'Wagon Wheel' - Mark's big contre bass entrance!

The long awaited debut of our long suffering sound man Mark on le old contre bass and accompanying us on another of our favourite tunes 'Wagon Wheel'

Check out the clean cobble stones, recently hoovered by Janey Jane!

Gypsy

Jane n Mark are back and 'Beyond the Gap' is reformed! The way he's playing it wont be long before Mark will be performing with us on the old 'contre bass' but for now here's me and Jane doing one of favourite 'quiet' songs - Gypsy, originally penned by Suzanne Vega. Its a bit raw and totally unedited, the guitar really needs more treble but what the hell, we thought it was a good take!

Can I stay

Been a while since I posted a song on the blog so here's a cheeky but mellow little offering of another Ray LeMontagne song 'Can I Stay'.

Just a couple of notes for the attention of my dear father who I know keeps a keen eye on my posts but I gather has not figoured out how to listen to my songs! Just click on the white play arrow in the middle of the screen dad!

Oh and hope you got my birthday card for Saturday. Enjoy .... now you can scroll back and listen to all my songs, almost an album's worth for you to enjoy!

Spring at Long Last!

At long last I can stop feeding the log burner to stay in overnight, I can throw off the second duvet and I can stop walking around looking like Michelin man, shed the layers and get my T shirts out! It’s a far cry from minus15C, frozen water pipes and no running water but warm sunshine and temperature nudging 20C within 4 weeks is certainly very welcome. 

The flowers are beginning to emerge again in the hedgerows with Celandines and Snowdrops especially prominent from late Feb. Wild Daffodils and several other flowers that to be honest I can’t identify (will have to get the field guides out!). 

I tried to take some ‘artistic’ photographs of the Celandines recently and here are a couple of the best.

 
Feb 29^th was a particularly lovely day around here and I took the opportunity to grab my camera and binoculars and head for Le Bren. Highlights were a couple of splendid returning Marsh Harriers searching out a likely nesting site and several good butterflies including this Comma which was so obliging I'm sure it had just emerged from the pupae.

I shall be posting a bird report for Jan / February later this week and the Le Bren sightings will be included in that so I wont dwell on other avian highlights for the day.

Can't not mention this though - first Cuckoo of the year on March 8th (easily my earliest record) calling down by the river here at La Macherie.

A local singing Chiff Chaff on the 9th with 2 Blackcaps the following day were probably early returning birds rather than overwintering individuals and overhead Cranes have been wheeling North for the past 2 - 3 weeks along with Lapwings, Finches, Skylarks and a good passage of Golden Plover.

Shame I haven't been able to photograph any of these good birds. I've been trying to put a brave face on this and put it in perspective but for a photographer the sudden malfunctioning of your best lens is like watchmaker going blind! No need for the technical details but in brief, my 200-500ml Tamron lens decided one day last month to stop communicating with my camera and no end of cleaning of the electrical contacts and messing around will persuade it to start talking!

Not easy to take it back to the shop until I return to the UK but confident a repair will be forthcoming, at which point I'll be offloading in order to pay back the money I've laid out on this beauty (pic right) - the Canon EF 400 usm. The best prime lens of its kind and has been described as a 'belter' my some my fellow bird photographers. Not arrived as yet but eagerly awaited!

Nothing Ever Happens!



Been wanting to do a decent job on this song for ages and my sister and singing partner will crucify me for putting my stamp on the song before she can have a crack at it but couldn't resist a solo version (sorry Jane!)

New lens and 'Goodbye Girl'

I loved the band Squeeze, they were were a huge influence on me in my younger days and whilst I may well be biased, on repeat listening their music doesn't seem to age with time. I believe Glen Tillbrook and Chris Difford are still touring as a duo doing the occasional festival but their hay days with the band (including of course Jools Holland on keyboards) are long gone .... they don't get enough credit for my mind, so in my small way here's an attempt to revive a few memories - first of a couple of Squeeze songs, this is 'Goodbye Girl'

Hope you enjoyed that ... not 100% faithful to the original and that ending with a brief snatch of  'American Pie' just kinda happened and it sounded ok so stuck with it!

Second Squeeze song comming soon .... just deciding which one to cover!

Ok, on to things photographic and good and bad news. Bad news is that my trusty Tamron 200-500ml lens seems to have stopped working with my camera body (Canon 550d), something to do with a communication error between lens and camera ... might be sheer coincidence but this problem seems to have developed since I mounted another recently purchased lens - another Tamron (18-200).

Currently scouring the internet forums for possible fixes but no joy so far.

Good news is that the new lens is fab! Took it out and about the other day and took some pics in Antigny (a nearby small village with a semi famous Lantern des Morte, more of that later) and then in and around Montmorillon.

These are the Antigny pics.

The first 2 feature the Lantern des Morte (Lantern of the Dead) which is situated in the middle of the village. There are several similar small towers across the middle of France and although this one is perhaps not the most attractive of its type it is certainly one of the oldest - 12th Century. The origins and purpose of these constructions are not entirely clear but most common wisdom suggests that these were used to light medieval burial grounds. They all have entrances at the bottom and an opening at the top so that lanterns could be hauled up to shine a light on the dead. Most are situated on or near old burial grounds but not all, giving rise to another school of thought which suggest that over time Lantern des Morte is actually a mis-pronunciation and that these are actually Lanterns of the Moors - reflecting some kind of Moorish history and meaning. Like I say, its not clear but some of them are very fine looking and I like the element of mystery surrounding them!

Later on in the day I took advantage of the great light and took another stroll around Montmorillon. I've taken similar pics before but with my canon powershot but think these are much better.

The first 2 are of the Eglise de Notre Dame, with the second one 'artfully' hidden!

Here id a fairly typical view of the 13th Century bridge LeVieux Pont

Here we see a view of one half of Montmorillon from the top of the the Cite de Ecrit.

















And lastly here is the 'very difficult to find any information on' statue of the Virgin Mary with Child - I don't think it's that old and certainly the base looks 18th Century. Any comments re this statue's history would be very welcome as I drew many blanks when attempting to research!

Breton Horses

Have to say that I'm never been a huge fan of horses and less so since one stamped on my now departed Jack Russell dog (Rest in Peace, Benny boy). Very probably I'm being totally unfair to one of man's greatest allies in the animal world; donkeys aside, they are without doubt very graceful and intelligent creatures. They have loomed large in many of our endeavours, from the Greek myths to the dubious conquering of the Wild West. They have graced the the silver screen, theatre and pantomime like no other animal before them and without 'Horse' we'd be bereft of such treasures as the Grand National, Royal Ascot, the Kentucky Derby, Trooping of the Guard, Betting Shops, Horse of the Year show, Princess Anne and Gypsies (ah ... not all bad then!)

Anyway, I digress .... (equinely of horse!), and whilst on the subject I will be posting the best horse song I can find very soon ... oops digressing even more! Ok on to main subject .... I was strolling around finding a few new walks and found myself around the the village of Lathus. Quite nice, usual fields and rolling countryside ( not many birds) ... when I came across these gorgeous and very inquisitive Breton Horses. Took lots of pics and here are the best along with  a single, rather sad looking Shetland Pony that was sharing the same field.

Now then, all of these horses (there were 4 in all, including the Shetland) would insist on getting right up close to me and nudging me, probably thinking I had food .... but that's just it, my 'bete noir' about horses. Friendly and useful they may be but they have huge heads and hooves that pack a punch and I don't like that sort of thing getting too close and bearing down on me!