Just looking around in a pottery shop

In addition to flower pots, we saw many other pottery items in the Bottani-Dechaud shop in La Borne. This one's a decorative fish. There's a hole in the dorsal fin through which you can thread string or a piece of wire to hang it by, inside the house or out in the garden. Price: 25€.

I was very tempted to buy one of these casserole dishes, but our kitchen and dining room cabinets are already full of oven-proof dishes and serving bowls. Price: 48€.

Wine pitchers like these, which were priced between 15 and 35 euros, are standard items in France. We have half a dozen of them of them, some pottery and some glass. People often buy wine in packaging called a BIB ("bag in box") or even take their own containers to a winery and have them filled from the storage vats. Then they can put wine in pitchers like these and serve it at the table at mealtime.

Bowls and pie plates were priced between 35 and 50 euros, depending on size. I like them, but as I said, our cabinets and buffets are running over. (Add about 20% to these prices to convert them to U.S. dollars.)

And finally, another big covered baking or serving dish... I can't quite read the price tag. The little black sign on the table says « Va au four » — "Goes in the oven." Oven-proof, in other words.

I didn't buy anything in La Borne but our friend Sue bought a few small things that she could easily take back to California in her bags and keep as souvenirs of a successful and enjoyable trip to France. As for me, I can go back to La Borne any time I feel like it.