Les Bleus de France...

Reporting on the World Cup fiasco, Le Monde said "Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that "in football, everything is complicated by the presence of an opponent" but this French team showed you don't necessarily need an opponent – they were able to sabotage themselves. "


Here are some alternative Bleus...

Man in denim at Montaillou, stained glass window in Nevers Cathedral, Serardy Chocolatier in Moulins, Millau Bridge, RF in Prades, Blue Man in Thuir, un bleuet on War Memorial in Aulnay, volets in Place de la Republique, Perpignan, blue Canigou, Pyrénées-Orientales.

Fruitfulness...

My garden today

 Love-in-a-mist          Obelisk, a present from Julian          The first ripe strawberry!

Sunshine and shadows...

Ah, it's nearly summer solstice and at last the sun is out. Time to take down the heavy velvets, wash the nets, lift the rug, polish the floor and put up the summer curtains ... heavy white French linen sheets, two strips woven on a narrow loom and flat-sewn together. The sun streams in at about 3 o'clock onwards, and the pale wood floor gleams, the air heats up, the dust lifts in the vectors and eddies about in the sunlight. White lilies in a big Glen Colledge jug sit in my fireplace and fill the room with a heavenly, heavy scent.

Mandy's birthday party

(top) Mandy playing concertina in the Foundry 12 June 2010 and (below) nearly everybody else playing too! 

Mandy, Maggie and Martin singing, in the kitchen

Oh look it's morning already! 04.40 to be exact

Mandy's garden