Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat

I’m a lucky man in so many ways that every day is a treat – especially when a new dawn comes over the fields like this.

Treat

Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat

How does that look?

We’ve just spent a few days in and around the  – very picturesque – medieval town of Sarlat, in the Dordogne.

This photograph was taken from the ascenseur panoramique – a glass-walled lift (elevator, if you insist) that climbs 100 feet inside the bell-tower of a church. From the top you get excellent – nay, panoramique – views of the rooftops of old Sarlat and the surrounding countryside…

…as well as these happy snappers reviewing their images of the bronze geese in the Place du Marché aux Oies – the Goose Market.

CamerasB&W

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Any Kind of Camera or Photos of Photographers

Weekly Photo Challenge: Boundaries

A stream and a line of well-cultivated trees provides an effective boundary at Chateau du Fraisse, just outside Nouic in the Haute-Vienne.

Boundaries

Weekly Photo Challenge: Boundaries.

Sabots

Until well into the last century, the ‘ default’ footwear in rural France was wooden clogs, made by the local ‘sabotier’ (the French word for clog is ‘sabot’ – from which the word ‘saboteur’ is also derived). Indeed, part of our house was once the local sabotier’s workshop, as shown in the second image at the bottom of this post.

Nowadays, clogs are mainly used for decorative purposes (we have a couple of old pairs ourselves), but they are still used by a local traditional dance troupe, as shown in this image.

FeetB&W

(On this occasion I decided to use a sepia tone as it seems more in keeping with the ‘retro’ subject)

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Hands, Feet or Paws

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This room is now our entrance hall. It’s been done up a bit since this was taken.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Half and Half

Against the background of a clear blue sky, rows of vines run up to the horizon near the village of Äy, in the Champagne region of France.

Half

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Half and Half

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Symbol

Next Tuesday, July 14th, is France’s Fête Nationale – National Day, or Bastille Day – so it seems appropriate for this week’s ‘Symbol’ challenge to show an image that symbolises our adopted country.

Accordingly, here is a detail of the Mairie (town hall) of the commune in which we live. It’s worth pointing out that administrative power in France is heavily devolved down to the local level, and pretty much anything you want to get done  – from getting married to having a new garage built – needs to be approved by, and go through, your local Mairie.

Symbol2

Weekly Photo Challenge: Symbol.

 

Across the fields

A view of the nearby village of Lesterps on a suitably overcast, monochrome kind of day.

HousesB&W

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Houses.

Weekly Photo Challenge: On The Way

On a snowy day last year on one of our local walks we came across a group of Shetland ponies in a field. This one was particularly curious.

Alongtheway-1

Weekly Photo Challenge: On The Way

Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken

For this week’s challenge, another image from Montrol-Sénard, the ‘living museum’ of rural life just a few miles from here. This is a view taken looking out through the window of the old Smithy, with a broken wheel which has been waiting for repair for quite some time. The cobwebs not only add to the atmosphere of the shot but also produce quite an interesting blur effect.

Broken

Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken

Bottle Bank

A bit of a stretch maybe, but there is definitely liquid in these bottles: wine from the St. Emilion area of Bordeaux.

LiquidB&W

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge