NEW STOCK IN THE SHOP

Lunch at La Famiglia, the third time this week, in the garden, with Miles Maskell of Anglo French Properties who helps us rent our house in France. One of the old school Italian restaurants good food, wonderful staff and close to the shop!

New on the web site are the following...................

Great period Empire bureau plat circa 1810

a landscape of the Plateau d'Avron in a wonderful gilt frame

and a charming oil of a dog

more soon...................

COLOURS......

The driest warmest spring has had it's moments.................

Grey

Yellow

Pink

White

Red, green, white and yellow.................salad with red endive, hard boiled eggs and chives

FOUR OWLS, SIX GEESE & SOME ANTIQUES

It's four baby owls............two more were born while we were in London. The tenderness of their mother is is enchanting,  she gently feeds them bits of mouse and vole, torn up to a size that they can manage, like puppies they cuddle up to her so that she seems to have armfuls of baby owl under her wings. She has four little owlets, from quite large, the oldest, to tiny, the youngest, born a few days apart they are very different sizes.

The male and female are still spending all of the time that they are not hunting with their chicks but will soon leave them alone for longer periods, the male is catching mice and voles all night and presenting them to his wife....................

Meanwhile the young geese are growing like mad. I have always been mad about birds of prey and recently found this  wonderful blog from New York about the hawks nesting there.

The father and his two wives guard the young fiercely and see off any intruders, with reason, we lost two lambs to foxes over the week end. The young are escorted from the top to bottom ponds waddling along on little black leather feet..............

they are starting to flap their stumpy little wings in preparation for flying lessons

with sad eyes she looks at the camera, was it she who lost her lamb to the foxes......

England is having the warmest driest spring on record and the flowers this year are exceptional, the wild flowers are everywhere, and the roses are covering walls and borders............

Back to antiques and May is coming to an end and we have been busy. It is the start of the "season" for antiques.........the finest, the rarest and the most beautiful are dusted off polished up and put on display. The big Art & Antiques Fairs in London are in June and though I no longer exhibit at any of them after years at Olympia there is still that buzz of activity. My great friend and colleague France Lasserre has just finished what was a very successful small fair on the banks of the Canal Saint Martin in Paris, selling her signature blue linen amongst other things. There are certain advantages to living in Paris..............

The Fromagerie Dubois

We have new stock coming in this week, more of that soon, and meanwhile, in our London garden we have our faithful robin, a great spotted woodpecker, and the family of blue tits who nested in one of our bird boxes.

and finally dinner this evening:............ Roman artichokes, asparagus and mini buffalo mozzarella