I know it was hot but...

When wandering around the brocante on Sunday, from a distance, we had to make a  double-take  at the man (?) on this stall who seemed to have gone to extreme measures to cope with the heat! 

Whereas all Stig had to do was take of  his shoes and socks!

Other things that caught my eye...

Another stall holder have a bit of 'armless fun with nakedness!

Above is how not to display stuff at a brocante - can't imagine either of these two boxes would be any lighter on the way home,not even the top one!

Why would you want to get rid of him? ok he's 4 ft high and and a bit unsure of his origin but...

I know what you are thinking.

More from the big brocante...

There were a number of 'modes of transport' options at Sunday's brocante in La Celle-Guenand...

Would you have put your child in this however?...when you could have this.

My favourite display on the day!

Friend Jane, a keen brocanter did not go on Sunday - should have, as her name was all over these items. This was how they were displayed BTY.

The BIG brocante - La Celle-Guenand

We went for a walk yesterday around the lake at the big brocante at La Celle-Guenand where you can find just about everything you ever wanted...or not!

It was big and busy with the usual group of professional dealers.

Loved how these enterprising stall holders used the goalpost - luckily they only hung light items!

The scale of this event can be judged by the number of cars in the car-parks (read fields), this is just one of them!

More images tomorrow.

Soiree theatrale au chateau...a very French experience!

Last night we popped over to our neighbour's place for a little theatre...Chateau de la Guerche, for the third night, put on two plays within their courtyard. It was good to see a good turnout plus the rain that spoiled Friday nights event fortunately stayed away.

The setting was fabulous with the chateau being used to full effect. Although our French,or lack of it in my case, made it difficult to follow the dialogue we were lucky enough to have Cally with us to at least give us the basic plot.

Not something you do every day but a real pleasure...special shout-out to 'the harlequin' and Emmanuel (son of the chateau owner) for their performances.

They did not deserve this...

We were invited over to Ciran last night with Jane and Peter to friends who live in the village and host a delicious tea party, before taking in the spectacular 'Alors on Danse?' Due to weather conditions we were indoors as a safeguard but the rain held off. As we headed over to the 'plan d'eau' equipped with waterproofs and umbrellas our hearts went out to the organisers and participants - after a period of excessive temperatures and drought  they were rewarded with this!

We stayed as long as we could stand the heavy rain but it got too much for even us Scots...ironically the show had reached Scotland's contribution by the time the heavens really opened.

Even 'Nessie' made a hasty retreat! 

They have a second performance tonight but the forecast is not looking good. How they are even going to get their costumes dry again is another thing...so unfair,as I said, they did not deserve this!

A little sugar on top...

Celebrating my birthday continued with dear friends providing more fizz to accompany a good night of entertainment by the delightful 'Sugar Hearts' over in nearby Maire

From the moment they paraded down Place de l'Eglise they entertained us with their own 50's take on an eclectic mix of songs that included 'Should I stay or should I go now?' 'Walk like an Egyptian' and 'Valerie' among others.

A favourite moment was when the ladies replaced the musicians at their instruments and they finished of the vocals...good fun!

Celebrating in style...

To help celebrate my becoming an old age pensioner (65) (without a pension btw, as have to wait an extra year for that) friends Jane an Peter laid on an evening of fun. Picked up from the door and whisked off to the 'Hotel de France' in Loches for dinner with fizz and nibbles en-route. 

We had a very nice meal in the hotel's lovely restaurant where the staff even pushed the boat out to help me celebrate!

It is a place we have really paid little attention to in previous visits to Loches, other than to peek into their courtyard off  Rue de la Republique but after this visit we would highly recommend it.

Their rather innocuous frontage on Rue Picois belies what lies behind it.

After dinner we headed over to Montresor to check out their 'Nuits Solaires'

We arrived to the sound of a siren blaring away and almost complete darkness! It was after the official start time of the event but this would not be unusual here in France!

We walked along the river patch following the sound of music and eventually cam across the musicians playing in the darkness.

After a few minutes we decided that it was all a bit underwhelming and decided to walk into the village to see if anything was going on there. On the way there we asked people who were sitting looking on to the chateau if it would be illuminated - they said it should already be but there seemed to be a power cut! We walked through the town in the dark but just as we reached the Mairie the lights came on!

We headed back down the the river walk to see what difference that made...

This was a bit more like what we had expected...

Great fun night in great company!

  

Making bread at Antogny-le-Tillac

One of the features of the brocante day at Antogny-le-Tillac is the firing up of the village bread oven. It was interesting watching the locals go about the process.