Fete de Muguet and more single letters

 

Happy Premier de Mai PBers! 

The past two days I’ve been hanging out at florist Christian Collin on 43, rue de Rivoli. They were busy as bees. 

The French buy their muguet ahead of the big day. When I went back yesterday to buy, all the smaller plants were gone. Whoosh 

If you buy a plant, you get that cute clip-on ladybug/coccinelle. It doesn’t come with a bunch/boite of flowers :((

I got a little vase. No cute bug 🐞I hope to paint this bunch 🤞☺️

Kilo flats of strawberries 🍓 and asperges are out in force. Lovely how the French save their berries for Spring’s arrival. You rarely see them the rest of the year.

Chocolate pots of lily of the valley. The pot on the left looks like real dirt. Did you know the hottest plant pots are covered in birch bark...or maybe I’m late to the soiree.

I was looking through old PB May Day posts I came across my 1st May Paris letter from 2014. A lot of water under the pont/bridge since then. 

I was influenced by Botticelli’s apparition of Spring/Printemps. 

Lately when the Vogue report arrives there’s this ad for a Botticelli diaphanous, flowy skirt. 

Thank you again for your wonderful response to the new single letters. Its been such a surprise for me💋 So I decided to put this letter up ☺️🤞🍓 

It has a watercolor-decorated envelope 💌 though now full size. Muguet/lilies of the valley are my birth flower and hold a special place in my heart ❤️🐻 Are you a May baby?

May Day, White Flowers, Spring Green, The White Rabbit

On May Day everyone is walking around carrying the obligatory bouquet of muguet.

It's the one day of the year you don't need a license to sell on the street in France

Every Tom, Dick and Mary is out there selling bunches of lily of the valley brought in from Nantes.

Most shops are closed for May Day, but florists are open of course.

The little pots are selling at all price points.

One of the things I love about Paris. There's something out there for everyone and everyone participates. Whether it's foie gras and champagne for Christmas or trench coats or bouquets for May Day all Parisians join in.

The Spring green pot of muguet decorates a beauty care shop window.

Perfect decor for a perfume shop in the Place de Vosges.

Not trees but muguet shade these mini Paris buildings.

A fancy florist on rue Cambon doesn't dare snub the wild flower.

Back at Place de Vosges an artist sketches on May Day

With Bach playing in the background.

Little girls are selling their chalk drawings of muguet.

You know I bought one.

What to wear when you're waltzing around with your bouquet of muguet? Not these shoes.

Kate Moss has a new TopShop collection at Galeries Lafayette. Maybe you could wear this traditional embroidered frock...

Grazia magazine goes for a more contemporary look.

What about May makeup? Think SPRING GREEN !

More Spring Green flower heads at Printemps.

Worn with cutoff jeans.

Every year Printemps brings out their flowery white rabbit.

What about these darling white rabbits and Alices at the N2 Néréides counter in Galeries Lafayette. You know I couldn't resist. I got some Spring Green nail polish too. I could have been dans la rue selling my Lily of the valley Sketch letters next to those little girls...

Maybe next year?

Fete de Muguet - May Letter

It's that time of year in Paris. Everyone is buying plants to put on their balcony or window boxes.
 

Flowers are spilling out on to the street and the fragrance as you walk by is delicious.

Chocolate bunnies and hens have been replaced by sprigs/brin of lily of the valley or muguet in anticipation for the 1st of May, a national holiday in France.
 

I stopped in the flower market at Cité yesterday for a look.
 

As Claire said the price of pots of muguet can vary widely. These are 10€.
 

My pot from BHV was just 4.50 - was it the lovely scent that made me loose my head and drop my credit cards on the floor?
 

Stacks and stacks of cards wishing Spring good luck to all.
 

And so many bottles of flowery muguet scents, many of them only available for the month of May - limited editions like a special Pierre Hermé macaron flavor.
 

Monthly excitement over the latest celebration is what makes living in Paris so much fun.
 

The French tradition of giving muguet as a lucky charm goes back to the 16th century. During his reign, Charles IX began offering sprigs of muguet for luck.
 

Wreaths of muguet were hung on doorways to announce the bans of new brides-to-be in the Spring. They're still used in bridal bouquets for their delicacy and scent.

La Mere de Famile has chocolate flower pots filled with praline. Mazet puts their nuts on the outside like an inside out sushi roll.

You can buy their chopped praliné and fill your own chocolate pots.
 

Sarah Vasseghi created a tabletop design of sugar paste muguet on little cakes. The how-to directions are on Prima(in French).

Lily of the valley (my birth flower) popping up everywhere made me want to draw their lyrical leaves and inhale their perfume. I've been buying bunches/boite in the market as soon as they showed up and then the plant with 3 sprigs.
 

What a perfect way to illustrate Spring and give Mom a lift.
 

May Sketch letters going out will be in Muguet-scented envelopes with an original watercolor lily of the valley on the envelope. Bear has given Mini Bear her envelope early. There's still time to send out a gift letter for May 11, Mother's Day. Je porte Bonheur!