Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Brocante in France

                            

On any Sunday morning you can find me at the brocante (antique fair.) Where I live, there are about twenty fairs a weekend! Some can make your eyes pop out of your head, a few cause your heart to skip a best, most of them can make your money vanish.

                              

           The thrill of opening boxes finding it full of "les petites choses!"

                            

     Des Cartes postal, scrapbooks, photos, and letters! Vintage ephemera!

                            

                 What does your eye spy? Mine spies…a fan, communion dolls, a pipe, pedicure tools, a locket…What does your eye spy?

                           

Taste of France! Eye-candy-colors, with mouth watering names to match! Cotton candy pink, Violette, sage, butter cream!

                            What made your heart skip a beat today?

photos: Things I liked on my tour de France aujourd’hui

Comments

38 responses to “Brocante in France”

  1. snowsparkle

    i just woke up a little bit ago… i imagine my coffee may be the first thing to make my heart truly skip a beat 🙂 but i have a whole day ahead of me…. including a visit with a dear friend and her 8 month old grandaughter … i think my heart will skip when i see and hold them in my arms.

    Reply
  2. Di Overton

    This made my heart skip a beat. 20 per weekend – bliss!

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  3. susan@artstream

    the sun hitting the fall colors outside my window.. it is breathtaking. of course raking today will be taking my breath away too… for a different reason !!! i love these photos corey… the dolls and the colors are so yummy!

    Reply
  4. Jeanne

    I join you virtually each Sunday.
    Oh how blessed you are to have such treasure troves to visit.
    Love you Sugar Plum!
    Jeanne
    Oooh La La!

    Reply
  5. Penny

    Oh my gosh – what treasures! I’m afraid that I’m green with envy — fortunately I look pretty good in green!

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  6. Ulla

    Only 20? my goodness, no wonder you are in heaven… I am with you in spirit, sitting over your shoulder with a big grin on my face!

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  7. blackbird

    the thread…best together as a collection.

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  8. Julie

    My little sister giving me an eskimo kiss.

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  9. swampgrrl

    i love your eye for delightful things!

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  10. Shannon

    Oooh, you have me itching to go antiquing! Now is the most beautiful time with the crisp clear air, colorful trees, and lots of trinkets and treasures to explore.
    My mind is racing right now!
    I hope to spy an ad for a flea market in the Sunday paper today 🙂

    Reply
  11. stephanie s

    oh wow, so wonderful! how do you ever get away without wanting – and buying – everything???

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  12. Peggy

    I must say your photos made my heart skip a beat and the thought of being in France again somtime soon. Thank you for your wonderful posts. Peggy

    Reply
  13. cruststation

    I can imagine you skipping with joy every weekend waiting to rummage through the delightful antiques. I love the little doll in the first picture and I spy the jewellery and the postcards of course and love the threads together like that, what a beautiful picture (may I join you shopping)?

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  14. Linda Harre

    Our flea markets and antique malls don’t compare! You have that age going for you over there:-D Wonderful post….I am turning green with envy!

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  15. ParisBreakfasts

    What beautiful BIG pictures you have, said Red Riding Hood :O

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  16. lisa(oceandreamer)

    you want to know what made my heart skip a beat today? Seeing your photos and yearning to have such markets to discover these most amazing treasures. The very idea of opening a box or wrappings to find magical surprises, well it definitely struck me!
    (ordinarily I would talked about other than material things here) but I just couldn’t help it – the photos caused a reaction.
    XOXO

    Reply
  17. annieelf

    what makes my heart skip a beat? small surprises rediscovered in tucked away places.

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  18. mary jane

    My heart skipped a beat today when I realized that the wild bunnies had not eaten to the roots the dianthus flowers while I slept….that’s a big deal around here….I go to bed at night often wondering what will be left of the garden in the morning…hugs

    Reply
  19. patpaulk

    I saw a corkscrew, always a good tool to have on hand!!

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  20. Lisa

    I wanna go I wanna go.

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  21. Lisa

    Oh, and what made my heart skip a beat? I just saw a beautiful picture of my handsome elder son in his suit and tie for homecoming. sigh. He’s a young man now, to be sure.

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  22. Star

    My heart was skipping from cleaning off the gardens for winter. Five raised beds and a fence row that was overgrown. It’s nice to relax and sort through your finds–waht fun!

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  23. Becca

    I can’t imagine how much fun it would be to attend those fairs … incredible temptation … but so much fun!

    Reply
  24. Pauline Clarke

    Once you buy your treasures, what do you do with them?
    Loved the way the colored threads sang together. My Mama had a gold locket like the one in the “I spy” picture. She was French, though from Canadian stock by way of Paris.
    Neat post…

    Reply
  25. gracie

    I like the way you have photographed the threads! I could spend hours with treasures like that…

    Reply
  26. herhimnbryn

    Standing inside the frame walls of my new shed/studio and imagining working there. Imagining where the work table will go, the daybed, the lights, the shelves.
    Thump, thump, thump!

    Reply
  27. Deryn Mentock

    Those tiny doo dads and goodies are making me green with envy! Oh, to have access to such wonderful flea markets!

    Reply
  28. Colette

    My eye is catching…everything. But especially the paper, the carte postales album, the dolls, the……swoon.

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  29. Jenny

    Beauty…here…there…and everywhere. Makes my heart sing and want to jump!

    Reply
  30. Kit

    I’d love to spends hours trawling markets like that. I used to in London when I was still a student – time-rich but money poor, then the thrill of a bargain is all the greater.

    Reply
  31. susanna

    Have you ever thought of leading tours through fleamarkets in the South of France, Corey? Gosh, you’d be a fun tour guide! What made my heart skip a beat today? Walking into my kitchen and seeing the beautiful painting that Susan from Art Esprit sent to me over the weekend. So beautiful!

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  32. jenny vorwaller

    jewelry. i saw some today that i wanted to snatch up so bad….but only so much can fit into a suitcase! 🙂

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  33. carolyn

    Oh wow what wonderful things.

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  34. Carol

    Oh beautiful Corey, it’s all making my little heart skip!

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  35. Maureen

    what made my heart skip today? Your photos in this post, Corey!
    I am amazed at what you find at those French flea markets… makes me want to hitch passage on a ship to the continent right now. I would LOVE to have that kind of history and “junk” available to me for my mixed media pieces. sigh.
    There is nothing like that where I live in Montana. I’m so jealous! (not really – you are blessed with a good eye for these vintage yummy treasures and deserve to find them) In the meantime I must enjoy them vicariously.

    Reply
  36. jen

    This is what I think heaven must look like 🙂

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  37. MARYBETH

    Oh Dear Corey I am so very far behind on your writings!
    i sent you an e-mail several weeks ago and fear you did not receive it. I will send it again.
    ohhhh how i want to attend this amazing Brocante!!!!!
    Namaste,
    MB

    Reply
  38. Holly

    I enjoy your blog, thank-you. =)

    Reply

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