Atchooooooooooooo!

 Having both been struck down with the dreaded Lurgy for well over a week we had to eventually give in and visit the Doctor's surgery last weekend...we cannot believe how debilitating flu and bronchitis can be which is what we were diagnosed with,so our kitchen table now resembles a Pharmacy but slowly and surely we are clawing our way back to health but it really has been a nightmare both of us being ill at the same time.

 The previous weekend saw us fighting fit and attending our first dogshow of 2014 in Bordeaux with our Handsome boy Esto.The girls were entered NFC (Not for competition) but came along for the ride and for the benefit of the adoring Public who visit these events in their droves,curious about all the different breeds of Dog on Exhibition. The baby Russian Princess did a meet & greet around the show after Judging in our breed was finished and captured the hearts of so many people it took us ages to walk more than 10 feet at a time before being stopped by the  inquisitive  and appreciative dog-loving members of  the Public who were all in awe of her beauty and gentle disposition-we were very very proud of her and how she conducted herself-good practise for her First Show which is booked and coming up in another country where she is allowed to be exhibited with her cropped ears.....Meanwhile Esto pulled out all the stops and came home with the coveted First Prize in the Intermedaire Male class with a grading of Excellent again from the Judge who also decided he was so magnificent he awarded him the Ultimate Best Male in Breed and CACS & CACIB! This is his second such award in as many shows and he needs two more for his International Champion Title-so needless to say,we were thrilled AGAIN!!

He never ceases to amaze us or make us so very Proud......meanwhile we are preparing to go and visit Mini-Esto later who takes his first munch on solid foods thisafternoon so that will be fun.......hopefully we will get some more photos......et Voila!(as if by magic),here he is.........almost 4kgs fat!!

He fell flat on his face out of the weighing scales bowl the instant the camera shutter clicked as he is far too big for it really now...and we all fell about laughing as it was soooo funny- the first solid feed went down a treat but he still wanted mummy's milk straight after he'd had a taste of big boy food....bless him.If ever I was going to become a Dog Kidnapper...it is now-I just wanted to put him under my coat and come home with him,he's so truly GORGEOUS.......!

who could resist that face?!

We forgot all about how poorly we felt when we saw him-he made everyone smile and lifted us all for the rest of today, it was just a shame we had to leave him and come home!We all have high hopes for this little man who is looking very promising at this tender age...even more so than dare we say.his Father did! We shall see how he progresses over the coming weeks but it's looking good!

Anyway-we have been rooting away in our stockroom whilst illness has prevented us from venturing out and further afield on buying trips and have found lots of lovely stuff we'd forgotten we'd even bought last year, so lots of treasure coming your way......

like this Stunning Murano Glass Vintage French Wedding Tiara.....

lots of Ormolu...Garnitures,Phot Frames etc............

This weekend sees us off on a complete Band New Adventure which we will tell you all about on our return....so until then,we wish you all a good "Rest of the Week" et Bon Weekend yourselves when it gets here! Au Revoir for now............!

The "Special One"......

This very special little man made his way into the big wide world smack bang on my Birthday! How's THAT for timing! He is the first born Male puppy son of our Esto,so he is very special indeed! A small select & well respected Dobermann Kennel here in France,breeding for Quality not quantity & producing no less than 6 Full French Champions in as many consecutive years, chose our boy to be the sire of their next litter,so it has been an exciting time over New Year and we feel highly honoured! Our boy has done us so proud over the past twelve months in the Showring here in France-this was just the icing on the cake.This gorgeous little guy is already booked and the breeder has a wonderful home lined up for him in Paris where he too will be Exhibited & worked,as full French Champions require working qualifications here in France.We are excited at this future prospect carrying on the bloodlines from our boy and feel that all our hard work of training and exhibiting is beginning to pay off.....such a sweet little man he is...

Gimme five!

The reflection of light on his sleek shiny black fur gave him a kind of motif on his head-look he's already a STAR!!

Well talk about distracted!-with all this excitement,we almost forgot to get cracking with work! But we have been rooting around in our stock and finding allsorts we have forgotten about which has been stashed for a Rainy Day-and there's certainly been plenty of those recently!.......I HATE RAIN and feeling Blue,talking of which,we do seem to have a Blue theme going on with our Fabrics at the moment....!

 and the Blue theme continues with this gorgeous Fleur de Lis shaped Reliquary Cameo of Mary Magdalene....with Stunning Handpainted & Enamelled detailing....

