Halfway there

Heading west from our house, it’s about a mile to the nearest ‘main’ (everything is relative) road. This stretch of the glorified track is at about the halfway mark.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Roads

What Lies through this window?

This mysterious window can be found in Aubeterre-sur Dronne.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Your Pick

Stacked chairs

The centre of social life in our nearest village is the salle polyvalente – in effect, the local village hall. It hosts all kinds of meeting and functions and its furniture – including these remarkably uncomfortable chairs – are stacked neatly in another building, just behind the salle itself.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Tables and chairs

Soaring

For Cee’s Black & White Challenge this week,with the theme of ‘texture’, another dramatic image from the subterranean church at Aubeterre-sur-Dronne.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Soaring

The Wine List

Meanwhile, back in Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, home to the subterranean church as featured n recent posts, on the main street there is a now closed down shop that obviously used to sell some very upmarket wines.

For example, a bottle of that 1967 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion would nowadays set you back close to 400 dollars or euros. Cooking wine it ain’t.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Signs

Ice Ice Baby

These ice cubes were last seen heading in the general direction of a gin & tonic but have now completely disappeared, despite an intensive search effort.

A spokesman said “the trail’s gone cold; it’s like they just melted away”

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Hot or cold

Looming Menace

It must be said that the monochrome version of this image of a huge pile of hay bales covered in black plastic does have a lot more impact than the colour original.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Stacked or piled

Clematis bud

After a rainy night, this clematis bud was well soaked.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Flowers

Ploughing, The Old-Fashioned Way

Cee is looking for something farming-related this week for her Black & White Photo Challenge. This is a close-up of the business end of a very old wooden plough. Just give a thought to how labour-intensive that job must have been.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Farming-related

Fauchage

Two or three times a year the local mairie sends out one of its fleet of tractors to cut the grass and trim the hedges that bound most of the minor roads in the commune – including the one that passes through our little hamlet. This is known as the ‘fauchage’ – not to be confused with ‘chauffage’, whch means heating.

These guys don’t take any prisoners and there’s no room to pass them, so you just have to get out of the way as best you can.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: anything with wheels