Walking in Our Own Footsteps

As much as this has been a trip about food and wine, and scenery and souvenirs, it has also been about history.
A small taste of the history of man…

We have been to the caves of Neolithic Man in Peche Merles and stared in awe at cave paintings that were done 25,000 years ago

Walked among the standing stones of the Megalithic Period in Brittany

Traipsed through the ruins of a Roman town in Vaisons Romaines

Climbed the battlements of a Chateau of the 13th century

Touched the timbers of a medieval village

Sat quietly in a church of the ages

Stood in awed silence at a monument of The Great War

and sat in saddened silence on the beaches of WWII




We have seen art and architecture; creations of man through time and been awed and inspired at every turn; I have the seen the best of man, and I have seen the worst.

When I read history books or walk through interpretive centres and museums I listen and read with interest the information that is presented. Archaeologists and scholars put much effort into deciphering the things of the past, interpreting and assigning meaning, endeavouring to give us insight into past lives and previous cultures. I listen with interest and am enthralled with what I see but I take it sometimes with a grain a salt.

I do that because all we really know of the past is what it chose to leave behind.

How Do We Get There?

When we travel together, Marc and I, we quickly fall into a routine:
how we pack the car is figured out and then done the same each day - him
a snack bag is established - him
who will carry the cork screw and open the wine - me and me
who drives - him
and who navigates - me

It all works really well, with the exception, sometimes, of the navigating...

I am usually working from at least one map, but sometimes two while he likes to drive by the sun.
None of which always work, especially when you throw in French traffic circles.
I can't quite figure out the signage for them either… sometimes it all works lickety-split, map and signs in tandem and we zip along at great speed, chatting and enjoying the countryside.

But every once in awhile it all goes awry…

Today presented a totally new scenario, which we are still puzzling over…

We were making our way to Locoronan in Brittany

a particularly lovely medieval village, preceded by Douarnenez on Highway D7. As we approached Douarnenez, the first circle presented no options that were obvious, and by default we always then choose "Direction Centre Ville", believing the signs will lead us in and then right back out again.
Thanks to a great deal of road work, we were taken off the beaten path and landed in a maze of narrow, cobbled streets, seemingly going nowhere. Out of the corner of my eye I spied the water (it's at the seaside) so I suggested we head in that direction - most cities on water have a lovely road that wends it's way along the water's edge that will usually provide directions at some point.
No go, we landed at the port.

We did eventually find the lovely road but it was one way and not ours.
We turned right and then left, thinking we would work our way in the direction we wanted to go but the road kept getting narrower and narrower. I was no longer watching for signs as we were now driving down a street that had high buildings on each side and barely a foot of clearance on each side of the car, with a brick wall at the end. Nowhere to go but forward and hope for a turn - which thankfully there was - a perfect right angle. A slow careful turn later, and we were about to sigh with relief when we saw a lady seated on a chair, her back to us. As Marc tried to avoid her I saw the steps of a building to the left, "You've got stairs!" I shouted.

 

We managed to avoid both and finally came to an intersection… where all three of the other streets had "Do Not Enter" signs!

We sat there for almost a full minute trying to take in what we were seeing.
We had just run the gauntlet of driving in France and it's all "Do Not Enter"???

We did eventually get out of there, and laughed for quite a time about how three steps in front of a building can become an obstacle.

I'm not feeling so bad about it all though -

I am thinking Douarnenez could even confound GPS!

Battle of the Somme

I'm a little out of order here but there it is - I am on vacation after all.

After Vimy Ridge we headed down to Beaumont-Hamel to see the site of the Battle of the Somme.

This was a markedly different battle than Vimy and Passchendaele; the Somme was originally lost, and lost badly.

And call me crazy, but you can feel it there, as palpably as you can feel it and see it too, in the roughness of the grass.

This is a battlefield that draws you in, you can walk through the trenches, and there is a path around the perimeter that takes you in turn, to the Newfoundland Monument,

Here the messengers ran from Officer to men and back again, reporting positions and relaying orders. The trenches zigzag to keep the enemy from determining the actual location and direction and there are trenches themselves  zig-zagged all across the battlefield.

A messenger in WW1 had a life-span of 3-5 days.

It was a volunteer position, but the soldiers were unaware of the of the statistics - they volunteered because Messengers were permitted to sleep in the tunnels, away from the mud and the artillery.
But Messengers had to wear white arm bands so they were easily identified and given right of passage  - but it was those white arm bands that also made them easily identifiable to enemy scouts and they were a primary target.
Knowing the odds, Officers often dispatched four Messengers with the same message, in the hopes that one would get through.
I saw where they slept in the tunnels and believe me it was no place of comfort. All I could think of was if this was better, how bad was worse?

