flea market finds

There was a big flea market or 'brocante' in my neighborhood on Saturday. It stretched for about ten blocks on both sides of the street. There were some professional antique dealers

but mostly people selling their old stuff...which became new stuff for the buyers! I found some great teal saucers (without cups, but since I'm going to break them anyway, so what?), and plates with a pink and white print. But my favorite finds are pictured here: a wooden box for treasures, lots of lace and...a toast holder.

The lace is hand-made and vintage. The woman who sold it to me assured me that she got it from a woman who worked for Dior...maybe, maybe not, but I fell in love with so many pieces that I had to get a few. I will use the short pieces to print on clay, and I can use the longer ones in textile creations. I'm thinking of lovely lacy moths.

Apparently, this is a toast holder. I had never seen one before. I suppose it might come in handy if you are making large quantities of toast, but at our house, the toast is eaten as soon as it pops up from the toaster! I'm using this apparatus to store my linocuts, to keep them from getting dusty and sticking together once they've been inked. I'm sure there is an apparatus especially for this, but I didn't find one at the flea market, so I'm improvising.

Graffiti

I often walk by this stately apartment building on rue Chavent, a quiet street in Lyon. The building dates from 1937. It is quite big, with two entrances, balconies on every floor and unlike many buildings, it's set back from the sidewalk and has lots of trees in front of it.

I was coming back from the post office on Saturday morning when I looked across the street and saw the faces. I had taken the same street to the post office but didn't notice anything. But I had to stop and smile...faces had been painted on the tops of the posts. They looked like over-sized playskool people standing there, smiling, frowning, some even crying.

Graffiti is usually cleaned up really quickly in Lyon, at least on the "nice" streets. I thought these faces would be gone the same day, but when I returned to take some photos in the afternoon, there they were. They were there on Sunday too, and Monday.

Perhaps it was the holiday weekend that caused the clean-up delay.

I didn't take that street today. Since the post office is closed for six months, I had to go to another post office, in the opposite direction. I'll have to check tomorrow. I hope they stay.

What do you think about graffiti? Is it art or is it vandalism?