ABC Wednesday - Dinan

This week's ABC goes from last weeks home waters to continental Europe and the town of
Dinan. The best way to arrive is supposed to be by boat, along the Rance, but we took the old railway viaduct which now is the N176 to arrive at the 13th century ramparts. Enter the gate,
walk down narrow cobbled street and

become surrounded by 15th and 16th century half timbered houses. Some now converted into shops selling flowers but some
just displaying flowers. This citadel of Dinan has three kilometers of wonderfully preserved late medieval houses, Romanesque and Gothic churches, enough to feed the mind but also at least 30
cafes, creperies and restaurants, together with numerous cakes shops and a most wonderful 'il gelato Italiano' shop, Le Pole Nord, selling more than 50 flavours of ice cream; what a perfect place to spend a dull showery day. No blue skies in these photos.
Despite being a tourist destination it manages to combine that with the air of a living and breathing working town. Some similar places such as Colmar seemed preserved in aspic and fully taken over by tourism, but Dinan,, possibly because its centre has no significant museum or art gallery, seems to have avoided that fate. It also has
little shops. This was shut for lunch but look at that trompe l'oeil, well we are in France.
As well as brilliant colour in the stained glass of St Sauveur church it also has a cenotaph containing the heart of the knight Bertrand du Guesclin, Eagle of Brittany, who spent much of his time fighting the English in the 100 years war. Parts of him are buried at four different locations, he may be in a bit of a pickle come The Resurrection

if it is like Stanley Spencer's Resurrection in Cookham Churchyard. But as we are surrounded by the past but amongst the living
there is still time to take the tourist train down to the river harbour or perhaps sit at the table and relax with a glass of wine.

Dash over to ABC Wednesday meme to see more words beginning with the letter D

ABC Wednesday - Coniston Water

Coniston Water one of the Lake District lakes. If you click to enlarge then a red sailed yacht is gently cruising between the shore and Peel Island on a calm warm May day when nature is fresh and green.

The year turns and we drift
into Autumn and look from the cairn on the top of High Light Haw over the Water to Coniston Old Man. This is a great place to have lunch on the flat rocks below and feel complete contentment.

The shape chugging its way along Coniston Water is the steam yacht Gondola

originally built in 1859 and beautifully renovated. The photo is from here where you can also see the wonderfully plush and comfortable 1st class saloon, gleaming engine and golden prow. It plies its trade up, down and across the lake, calling in at

jetties on both sides. But not on a Monday in mid Winter. One of its calling points is Brantwood,
once the home of the Victorian artist, critic and author John Ruskin. The gardens are lovely in spring and summer, bare here in winter, but lots of logs ready for the fire or perhaps a boat boiler.
There are bays and inlets on the east side

popular in the summer for picnics, swimming and canoeing. Some people cannot resist
leaving their mark.

This might be called my 'local' lake and when I'm passing to the north I always look at the
seats at the end as I drive past. Now these might be called concrete brutal, but I'm looking for the water. The more it rains the more the water rises and this is like a measure. At the extremes of weather the water can rise over the slabs and just below the seat. When it reaches that point it is probably flooding elesewhere. There is the reason the Lake District is so green.

But the water has receded now so you can sit on the seat and contemplate the view although
the sun was not quite able to break through the clouds yesterday, but it is indeed a lake for all seasons.

To join the rest of the ABC Wednesday crowd go here and you will see lots of words beginning with C.

Sunny Days and Green Fields

What a wonderful run of sunny days just as the days are lengthening. The north wind is icy so its hats, gloves, scarfs and lots of layers. The sheep near Tunnel Hill need none of those things as they come complete with woolly covering. They look to be enjoying the sunshine as quite a few are lying down.

