marché aux puces

I've lived in this area for about 12 years now, and until recently, I'd never heard of the Lachute flea market (marché aux puces in French). A few weeks ago, two people on two separate occasions, told me about it, and since then I keep hearing about it. So I decided I would go with my friend Tina, an art school buddy who lives in Ottawa. We don't see each other very often but when we met up a few weeks ago and I realized what a flea market fan she was, I knew we had to go! It was about a 90-minute drive for her and a 60-minute drive for me. The flea market was huge! There was a great fiddler playing in the snack bar area and even a few people dancing to his music. There was a guy selling amazing sausages (which we sampled later). There was another guy demonstrating his "magic sponge". There was everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to the usual made-in-china stuff to antiques to just junk. We spent most of our time at the "just junk" stands. Tons of fun going through bins of old rusty things! I couldn't resist taking a photo of all these shiny scissors! And here is what we bought:

This is Tina rummaging for old brass rings. I think she plans to make earrings out of them. And check out the impressive tool collection that she is amassing! She bought the giant drill bits just for their wonderful shape, the hacksaw to use, and the gyprock saws for their handles.

And here are my treasures! A collection of rusty doorknob plates (I plan to make some mini-assemblages with them eventually), a collection of tiny lightbulbs (not sure why I am attracted to these but I will find a use for them), copper seal rings (probably will incorporate these into some jewellery pieces) and a beautiful (antique?) object used for weaving. I was told it was over 100 years old, but who knows... I will rely on blog-readers to tell me its proper name. I got all these treasures for a grand total of $12.00. Hope to visit again...