Bicycles

I often find myself  taking photos of repeating patterns and multiples. I find these images very appealing. Take these red bicycles stacked along the walking path below St. Cirq-Lapoie for example....

The Notaire Goes Wild!

The local notaire (solicitor or lawyer) bought and built on the big, vacant piece of land between Dr. Vaudin's office and the Center for Contemporary Art in Cajarc. I think business must be good! Nothing very interesting about the structure that went up...pretty straightforward office building. What's interesting, though, is the landscaping. Looks like weeds. But look closer....

It's actually thousands of flowers!

I think the notaire has gone a bit wild!

From the Archives: Paris 2007

View from the roof of the Musee d'Orsay
Paris 2007

Slow blogging around here lately, so I'll entertain you with a view of Paris from my photo archives.

Bonne Fête Nationale

Mairie
Roussillon France

Whether you call it Bastille Day, Le Quatorze Juillet, or La Fête Nationale, it means a holiday, good times with family and friends and fireworks in France today!

Good Morning, Glory

I have a free-standing metal frame covered with a rattan awning on my terrace that serves as a shady shelter for my outside table and chairs. It's functional, but rather unattractive. So this year I planted morning glory seeds in big pots next to two of its legs.

The vines have twined nicely up the support poles and I actually have a few blooms.

Latoulzanie
August 2012

This, however, is more the look I was going for. Sigh...maybe next year?

Wine Run

I volunteered to make the wine run, but our trip last week ended in failure. Despite phone calls and two visits to the cave, no one was around to sell us wine. Patrick made a call later and found out the owners were in emergency mode...a hail storm had damaged their vines, and they were busy doing whatever it is you do to rescue a hailed-on vineyard. Yesterday, though, was a different story. We had an appointment to meet the vigneron at 5PM. He wasn't there, but a very nice woman sold us several 10 liter boxes of this lovely rosé which has become everyone's favorite summer drink. With 10 of these big boxes in my car's trunk, I felt a little like a bootlegger carrying the 'goods' and delivering to my 'customers' in the village!

View of Cahors from Mont St. Cyr

An added benefit of the wine run was a short side trip up Mont St. Cyr for this sweeping view of Cahors. It's easy from this vantage point to see how the city sits inside a loop in the Lot River. These big loops in the river are called cingles and occur all along its course. My house in Cadrieu sits on a loop like this. It's also easy to see the outline of the medieval part of the city which would have been surrounded by high walls.

St. Etienne Cathedral

Those walls are mostly gone now and the moat that ran along the far side of them has been filled in to become the main street of the city, rue Gambetta.

Pont Valentre

On the far side of the town, you can see the famous Pont Valentre, a 14th century stone bridge that has become the symbol of the city.

Sunday Color: Pink

Hortensia

Chateau St. Didier winery
Parnac, France