Fougères Castle

Not far from our place in France is Fougères, just inside the Brittany border. I think we have taken nearly all of our visitors through the years to the impressive castle there. In medieval times it was the eastern stronghold of the Duchy of Brittany, trying to keep the French out, which eventually failed. But to this day Bretons have a very strong regional identity. The links with people on the British Isles with a Celtic ancestry are strong and obvious. For instance, whenever there is some cultural celebration you can bet your last cent there will be bagpipes.

Nearly all of the outer wall of the castle is still intact and several towers are also in very good condition. You can hire equipment to go on an audio-guided tour and enjoy a history lesson on-the-go. Or you can do as I did, let your camera lead the way and forget about your company for a while, just wave at them every now and then when your paths cross.

If you want more facts I suggest you google it. In the meantime you might enjoy some of my snaps from last month.

 

Weltkindertag - World Children's Day

We went to Cologne for the weekend and found to our surprise that the World Children's Day is celebrated on 20th September in Germany, not on 20th November as in the rest of the world. So when we went for a Sunday stroll along the river Rhine we were part of a lively crowd trying to negotiate our way between various activities and stalls where charities, associations and companies did their best to promote their merchandise or services. Anything to do with children was present. Although the fire brigade posing for a calendar shoot in front of the mighty cathedral was a coincidence, I guess.

I had my camera at the ready not to miss any interesting in this huge crowd. But I found it increasingly difficult to take photographs for obvious reasons. There is something called privacy and integrity, which are fundamental rights. Yes, we have all taken pictures of people who were unaware of it, or we were unaware of it ourselves and discovered that we had captured the image of a stranger who just happened to be there. That is quite understandable in most people's eyes, I believe.

I certainly find other people fascinating when I am out and about, for instance at a tourist attraction, and I enjoy observing  them as they are being absorbed by the the beauty of something, or they are reading a sign with interesting facts and their faces sometimes reveal their reactions and feelings. In such situations, I have to confess, I find it very difficult to resist taking a photograph secretly. But I am very reluctant to use it on my blog, because I am not absolutely certain where to draw the line.

When it comes to children the issue gets even more important and emotionally charged. I understand that most countries have laws that are extra restrictive to protect children, and we have all seen blurred faces or "headless" children on TV for instance. So you can imagine how hard I found it to take some interesting pictures at the Weltkindertag yesterday! I ended up with lots of abstract pictures and other unobtrusive pictures.

I have however managed to collect some harmless pictures to illustrate the event in Cologne yesterday. You will have to imagine the rest! (Do you find this issue tricky, how intrusive you can be with your camera?)

Genes Work!

I was sitting here at my desk going through photos, old and new ones, and I was looking for new photos in particular that were suitable for turning into black/white. I was looking for pictures that were not reliant on colour but rather shapes and light, which meant I found quite a few abstract pictures but also portraits.

I have come to realise that it is not always easy to "see them" in black/white when you are new to that game. A photographer friend of mine claims that he can see what an object or a view would look like in black/white through his long-life experience. That sounded interesting, so I went trawling through my many gigabytes of images.

That is when I saw the likeness. I have always had this strange feeling when I observe my grandchildren, both in real life and in photographs. It is like looking at myself in a spooky kind of way. I think you might be able to see that these two little boys share some genes, or is it just me imagining the whole thing?

Manna From Heaven?

We went for a mini break to the Loire and Burgundy when we were staying in our Normandy house this summer. One very interesting place we went to was where they produced Cremant, champagne from Burgundy if you like. Normally wine producers keep their barrels in their own cellars or caves, but this particular type of "bubbly" was made in a different way, in Caves de Bailly, which was under this hill.

The farmers delivered their grapes at the top of the hill where they were dropped down a shaft of some sort and then assisted by a screw, pulled down into this gigantic cave (system). When you approached the cave there were not many signs to direct you, but as you got closer you saw a big hole in the limestone hillside and just drove in.

It used to be a quarry but was now dedicated to the making of sparkling wine. During the war however, the occupying German forces used it for military purposes, hence the rusty old tank greeting you.

Then parking the car was easy and since it was a very hot day we appreciated the rather cool 12 degrees C, which made it particularly suitable for storing the five million bottles.

The farmers left their harvest at the top of the hill and collected their bottles several years later. The grapes rained down the shaft like manna to be turned into that wonderful, sparkling liquid. Mmmm!

There is a guided tour which is very interesting, if you understand French that is. Otherwise you just have to wait until you can do some tasting and buying after the tour.

Since the limestone is rather easy to work, sculptors had been invited to carve something out of the stone. Some works of art were somewhat more intriguing than others. The first one is not difficult to understand, but what did the artist have in mind when he created this second piece of art? Any ideas?

Why I Have Not Blogged for So Long

No, I have not had writer's block. I have not been without ideas, and I have definitely not been short of photos to illustrate blog posts with.

I have written a lot, but not for this blog. My ideas have gone into other writing. Since I last posted here I have taken about 1600 photos, some of which will appear here today and in the near future.

You see, we do not have a land line at our house in the French countryside, which means no internet connection. I have used my netbook on a couple of occasions to check email and to get news using a hotel's or restaurant's Wi-Fi, but I have not dared do internet banking or anything involving passwords and money. Neither do I have the necessary programs on the netbook to blog. I have, in other words, been bloggingly celibate.

The fact is, we do not even have a TV, just French radio, so we have been almost completely out of touch with the rest of the world apart from a few mobile phone calls and text messages. I will come back to our French holiday in a later post.

As soon as the school year was over, I and Ms Swenglish went to see my son's family in Stockholm. I do not think I need to tell you what a wonderful time we had. Among other things we went on a couple of sightseeing tours by boat in gorgeous weather.

I leave you for now with some pictures from the beautiful Swedish capital.

 

Now I might even find time to read other people's blogs!

Cobweb on a Sunny Morning

When I was preparing breakfast this morning I looked out into the garden and saw in the top corner of the window that a spider had built a web. Not a World Wide Web, just a small web in a tiny corner where it caught the rays of the rising sun. It reflected the whole spectrum of colours, it sparkled and looked irresistible. I just had to temporarily abandon breakfast and get my camera.

In order to open the window I first had to clear the window sill, then climb up and stand on my knees on the hard surface, or sometimes squat in a very uncomfortable position. All of this made it extremely difficult to hold the camera still, and the tripod would have been equally difficult to position up there with one leg in the sink and the other two on the work surface. So I was fairly pleased with the result.

Please CLICK on the pictures to get the best view and let's see if you can spot the spider's mistake(s) in this piece of craftsmanship. Despite the spider's phenomenally regular pattern, there is room for mistake(s). Nobody's perfect!

Getting Ready for Saturday (by Mr Blackbird)

It is not only you, human party-goers who do it, birds do it as well! You have to feel good about yourself before you hit the scene. Recognise that?

 

First I take a sunbath...

...then I preen my wing feathers...must look good...

... but, oouch! that itchy ear...

 

... aaah ... getting better...

 

...this is hard work ... takes so long ... getting ready...

 

... I'm a clean boy now ... where are those women?

After a Long Wait

We have had some flowers (lilies I think) on very long stalks in some pots in our garden since last year. They have grown tall steadily, taking veeery long to develop. In the last week or so the buds on two of them started to change colour, and this morning they had suddenly opened up completely in the strong morning sunshine (30 degrees Celsius). This is the result.