spilling the beans

in his spare time, one of my brothers has always been a true brocanteur. since his spare became full time, he finds himself elbow deep in bits and bobs. wife doesn’t always agree, but there’s no stopping him. i find him in our weekly brocante market on sunday morning, which stocks well on bric-a-brac and vintage paraphernalia, but not always on eye candy. this huge tin canister however, still filled with the original beans, effortlessly did steel the show. sadly labeled [sold] by the time i drew up, it did convincingly throw about its dented beauty. brother told me it would be wheeled away soon to its new premises. unsurprisingly, a coffee bar, and hopefully for decoration purposes only (how old are those beans?). you can barely see it, but on the front reads café jacqmotte, renowned belgian coffee manufacturer for decades. towards the bottom of the can you can only just make out --- haute, which refers to rue haute, in brussels. each morning i see one of jacqmotte's contemporary architecural designs (yes, they have outsourced) : a breathtaking office on rue haute before turning left, into my own modest office. diverse, big, small world. [more flea market finds here.]