A Year in Brocante 2: Goat Peter

We have a second guest room under the eaves with a sloping ceiling in which is placed the room’s only window. If this window were bigger, or lower, or even on a wall, it would have the best view in the house, but it’s not, so the room really annoys me and without overflow guests, it is mostly used as an overflow dump; a handy place to chuck the vacuum cleaner or suitcases for packing before a trip.

We call it Heidi’s room because of its shape and size and I have always planned to decorate it properly in Alpine style, a style which is best suited to small areas, unless one lives in a wooden chalet up the mountains.  In Plainpalais Market in Geneva in March, I found a painting which was unnamed, unsigned, but to me, it is Heidi’s friend Goat Peter, cooling off at a mountain stream with his flock and an inquisitive cow.  It’s not a good painting, but its an oil, an original, and I like it. Goat Peter cost Chf 10, and all he needed was a rub of a damp cloth before hanging him on the wall.