For those to whom the winter seems overlong, here are some of my Spring photos:
Spring always means primroses and wood anemones (also known as wind flowers) for me
a carpet of bluebells
apple blossom
Cee’s post has lots of links to other Spring images
The WordPress weekly photo challenge this week invited us to share photos that illustrate the changing of the seasons to us.
The changing of the seasons is marked both by nature and by man in his seasonal celebrations – spring and summer solstices for example, cross-burning, harvest festivals, etc.
this lake in north eastern Thailand is only covered in a floating carpet of pink water lily flowers in January
dawn in February
cross-burning in February in Luxembourg to bid farewell to winter
winter sunsets are vividly coloured
ferns unfurling herald the promise of spring
pussy willow buds appear in March
apple blossom appears in late April
as does pink ornamental cherry blossom
edible cherry blossom in Provence
but in April 2005 we saw snow on the lavender fields in Provence
bluebells appear in late April/May
summer in Provence is represented by ripe cherries
poppies
lavender
and sunflowers
autumn colours in Luxembourg
nature’s bounty
winter in the garden
Jake explains his theme this week thus: Surroundings are the area around a given physical or geographical point or place. The exact definition depends on the field. The external circumstances, conditions, and objects that affect existence and development; the environment.
Here are some views in and around our village and surrounding countryside:
and a few of the garden:
What are your favourite surroundings?
Jake’s Sunday challenge is “city”.
The small European country the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg confusingly calls its capital city Luxembourg too. As capital cities go, it’s tiny, looks like something out of a fairy tale but boasts all the buildings you would expect to find in a capital city: the Grand Duke’s palace, a cathedral, churches of various denominations, museums, fortifications, modern monstrosities of public buildings and the occasional gem of an Art Deco villa.
The Wenzel (Wenceslas) walk takes you through the older and more scenic parts of the city
looking towards the upper part of the city from the area known as the Grund
in the Grund
my favourite place in the Grund, the church of St John,
home to a rare statue of a black madonna
Mudam, the museum of modern art, has been constructed on the remains of a much older fortress
the so called three acorns fortress which has now been converted into a museum
There are some intriguing sculptures scattered throughout the city:
a group of wandering players entertains in the Place du theatre, the square behind the theatre des capucins
this sculpture of a shepherd leading his flock into town harks back to the days of the livestock market, an annual event which has been taking place since 1340. It is now one of the biggest fairs in Europe attracting a couple of million of visitors.
a colourful sculpture by Nikki St Phalle
Trees always look beautiful in silhouette. Here are some of my silhouettes:
a windblown tree on Exmoor
not a tree but fennel produces some great silhouettes too
the shadow cast by the silhouette of a temple gable in Thailand
also shared with Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
I’ve just been introduced to a new weekly photography challenge blog. The challenge this week was to illustrate our favourite spot. I have several favourite spots:
our garden
the back garden at my parents’ house, this garden has been part of my life since I was 3 months old
the village of Lynmouth in North Devon (UK) where my family has holiday’d for 40 years
my favourite beach on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand
In Kim’s words “this week’s TT image must contain at least one layer of the texture, partings…..that’s it…that’s all”.
Here is my image textured with “partings” and blended in exclusion mode
This week’s challenge was to share an image to illustrate “dreaming”.
If stones could speak what tales would they tell of this woman’s dreams? would she dream of being alive, a warm blooded sentient being? is she dreaming of a lover? freedom from her stone prison?
Flowers have always featured in art and architecture so this week I thought I would share some photos of flowers in architecture.
In the town of Mondorf-les-bains in Luxembourg 3 houses feature Art Deco decoration on their facades
Linking up with 
This week Kim challenged us to view our world in a different way – so often when we take photos of scenery we tend to opt for a horizontal or landscape shot. However, if you use the vertical option (portrait) you get quite a different perspective.
Luxembourg is a beautiful country but in the summer it excels – serried ranks of vines climb the hillsides along the slopes bordering the river Moselle which forms a natural border between Luxembourg and Germany.
Spires of black mullein reach for the skies on this rocky, wooded outcrop
Up on the plateaus the sky seems to stretch into infinity and the landscape lies like a patchwork quilt before you with nothing but the song of the skylarks breaking the silence
and a river of blue cornflowers flows through a cornfield
And finally, sunsets, when you can capture the path of the setting sun on the sea, lend themselves particularly well to being shot vertically
This one was photographed in Turkey.
