetit mes amis et a la prochaine.


Ollie xx

Hello Everyone again - from Little French Owl

On the first blog of mine I showed my house, now I would like to show who lives in it with me.
- My pets.
We have had quite a few animals of all descriptions living with us.  Most of them were strays, and I must say they have lightened up our world one way or another.  I can`t write about all my friends, I would be here until doomsday but just a little selection.

 

 The first one was Charbon.  We were sitting in our first farmhouse in front of the wood burner one evening with our two border collies  Megan and Sally when there was a knock on the door.  When I opened it there was a french gentleman with a small black blob of fur.  He said is this yours ?- I nearly run it over (well I think that was what he said).  I said yes and grabbed her.  My husband said we can`t keep her the two dogs will eat her, but when I introduced her their eyes turned to saucers and they run down the hall as if the devil himself was after them.  So Charbon became the boss.  She was originally call Charbon de bois  (charcoal)
but that seem a little too pretentious me shouting out that from a tatty farmhouse  so she just became Charbon.

What can I say about Billy.  He came to us one afternoon when it was pouring with rain, he looked through the window at us and gave a silent cry.  Of course we opened our door to him, the dogs ran out without turning back and Billy walked in and to the horror of Charbon jumped on the chair next to her and went to sleep.  He was very young.  Oh we did have some laughs with him.  He copied us wiping our feet on the mat  when he came in, the thing was he wiped them when he went out again  !!
One day some of our friends arrived to say a final goodbye for the season.  They had a second home near us and they came every year for the summer.  They were going back to England and we waved them off.  An hour and a half later they came back, they found Billy fast asleep under their coats when they got to the Port.

What could we say?  I phoned up and got them a ferry for the next day made them dinner and gave them a bed for the night.  That was just one of his lesser mishaps, hopefully I`ll find space to write about him again.

Finally for this blog - the brothers  Jack and Henry.  We got these two about 10 years ago but for once they weren`t strays, they just needed a home and as we had plenty of space for them we gave them a chance.
They have never stopped paying us back with their love, special cuddles and even now their mischief.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlefrenchowl

Well I do other things apart from looking after animals.  When they let me I go to every Sunday market I can, brocantes near and far and special "marche des puces" - flea markets.  Sometimes I get lucky and pick up something out of the ordinary like these "nieve" hand painted tiles.  There are nine of them and they are so
spectacular, most are in great condition and even have a hanger fixed on the back.
I`ll be putting them in my shop soon.

Well thank you for reading this, I appreciate it and please take a look at my two shops.   In the next week I`ll be restocking my "frenchowlsnest" haberdashery will a pile of buttons I bought at a haberdashery closing down sale, some are art deco and they are all great value for money.

A bientot mes amis.

Ollie

Hello Everyone from Little French Owl

The first thing you need when you are thinking
of moving to another country is to find a home
you will be happy to live in, something on par with
what you are used to.
We lived in England in a brand new bungalow with all
mod cons, en suites, a kitchen to die for etc

So we went to the Pays de la Loire with great expectancies.

We looked at a few with the estate agent but it was the

first one we viewed we decided to buy.

 

IT WAS HUGE

The barns were that large we could have held an

acid house party in them, but all we could see was this

vast amount of buildings and all this land and say

"Its all mine".

 

With having to work to earn our living as well as do the

house up it took ten years to do it.

Hubby was working as an electrician/plumber - I was looking

after a large herd of Angora goats, rabbits, hens and anything

else that wanted to live with us.

It finished up like this

 

     The place eventually got too big for us plus hubby

had fallen off the roof and really hurt his back

plus I contracted Rhum. Arthritis so we decided to sell

up and buy a smaller place where there wasn`t

much work to do.

And guess what  ------  

 

     Another large ruin.

But we did find a tractor

 
But this time we did have experience, and before
long - just a few years, Little French Owl
emerged and with it a new era in our lives.

Thank you for reading this first blog of mine.
I`ll tell you of some of our animals next time.
a bientot et merci
Ollie xxxxx