Monthly Archives: December 2011

BRIGITTE Poster Art

Anyone who is a frequent visitor to my site will have noticed that I am fascinated by poster art. This eye-catching poster for the pop group Brigitte (or the Brigitte Sisters) was on a glass cubicle in the marketplace at St. Lo in the Normandy region of France.

French Concert Poster for the Folk-Rock Duo Brigitte

Head Down and Hammering Away

Head down and hammering away has a dual meaning this week. I’ve been head down and hammering away on the keyboard as I worked and head down as the rain and ice hammered away each time I left the house. Thus, I haven’t had much spare time during the last week and my apologies for the lack of posts. But between moving from the beach house in Brehal to a charming stone cottage in Moyon a few days ago and my other ‘tasks’ — it would appear that I’ve been remiss in posting online.

The rain here in Normandy has been a daily event for over two full weeks. This precipitation might be making the farmers and the people who monitor the levels of the aquifers thrilled, but it has spoiled any chance that I’ve had for splendid daytime photographs in this most charming part of France. Atmospheric photos of glossy-rainy reflections are one thing, but exposing my Nikons to gale force winds and horizontal rain mixed with chunky hail is quite another thing altogether!

I’ve managed to get in some good writing time this week on the new travel book though, so yes, progress of some kind has been made even if there is no photo documentation of that. And I’m researching the idea of producing this next book only in e-book format instead of the traditional print version plus e-book. Now that Kindles and iPads are so popular, it seems like a logical next step.

I’ll post more information about the book as it unfolds. And have a happy lead-up-to-Christmas week, everyone!

Rainy Sunday At Brehal

Normandy beaches in winter may not always be as gray and rainy as our last week here has been in Brehal on the Atlantic coast of France, but it’s definitely the kind of weather that makes you want to stay dry, cook, and work on some sort of project.

This small video expresses those sentiments on this early December weekend. Just a tiny bit of warning, these videos sometimes take awhile to load if you have a slow connection, so be patient!

I’ve been craving something home baked for several weeks and these bananas needed to be rescued before they ‘expired’ altogether!

Overripe bananas about to be turned into banana nut bread

Feeling the need to actually get up and move around after sitting still all day with the computer in front of me, onto the internet I went to search for a recipe for banana nut bread.

The result? The gas mark on the oven was a bit off (I checked at a gas mark to fahrenheit conversion site and I had actually chosen the correct option with Gas Mark 5 = 375 degrees) and it got a bit too brown a bit too quickly. But yes, it tasted perfectly lovely. Yum!

Banana nut bread baked in our beach house in Brehal, Normandy, France

Bombs Are Still A Serious Business in Germany

Today’s Washington Post contains an article stating that 45,000 residents of Koblenz are being evacuated from their homes as bomb disposal squads disarm one massive unexploded bomb lying alongside another, smaller unexploded bomb. Both of these war time relics were recently discovered wedged in the banks of the Rhine River when the waterline fell to a record low level.

Several months ago, we were walking through suburban Hannover when we spotted this van in the street. Since Germany was so heavily bombed by the allies during World War II, bomb inspection units still need to be called when any excavation is planned for utilities such as water lines or gas lines. And one friend in Germany told us that the basements of houses in Germany are never built until the area has been certified bomb free.

Munition van on the streets of Hannover. Germany searching for unexploded WW II bombs

I’ve mentioned in past articles that World War II is still a living, breathing fact-of-life here in Europe and friends have frequently had their own episodes of discovering remnants of that war in their own back gardens or in the walls of their homes as they began renovations. Today’s Washington Post article just reminds us yet again that the actions of our predecessors generations ago still echo solidly through our contemporary time period. Although we might be temporarily inconvenienced, it is barely fathomable in our present mindset to even try and imagine what it would be like to live a day to day life with bombs dropping on our heads.

Our parents’ and grandparents’ generations would have known those sensations of impermanence quite intimately.

Stone Cold Ferocious

The stunning Notre Dame de Bayeux or Bayeux Cathedral in the Normandy region of France is a medieval masterpiece with a heavily ornamented exterior.

Amongst the elaborate gargoyles and grotesques that are liberally sprinkled on the surface are these ferocious stone dog-like creatures — forever glaring outward in a sinister manner. Although some of the similarly shaped carvings along the roofline appear to be true gargoyles that transport water into the downspouts, these examples seen below are instead known as grotesques, not gargoyles, and I discovered them on the side of the cathedral closest to the grassy square.

The common interpretation for the usage of this type of imagery is that the ordinary citizen of the medieval world was unlikely to be educated, therefore simple lessons were often told quite effectively ‘in stone’ via images and sculpture. Previous spiritual beliefs in the pre-Christian world embraced the concept of monsters and demons or spirits that could be capriciously good or evil. In the case of these types of ferocious stone carvings, it was believed that they would stand guard over the church and its ‘good people’ and protect them from the intrusion of dark forces.

Ferocious stone creature on the side of the Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, France

Photo Of The Day: The Furniture Maker

In the midst of our travels, I always try to keep an eye open for interesting signs or clever advertising. This unique sign contains a man working with a wood plane and advertises a furniture maker in the old quarter of Bayeux in Normandy, France. I love the simplicity and almost cartoon-like quality of it. But it instantly tells any observer what goes on in that building. Brilliant!

Furniture maker sign in Bayeux in Normandy, France

A Wanderful Life

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