to market, to market

One of the joys of going to the morning market is experiencing the change of seasons through the eyes.

Fall is here and berries are beginning to go, but mushrooms are coming back. And the pumpkins! I would have bought more this morning, but I didn't have my cart with me and I already had two baskets full of vegetables.

Maybe tomorrow, at another market -- because here in Lyon, I can go to a market every day of the week. In fact, there are more markets in Lyon than I know what to do with, unless I take up a challenge of visiting every single market that's held outdoors throughout the city. It would be an interesting project, as every market is different and has something unique. Each market seems to have its own personality.

I just wish sometimes I had a third arm, so I could carry two baskets AND pull a cart.

found at the pottery fair

I had been looking -- for a long time now -- for "that special tea cup" specifically for Japanese tea.

I found three this weekend.

I puchased them at Les Tupiniers du Vieux Lyon, a pottery fair held every year in September at place Saint Jean. I love the ethereal quality of these two porcelain cups as well as their celadon color. The combination of those two elements, executed with Japanese sensibility (or at least that's how I perceived it), had a very strong appeal to me. I coldn't decide between the two, so I got them both.

They are from an atelier in the commune of Montauban-sur-l'Ouvèze, in the south of France.

The third one, this one is a charmer. I had already bought two and wasn't looking for another one, but it found me. So decidedly different from the other two, it has a wonderfully earthy feel that I love. This cup will be perfect for a more robust tea, like hoji-cha.

It's from an atelier in Caromb, which is not too far from where the other two cups were made. Is this coincidence, or is the soil really good in that particular region?

it could be worse

We keep our son's bike in the cellar of our aparment building. There's no elevator from the basement level to the ground floor, so I have to carry it up the stairs when he wants to ride it.

It would be much easier if I was taller and I could hoist it higher, but since I'm not, I bump the bike into the steps as I climb up, and it's a struggle every time (The bike is very heavy. Next time we're getting him a titanium lightweight one).

Then one day I was in Vieux Lyon, walking around, taking pictures, and saw this courtyard with beautiful staircase. The bikes are a cute touch, I thought. And it dawned on me.

This building does not have an elevator.

I won't compalin -- at least not about carrying the bike up one flight of stairs -- any more.