theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Coming back to life
Posted on April 14, 2024
The crown of this London Plane tree is showing the first signs of new growth.
Cellpic Sunday: The seat of power
Posted on March 31, 2024
This is the mairie (town hall) of our nearest town, Bellac. In France, even the smallest villages have their own mairie, but not many of them are as large or elegant as this. Our own local one is much more ‘functional’ – and smaller, unsurprisingly for a commune with a population of well under a thousand.
Cellpic Sunday: A Busy Bee
Posted on March 24, 2024
Cellpic Sunday: Double rainbow
Posted on March 17, 2024
Last weekend, I could hear the rain battering against the windows, but when I looked out, the sky was bright blue.
We all know what that means : rainbow. Or, in this case, a double rainbow.
Cellpic Sunday: Another room with a view
Posted on March 10, 2024
During a recent visit to the UK we stayed at a hotel near St Pancras and Kings’ Cross stations. This is the rather unexpected view from our room.
I cropped the original to establish some symmetry between the two walls and darkened the shadows on the left one for a more pleasing contrast.
Cellpic Sunday: A Menacing Murmuration
Posted on February 18, 2024
Of late, an entire murmuration of starlings seems to have taken up residence in the trees in one of our fields. Obviously they’re harmless, but when they’re perched on every available branch, just looking at you, they do impart an air of menace.
Cellpic Sunday: Mossy
Posted on February 4, 2024
Perhaps it’s just my imagination, but there seems to be more moss than usual at this time of year, perhaps accounted for by the very wet winter we’ve had.
Cellpic Sunday: The Uninvited Guest
Posted on January 28, 2024
As I’ve mentioned on many occasions, out here in the sticks we are surrounded by sheep. They easily outnumber the human population, not only of our commune but all those for miles around.
The nearest sheep to our house are actually just across the road – a small flock of about a dozen that belong to our neighbour. This ewe must have been feeling particularly adventurous, because it somehow slipped through the gate or over the fence (or under – they can be quite enterprising sometimes, although mostly they’re just terminally thick) and came trotting down the side of our house. She cropped some grass and then turned round and went back home.
Cellpic Sunday: A warm glow
Posted on January 23, 2024
In the past week or so we’ve had a fresh delivery of logs for our wood-fired stove, and we’ve had its chimney swept. So what if it was -6C outside?
Cellpic Sunday: A Little Job For You…
Posted on January 14, 2024
Last week, we needed to top up our supply of logs for the woodburning stoves, so we got in touch with our friendly local farmer, J-C. As usual, we sent him an SMS and he turned up at our back door (he’s not big on technology – apart from farming equipment).
The very next day he rocked up with this delivery: two cords worth of dry logs, cut to our exacting 25cm lengths. If you’re wondering what two cords is, it’s about six cubic metres, and if you’re wondering what that equates to, it’s something comfortably north of 2,000 individual pieces, which all have to be neatly (-ish, in my case) stacked under cover.
About an hour after he dropped these off, it started to snow and the temperature was -6 Centigrade, but I made a start, and I’m still plugging away at them (I’m not as young as I used to be).
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