This château has everything: white stone towers, a river, grand rooms, complicated gardens, a tree-lined path and a hedge maze. We may be early in our journey, but I declared it “Peak Castle” all other castles are downhill from here. Technically I consider this a ‘palace’ – a non-defensive structure, leaving room for me to really enjoy some less elaborate and more defensive structures. While we were there we saw a few people paddling by in canoes which also seems a great way to view it.
I was impressed by the amount of copper-ware in the kitchens and the vast black-and-white checkerboard tiles in the long gallery that spans the river, but the best part was definitely the exterior of the castle and the grounds, which were stunning.
Note the person reading on the wall above the river.View from the far side of the river, over a little drawbridge.Just a glimpse of one of the gardens.Hedge maze!More of the garden visible.
We’ve been away on a 3-week long trip to France and now that we are back it’s time to go through the photos. I always liked the idea of traveling with children, but it turns out that I find organizing for that many people stressful, so we kept putting it off. Finally, I noticed that my oldest was 18 and if we wanted to do a major, whole-family trip, I had better act now.
For our first three days we stayed in a ‘troglodyte house’, a home partially built into the limestone hillside behind it. I really love the idea that if you ever thought your house was too small you could just continue to dig into it and make it bigger.
This one has some remnants of an old wine press in it. The back rooms were wonderfully cool, which we enjoyed because temperatures in France were very hot for our entire stay. A house two down from this one was for sale, and while we loved staying there, the rooms are also perpetually damp and that might get old after a while.
Church and canal in Poce-sur-CisseOutside the troglodyte house at night.
This little canal and bridge was in town, near the patisserie. It did not take much time at all for us to get used to the ubiquitous presence of fresh daily baguettes and pastries within walking distance. The baguettes were inexpensive, generally .8 euros or less, which is FAR less than I would expect to pay for them in the US.
At night it was very quiet and dark, all the street lamp went out at midnight giving a good view of the sky. In the early morning we saw hot-air balloons in the distance. When we had free time at home, we listened to “Coffee Break French” podcast to try to prepare ourselves for actual conversations.
We went on a rafting trip on the Methow River this weekend. The river was a bit too rough for me to drag the camera out regularly, but I was playing around with night scenes and exposure length.
Trying to catch the “blue hour” in Winthrop, WAThis mountain looks like the Black Gate of Mordor. I have concerns.Playing around some more with a darker sky and the light in the clouds.Pretty cloudDiablo Lake4 second exposure of the lake at night. I really like how the sky turned out but I was having trouble with focus.These ducks had no fear. I do not have a telephoto lens.
I’ve been following the eruption of Kilauea while at the same time, planning our fall camping trip to Mount St Helens. I knew from previous trips about the difference between a’a and pahoehoe but the recent footage has given some really great visual examples of it in action, rather than the cold and plant-covered versions I’ve seen locally.
Here’s a video that shows the difference.
On the way back from the Ape Cave we saw a big pile of clinkers. This time, knowing what it is, I’ll be sure to take more pictures.
2,000 years ago, a smooth basalt flow ran through a forest on the south side of Mt St Helens. It smothered the trees which then burned or rotted away, leaving behind casts in the stone. It is now covered by another forest.
This was once the trunk and root of a tree.A new tree grows where the old one stood.Before I knew how these were formed, the perfectly round holes were baffling.Lave covered this fallen log, leaving the impression of its bark. This one is large enough to crawl through.
Pahoehoe flows sometimes form lava tubes when the outsides cool, but the molten center continues to drain away. There are many on the south of St Helens. Ape Cave is one, and it is over a mile long.
It feels like I only go into the city when we have visitors, but we did, and I did. Of course we had to go to Pike Market and Seattle Center (on the monorail! – it’s the best way!)
Obligatory shot of Pike Market sign
Seattle CenterPacific Science Center
From the monorail
Final shot. I have a thing for amusing signs and this guy looks like there’s just been some sort of Urgent Diaper Emergency.
I’m hoping someone else will find this as exciting as I do. This summer we visited Scotland and I made sure to stop at all the archaeological sites until my family rebelled. This was the best moment for me.
Skara Brae is a neolithic settlement of semi-subterranean earth-houses on Orkney. There are up to 8 dwellings and a workshop here, all connected with underground passages.
Skara Brae
Back in 1992 I was informed that my observation that the crannoga of Switzerland sounded a lot like the Lake Town from the Hobbit was not just a coincidence. Thus, I was pleased to discover this hobbit-village-looking illustration in Skara Brae.
Artists impression of Skara Brae by Jim Proudfoot
The illustration isn’t the best part. Look at the artists name! (If you can’t make it out – the artist is Jim Proudfoot). That’s the hobbitiest hobbit name ever.
A few miles from Skara Brae there are multiple other Neolithic sites including the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness, and a chambered cairn. The Ring is surrounded by barrows, so that we left Skara Brae, and seemed to travel a few miles to the barrow downs described by Tom Bombadil. The bus driver warned us to walk counterclockwise around the stones or else you’d get pregnant (not eaten by wights, but I have my suspicions).
Ring of BrodgarBarrow at Ring of BrodgarStanding Stones of StennessThis is exactly what it looks like before the wights get you.
Conspicuously missing: menacing forest and hobbit-eating willow tree. There are almost no trees on Orkney.
I attend an aikido class a few times a week. I’m still very much a novice, but it gets me moving and I find it is frequently the only time during the week when I am truly ‘present’ in my own body.
This weekend a friend invited me to attend a class at a nearby shinto temple. It was a great experience – a different style of instruction with a different emphasis in techniques. I didn’t think to bring my camera, but my daughter took some images.
It’s amazing to me that something like this is so close.
Kitsune shrineKaerutemizuya water pavillion with a dragon spout and underwater frogOne of the outdoor holy places. I love all the moss.Inside the shrinethe torii gate
e