Meanwhile the Russian Princess has been out and about socialising and feeling less homesick when we found these Christmas Trees and Ice-Rink still on display on our travels which made it feel a little more like Moscow for her......!

They don't seem to want to take their Christmas decorations down in France at ALL!

Everywhere we've been over the last week there are still twinkling lights and sparkly decorations flashing away...oh well,maybe they are trying to make it last through until next year to save taking them all down!

I hope you have all recovered from the festivities of late-if you are anything like me,I now need to drop a few dress sizes,but hey,we still have Christmas Pudding in the cupboard to finish off yet!........

Out with the Old & In with the New...Happy New Year!

 We hope you have all had a Wonderful Christmas and have celebrated the New Year with Zest!

We have had a great Festive time with family and Friends but now it's time to knuckle down and get back to the serious stuff-work! Parcels started leaving again for Worldwide destinations yesterday & the Russian Princess puppy came with us for some socialisation and to meet the staff......she also had a walk around the Village and we were stopped on numerous occasions to enquire where she had come from with her cropped ears as folk know they ended the practise here in France a few years ago although Tail Docking is still legal here....though not in the UK for some five years since.

Her ears are coming along nicely....note her Blingy Pink Collar she had delivered from Santa......only the best for the Princess!.....

Sunday morning saw us out and about again truffling for Treasures in the early hours...we never really stop!

First stop when we arrived was of course for an Espresso.....and perhaps a Pastry to wake us up........as if we havn't gorged ourselves enough over Christmas as it is!....but when you're facing this lot at the counter,it's kind of hard to resist-even if it IS only 7am........!!

Mmmmmmmmmm!!New Year's Resolution is of course-the same as every year and a Million other people-to go on a serious DIET!

Some lovely items are finding their way onto the site this week.....A seemingly strong Religious theme reigns at the moment methinks! We have a few more rather select and unique items in this Subject for listing this week so keep your eyes peeled...

with some interesting other pieces thrown in for good measure.....

I spotted this New Year's Eve image the other day so slipped it in for good measure...wonderful,circa.1930's....meanwhile,back to the French Finds...

A wondeful Old Wooden Box with Fabulous Graphics!

I'm running round like a Headless chicken (or maybe Turkey?) this week so this is all for the moment except to say,thankyou for your Custom throughout 2013-We hope our Carefully Chosen treasures will continue to brighten your homes as the many wonderful messages and Photographs you send us have shown-THANKYOU!
Any queries or requests please E-mail lack2008@live.fr

From Russia With Love...............

Nothing could have prepared me for what my trip to Paris had in store for me.....I thought we were going Christmas Shopping! We set off on the 9th December and John said we were staying overnight and to pack a bag...so of course HOW excited was I?! Thinking we were breaking the journey because of the distance from here...and the traffic. He took me on a Fabulous sightseeing drive around the stunning Paris by Night...the Christmas lights were spectacular and I got all emotional as we ended up parked right infront of the Eiffel Tower,all lit up-it was Magical....

The traffic was crazy and most of the photos have a blurred edge to them as I used my I-phone as we whizzed from lane to lane & around huge free- for -all roundabouts.....wheeeee!

We passed the famous Department Store where we have found so many Antique treasures from & sold them on our site in the past-Les Galeries Lafayette-their exterior Christmas decorations were amazing!...

and on and on we travelled...until we reached the Tour Eiffel-what an awesome sight in the dark!..

and after walking the dogs underneath it and all around we finally grabbed a bite to eat & collapsed into our Hotel room bed,Dita parked neatly between us and Esto padding & panting around the room all night like a Tiger (he hates Hotel rooms).Dita on the other hand in total contrast calmly climbs on the bed,crosses her front paws like a lady,grunts and goes to sleep every time without fail, usually with a huge sigh of contentment! She knows when she's got it good!

