Vanity

We're in Scotland at the moment and had a splendid night to start us off in Dunfermline on Wednesday night.   Thanks to everyone who came out and joined in.     

Walking around the town the next day I spotted these details on top of the cathedral.   

Isn't that just brilliant!   

Dunfermline was the ancient capital of Scotland and has some beautiful old buildings.   We hadn't much time to look around but we'll definitely go back someday to have a proper look.

It is also the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie and has what I'm told is an excellent museum in his honour.  

• We're in Portsoy now, way up in the north, to deliver a two day songwriting workshop tomorrow and Sunday as well as a concert tomorrow night.   Tom's also doing a percussion workshop tomorrow afternoon.

More photos to follow.

  

The joys of Autumn

I don't know about you but for some reason this year I am not anywhere near ready for it to be Autumn yet.  And although it's quite warm here this week, last week wasn't, so it felt like we'd gone straight in to winter.   I adore Autumn - it's my time of year, but I just feel out of sync somehow .... Whatever it is these are beautiful days to be out walking and feel centred in the time of year.

The colours are starting to change and everything is smelling so abundant and rich and fruitful.

And the load of logs that arrived yesterday are in perfect time for getting the fire lit in the evening.  With stews and rib sticking suppers (of the vegetarian and even vegan kind) and getting jumpers and woollies out again, there's lots to enjoy and look forward to as the nights draw in.

I feel so saddened and terrified in equal measure by the news this week of the scientists' warnings of what we're doing to this Earth and how close we are to major catastrophe ... and still money seems to be leading the way for our political leaders.

It was good to bring the focus back to the present and get out and get some air and enjoy the trees.

A romantic castle

It seems like ages ago now since we were in France - it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip and we neither of us can wait to go again.   And of course we had to visit at least one chateau.
Warning - this post is picture heavy -( I've never learned the art of less is more when it comes to pictures.)

How would you fancy living here?

This is Chateau de L'Islette (the castle on a little island) and it is still occupied.  The family bought it in the 1960s and have been gradually doing it up.  

Château de L'Islette

You cross a little moat - the river runs past it offering the opportunity for boat trips.  

It's a beautiful old house and I would love to live in it.   

But it's real charm is the story that Rodin the sculptor had an affaire with his then 17 year old student Camille Claudel, and l'Islelette was their meeting place for nearly two years.  

It is where Rodin worked on his famous Balzac statue and Camille, famous in her own right,  did many studies of one of the grandchildren of the house - la petite chatelaine.   She often revisited the château in subsequent years and was fully aware of the scandal around her   

There are still echoes of their relationship everywhere with one room dedicated to their writings, their letters to each other and their biographies. 

La Petite Chatelaine

« You cannot imagine how good it is to be at L'Islette ... and it is so pretty here!. …
If you are nice, and keep your promise we will know what paradise is like. »

(Camille Claudel to Rodin)

Let me show you around some of the rooms - the chapel first

A very clever little shadow lamp that moved around the room

very atmospheric

Some of the house - particularly the bathroom and kitchen - was very modern and obviously well used.   The family move out to a farm house on the estate during the summer season.

Very modern kitchen

A little prayer nook beside the kitchen ....
I could just imagine closing myself in there for a moment's quiet from the chaos of a busy house

The prayer nook

Couldn't you just picture yourself
gazing out there in pensive meditation 

Upstairs

One of the children's bedrooms
and the room where Camille stayed in later years

The other child's bedroom

And looking out Camille's window

The main sitting room on the first floor

The ceiling was handprinted
and very pretty

And back outside ....

The sundial on the wall of the castle

The Mill House in the background at the side of the chateau

The water mill house and the River Indre which surrounds the castle

As a final touch I thought it was really clever to offer children clothes to dress up in while the parents had a look at the place - you could be a princess or a knight for the afternoon :)   Apparently they do this at some of the big German castles as well - maybe in England too?  Great idea.

Fancy being a princess for the day? 

You can read more about it and see much more professional photos than mine here
These places must cost a fortune to do up and maintain but still, it was great to get a look around inside.   It's a style of life I can only imagine.

Into the new decade

Cakes galore

Thank you all for your lovely comments and birthday wishes .... I had an overwhelming couple of days and the surprise on Thursday in Belfast was to a sell out comedy fundraising concert in Belfast  with Tim McGarry and friends to raise awareness for Integrated Education (sadly only 7% of schools in Northern Ireland are religiously integrated yet and it takes some time from starting an integrated school until full funding is secure - this fund helps bridge that gap).  
I played along with the mystery tour and didn't know what was happening until the first performer walked on the stage.   I LOVE SUPRISES.   It was a terrific night.   These are all local contemporary comedians - anybody outside of here would be hard put to catch the accents or indeed the very black sense of humour and the mentalist who joined them had us all in stitches.

So then I had a party on Saturday night - just a small gathering of friends for some food and music and great laughs.   Maybe I might have another one before another 10 years are up :)

I suppose I'd better take the cards down now!!

September Photo Scavenger Hunt

Hello dear Hawthorn and photo scavenger friends

Sorry I missed out on the last couple of month's photos - my plan was to come back to visit you all later,  but later never happened.   We've had a busy July and early August with our festival and recording studio work and then the most glorious two weeks in France with our caravan.  Then straight off to Germany for a short tour and somehow September has now vanished too.  I thought I was getting myself ready early for this month's challenge but no......

If you've not joined in with Hawthorn's Photo Hunt before  check in here for the links to add your own and to see all the other interpretations.

Brightly Coloured

We spent a lovely day in Chauvigny in France at a mediaeval fair - there are ruins in the town of 5 different castles dating back to those times and the park was a blaze of colour and sound for the festival - these musicians were superb, singing and playing old instruments to a background sound of knights jousting and youngsters learning how to properly wield the swords they'd just bought. 

Mind you, everything looks bright and colourful in the sunshine. 

Upside down

My geography days are long behind me so I can never remember if these are tites or mites!  In the petrified caves near Saumur.  In this particular cave they leave objects under the falling droplets which then get coated, or petrified, and come out looking like porcelain.   The smell was fabulous.

A full pillar of deposits in the middle background

Ink

OK, so not quite ink, but at least it's writing of a sort.   I was looking for a pic of a cool tattoo - I've a girlfriend in Germany who has several tattoos of quotes from Jayne Austen on her arms and tummy but I didn't want to embarrass her by asking to photograph them.   Anyway, there's lots of this splendid graffiti around the University area in Belfast ... It makes a change from our usual political murals ( or muriels as they're know here)

Graffiti in Belfast

Bag

I got a lovely bag of goodies from a beekeeper in Germany who organises one of our concerts there - honey, royal jelly night cream and some honey lip balm as well as a bottle of honey wine which I"m really looking forward to trying.  But I didn't realise it until we arrived home that the bag is covered in little bees :)   So cute.  

Pattern

The patterns in wood are endlessly fascinating - like clouds.  This was on a church door dating back to the 12th century in Vallency in the Loire Valley.   The tales that door could tell.

Such a sad face

My own choice

Flowers of course .... At Chateau L'Islette in the Loire Valley - I'll have a post about our visit there in a week or so.

So, definitely this week I'll get around to see everyone else's photos and get a quick trip around the world from my comfy seat here in my study.