Not your average windsock
Posted on January 30, 2019
For this week’s Fun ‘Foto’ Challenge, Cee wants to see at least four colours of the rainbow. This windsock with a full rainbow of colours was seen at the annual Air Show at nearby Blond.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Rose
Posted on January 29, 2019
Frank’s chosen the topic of ‘Rose’ for this week’s Tuesday Photo Challenge. I have no shortage of images of roses in my library, so the only problem was selecting one previously unposted. I think this fits the bill. It’s a French rose called ‘Pierre de Ronsard’ and I saw it last year at the annual festival of roses at Doué-La-Fontaine
A sense of perspective
Posted on January 27, 2019
For this week’s Black & White Photo Challenge, Cee wants to see something ‘in the distance’. Perhaps like the main road that can just be seen at the far end of this narrow passageway in the medieval quarter of the town of Perigueux.
The Petrified Caves
Posted on January 23, 2019
Well, it’s certainly true that Black & White can be fun, so why shouldn’t it be a subject for Cee’s Fun ‘Foto’ challenge?
In the petrified caves (‘grottes pétrifiantes’) near Villandry, a steady drip of water percolating through the limestone has produced some bizarre shapes, such as this, which reminds me of something from the fevered imagination of H P Lovecraft.
The Lantern of the Dead
Posted on January 18, 2019
Although there apparently remains only one example in Britain, ‘lanterns of the dead (Lanternes des Morts) can still be seen in rural France and there are a couple of (fairly) local examples.
And what, you may be asking, is a Lanterne des Morts? This is how Wikipedia describes it:
“Lanternes des morts) are small stone towers found chiefly in the centre and west of France, pierced with small openings at the top, where a light was exhibited at night to indicate the position of a cemetery. These towers were usually circular, with a small entrance in the lower part giving access to the interior, so as to raise the lamps by a pulley to the required height.”
This small photo shows the exterior of the top part of the Lanterne in the village of Rancon:
However, Cee’s Black & White Challenge this week calls for unusual perspectives, so this is what you would see if you were small enough to get inside the base of the tower and look up towards the sky.
Thursday Doors: West London
Posted on January 17, 2019
Late last year we went and stayed for a few days with our son and daughter-in-law, who recently moved down from Edinburgh to London, where they have bought a lovely house in the west London suburb of Chiswick. These are a few of the doors I noticed on our (many) dog-walking expeditions. Rather different from the usual diet here of tatty rural French doors, but a change is as good as a rest.
It’s fair to assume that this is not the only door belonging to this house:
This one boasts a closed-in porch:
While this one goes for the grand porticoed look:
But if you really want grand, you need to visit the Grade 1 listed Chiswick House, formerly the London residence of the Duke of Devonshire, but now a public park. This is ‘just’ the side view:
Finally, a couple of more prosaic ‘tradesmen’s entrances’
Thursday Doors 17 January 2019
Blue and Yellow
Posted on January 16, 2019
Cee’s theme for her Fun ‘Foto’ Challenge this week is ‘blue and yellow’ – always a harmonious combination.
As it happens, the colour scheme of our kitchen is blue and yellow, and the endlessly talented Madame has made table mats, napkins, covers for appliances and many other things to match the theme. Including this wall hanging:
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Breeze
Posted on January 15, 2019
Every seven years, the Catholic church in the Limousin region holds the ‘Ostensions’, when relics of the saints are paraded in procession around many of the towns and villages of the region. To mark the occasion the streets are decorated with flags and bunting, such as these flapping in the breeze outside the cathedral of Limoges.
The Harp
Posted on January 11, 2019
For Cee’s Black & White theme this week of ‘music’, here is an image of a harp in the music room of the Chateau d’Amboise.
Thursday Doors: Chez Durand
Posted on January 10, 2019
Only one door this week, I’m afraid, but it is a bit of a one-off.
If, like us, you spent many years living in Scotland, you couldn’t help but be very happy that, a mere twenty minutes drive away, there is a Scottish butchers shop, attached to a farm. They have cattle, pigs and sheep, all of which go into their exceptional products. How two people manage to run the farm and the shop pretty much on their own, I have no idea, but they do, even if sometimes the animals stray from their allotted locations into an old building with an eye-catching old door.
Thursday Doors 10 January 2019
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