Next morning the surprise continued and I expected we were heading for the City Centre,but no-we were heading for Charles de Gaulle Airport....Terminal 2E to be precise....to collect my Christmas Present which was coming in from Moscow????

and as we waited.....a delightful young Lady came walking towards us pushing a Large trolly with an equally Large Flightbox on it which contained my dream come true......a Cropped Eared Dobermann Puppy from Russia who just happens to be Dita's niece! Wow! Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would ever happen but I have the most beautiful little girl called Dashuta........who is just 5 months old! John certainly knows how to spring a surprise!The best Xmas Pressie he's ever given me-I'm over the moon!

Her ears just need a little support for a while by way of gentle taping with plaster-which is taken off regularly and replaced & then she will look like her stunning illustrious Father-International & Russian Champion Sant Kreal Zvenislav...........

and her mother Russian Champion Gera Russkaya Dusha....

and so we came home with this gorgeous squidgy squashy puppy and just a day later I had to leave her with her daddy & go back to the UK for a week for my gorgeous Granddaughter's 3rd Birthday Party!!......it was all go,go,go.......
I landed at John Lennon Airport and spent three days with my parents,shopping till we dropped in Historic Chester......what a beautiful City it is....

we had to stop for refreshments to re-fuel,this Xmas shopping lark is hard work!....a Long Hot Chocolate & toasted teacake went down very well,especially with my mum!

Teacakes are a luxury we don't find in France....more's the Pity...I LOVE them!As you can see-mine was literally the size of my plate!

then there were the droves of people to wade through to get even close to shops so we  took retreat for a while in the calmer Arcades full of Christmas Decorations,pretty stunning we thought...

Street Sellers & Artists were out in force-this Sand Sculpture I thought pretty Spectacular & popped a donation in the talented Italian's hat for his sheer brilliance....!

And so we shopped till we dropped & stopped later for good old Fish & Chips on the way home-ooh,another Luxury we've had to give up living in France!

...it's all Moules & Frites here..(Yuk!)
But it all had to come to an end and after another busy four days with my son & Family and darling Granddaughter Princess Erin with her Birthday Celebrations I had to bid them all Farewell & fly back home to France.......and now I have to catch up with Listing some new goodies to tempt you with,always a pleasure as I love my Work!
It will soon be that Special day on December 25th,so may we take this opportunity to wish all our valued Customers a very Merry Festive time-thankyou you all for your custom throughout the Year and hope to see you again in the New Year 2014!

Bleary-eyed & Blurred Vision............

It's getting harder & harder to drag ourselves out of bed at stupid-o'clock in the hunt for Treasures,and to be honest we have enough stock put by to warrant a lie-in at weekends,but it's the thought of  tracking down that elusive piece of  France that spurs us on.....and a few Espresso's later,I'm usually awake......I tend to fall out of the van at whatever destination we arrive at.....and can't seem to focus straight away.........!

 Aaaagh!

France has too many tempting Patisseries-I am slowly munching my way into another dress size-and no amount of walking around Brocantes is going to cure it.....but when you havn't had time for breakfast,and a lovely Festive Window entices you in......it's hard to resist!

and then when you get inside and bump into THIS guy,it kind of brings you to your senses.....

Yes-I've been good,I've been Very,very good! ....(except for the Tarte au Citrons......)

We travelled to three different Brocantes in three different areas this last weekend......and gradually,from being frozen to death at 6.00am, began to thaw out as the morning went on-it was positively beautiful by dinnertime with the wonderful blue skies....

we found lots of new and interesting things,many of which will trickle onto the site over the coming week. We bumped into an Antique Dealer friend of ours on our travels and he passed me these delightful Tiebacks out of the back of his van-I had bought a bagful from him the previous week when we'd met up to peruse through his latest stock and he'd forgotten to show me these in the depths of his van....so he'd saved them just for me!-they're just so LUSH! 

We delved into our saved Treasures this past week and have listed most of our Stunning Church Altar Bougeoirs...we thought them very Festive and quite in keeping with this Emotive & Religious time of Year...

The Enamelled Piece is really something quite special..

the detailing is Amazing....

And so I'm working hard in preparation for a few days off next week.....to go Christmas Shopping...apparently .....I'm being taken to...... PARIS!!!!! (Woooooooh Hooooooo!)-Can you tell I'm excited?!!!

So I will remember to take my Camera ......and until Next Time...Au Revoir!