Rare indeed ~

~ Did you ever notice when you blow in a dog's face he gets mad at you? But when you take him in a car he sticks his head out the window. ~Steve Bluestone

I rarely take a photograph of my dog that looks half decent since she rarely keeps still when I have a camera in my hand. She is not great company since she prefers to be outside when I am inside and once inside does not wish to be stroked, she would prefer to jump on your lap! This dog behaves rather cat like at times.

So I am surprised to have two photographs of the mad mutt two weeks running!

Some of you may know I love playing with puddles, and so does the dog, week 3 of the 52 week project.

We both love puddles

We both hate having our picture taken

Week 4 The 52 week project, a quick snap of my dog, take a look at that face what a softie. My walks round the village with my camera are a nightmare as she pulls my arm just as I press the button. So off the lead in the forest is much easier, hence all the trees in my photo stream! Rarely still this dog behaves more like a hyperactive cat!

French Words
Dog lead = laisse
Dog bark = aboiement.

Shades of green

The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods -
~Robert Frost

Tuesday morning on my way to the shop I stopped at the forest to let the dog have a run around. It was raining gently and the soddened canopy of leaves above was showering down on the old leaves which will soon vanish under a sea of bracken. I stopped and took a few shots; the many shades of the colour green were beautiful.

New Shades of Green.

New light leaves

The French word to darken up and obscure is foncer

The French word for a light shower of rain is averse

Flowers for the Gods

Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

I often stop in the forest to let my dog have a romp around whilst I take a few snaps. Last Thursday I had a little surprise. A large lorry stopped me from parking where I had intended and so I pulled up near to the Cordon des Druids.

The sun was shining through the trees onto the stones and it was just after midday. The stones are in a line which stretches for about 800 feet, the tallest is only about 6 feet high.

Midday Sun

But something was different, because the tallest stone was adorned with a garland of flowers, it was the right size for wearing on your head. The stones that I had visited the previous week have been given a macabre image with modern day sculptures of hands with claws and benches wearing devilish heads. The information boards told you about the Druids sacrificing people on the huge flat topped rocks.

The flowers made these stones feel like a happy place to be.

I found a website about a couple who travel around various parts of the world looking at these old stones, there is a lot of information in this link.

Garland for the Druids

The French word to adorn is paré.
The French word for romp is galopade.

Etymology for the word sacrifice.

Eyes wide open

Managed a shortish walk yesterday in the forest. The dog gets extra exercise racing back to see where I am, what can be delaying me. Sometimes I enjoy taking pictures right up close to the subject. So I was really pleased with this green bear adorned with ivy leaves.

Sometimes you can overlook the stuff that is right in front of your face because you are looking at the bigger picture.

Green Bear

Of course we don't have any real bears here, its a tree. At this time of year it is hunting season so any wildlife that there is, deer, fox, rabbits, and various types of birds are hunted trapped or shot, hopefully they dont catch them all.

The French word for a female deer is biche.

The French word for ivy is lierre.

Dont just burn it

I recently saw a magazine showing pictures of people in the forest who were clog makers.

Lower classes often wore clogs, in France the name for clogs is sabots....this is also linked to the word sabotage. I have read that the lower classes threw their clogs into the machinery in factories ie sabotage, also that people associated the wearing of clogs to people who were not very productive.

Years back I wore wooden clogs but stopped when I had a puppy in the house, they get under your feet and little paws get squashed. She still gets under my feet but is a whole lot bigger.

This year I spent the summer wearing a pair of imitation crocs..sabots with holes in the top, very comfy they are too.

Which countries are beech trees native to?

Which countrues are oak trees native to?

On our doorstep

Wood there is oodles of the stuff here, but it isnt free or cheap. Wood is sold by the corde and when it is stacked in the forest it is normally stacked as a corde. We dont have central heating and so wood is our main source of fuel.

We live right near the wonderful forest, which is being transformed over the next fifteen years, the beech trees are to be replaced by oak trees. This is a relief I was afraid that it would all be turned into pine forest.

Did you know that some of the trees felled in France are shipped to China sliced up and turned into parquet flooring and then shipped back to France. I have even seen the Chinese lorries here in the forest of Fougeres.............Carbon footprints???

Madness.

My favorite word is oiseau.

New route

Routes forestieres des fermetures.

Just to vary things a bit today, we took a different walk in the forest. Last night when we visited friendsthey showed us an article in the local rag (Chronique republicaine) about the roads in the forest, soon some of the routes may be closed for good to cars. However this will not affect us greatly as we can skirt around the forest park up and take a walk.

Bastille Day

Back from the forest..and have emailed the lady who runs the French/English classes. We are doing a French?english quiz!!

Picture taken down one of my favorite tracks in the forest.