The Restoration Project

This huge house is located right in the centre of the village of Mézierès-sur-Issoire. It has lain empty and neglected for as long as anyone can remember, or so it seems. However, when it came on the market a few months ago it was snapped up very quickly. Admittedly it was on offer at a knockdown price, but by all accounts there is a huge amount of restoration to be done. It certainly looks like it, especially in this sepia-tinted image.

centre-ville

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Open Topic

Thursday Doors: Lesterps (Part 2)

For the second instalment of doors from the village of Lesterps, we’re going a bit downmarket, beginning with this gloriously ramshackle garden shed…

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…which doesn’t look much better from the side:

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This one is in slightly better condition…

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…and this one’s positively pristine:

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But this is just a fire hazard:

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Here’s my favourite though. Probably the most pointless door in the world. Not only is it a doorway with no walls on either side, but it’s open. It must be (fanfare) the 2016 Ramshackle Door of The Year.

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Thursday Doors 29 December 2016

Macro Moments: Week 24 – A slice of fungus

It’s by no means unusual to see strange and rather sinister things growing on tree trunks. However, this fungus was unusual in that it looked as if somebody had cut a segment out of it, revealing the dark, almost liverish, interior – which was, if anything, even more unsettling.

This photograph was taken in the garden of George Sand’s house at Nohant, in central France.

fungus

Nikon D800 with Nikkor 24-70mm ƒ2.8 lens at 70mm. 1/90 at ƒ5.6 ISO3200 (it was quite gloomy among the trees). Cropped and edited in Lightroom.

Macro Moments Week 24

Tuesdays of Texture: Rooftiles

Our builders got very excited when a friend of theirs offered them a pallet full of old roof tiles. They asked if they could leave them with us and of course we said yes. They left them, on the pallet, just outside our barn. That was about two years ago.

roof-tiles

Tuesdays of Texture: Week 52

Mundane? The Gatepost

It’s only an old gatepost – from a little further along the road that runs through our hamlet – but there’s a lot going on with it.

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Mundane Mondays

Weekly Photo Challenge: Path

The path shown in this image, taken in the nearby village of Bonnefont, is certainly a literal interpretation of the challenge for this week.

However, with Cheri hinting that more figurative interpretations of the subject could also be appropriate as we near the end of the year, I might point out that it shows two clean, straight and close parallel lines heading together into the frame before disappearing – still together – to whatever lies beyond that bend.

And a Happy New Year to you too.

path

Weekly Photo Challenge: Path

Fishing Boat At Anchor

On a very calm and sunny day in the harbour of St Andrews, this little fishing boat was reflected almost perfectly in the still water.

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Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Reflections

Thursday Doors: Lesterps (Part 1)

Lesterps is yet another of those charming old villages that surround Tranquility Base at a distance of an approximately twenty-minute drive. It’s best known for its  very large 11th century church (more specifically, it’s an Abbatiale, which means there must once have been an Abbey there), which dominates the village, to the extent that it’s virtually impossible to get a proper photograph of the whole edifice. The image from Google Earth at the bottom of this post gives some idea of its relative scale.

This is the main door:

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and this is one of three substantial archways, which I think qualify as doors for this purpose:

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This walled up doorway on a building just acrooss the road from the church could well be a remnant of the accommodation of the monks who must once have lived here:

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Elsewhere, this house (also opposite the church), with its massive beam, looks like it might once have been a byre, housing livestock:

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We visited Lesterps last weekend for the Marché de Noel, so here’s something in the Christmas spirit. You’re welcome.

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And this is quite possibly the smallest door in the entire commune. It’s at about head height but it certainly doesn’t look like a shutter, and I can’t imagine it’s the meter cupboard:

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Next time, more from Lesterps – including some very strong contenders for Ramshackle Door of the Year.

Thursday Doors 22 December 2016

PS here’s that screenshot from Google Earth:

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Macro Moments: Week 23 – Purple

Don’t ask me what plant these berries are from. All I know is that this photograph was taken a few years ago in the Botanical Gardens in Sydney.

purple

Nikon D300 with 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm, 1/100 at f5.6 ISO 200. Cropped and edited in Lightroom.

Macro Moments Challenge Week 23

Tuesdays of Texture: Rope

I really liked the contrast between the black and white plaited ropes and the stainless steel whatever-it-is-that-they-wind-rope-round on this catamaran, moored at Sir Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. We were about to embark on a sunset cruise, so the low evening light also enhanced the texture.

rope

Tuesdays of Texture Week 52