Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

French Brocante Bug Goes Painting on Sunday

French Brocante

Brocantes are Sundays. All day. Many of them.

Except if it rains. Today it poured non stop.

What happened to Provence?

No brocante is brutal for those who have the brocante bug.

French Husband, I mean Yann, goes mad when it rains. No because

he has the brocante bug. Though it is as if something is torturing him…

As for me, no brocante one would think I would be the one going mad!

Instead I decided to paint our bedroom. The can of paint has been by 

my bedside for nearly six months. 

 

French Brocante Toile

 

Since I am spontaneous to a fault, I grabbed a paint brush and started painting.

I thought Yann was going to pull off his skin, he went on and on how I was painting 

everything except the walls. Well not really though I did have paint in my hair, 

and on my clothes (that I should have changed)…

The walls are a greyish/greenish color called, "Lapin" (Rabbit in French) though they 

appear to look more like cement than a rabbit.

 

Paris-map French brocante

A few months ago I bought an extremely large antique map of Paris. 

I wall papered it to one of the walls in our bedroom.

Today while painting, I wished I had painted the walls before I wall papered that map!

But that is one of the negative side effects of being spontaneous. 

As I painted and painted and painted, and nearly passed out from the fumes, 

it dawned on me (I use to say it DONG-ed on me) that I hadn't written my blog.

So with paint on my hands, fumes going to my head, Yann in a grump mood, 

I thought I better blog.

Finished product tomorrow.

What did you do today?

 

 

 

Comments

29 responses to “French Brocante Bug Goes Painting on Sunday”

  1. Leigh NZ

    Always paint when men are not around to give advice on how things should be done. I love rain; I love the look of it, the sound of it and the smell of it. I find rain very comforting and love to lie in bed at night hearing it fall onto the roof…but I would not like rain on a brocante day!!!
    Looking forward to seeing photos of your completed bedroom; sounds wonderful!

    Reply
  2. Massilianana

    I think I am going to make you jealous : I went to the vide-grenier on boulevard Baille here in Marseille !! It had rained lightly in the morning and it had stopped so my kids and I went out ! My son bought some Pokemon cards, a Nintendo figurine and a casse-tête chinois ( a chinese logic game ? I don’t how it’s called in english). My daughter bought a key holder with a little snowball in which there is a tiny cat and she will recycle it into a necklace pendant ; she also bought 5 euros worth of mangas . As for me I was offered a market price board ( now I can write something like : 97,23 € for 1kg of ,what,blue sky ?) and also a cute Vallauris ceramic piece for 3 euros : it is a lemon with two bright green leaves, which I will use to display mini-sweets. Or maybe I’ll hang it on my kitchen wall.
    Then we went back home, it started to rain again and at 11:15pm , it still hasn’t stopped !!!

    Reply
  3. Julie Loeschke

    Went to Mass and made a new lasagna recipe.Haven’t tried it yet,but it sure smells good! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Leigh NZ

    Forgot to say it’s Monday morning here in NZ at 9.18 AM, it’s autumn and the trees are gorgeous! No rain for us today it’s mild and sunny and expected to reach 22 degrees Celsius.

    Reply
  5. Becky F

    Today was the first day in many when it hasn’t rained. So I did some weeding, transplanting and planting many, many plants. I am going to be hurting tomorrow!

    Reply
  6. Vickie

    don’t let Yann come to Oregon in the winter – he may rave a toasty french curse or two at the liquid sunshine! I am a sucker for the names of paint, lipstick, and such. I would love to a professional namer. I have often wondered what is the kind of lovely red lipstick you wear? Is there a way french women wear lipstick that we U.S. women need to learn about…? What are the products one uses in Provence? thanks Corey for your dedicated posting, you are a bright star no matter how cloudy the day gets!

    Reply
  7. Janet with Eiffel

    Grand, sunny day today. I faffed about in my garden
    all morning, had lunch on the patio with husband.
    Came in to check out your blog. Now, I’m going
    to harvest some lettuce from my little veggie patch
    and sit on the patio with a pretty magazine and
    contemplate what I will make for dinner
    (beside the lettuce salad ?)
    PS.never paint when husband is home (rain or shine)!!

    Reply
  8. Diogenes

    Corey,
    We walked to the local farmer’s market on Melrose Place (yes, that’s really its name). It’s still too early for tomatoes, but we picked up some homemade tamales and tortillas and locally grown grapefruit. It’s a beautiful sunny day and 75 degrees here. Beach weather is on the way.

    Reply
  9. Denise

    It is a wonderful mild day in Virgina. I spent the day cleaning out my car of all my yard sale finds from Saturday. We went to a home where they had cleaned the parents attic out and what a treasure chest it was! My car was filled. My junking soul meter hit the top and as I unpacked each box of glorious items and hauled them into the house, my husband watched as I had him painting a wicker dresser that I had found weeks ago ….I am sure he was counting the boxes!! Sorry it rained today Corey, but painting a room is always a fun filled task. I love the smell of a freshly painted room.

    Reply
  10. Momof5

    I went to sowa vintage market with my daughter. Came home and planted a red bud tree in my front yard and pruned the roses and then sat in the sun and read a book. All in all a delicious Sumday afternoon.

    Reply
  11. Lynne

    I took off with a friend to attend one of the largest antique outdoor markets in Western Michigan . . . which happens the last Sunday of the month beginning in April and ending in September. It was a cloudy day but it didn’t deter our enthusiasm to venture off on the hunt. It turned out for each of us to be a day of looking rather than purchasing . . . If truth be told I prefer finding treasures in hidden away places on unexpected days . . .
    Painting anything for me . . . stays better in the far away past . . . I look forward to seeing your finished product . . .

