Table Setting, Medieval Style
Posted on November 17, 2017
This week, Cee’s theme has come round again to anything that might be found in a kitchen. Strictly speaking, I suppose, this table setting in the restored refectory of the Abbaye de La Réau isn’t exactly kitchenware. There again, where else would the dishwasher be?

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Things That May Be Found In A Kitchen
Thursday Doors: More From Mezieres
Posted on November 16, 2017
About a year ago, I put up a couple of posts featuring doors to be found in our local village of Mézières-sur-Issoire. Those photographs were taken on the day of the annual ‘Expo’ of hobbies and ‘Passions’ (steady on) organised by a local cultural society. Madame was wowing everyone with her quilts in the salle de polyvalente so I went walkabout for a doorscursion.
The 2017 edition of the Expo was held last month. Madame did her wowing again and although I did exhibit some of my photographs they didn’t attract so much interest as to keep me detained

– so I took off for some further door-based exploration, with the results that will appear here over the next few weeks.
Even its most ardent advocates would not argue that Mézières is an ancient or particularly scenic place, so while its doors may lack the antique charm of some that have been posted here, they’re modest and unassuming and nothing if not honest.
I’ve often wondered what lay along the road called Chemin des Vignes that runs off from the square in front of the church. Well now we know:



Take another road less-travelled that runs from the opposite corner of the same square and there’s this:

Back in what you could call the town centre, there’s another example of a closed down commercial premises, to go with the ones I featured in the post ‘A Vendre’. This one was trying to flog electric heating – an uphill task when wood-burning systems are still the norm:

Finally for this week, a well-worn set of garden/garage doors:

Thursday Doors 16 November 2017
Weekly Photo Challenge: Experimental
Posted on November 15, 2017
It was during my ten years in Abu Dhabi that I bought my first DSLR, reigniting my interest in ‘serious’ photography. I spent part of one evening with my new camera sitting on its tripod on the balcony of our apartment doing an exercise recommended by the teacher of one of the weekend courses I took.
The idea was to use a long exposure (eight seconds in this case), during which a zoom lens should be rotated (as smoothly as possible) to give this abstract effect:

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Bridge
Posted on November 14, 2017
Frank’s theme for this week is ‘Bridge’, so here’s a twofer: two of the bridges that span the River Lot in the town of Cahors.
This more modern road bridge isn’t too shabby, especially when the shadows make it look a little like a set of nutcrackers:

…although the famous one is the medieval Pont Valentré:

Misty Morning
Posted on November 10, 2017
Early morning mist on the river Vienne at Chabanais (which thoughtfully also provided the inspiration for an earlier post in this weekly challenge)

Thursday Doors: Chabanais
Posted on November 9, 2017
The town of Chabanais stands on the Vienne river in the neighbouring département of Charente.
It’s about a 45-minute drive from Tranquility Base and we used to go there quite regularly for pub quizzes – until the pub in question closed down abruptly and without explanation (the inevitable rumours suggested that this may have had something to do with tax payments, or absence thereof).
So I hadn’t really seen the town in the daytime until recently, when we visited on a Saturday morning. While Madame did her thing with the quilting group, I slouched off with my camera in search of more doors for your delectation.
Although there’s not much left of the old parts of the place, it can still boast a few interesting doors, so my quest wasn’t entirely fruitless.
As it turns out, most of these images form natural pairs, such as these green doors:


And then there were these:


Two adjacent doors:

And even this single door is a double door, if you see what I mean:

Thursday Doors 9 November 2017
Weekly Photo Challenge: Temporary
Posted on November 9, 2017
Take a long enough time-scale and you could argue that everything is temporary. There’s all the difference in the world, in terms of longevity, between the Great Pyramid and a Higgs boson, however.
At the shorter end of the time frame there are, most obviously, fireworks and flowers.
So here are two images that illustrate the temporary life-cycle of a flower, from our garden earlier this year:


Sic transit gloria mundi.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Kitchen
Posted on November 7, 2017
Frank has chosen ‘Kitchen’ as the theme for this week’s Tuesday Photo Challenge, so here is an image from the restored kitchens of the medieval Abbaye de La Réau.
Clearly, these are not the original pots and pans and jars – unless Bonne Maman has been making jam for a lot longer than anyone has ever suspected.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Peek
Posted on November 2, 2017
Another dip into the archives for the Weekly Photo Challenge this time, as I’m still away from home and therefore from full access to my image library.
Here, my grandson takes a peek around the patio door of our apartment in Abu Dhabi. He – and his twin brother – are rather bigger now.

Saint Cirq Lapopie (2)
Posted on November 2, 2017
This week, more doors from the lovely medieval village of Saint Cirq Lapopie, in the Lot region of southern France.
If it’s a village, it must have a church:

Another two-door image:

Arches are a common architectural theme…


…although not universal:

Finally, I had to include this one, for obvious reasons:

Thursday Doors 2 November 2017




