Tuesday, August 30, 2016

A terrifying accessory.


Cool in the morning. Hot and overcast in the afternoon.

Sophie alternates between the wooden garden table and a spot on the stone floor in front of a fan.


In the neighbouring village the hotel is setting out tables for lunch.


The little pilgrimage church is empty.


Some churches are dark, mysterious places. This one is happily chaotic.


From the battlements where the chateau used to stand, before the revolution, we can look across a countryside peppered with little villages. Under the twin pressures of progress and population Britain has changed out of all recognition in the last 40 years. This view, with the exception of the new bridge, would be recognizable to any of the locals great great grandparents.


Bob spends much of the day watching Portuguese pilgrims pass along the little lane. Sometimes he stands with a soft lamb  his mouth at others he stands and guards without the aid of this terrifying accessory.


8 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

I think I would enjoy lunch sat at one of those tables in the shade of the trees (although I can't quite read the Men du jour).
Cheers! Gail.
PS For relatively unchanged landscapes in the UK, you have to go to the Highlands and Islands.

Taste of France said...

In my corner of France, just on the other side of Toulouse from you, I see a landscape of expanding shopping centers and lotissements that spring up like some kind of mushroom blight on the edges of towns and villages. I've been here long enough now to have seen the then-new shopping centers abandoned for bigger, "better" quarters on the new edges of towns. Meanwhile, in the centers, the old buildings with no cour or terrace or parking are shuttered, empty and falling down. I used to think bad planning was limited to the U.S. but it's alive and well around here.

Anonymous said...

The restaurant looks like a rather nice place to pass a lunchtime. Organic pork; suddenly feel peckish.
Dear Bob is a stalwart fellow. Good boy.
x

rottrover said...

Does Bob "bark with his mouth full?"

Peter Kouwenhoven said...

That view reminds me of the view from Domme along the Dordogne river. Spectacular...

Coppa's girl said...

Poor Bob, he really isn't the most ferocious of dogs, even with the lamb as a terrifying addition ! This isn't the lamb that Sophie's lost is it?
Lovely photos, Angus - what a beautiful part of France you live in. Lunch under those trees would be perfect.

Unknown said...

The thought of dear gentle Bob with a toy lamb in his mouth doesn’t exactly send chills up and down my spine. The pictures are very beautiful.

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

For a small village, there is always something to oversee....just the right thing for a PON.

We could never have tables under trees...too many birds dropping souvenirs.