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…
Category: Still Life
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
Vintage Childhood #3 – Teddy Bears and Storybooks
I can remember as a very small child, long before my schooldays, sitting curled up on my mother’s knee as she read to me. “Read some more, read some more!” I would say as the final page was turned and she would smile and open another book and continue reading until it really was time…
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…
Double Vision # 1 – Mystery
Purely for the fun and the prospect of a little photographic adventure, one of my favourite blogger friends – west517 – and I have decided to start a new joint Friday feature which we are calling ‘Double Vision’. With the simple format of a photographic dialogue across the Atlantic ocean – she being in the…
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…
Sweets to the Sweet – BonBons and Marshmallows
For anyone with a sweet tooth France is probably the closest you can get to confection heaven. Bonbons, dragées, macaroons, sweet cakes, patisseries, brioche, chocolate truffles, nougat, meringues – the list of sugary delights is long and enticing. I have personally always had rather more of a weakness for savoury rather than sugary but…
French Essence #1 – Garlic
If asked to sum up the essence of French culture the average Francophile would probably come up with an impressive list, amongst which would undoubtably feature haute couture, Hermès, Coco Chanel, Dior, an array of philosophers, playwrights Voltaire, Molière, great novelists Victor Hugo, cinema, Brigitte Bardot, Gerard Dépardieu, Bordeaux wines, cognac, champagne, Paris, Versailles, Marie…
Kings, Queens, Knaves and Aces High
There is something exceedingly mystical about a pack of playing cards. The notion of kings and queens, jokers and knaves, aces and hearts, spades and diamonds, even the language of cards is exotic and enticing, hinting at the medieval world of courtly love and ancient fairytales. Somehow all of life is here in symbolic form…
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…
Vintage Childhood #2 – Dinkys, Corgis & Lesneys
A small homage to the vintage childhood when imagination was more valued than the microchip. Once long ago , before the invention of iPods and iPads and SuperMario Game Boys and Nintendos, my younger brother received for his birthday a very fine model garage. It’s most distinguished attribute was a state of the art toy…
Vintage Childhood #1 – Monopoly
PLAYING Games My family ancestors have always been a rather competitive bunch even when at play. My mother relates wonderful stories of Friday evenings spent with my father’s family in the 1950’s surrounded by the numerous aunts and uncles (all 13 of them plus assorted spouses) engaged in the serious business of a game of…
Chopin, Nocturnes, Sheet Music and the Brownies
As a small child I was encouraged by my mother to join the Brownies, an institution she had relished so much in her own childhood that she had gone on to be a Girl Guide and the veteran of many a Brownie and Girl Guide camping expedition. At the time as a seven year old…
Silks, Bobbins and Bodkins
Beauty in everyday things Yet another button fell off a shirt today and in searching through my mother’s sewing basket for a needle and some suitable thread, I realised how many lovely old wooden bobbins she has collected over the years. Some of her sewing treasures have been hoarded, others inherited from her own mother…
All that glitters is not Gold
My mother was busy cleaning the family silver this afternoon – no, don’t get too excited, we’re not talking the Duke of Westminster here, just a few pretty spoons and an egg cup or two, but everything looked so lovely and shiny after she had buffed and polished, that I couldn’t help but scoop it…
Secrets and Keys
I have never quite managed to give up my childhood dream of finding the key to the secret treasure trove. As a child the ‘treasure’ would certainly have involved a pirate treasure chest, ancient maps, doubloons, pearl necklaces, a sword and a skeleton, that sort of thing. Nowadays I have already found some excellent treasure here…
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…
The Beauty of Simplicity
“Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things” Isaac Newton “The more simple we are the more complete we become” Auguste Rodin ALL PHOTOS © JANE MORLEY
View from a French Hillside 