Monday 29 July 2013

Magical Monday - Loire Lizard

While we were on holiday in the Loire this lizard soaked up the sun on our window sill every morning. Isn't mother nature incredible?


It even has blue dots on its' belly.


When photographing our lizard friend I had to be quiet...


...and I had to be quick!

Every Monday, Magical Monday, I post a photo that is hopefully puzzling, fantastical or unexpected.

More photos from the Magical Mondays series can be found here.

Friday 26 July 2013

Holy Hollyhocks

In keeping with tradition we have just spent a week in the Loire with friends who generously invite us to stay with them every year. Last year we went at the beginning of July, poppy season. This year, only a few weeks later the poppies were mostly gone but the hollyhocks were there in abundance. 

One evening as we cycled to the nearest village to buy some groceries we passed a long stretch of hollyhocks bordering the river Vienne. Of course I stopped to admire them and the view.

Beautiful tall and elegant flowers in various shades of pink, white and purple. 


From close up they're lovely too.



Hollyhocks weren't the only flowers though!

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Rusty Tones

We went to the Marché aux Puces the other day and in a back street car-park I noticed this corrugated iron wall. It was the colours that caught my eye, the various tones of rust combined with bluey grey. 

I started to look out for rusty tones as we meandered through the market. 

Here is a fine rusty bull.

This was the most intense rust colour I saw.

But not quite as intense as this rusty corrugated iron I spotted in Donegal a few summers ago. 

I love the texture that comes with the rust.

Here, rather oddly, is some rust I saw in a Parisian gutter.


Here is some rust colour without the rust, a copper pot in the Musée Nissim Camondo, Paris 8th.

And here are some edible rusty morsels.


If you ever wondered what the Marché aux Puces, St Ouen looked like on an 'off' day, you can find out here.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Donegal - Beautiful Beaches

'Tis the holiday season. 'l'Éducation Nationale' in France treats the parents of school age children to very long holidays. In our case, eleven weeks sans école. No wonder they call the summer holidays Les Grandes Vacances. Grandes, BIG, being the operative word. This year our first port of call was the north west coast of Ireland in Donegal where my Other Half's maternal family come from. 

It is an amazing place and has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. On the day we arrived the weather was stunning (I wish I could say the same for the rest of the week...ahem), and before even saying hello to a single relative we headed straight for the beach. Rossnowlagh beach. The tide was out so we got to enjoy the huge expanse of sand and the endless blue sky.

We were so exhilarated by the vast sense of space we just tore our shoes off and ran for the water. 





Ripples in the sand.

Ripples in the water.


We had to wait a few more days after this first day for the rain to clear and were taken to another beautiful beach near Sligo, Dunmoran Strand. The sky was a little more threatening, but we had more big skies and sand stretching as far as the eye could see.

I love the stripes in this view.


And here is a much smaller beach on Saint John's Point, a tongue of land that extends 15-20kms into the sea, a little north-west of Donegal Town. The sand here is golden and the water an intense blue. 

It is also VERY cold.

From this beach we walked to the tip of Saint John's Point as far as the light house.

The beach is more exposed and rocky.



After this beach we went to my Other Half's grandmother's house and tucked into a freshly baked scone-bread she had just pulled out of the oven. It should be noted that his grandmother is 98 years old and still baking bread. The very best of breads!


Monday 8 July 2013

Magical Monday - Cemetery Ghost

They *do* have ghosts in the Cimitière de Montmartre.


Every Monday, Magical Monday, I post a photo that is hopefully puzzling, fantastical or unexpected.

More photos from the Magical Mondays series can be found here.