We were on our way to Heversham Head, as on a clear day the views are wonderful, but we were not paying attention so ended up approaching it the 'wrong' way up the hill so I had never seen
this interesting sheep gate and wall. I think at one time this must have been used as a stile, being idle we used the large gate. We carried on up hill from there to reach
the top, and the millennium orientation table which has the famous start of psalm 121 written around it "I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, from whence commeth my help, my help commeth from the Lord". These lines are popular in the county for I have seen them on numerous sundials, seats and in fact anywhere with a view; for the hills are eternal. The ones in the distance
on the horizon are the Coniston, Scafell and Crinkle Crag ranges. Just in sight part of the River Kent is snaking its way on the plain out to sea, the Cumbria Coastal Way long distance footpath follows it at this point.

Sorry no photos of the estuary itself as the sun was making its way west and shining low and directly into the lens. The best time to take an image would be the morning, or even better sunset then there would be glowing colours over Morecambe Bay. When I eventully decide to upgrade my camera it might be a good place to test it out. This may be some time off as I can't decide what type to get, DSLR or super zoom. The more I read the more I cannot make up my mind.

The Visitor by Maeve Brennan

This novella has been called a "jewelled miniature" and it is certainly full of iridescent sentences, portraying a world of insularity like a piece of amber with the characters trapped inside.

The story is the return of Anastasia King from Paris (where she has been living with her, now dead, mother), to her grandmother's house in Dublin.

"All the houses in the square were tall, with heavy stone steps going up to the front doors. They were occupied by old people, who had grown old in their houses and their accustomed ways. They disregarded the inconveniences of the square houses, their dark basements and draughty landings, and lived on, going tremulously from one wrinkled day to the next, with an occasional walk between the high stone walls of their gardens".

There is no enthusiastic welcome as she enters in the house in fact it is implied that this is only to be a temporary visit, which is not what Anastasia wants to hear.

"Home is a place in the mind. When it is empty, it frets. It is fretful with memory, faces and places and time gone by. Beloved images rise up in disobedience and make a mirror for emptiness".

The domineering grandmother that wants to be left alone with the grief for her dead son, and Anastasia the granddaughter who wants to be loved. At first the reader's sympathies are with this lost young girl surrounded by elderly women but as the story moves on irritation starts to build and I felt like shouting, get a grip and stop moping around, but self absorption prevents Anastasia from doing this.

Brennan's characters unfold as the novella advances and a sense of unease builds through the pages. With the introduction of Miss Kilbride, a friend of Anastasia's mother, it seems as though this might be the answer to Anastasia's isolation, but this leads to a shocking incident that shows another aspect of her character.

Verdict - A short book that packs a punch and I could read time and again just for the beautiful prose.

Maeve Brennan died in obscurity in 1993 but her posthumously published books have attracted many admirers. Born in Ireland (1917) she emigrated, with her parents to America in 1934 and went on to write a column and short stories for the New Yorker, but the latter part of her life disintegrated into mental instability.

The Irish author Roddy Doyle was distantly related to Maeve and met her, but at the time much to his regret, he did not know she was a writer and describes her as "small and exotic". When asked if she would be considered an American or Irish writer hes says that with the discovery of her writing in the latter part of the century she was perceived as a new Irish writer who had been discovered 8 years after she died.

In the following audio he briefly discusses her with Deborah Freisman of the New Yoker, and then reads a short story called 'Christmas Eve' which is written in a much simpler style than 'The Visitor' but in its domesticity tells a powerful story. Doyle thinks, that although "he might be biased", her Dublin set stories are her best.

