Obsessed

I confess. I've become obsessed with cards this Christmas. No, not Christmas cards...postcards and business cards. It all started with my postcard Christmas tree. Suddenly, every card I've ever collected became fuel for my imagination. I remembered the business cards I collected from my trips to France. Mickey got me started with that; she asks for a business card at every restaurant she visits and tucks them into her travel notebook for future trips. I became a collector as well, but usually because cards from French businesses are so pretty and unusual. And now these pretty and unusual cards decorate another small Christmas tree in my entry hall. The one you see here with the different colored squares? that's from a tea shop in Paris and those are all labels from Kusmi tea which the shop features. The blue one with the mountain...that one is from l'Oustal, the B & B I stayed at in Montsegur. Restaurants represented in this photo are La Fregate, Le Christine, La Rotisserie d'en face, and L'Epi dupin..all in Paris. If I page thru my travel journal, I can tell you what I ate at each one!

The green and yellow card is from E. Dehillerin, a virtual paradise in Paris for serious cooks. Lined floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall with every kind of cooking gadget, pot, pan, dish, bowl, utensil you can imagine, this store is a treasure trove of goodies. The only problem is this: remember if you buy it, you have to either carry it home in your suitcase or have it shipped. You might think twice before you get carried away and purchase those lovely and colorful enamel-covered cast iron pots by Le Creuset! The card that is a picture of a pretty Lot village is from Lou Bolat, a delightful terraced restaurant perched on the hillside in St. Cirq Lapopie. I ate there twice; yummy both times.

Tiny red lights and gold bead chains complete the look of my memory-filled Christmas tree. But wait...I'm not done yet! Come back again for another card tree.