One of my favourite blogging friends west517 and I both have a dog named Fred – we thought it might be fun to do one of our Double Vision posts – living as we do on different continents – to introduce them to each other. Click the link above to see west’s post and read…
Category: Nature
Lilac Time – Vintage version
AS I WAS ARRANGING THE WHITE LILAC I HAD CUT FROM THE GARDEN FOR YESTERDAYS’ POST, I KEPT THINKING OF MY GRANDMOTHER AND THE BEAUTIFUL GARDEN SHE HAD WHEN I WAS A CHILD. My grandparents’ house dated from the 1920’s, a solid suburban red brick and slightly tudoresque affair, blessed with a large plot to…
Spring #3 – Lilac Time
EVER SINCE WE ARRIVED ON THE HILLSIDE 13 YEARS AGO I HAVE DREAMED OF MAKING A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN. In my imagination the lawns are mown into stripes and squares, flat and rich enough to welcome the most stringent player of bowls or croquet. The borders are full of exquisite flowering shrubs and unusual specimens arranged…
Glorious Spring
The hillside has exploded in a riot of blossom and colour this week. I know I’m in danger of repeating myself by offering up another post with blossom as its’ subject but when I went out onto the orchard this afternoon to the glorious sight of the fruit trees abuzz with the industry of…
Rustic Beauty – The Humble Turnip
After the lovely promising spring weather of a fortnight ago we’re suddenly plunged back into the damp and chill winds of November here on the Hillside. Our sunny moods have departed with the warmer temperatures and so my plans for more spring inspired images for this post have been moved aside to make way for an…
Spring # 2 – Fragile Blossom
In the courtyard on our French Hillside is an almond tree. It has never been exactly prolific in producing fruit but its’ show of magnificent pale white-pink blossom is always our first herald of the arrival of spring. The tree itself is need of an expert prune as all the blossom is now bursting forth…
SPRING – Tender Tulips
Signs of Spring are appearing everywhere on the hillside now – tiny blue forget-me-nots, wild violets, the first cowslips, the early daffodils, even some very precocious iris are in full bloom seeking the warmth of the sun. Opportunities for photographs abound and I have a score of ideas for posts for the coming days. I…
Orchids – Strange exotic beauty
Someone gave me an orchid. I’ve never been quite sure whether I really like orchids or not. To one who loves the beautiful simplicity of daisies, they seem worryingly exotic, fleshy and organic, almost alien things. It seems they have many symbolic connotations – strength, loyalty, luxury, virilty ( the name itself derives from the…
Winter # 3 – The Quietly Beating Heart
Here and there amidst the silver bare winter’s landscape are vibrant reminders that the pulse of life continues through even the darkest days and the longest nights. The berries in the hedgerows and the hips of the roses are rich and blood red with the promise of Spring…….. ALL PHOTOS © JANE MORLEY
Winter # 2 – Life is Sleeping
The hillside is really in the grip of Winter now. The trees are shivering in the winds from the north and the warmth of the autumn colours has been chilled to a palette of brittle greys. Only the laburnams and the lime trees are still clinging to their delicate copper- coloured seed pods as if…
Winter – Ghost Leaves
The colours on the hillside are changing now from their glowing autumn shades to the darker hues of winter. Nature’s astonishing architecture is becoming visible everywhere, in the bare branches of the trees, the hips on the rose bushes, the cones in the evergreens and in the fallen leaves which carpet the garden. On our…
Little Acorns, Mighty Oaks……..
A while ago on one of our walks, Freddie the Labrador and I collected some splendid acorns and oak leaves. I fully intended to snap a few pics while they were still fresh and colourful but haven’t somehow got round to doing it. Today I was going to throw them all away as they’ve dried…
Clocks, watches and timepieces # 1
Along with maps, globes and antiquarian books, I have always had a particular fascination for clocks, and other timepieces. Even in our modern world, these things remain symbols of great mystery for me – constant reminders of man’s attempt to make sense of the unknowable world and to impose some human order upon nature’s own…
A Summer’s day in a tiny flower…..