Messenger Trench

 

1st Commonwealth Cemetery

 

Scot's Monument

 

2nd Commonwealth Cemetery

 

You see all this and more, all the while walking amidst the pockmarked battlefield, scarred by artillery and mortar shells.

Sheep are used to keep the grass short; the undulations of the land remove all possibility of using any kind of lawn mower but it is more important to leave the landscape intact with it's scars than to ease the maintenance of it. The sheep are also used at Vimy; the difference is that there they add a sense of peace of tranquility, but in the Somme it is different. Here they are noisier, head-butting for space, as if they too feel the malaise in the air.

As we walked the trails I couldn't help but also notice the crows. They too were loud and angry, calling fiercely to each other across the tree tops and created the worst din I have ever heard from birds. I raised my head and yelled at them - did they not know where they were? What it meant? 

There was silence but only for a short time and then they started again...

The Somme does not sleep, not yet...

Lazy Beast

Fresh bottle of wine, new attitude.

Me that is, not Bozzy!

Photoshop is a truly humbling experience, but then so is this cat...

He is so daft, as soon as he hears the door to the stove open he comes running. And if his pillow isn't already parked in front of it, he'll sit in the spot and stare at you until you fetch it.

About a half hour after this picture was taken he was sprawled out, head off the pillow on one end, legs and tail dragging on the floor at the other - methinks yet another, larger pillow is in order.

It took about three days and thirty tries to get this edited, texted, re sized and saved. It wouldn't upload to the blog, so I fiddled and saved some more. I saved it under so many different names: Bozzy 1, Bozzy 2, Boz 1, B 1, (you can see an abbreviated pattern developing) and so on, and so on... and the one that worked?

try.jepg

There's A Land - Oh, It Beckons and Beckons

The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service is one of my favourite poems.

I have always liked the easy rhythm of verse, especially because it makes his poems easy to remember!

 This is not Service's cabin in Dawson City, but one of a long-time Yukoner that lives here in Whitehorse and I love it.

What character in such a tiny little building...

Cabins like this used to be commonplace in Whitehorse and area but have fallen into decay over the years, crumbling and falling back into the earth. Not Cora's. She lovingly maintains and cares for it and it is a beautiful little gem, tucked up on the shores of Schwatka Lake, within earshot of Whitehorse.

And no cabin would be complete without the woodpile... there is a real art to stacking wood so it stays in place!

No! There's the land. (Have you seen it?)
    It's the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
    To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it;
    Some say it's a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there's some as would trade it
    For no land on earth -- and I'm one.

Tomorrow I leave and begin the journey home - should be arriving Thursday so will be able to get back to visiting all my favourite blogs - I have missed you all!

Josie's Turn

A few months back I did a post "Bozzy Gets A Brand New Bed", where I showed a photo of his new suitcase with a soft cushion just right for a kitty cat to sink into. (He had decreed his old suitcase too small so I had found a new one at the local antique shop.)

He took to it like a duck to water, but only when I was in my Sewing Room.

One day Josie found it (she's our cat with ears; Boz is without) and as she is the queen of sleeping cats, made herself right at home. She didn't even care if I was in the room - you would find her in the suitcase at all times of the day or night. And Boz didn't seem to mind - at first. 

But then he did.

So I got out the old little one...

And now Josie has her very own highly portable cat bed.

Trouble is, I don't have room on the floor of my sewing room for two!
I suspect location will be the next issue...

Bozzy Gets A Brand New Bed

Years ago I saw a magazine article on recovering old suitcases with tapestry fabric. Two days later I found just the right suitcase at an antique store. I brought it home and laid different fabrics in it to see what would coordinate with the interior and as soon as my back was turned, Bozzy the cat jumped in, curled up and pronounced it his. It has been his ever since!

I noticed lately he didn't sleep in it as much; it seems in his old age it isn't big enough to really stretch out in.

Last week I found a bigger suitcase at our local antique store - it has a grey exterior (which I quite like) and a claret interior (which beautifully sets off Boz's hair). I brought it home, put his favourite blanket in it, and in he went and promptly curled up.

Today I found some flannel fabric that would look alright (for those of you following my fabric reduction program this took up 1.5 metres) and made a pillow insert.

Bozzy isn't sure about it so he wouldn't stay in long enough to get a picture but I am hoping a little catnip will do the trick.

I also spent some time today reading up on photography tips and I practiced on my fabric tag - I think this is a better photo than the one in my previous post!

Now I'm off to wash the patio - the streets have finally been swept and I think there is a chance it may stay clean for a day or too!