Christmas 2015: Angles sur L’Anglin

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015 as I've sent no cards or gifts this year. 

But I DO send a gift of LOVE, CARE, HOPE for better times! 

HOPE that Family and Friends relate kindly!

HOPE that displaced people find safety, warmth, shelter, food, purpose, income and an expression of their own talents, skills and intelligence.

Two Poems: Two birds: Five Photos: Two February months of a French Wintry World

Les Petits Oiseaux: SweetpeainFrance copyright December 2015

I have no photo of a blackbird, no poem of robin.

Yet on my roofs 'des petits oiseaux' stand and sing:

“Bon Noël”- we bring for you “une année heureuse,”

whilst Sweetpea sings Peace for Earth, Sky, Universe

Jewels for a Blackbird, returning summer and spring,

here is my poem to ring ding a ling.

Hope, Health, Happiness – All is Everything.

​Robin February 2015 copyright

Jewels for a Blackbird: SweetpeainFrance  copyright February 2012

Today I was singing and dancing 
as I stepped through the snowy hedged woodland 
where the angled branches of the trees criss-crossed each other 
as the patterns highlighted by white snow

rested on the tops of the lines of the branches. 

I had no camera. 

Today I was singing and dancing 
along the snow-packed lane feeling the joy of living 
to witness such regal majesty

of the wintry phenomena of frozen water 
and the prints imprinted of animals, humans, wheeled vehicles,

skis and toboggans; 
all had been there before me with tracks to places known and unknown. 

Today I was singing and dancing 
to let the bright light into my eyes and heart 
and let it make me tired and content.

Today I was singing and dancing

as blackbird hungrily ate the beautiful red jewelled pendants

hanging in a garden not far from the river.  

Jewels for a blackbird.  Will he sing and dance for me?

​The Chateau Angles sur L'Anglin: February 2015 

The End of the End of Year Message! 

Roof 1 Oiseau 1

Best wishes for 2016 

Roof 2 Oiseau 2

Pics from the Past that I missed

Take an aubergine, halve down the centre keeping the stalk attached to the fruit. Slash each half into slices whilst holding the stalk. Put onto an oiled baking tray. Into the gaps stuff slices of tomatoes, onions. Make a paste of anchovies, sun dried tomatoes, red peppers or whatever you fancy andspread across the top and into the gaps.  You can put slices of anchovy into the gaps and then cover with a paste or just olive oil.  Scatter with sliced onions, garlic, pine nuts in this case and sprinkle with loads of olive oil plus salt, pepper and any other seasoning.  Bake! You can make it totally vegan without the anchovies.

I saw Power dressing Black in Orange!

The start of work???

A pile of debris in July... normally done in October!

A Liberty Fabric circa 1970 cottony velvet.  I like it! Autumn Leaves.. and I like the song too!

The kitchen cupboard doors painted for the laundry room were hung to dry.

with a different kind of linen-oh!

and this was the Hairy One Eyed Monster meal to finish leftovers just before a few days on holiday!

Mad!

Hope

Pretty white bells nod sheepishly
as they raise their heads in January
blooming amidst ground ivy
glistening gems of purity.
Sheltered in the grassy glade
pointing leafy sword-like blades
treasures on a dry stone wall
full of Heavenly Hope.
Snow has not yet fallen
when flowery drops appear
promising nature's glory
for the coming future year.

Two pics to start the year!

Low water at La remerle mill

Tide way out...

Pics for Previous Posting

Pics to illustrate A Tale of Yesterday: Walking on a Wild Side of France

Grottoes where organised rock-climbing takes place. Bring out your crampons!

Not rock cakes but buttery English scones made with spelt and wheat flours flavoured with lemon zest.

Ré-turn

When I ré-turned to this fabulous, luminous Île I was immediately in Heaven, in Paradise, with all the angels singing without a cloud in the sky, without anxiety, without a care in the world!  I know because I wore that 'certain smile' all day and each day whilst on and off my bike, irregardless of whom I met or what I did! Age did not matter! Nothing mattered!  It stayed until I moved to Île d'Oléron, which was equally, if not more luminous.  However, it is absolutely truthful that the continuous blissfulness witnessed for four full days on each of those three visits, faded as I left that isle.  Maybe, ancestral roots of Saint-Onge call me to that region.  Although sitting on beaches for long is difficult, here the sand is soft, the water warm, with space to move to or away from people, to walk, cycle, read, paint, or water sport if one fancies but that latter is not for me. Like the Cancerian Crab that I am, a shoreline needs to be available to scuttle hear and there! September sunrise and sunset make this the most marvelous of beaches. I kid myself to believe that I could stay for ever... but when the tempests come, ... , I like everyone will find a different haven for safety and security.
After pitching tent before five pm, the beach beckoned me insistently, to paddle and to picnic on peaches and a mirabelle tart. A bottle of water to quench the thirst.

To the south

To the east

To the west

To the north

To my taste buds

heArt in sand

Awe

If I could paint, this would be awesome!

Cognac: Streets, Museums, Gardens

Rose window outside in and inside out:

 Exhibitions of beautiful bottles with display of creativity:

Films in the museum were extremely interesting and an excellent modern approach to make stuffy museums vital-alive!

More vintage bottles - these were analysed samples!

A stairway motif:

Bottling

Corking

Labelling

Sales to China were the most!

"Advertising in the Family!!! (Family humour - I am a descendant of "The Royal Scotts Equestrian Circus" and proud of it!

Above a doorway - probably to signify what the owner made!

Beautiful architecture

My number one girl! I shall remove photo if she tells me to!

The seedy side of town

Patina

L'eglise

Un café

Almost symmetrical

Evidence of ricochet on end church wall

Disused

Low down to the pavement graffiti

Missing statue

Asymmetry

Ghoulish

Dragon

Interesting architecture on the building with the dragon

Curves

Blackened stone from trees and humidity where sun and light can't penetrate!

Former grandeur: two hotels in 1889 became the town hall and the museum in the grounds of botanical gardens where the Cognac Blues Festival is performed,

 

Another feature of French museums is that they provide jigsaw puzzles where one can sit awhile for the attention of the child to take the mind away from ancient artefacts.

My friend has one of these!

I'd like a room with flooring and deep skirting panels such as these!

L'orangerie

A good brood!

Can't remember

She sure can swing! One does not wish to stand in the way of this determined young lady!