First of the Foire des Fleurs

Sunday, April 19 -- We ventured out and about, paying a visit to one of the first foire des fleurs of the season, in beautiful Cadouin. Time to start loading up on flowers for the window boxes and old pots around the garden. There'll be many more flower fairs to come -- next week is the big one in Le Bugue, and our favorite of all will be later in May at L'Abbaye Nouvelle near Leobard. We bought geraniums, mostly.
Funny, I never really liked geraniums when I was young; they made me think of old ladies' gardens -- the peculiar smell of the leaves was unpleasant to me and I promised myself I'd never plant them in my own garden when I grew up. But somehow, here in France, I find geraniums are everywhere, natural and brilliant and colorful. I'm addicted. Does this mean I'm an old lady now? Will I start planting hollyhocks and hydrangea too?

We also visited our first foire des brocante of the year, at Le Buisson de Cadouin, just a few kilometers away from Cadouin itself. There, we browsed among other people's junk and a few overpriced antiquités. After browsing through dusty picture frames and bug-eaten furniture, the best thing we found was Andrea and Barbara, our Italian friends who've transplanted themselves from Milan into an old house in Montfort, where they now operate their own beautiful and tasteful B&B, L'Ombrière.

That's Andrea Polato on the left, Albert in the middle, and Andrea's wife, Barbara Menzio, on the right. The abbey of Cadouin is in the background.