Autumn is really showing its’ beautiful glowing colours here on the hillside and already throwing some surprises into the meteorological mix. Yesterday afternoon was a busy one in the boutique and all my Sunday afternoon visitors were completely unprepared, after the mild morning, for the fierce downpour and hailstorm which turned up around 4.00pm and…
Gold, Copper, Chestnut, Conkers – Hello Autumn!
I had a very different idea in mind for today’s post but as I strolled along the path through the wood after lunch with Freddie the labrador, we stumbled across some exciting treasures which simply demanded to be photographed. Freddie was delighted to have found a fox poo and a badger burrow plus a few…
Sunset Colours and Autumn Vines
Every day of September here on the hillside, has been warm, balmy and beautiful; the evenings noticeably cooler as the Autumn approaches but full of astonishing light and colours. I decided the other evening to take a walk down the hill towards the poplar wood where the sheep live, passing en route the tiny vineyard…
Cosmos , Marigolds and the end of Summer
This weekend heralds the end of the official summer here in sunny France, as thousands of holidaymakers wend their way back home to prepare for ‘La Rentrée’ – the re-entering, literally, of work or school. over the next week to 10 days. The summer has been a disappointing one weatherwise, some sun to be sure…
Of Sunflowers, Kites and Kestrels….
In which we bang on about the weather again but for a different reason and then turn a little serious………….. I have always had the fanciful notion that the weather here on earth is largely dictated by the activities of the Olympian Gods up in the clouds. Right at this moment in time , they’re…
Daredevil Daisy’s bid for Freedom
In which we take a walk and have a close encounter with a 1500 pound grumpy cow It is my daily habit to take a brisk walk down the hillside and, almost as briskly, to walk back up again. I generally spend the time this involves admiring the scenery, talking to myself and chatting to…
Four-legged Neighbours in the poplar wood
In which we delight in our four-legged neighbours and worry about the constant threat of mint sauce………. Living as we do on top of a hill amongst the vineyards, we are blissfully untroubled by the proximity of neighbours, the nearest other house being a good kilometer or so away on the hill opposite. Whilst we…
Feather part I
Feather : Noun, adjective, verb ; a single word suggesting many things – light, ethereal, flight, airborne, arrows, attack, quill, sharp, razor, pen, writing, Shakespeare, manuscripts, words, thoughts, deeds, imagination, heaven, angels……………………. ALL PHOTOS © JANE MORLEY
The Beauty of Imperfection – the art of Wabi Sabi…….
” Wabi Sabi” noun: From Japanese culture : A concept, an aesthetic and a worldview. Simply, an intuitive way of living which emphasizes finding beauty and perfection in imperfection and simple authenticity. Wabi Sabi accepts the natural cycle of growth and decay and believes objects gain value through use and age. ALL PHOTOS © JANE…
Oh No! Here Comes Summer!…….
In which we consider the excesses of French summer weather and wish we had a decent deckchair…… Well finally, here in South West France, the sun has put in a long awaited appearance and the Summer has arrived, at least for the next few days. This is, of course, great news for those of us who…
The Ethereal Veil……..
“Life’s splendour forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its’ fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its’ right name, it will come…” FRANZ KAFKA ALL PHOTOS © JANE…
“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens….”
In which we consider life as an eternal optimist and how this combines with perpetual worrying… As the sky remains cloudy and the rain continues to fall here in sunny France at the end of May I thank my lucky stars and my mother that I was born an eternal optimist. It is not always…
Be careful what you wish for …….
In which we consider Noah’s flood, the advisability of a fountain in the bedroom and never having enough buckets when you need them… Having begun with great gusto, the creation of our new vegetable plot at the end of last week we consulted the meteo – weather forecast – on Monday to see what might be…
View from a French Hillside 