ABC Wednesday - Buoy

Buoys aid pilots by marking a maritime channel or marking hazards so ships can navigate safely. This one has fetched up on dry land and the only thing it is marking is - learning in progress, for it is outside the school in La Richardais. Its markings of Buharats Number 2 West is in fact an actual buoy which is near Dinard and used as an end point when attempting sailing speed records from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, a big sailing centre, to Dinard on the north coast of France. There is also a triangle races from Dinard and here is a competitor in the 2005 race bobbing buoyantly along
on route to Buharats. Photo from the owner of this Aphrodite boat, the Vert-Galant, race site

But back to our buoy.
La Richardais is a popular sailing centre on the Rance and not too far from Dinard but despite a trawl on the Internet I could discover no more, although I did discover the school's January dinner menu. I was almost tempted to sign up. The mentioned of Viennoiserie attracted my attention, never got that in an English school although there was no sign of sponge puddings which we did get a lot. Swings and Roundabouts. Just beyond the church in the distance is the local artisan cake shop, I wonder if they supplied them to the school.

The school is called Louis-Brehault in honour of a resistance fighter killed in August 1944 aged only 17. The French Resistance had played a major but invisible role at D Day but the Brittany Campaign ,started in August '44 to secure the ports, was one in which they fought openly against the Germans. 20,000 men and women were based in Brittany and Louis-Brehault must have died at the start.

Now when talking of buoys, which is a word of old french, dutch and Latin origins, it is as well not to mix them up with the similarly pronounced

boys. If your language is American English then the root will have come from the French of bouee so the mistake will never be made. You will know it is a bouee in the water and not a boy.

This cross like a buoy is also a marker. Ana Cross is on Spaunton Moor, North Yorkshire, and a prominent landmark for hundreds of years. The 10 foot high cross is a replacement for the original ancient one which now resides in Lastingham Church, two miles south of this point in the village of the same name where
you will be able to purchase beverages from the Blacksmiths Arms which also has a beer garden at the back.

Discover more interpretations of the letter B by the participants of the 6th round of the ABC Wednesday meme here

ABC Wednesday - Aqua

Hodbarrow Lagoon

Aqua, life giving water.

Some of my favourite aquatic birds are swans, beautiful but sometimes with an uncertain temperament. As these signets are nearly full grown mother is happy to glide around, letting me take photographs and generally ignoring everyone, unless anyone happens to offer them tasty morsels that look more interesting than what is underwater, she would find that quite acceptable.

Barrow Park

These aquatic birds are very used to tasty morsels and there is usually a steady stream of people in the park offering snacks. The seagulls are floating in the background always on the alert for food but this was a very cold day so food bringers were thin on the ground.

Waterside Park

A pair of herring gulls who will not be offered any food, but they are casing the joint. This is some waste ground next to the sea channel and the building where I work. In the summer it will be full of nesting seagulls and a few oyster catchers. This rather divides the people in the building into those like me who find them fascinating and those that hate them with a vengeance, but the seagulls are an equal opportunity kind of bird and do not discriminate on whose car they leave their a mark.

Silecroft

Over 70% of earth's surface is covered with water and because of that someone once said that Earth is the wrong name for the planet and it really should be called Water.

The tide was on the ebb on Sunday afternoon, a still and sunny day, with only one lone tern,which did not want its photograph taking and flew away.

Humankind tries to manage and move water in various ways.

The Force Gill Aqueduct built by the Midland Railway (Settle to Carlisle line) in the 1800s to carry water from Force Gill into Dale Beck. This has in recent years been renovated by Railtrack, who thankfully did not go with their original plan of concreting the channel ,due to public pressure, so we still have the beautiful brickwork.
Almost aquamarine. An experimental scan of a film slide. Fuji film was always considered to be very good for colour and this is absolutely rich. The place is Lanty's Tarn near Ullswater in the Lake District. Lanty is a diminutive of Alexander and this was a pond he dammed a very long time ago which became a rather lovely tarn.

We have reached the next round of ABC Wednesday meme and we start on a new quest to find a word with the appropriate letter. Have a look at what words the other ABCers have come up with here

Go Fly A Kite

The temperature has zoomed up to 7 degrees C but hardly any breeze so no zooming in the air for this power kite which gently bobbed along the coast without gaining much height. The easiest option would be to head for the tops but
the still air meant blue skies at sea level but cloud sat on this and the south Cumbrian fells tops all day.