    Reply
  12. Joan

    I was worthless today! Read the Sunday paper, spent some time on the charity committee I volunteer for, and worked on a tough jigsaw puzzle. American husband (well, I am American too!) was much more productive.

    Reply
  13. g

    well i had a broken up day and like yann rain absolutely kills me!-so when it went from sunny to overcast my mood did the same….. so i put on a video from netflix(a brit sitcom circa 1975)watched and dozed until it was time to make dinner for my dad and feed the animals-a lazy day sometimes i like days like this others no…..today NO-felt irritated and like i didn’t get anything done-tommorrow should be better!

    Reply
  14. Jeannie

    It blew and looks as though it would rain all day. Tomorrow is more of the same. One would think nature would run out of wind. I stayed inside and “thought” about organizing my create room. A lot of thinking and very little doing. 🙂

    Reply
  15. martina

    Long walk with the puppy, then we went to my Mom’s and helped her. She gave me some of her antique Norwegian pins that I have always loved. She showed me her gardens which are in full flower now and look fabulous. Then home and did a lot of chores including laundry and ironing. A friend popped by and we went to a local nursery and “window shopped”. Then we came here and had Stella Artois, cheese and salami. A busy fun day.

    Reply
  16. Laurie SF

    Today was the first time I ever dipped my toes into the Gulf of Mexico.
    How wonderfully warm it was.

    Reply
  17. chardonnaylynn

    Hosted a baby shower with my beautiful daughter.

    Reply
  18. Kathie B

    Why did you grab a brush — don’t they have paint rollers in France? BTW, I hope you’re being extra careful when you climb ladders nowadays.
    I second all those who recommend painting while home alone, so as to avoid “back-seat drivers, er, painters.” One time when Farmboy Husband had driven back to visit his mother, I painted our bathroom — the previous owners had lovely butter-yellow tiles on the lower half, but the walls above inexplicably painted a hideous clashing dark lavender-grey — so I painted the walls a matching shade of butter-yellow, then walked over to our nearest major department store to buy a set of matching butter-yellow plush towels and washcloths. Farmboy Husband was amazed (and pleased) when he returned home several days.

    Reply
  19. Kathie B

    P.S. With its new paint-job, our bathroom was much brighter, sunnier and cheerier. We loved the butter-yellow shade so much that we bought so more of it to paint our (hideously rose-colored) bedroom. Those previous owners had NO sense of color, I tell ya!

    Reply
  20. Tongue in Cheek

    Hi Kathie B.
    Yes the French have rollers, Van Gogh, Monet and CA standing on a stool.
    C

    Reply
  21. Natalie Thiele

    We spent the weekend in Morro Bay celebrating my husband’s birthday. I discovered via Facebook that a dear friend, who lives in Oregon, was also there, so we had breakfast together, then my husband and I drove back to Sacramento.

    Reply
  22. 24/7 in France

    Rainy day here as well yesterday, so enjoyed a leisurely day and also watched tennis.

    Reply
  23. Jill Flory

    🙂 Sounds like how I paint! I get it all over me no matter how hard I try to be neat! It goes best if I just let it get all over me and clean up when I am done!

    Reply
  24. La Contessa

    YOUR A NUT AND I LOVE YOU!I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU THE OTHER DAY WILL YOU EVER TAKE A VACATION FROM BLOGGING?JUST A WEEK MAYBE A MONTH…………I CAN FEEL THE ANTICIPATION FROM ALL OF US WHEN WE FIND YOU IN OUR “INBOX” AFTER THE BREAK!HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS WITH OUT A MISSED DAY?YOUR A GEM……….YANN KNOWS THAT!

    Reply
  25. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    “French Husband, I mean Yann” — hahaha!
    Fun to read about so many various weekends.
    I went to church, visited with a friend there, bought potting soil and replanted a few plants — mystery plants that I bought untagged at a roadside stand of a fine plantswoman who has recently died; I’m keeping them separate in their own pots til they bloom and I figure what on earth they are; the suspense is marvelous. Visited a friend who’s walking through confusing mysteries of illness (not at all marvelous), then ended the day with a successful first attempt at making a “vegetable tian” which went with Husband’s wasabi-sesame-seed-encrusted ahi tuna. A good day.

    Reply
  26. Darlene Schueler

    Fumes must have been in the air. I finally finished painting my garage door. Then with paint remaining I painted the side garage door and went in search of non-moving things to turn hunter green! I tried not to paint myself to no avail. How it ended up on the underside of my upper arm is a mystery.
    It was another stunning day in Florida. I am enjoying that, as soon, it will be so hot and humid I’ll not want to venture out. Today a tiny bit of morning rain.

    Reply
  27. monika

    Sunday was sunny and warm — for a change.
    Our house was a disaster, but Pierre had invited his former director, who had retired at Christmas, over for lunch.
    We cleaned like maniacs, I ran to the store, and came back and cooked — little lemon pudding cakes, Zuni roast chicken and bread salad (oh, and spoon bread).
    When she came, we drank prosecco with a liquer de cassis… It was all quite lovely.
    It was lovely, as was the conversation.
    (I may not have painted our bedroom, but I dreamed about it on Sunday!)

    Reply
  28. Brenda, Walker, LA

    Has to chuckle at the paint can being beside your bed! Sounds very familiar! This Sunday, it rained here also. Church, lunch, then I sat and viewed the rain and penciled my schedule for the week. I also painted the next morning, some finds that will go into Kindred Hearts Antiques and Gifts, that is if I can part with them!

    Reply
  29. Wike Treks

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