travel theme: names

What’s in a name?

in Sandwich, Kent

“aperitif square” – what a wonderful name for a place where you can enjoy an aperitif and more

The mayor of this village in France wondered for a long time why so many people wanted to be photographed next to the sign bearing the name of his village. Once someone told him, he decided to capitalise on it and established a museum dedicated to condoms. People from all over the world have contributed all shapes and sizes ….

Ronnie’s shop on Route 62 in South Africa was renamed Ronnie’s sex shop after a drunken evening when some of his mates decided to change the name of his café to attract more customers

Surprisingly you can get some OK snacks at this café despite its somewhat unappealing name

Click here to see more names that people have discovered

travel theme: sugar

Sugar or salt? Although I’m more of a salty person there are times when I can’t resist sugary things, or rather taking photos of sugary things.

chocolate goodies for sale in Bristol’s Southville market

the ultimate cake

a scrumptious piece of Sachertorte, consumed in the Hotel Sacher in Salzburg, Austria, birthplace of this sinfully delicious cake

my coffees never look this good

spice cakes on sale in Strasbourg Christmas market

natural sugar on a star fruit tree

dessert

“Sugar and spice and all things nice, that’s what little girls are made of. Slugs and snails and puppy dog’s tails, that’s what little boys are made of.” So ran a popular saying when I was a child.

Ailsa is to blame for making me post these!

Daily Post photo challenge: collage

I love the serendipity of a found collage – images that have been created by random poster-stickers, graffiti artists, a scattering of pebbles in a pleasingly random way, a mosaic, bark peeling off the trunk of a tree, a whirl of fallen leaves or scattered flower petals.

These are some of the photos I’ve taken of posters in France

in response to the Daily Post

Travel theme: seeds

I’ve always been fascinated with seeds and seed heads – they make such interesting silhouettes.

Here are some of my seed photos:

This is a huge seedpod – you can see its size up against the lens cap from my camera. It’s from the sausage tree, found in Botswana. You definitely wouldn’t want to be standing under the tree when one of these drops off!

freshly picked lotus seed heads – the seeds are considered a great delicacy and taste a bit like hazel nuts or almonds

seeds and pods from the Annato tree (this is where henna comes from)

Nigella aka Love-in-the-mist seedpods – they produce flowers varying in colour from white through pink to deep blue and self-seed easily

how could I not include an image of poppies and their distinctive seed pods

these giant thistleheads can often be found nailed to the front doors of houses in Southern France as protection against the evil eye

more thistles

and finally, two pieces of artwork created using seeds and seedpods by Marie Noelle Fontan

View more seeds by following the links on Ailsa’s post

travel theme: hills

Does this count as a hill or a mountain? Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

tea plantations in the hill country around Kandy, Sri Lanka

Sagaing hill, near Mandalay, Myanmar. The entire hillside is covered with Buddhist temples and gilded stupas

early morning in Provence

shafts of sunlight pouring down the hills in Northern Cyprus

view from St Hilarion castle, Northern Cyprus

view of Kyrenia/Girne harbour with hills behind, Northern Cyprus

Ailsa’s inspirational “hill”s are here, along with links to many others.

one word photo challenge: curtain

A few of my curtain photos

curtains are used to protect the icons in chapels from the glare of the sun

See how other people interpreted this challenge from the links here

Cee’s fun foto challenge: feathers

peacock feathers in Malaysia

a feather duster seller in Bangkok

birds of a feather in Singapore’s Jurong bird park

the new hairdo

fifty shades of pink

the aptly named ‘superb’ starling

“shake a tail feather, baby”

Cee’s fun foto challenge

Sally D’s mobile photography challenge: black and white

Although I have been a subscriber to Sally D’s blog for some time now, this my first entry for Sally D’s mobile photography challenge

taken with Iphone 6S+ native camera app and edited in Snapseed

thistles in Provence

Travel theme: neutral

We get so used to seeing brightly coloured images wherever we look that it’s sometimes a pleasure to rest ones eyes on a more neutral palette. With that in mind, here are some of my neutral photos, taken in the south of France

 

WPC: state of mind

Weekly photo challenge

Sometimes, this is how I feel in the morning

ready to take on the world

all set for a journey

ready for mischief

hungry

a little light music in the garden

or quiet contemplation

blinded by the light

at the end of the day, a bit ragged around the edges

ready for bed

although I don’t think I would choose to sleep in Vincent Van Gogh’s bed …..