The only good hornet…
Posted on October 7, 2021
Apologies to Cee, who I know doesn’t really like creepy-crawlies, but just this once I wanted to plead her indulgence.
This evil-looking b*****d is a hornet (‘frelon’ in French) and you don’t mess with them. Their sting is extremely painful and toxic and they are psychopathic about using it.
Swat one and they release a pheromone that summons the swarm. Do that outdoors and you’d better get inside and close the doors and windows pretty sharpish, because their mates will be round looking for revenge. Swat one indoors – well, just stay there.
At this time of year they are dying off (how sad; never mind) and this specimen was crawling on our doorframe one morning, barely alive and about to breathe its last. I wouldn’t have got so close with my smartphone otherwise.
Sorry again, Cee.
Arches Of Chartres Cathedral
Posted on October 7, 2021
The three great main doors of Chartres Cathedral are each framed in a whole series of carved gothic arches.
Summer’s Last Hurrah
Posted on October 4, 2021
Bramble-Resistant
Posted on October 1, 2021
For her Black & White Challenge this week, Cee wants to see a concrete structure.
So be it. This concrete pylon supports the electricity cables that still deliver power out here in the sticks. They are obviously pretty durable, as they have to be, but nothing is going to stop the ubiquitous brambles from having a go.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Concrete Structures
It’s That Time Of Year Again
Posted on October 1, 2021
The nights are drawing in, it’s turning chillier and drifts of fallen leaves are starting to gather in the local sheep market.
Autumn is upon us.
Shooting A drive-By
Posted on September 29, 2021
Even in the depths of the countryside (i.e just up the road in Asnieres-sur-Blour), where few tourists ever venture, the locals sometimes can’t resist dressing up in ‘archetypal’ clothes – beret and red neckerchief – and parading up and down the street in their lovingly cared-for old tractors.
Aspirational
Posted on September 26, 2021
Clock
Posted on September 24, 2021
The Collegiale church in Le Dorat has an imposing tower with a four-sided steepled roof. Fortuitously, there is a clock on each side of this sloping roof (which meets the criterion for this week’s Black & White Challenge) and as the sun sets on a very bright day, there is a pleasing contrast between the light and shady sides.
Indeed, I think this is brought out more effectively with a monochrome treatment, as here.
Polygonal
Posted on September 22, 2021
There are more polygons than you could count in this image of the roof of one of the galleries of Dubai Mall.
Not Your Average Knocker
Posted on September 18, 2021
The Public Art Challenge is all about portraying items that are visible from the street, so what could be more out in the open than a door knocker?
This one, in the medieval quarter of the city of Cahors, in south-west France, is a little out of the ordinary in a macabre kind of way.
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