The road to Montpoupon

CWWC 2 November 2023

Lens-Artists Challenge: Symmetry

This is the organ of the cathedral in Albi, in southern France – never knowingly understated, in terms of either scale or symmetry.

Lens-Artists Challenge: Symmetry

If you ever need a bayleaf

We have two laurel bushes growing in our garden. If you ever meed a bayleaf….or ten.

Last on the card October 2023

A new generation

As usual, I don’t know what this is called, but I was struck by the juxtaposition – in the same pot – of the group of mature flowers and the ‘next generation’ of buds.

CMMC 1 November 2023

Zen Garden

This restful Zen garden can be found in the Japanese Garden in the city of Toulouse.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Sticks and stones

The Penitent

As you can probably tell by the name this blog goes under, I’ve got a keen interest in photography and some of the kit to prove the old adage “all the gear, no idea”.

However, I’m sure that I’m not alone in finding that, these days, the vast majority of the photos I take are captured not on a digital SLR but a smartphone (in my case an iPhone 14 Pro Max). The built-in camera produces results that, in all but the most specialised situations, are just as good as I can get from my old D800 and It’s certainly a much more convenient size. And you can shoot in RAW, which is a huge plus.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying that I thought I might start playing along with the ‘Cellpic Sunday’ challenge hosted by John Steiner.

So here is my first contribution: a carving of a penitent monk that is on display in the Treasury of the massive cathedral at Albi, in southern France.

Apart from a little cropping, darkening the background and bringing up the texture (all done in Lightroom Classic), it’s pretty much as shot.

Cellpic Sunday 29 October 2023

The street market

Our local village traditionally holds a ‘vide grenier’ (literally ’empty the barn’ – in other words a car boot or yard sale) on the first Sunday in October.

In past years this has been held on a patch of grass known as ‘Le Camping’, although nobody’s ever actually camped there. Given the time of year, this has often been churned up into a quagmire and it has rained throughout..

More recently, though, the practice has been to close off the main street and hold it ‘en bourg’. This year, the weather was kind and there was a big turnout. Still mostly tat on sale, though.

And yes, there’s a beer tent.

CWWC 26 October 2023

Roman Amphorae

A display of Roman-era amphorae in the museum of Perigueux.

CMMC. Contains letter P

Let’s make soup

This stall in the weekly fresh produce market at Perigueux has everything you need to make one of the most comforting soups for an autumn or winter’s day.. And they all – potatoes, leeks and onions – grow in the earth.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Harvest earth

Seasonal napkin

Cee’s CWWC theme this week is autumn (or spring) colours.. Rather than bung up a conventional photo of some trees or ferns, I though I would share this instead.

This is the place setting of a community lunch we attended yesterday (nothing special, just the usual seven courses). The paper napkin certainly had a seasonal look to it.

CWWC: Autumn or spring colours