Tag: Thursday Special

Traces of the past

Posted on Posted in Italy, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , 29 Comments

I’d more or less abandoned the idea of going to San Gimignano while in Florence, it just seemed we’d be trying to pack too much in to a week. A late change of plan made it possible and The Duomo, Santa Maria Assunta stands out as one of the high points of my visit to Tuscany. The walls are covered with 14th century frescoes of the Old and New Testaments, that are truly stunning. Here you can see a glimpse of fresco and some of the ten round and four octagonal columns.

And the amazing ceiling.
I’m posting for Paula’s Thursday special, she’s be happy to see you if you’d like to join in.

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Stop climbing over the balustrade

Posted on Posted in Photography, TravelTagged , , , 12 Comments

When I was a little girl, we didn’t have an upstairs, so any chance I could, I’d scramble around on stairs and climb over balustrades. I always wanted to climb right to the top and slide down the stairs. Of course I’d get told off, and off course I told my children not to do it as well!

Did you ever climb over balustrades?

These three are all in Tavira, have a lovely time Jo!

I was over the moon, when I saw Paula’s Thursday Special.

The Winding Path

Posted on Posted in Photography, WritingTagged , , , 29 Comments

To the top of the hill leads to my little house. Along the way is the greengrocer, the baker, the butcher and the fishmonger. Every Friday the library man wheels his trolley all the way up, so we old folk don’t have to carry our books.

It gets very blowy up here in winter, but never mind, the views of the river running towards the sea and the town with it’s church spires are beautiful. In summer lots of visitors come for the day. They puff and pant, and many of them give up along the way. I don’t mind when they knock on the door to ask for water, because I can always sell them a bag of my special hill town fudge. The cobbler does well, he hires out sensible shoes for the day, He has a sign saying ‘Ladies, rent my shoes or break your ankles’. City women can be so foolish, how do they think pointy heels will fare on the cobbles?

When the snows comes at Christmas, hundreds come and pay a shilling a time to toboggan down. We decorate with lights and holly, the whole place looks magical. Old Wilf dresses up as Santa and there’s mince pies and mulled wine for the grown ups.

Maybe you’ll come to visit one day? We’ll make you very welcome, as long as you spend lots of money and go away again. But be warned, villains and scrooges will be fed to the wolves in the forest.

Paula has a Thursday Special photo challenge and this week the theme is ‘Winding’. My head is scrambled after a manic week, so I thought I’d share my madness with you.

 

Paula said she would like to visit and asked for directions, so here they are.

Get off the train at Exeter St Davids, next cross to platform 5 for the Tarka line. After an hour and 3769 seconds get ready to jump from the train. Don’t be frightened of the crone in the hedge, and whichever way she directs you choose the opposite. After a nod and 3 blinks you will see a white gate, it’s easy from there as long as you sprinkle coins!

Thursday’s Special Robert

Posted on Posted in i phoneographyTagged , 5 Comments

Paula’s post about focus for her Thursday Special is particularly inspiring this week, as is her image. When she mentioned portraiture, I remembered this i phone photo of a friend in my writing group. Robert is reading Broadsheet, a poetry publication. He is deeply concentrating I think because he isn’t a poetry fan. Although a talented writer, it isn’t his thing and I always appreciate the feedback he gives when listening to my poetry efforts!
robert
Do yo have a photo that illustrates a choice of focus that you’ve made?

Thursday Special, Traces of the past

Posted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , 9 Comments

The El Born area of Barcelona is home to the Centre de Cultura i Memoria. The building was created on a site that was previously a fruit and vegetable market, opened in 1876 and the first cast iron market in the city. Sadly the market closed in 1971 and was unused for many years. Fast forward to 1994 and an archaeological excavation began, revealing traces of streets and houses from before 1714, when the city was sieged at the end of the war of Spanish Succession. The city surrendered to Philip V’s troops on September 11th that year, a date that is now Catalunya’s national day.

Some of the ancient streets that have been uncovered are on display in the cultural centre.

It was fascinating to see the roads and foundations of houses, imagining the lives of those who lived, worked and traded there.

This post is for Paula’s traces of the past, in colour this month.

Wild dream ponies

Posted on Posted in England, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , 21 Comments

I’ve always loved this out of focus photo of Dartmoor ponies and I’ve posted it here before in black and white, but that was years ago.

img_3531aWhen I went hunting for it for Paula’s Thursday challenge, I found two more taken a few days earlier, it was a good year for ponies at Scorhill.

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All I remember about those days was wind and my cagoule blowing around, it’s rather exposed up there and I used a long exposure!

Thursday Special, Pick a Word

Posted on Posted in PhotographyTagged , 14 Comments

I’m picking three this week from Paula’s five, I’m leaving limpid and engorging behind.

First of all I have wholesome.

wholesome

Local yoghurt, honey and poppy seeds in the centre of Turkey, towards Ankara, absolutely delicious.

Next, how about permeates.

A glorious spectrum of colour permeates these organ pipes at Sagrada Familia.

And lastly, back in England,

A pretty emerald lake at Stourhead.

You can join Paula’s Thursday special, here, she’d love to see you!

Ascending luminosity

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Paula has given us a list of five words to choose from for her Thursday special this week. I’ve chosen two, ascending and luminosity, in one photo.

ascending-luminosityTaken with my i phone 6, I think the graininess adds atmosphere – that’s my excuse anyway – from the 6th floor of Hotel Casanova on the Gran Via in Barcelona.

The other words on Paula’s list are idleness, jaunty and whiff in case you’d like to join in, you have until Thursday.

Happy Sunday!

 

 

Traces of the past

Posted on Posted in History, PhotographyTagged , , , 12 Comments

Many of my friends here in the UK will have come across a particular brand of notebook, journal or address book. They have beautiful covers, some vibrant, some more subtle, but most rather desirable. I have several, including this one.

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IMG_3523 [3099433]
I couldn’t help thinking about it when I saw these at Montacute last weekend.

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IMG_3630_edited-1I wonder if the manufacturer was influenced by something like these, what do you think, does the design of mine show traces from the past?

Paula’s Thursday special this week is ‘Traces of the Past’, this is what she says,

For newbies – if you are interested in participating in Thursday’s Special photo challenge, you should publish a post with a photo (or several photos) having in mind the given theme (in this case anything related to the past either near or distant), link that post to this one and leave me a note in the comments section.