Angry Birds
Posted on October 4, 2018
When my children were growing up in Scotland, a trip to the town of Linlithgow, just outside Edinburgh, was a common excursion, one of the highlights of which was to go and feed the birds – ducks, swans and gulls – on the lake next to the ruined palace (birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots).
I can attest from a recent visit that the birds are still there, just as greedy and just as short-tempered when you have nothing to offer them.
(Yes, I know it’s blurred, but you try keeping your camera steady while you’re being dive-bombed by irate, hungry seagulls. Besides, I think it works; it certainly gives a sense of motion.)
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: In Flight
Thursday Doors: Bellac
Posted on October 4, 2018
The pyramid structure of French local government is based, of course, on the commune, while at the apex of each département is what in the US would be the state capital (or, in the UK, the county town). In our case, this ‘capital city’, which is where you find the Prefecture, is Limoges.
However, between the commune and the capital is another layer of administration, as each département is divided into a number of cantons. The principal town of each canton is where you’ll find a sous-prefecture. Our canton is based in the town of Bellac.
There is a very picturesque area in Bellac which, oddly enough, I haven’t yet got around to combing for interesting doors. However, we recently went to the annual vide grenier, which takes place down by the river and, armed only with my smartphone, I spotted a few worthwhile doors, which can act as a taster until I undertake a proper doorscursion.
To begin with, two aspects of the same building:
A little further along this riverside road can be found this door, with matching balcony:
Both of those houses are occupied, but this one certainly isn’t:
This door is adjacent to the old stone bridge that crosses the river:
Finally, there’s this door in what used to be a garden wall:
Thursday Doors 4 October 2018
A bed of roses?
Posted on October 3, 2018
Back in July I visited the village of Doue La Fontaine during its annual rose festival. As well as displaying a huge number of different varieties of rose, there was also an exhibition of sculptures made up of roses, such as this deckchair:
Cee’s Fun ‘Foto’ Challenge: Things People Grow
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Go Big
Posted on October 3, 2018
For Frank’s theme this week of ‘Go Big’, here is a view of part of the exterior of the Grand Mosque in Muscat, Oman. It’s pretty big inside, too.
The stairwell
Posted on September 29, 2018
Viewed from the ground floor, this staircase – in an old hotel in Paris – becomes an abstract composition of circles and curves.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Circles and Curves
Thursday Doors: Cahors – The End
Posted on September 27, 2018
And finally my store of doors in the town of Cahors is exhausted.
Another characteristically carved door (with a rather incongruous entryphone):
A typical church door:
A more modern – and more dilapidated – example, formerly a grocery to judge by the faded sign:
Echoing one of last week’s offerings, another door in a repurposed doorway:
The last place we visited in Cahors was the cemetery. It is common for old French cemeteries to feature elaborate family mausolea and here are two prime examples:
Thursday Doors 27 September 2018
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Our World
Posted on September 27, 2018
You may think that in this part of the world – deep in rural France – you’d never see a traffic jam.
Oh, but you do. Just wait until that big tractor pulls out right in front of you on a narrow road and proceeds to dawdle along at 15 miles an hour halfway to the next town.
Somehow, though, when it’s one of the local farmers moving some of his sheep from one field to another, it doesn’t seem so bad. There’s always time in our world.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Our World
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