L'Isle Sur la Sorgue - Market Day

This trip was in the works for a while.  I have a magpie mind and when I spot something shiny (=curious, pretty, unusual) I store it away for future use.  I can’t even tell you where I first heard that l’Isle Sur la Sorgue was the antiques capital of France, but when I looked it up and discovered that it is a paradise of friperies, ranging from the most expensive of carefully-provenanced antiques to the shabbiest of odds and ends, I knew that I had to go.

Sunday is market day when, along with the usual Provencal-style market, you can browse through stall after stall of bric a brac.  Word of caution: the town, being pretty, picturesque and close to Peter Mayle territory, gets very full on Sundays so I’d advise going early if you want to park (or else try going in low season).

I towed the eldest adorable nephew through the market – he has inherited the magpie gene and was very taken with this bell,

but particularly with these clocks:

(Then he got bored and his father took him to the playground.)

I was enchanted by this row of enamel coffee pots (each one upwards of €100), 

by the genuine vintage metal signs, by the posters, by the coffee grinders, by the antique table linens … in short, all of the things that are sold at VAST EXPENSE in shops all around the world trying to recreate the French shabby-chic look.  While the items on sale at l’Isle Sur la Sorgue were not cheap (don’t go expecting bargains) they were at least sans mark up.

Off the main street are various vintage / antique shops and undercover markets.  Again these cater to every purse. 

I was very taken with the elephant on sale here,

But even more by this sweet display:

Around the corner I found the motherlode for every rusty metal table and chair you’ve ever seen outside a French-style (or ‘French’) café in any remote corner of the world.

I resisted all temptation until I came face to face with this: 

1930s wooden tray, souvenir of Rio, inset with mother of pearl.  I mean!!!  It was mine for €20 which, all things considered, seemed pretty reasonable.

Pishies

My sister sent an email saying that Gregory (the adorable nephew) was going to Greece to swim with the pishies.

It made me laugh, and also made me dig out these photos of pishies I've been taking with Gregory in mind. I don't know if he'd like the enormous carp in all the ornamental ponds, or if he'd be a bit nervous.

Here are some pishies swimming on the ceiling of the Australian pavilion at the Shanghai Expo:

Here are pishies in the centre of Shanghai. I call this one Swimmin' in the Rain.

Here are lots of colourful pishies:

And here, pishy meets duckie:

Hello pishie.

Hello duckie.

Imaginosity

Did The Adorable Nephew like Imaginosity, the children's museum in Dublin? Since he shrieked and kicked when I took him away from the museum, I’d have to say that the evidence points to yes.

We spent two hours in the museum, during which time Gregory pressed every button, took apart everything he could,

peered into every nook and cranny.

He liked the Yellow Submarine,

the supermarket (the tongue stuck out in concentration is a family trait, I do it myself, as does Gregory’s Mama and his Mamó),

and the diner.

He kept a watchful eye on the pishies,

and took excellent care of this baby:

He’s going to make someone a wonderful big brother one day.

Look, Gregory! It's the Zoo!

Panda, our mission today is to break away from the tall people and get inside with the animals. Are you with me?

*

Look Gregory! This is where the tapir lives!

But, so, I’m getting in here with the tapir, right? Right?

Look Gregory! Aww, it’s a baby elephant!

Let’s see. If we climb onto Mama’s shoulders, I can throw you in and then I'll HAVE to come and get you. Simple….

Look Gregory! Here are the penguins. (Please note LTBB blending in with the other kids.)

[Attempts to jump into the water thwarted, Gregory threw his raisin packet in with the penguins. Following an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve it, a hasty getaway was effected.]

Look Gregory! There are gorillas in here!

I can has gorillas? Panda, maybe we can go in through the hole. How are your glass-cutting skills?

Look Gregory!

This lady’s really annoying me. I’m going to take her camera.

*

Sad to report, for a boy who likes to get hands-on (and take his panda with him) the zoo just isn’t hands-on enough.

Postcard to Gregory

Dear Gregory,

I hope you are well. I’m well but I don’t know what happened. FIRST I was watching cartoons with you and Suzie the Dog and then the cartoons were finished and then you weren’t there

and then Auntie Nehneh came downstairs and said well Panda this is a disaster and you were on the AVION and you went to France that’s the name of where we live. Then she said I could be on holidays at Mamó’s house and Mamó said I should have a bath. So Mamó put me in the thing you call the bvwashing and it went round and round and Miffy the Bunny was with me so I wasn’t lonely. Now we are resting while our ears dry.

Dodo is here too and when I’m dry Auntie Nehneh says I can have dodo and we will go on ADVENTURES. I will see you soon love from PANDA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please PLEASE Don’t Eat the Daisies

Oh, it’s more singalong with Eithne’s life, the soundtrack to which is strange and varied. I love the film of the same name Doris Day made with David Niven about life in the suburbs (David Niven is the husband who only comes back to the suburbs in the evenings for his martini.) I honestly can’t remember whether one of their children attempts to eat the daisies, but there is a scene where Day, playing a teeny-weeny guitar, leads a gang of kids skipping through the yard and singing the song.

Now, with the song planted in your brain, I’d like to share some photographs with you.

Gregory discovered the daisies on Sunday. (He was so excited he lost his pyjama bottoms.)

Róisin rediscovered the art of making daisy chains.

Do you love me? Love me a lot? You’ll prove it by lettin’ the daisies grow.

Someone must love us a lot.

Botanic Gardens

Last week, summer arrived all of a sudden. My adorable nephew GK and his mother also arrived. Happy times!

On Saturday we went to the Botanic Gardens which, aside from the Cemetery, are the big attraction in Glasnevin, where my parents live. As well as being beautiful, the gardens are free. (I mention this because I’ve never quite recovered from visiting Kew Gardens in London and having to pay £17 to get in – and I didn’t even want to visit the gardens, I wanted to go to Kew Palace.)

So here are Scenes From the Botanic Gardens on a Sunny Day, starring GK, Róisín, The Old Man in The Hat, The Crane and The Pretty Flowers.

And proof that Dublin Bikes should heed my request to put a bike stand outside the Botanic Gardens:

Ecomusée de la Foret

Yesterday was a red-letter day: the first time I took Gregory to a museum. Ever since I heard I was going to get a nephew, I imagined the time when Auntie E would have a small person to go to the museum with. To start what I hope will be a beautiful tradition, we visited the Ecomuseum of the Forest.

This outdoor ‘museum’, between Aix-en-Provence and Gardanne, consists of a trail through the forest with different activities at intervals, plus an exhibition inside. The trail is pretty long for someone only just two, but Gregory was great company. He skipped through the forest, for all the world like Christopher Robin. (Does that make me the bear of little brain?)

He carefully considered the artworks,

And the little cabin in the woods.

He checked out the yurt, and the stripes made by the shadows.

And – oh, I love this photograph – every now and then he looked up at the metal slats of the roof and just laughed.

He assembled – against all the rules – a collection of sticks. (I had to dispose of it in secret later.)

When he got tired, I carried him on my shoulders. And every now and then he would lean down and give me an unsolicited kiss on the cheek. It’s enough to make an aunt’s heart grow three sizes inside her chest.

Then we went back to the information centre and the permanent exhibition. This wall was great: different stations where you could touch specimens, smell smells (good and bad) and hear the sounds of birds and animals. Though some of these were a bit too real for Gregory who wasn’t at all sure that a big animal wasn’t hiding behind the wall to come and get him.

Sadly the café was closed for renovation and we were both thirsty so we left shortly afterwards. The forest was beautiful but I wouldn’t rate the Museum that highly … but that didn’t stop us having a great time together.