The Normandy Photo Journal

Snowdrops 2023

2023-02-28T16:54:00.001+01:00

Despite everything, Ukraine, covid - and Brexit, the snowdrops still bloom.

On the border between the Orne and the Manche –

The Big Draught / La grande sécheresse

2022-08-09T18:51:00.002+02:00

A receding oak beam in the wall of a neighbour's préssoir (cider press barn) –

Raspberries. Drops of blood.

2022-07-05T12:04:00.000+02:00

It's raspberry time.

I look at them, and I can't think of anything but drops of blood in Ukraine.

The Man Destroyed. Ukraine

2022-06-22T08:25:00.000+02:00

This a a statue L'homme anéanti in the centre of Sourdeval, a village in South Manche.

The sculpture, in the colours of Ukrainian national flag, was made to show support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Dancing Moon.

2022-06-11T22:30:00.003+02:00

This is a nice Summer evening in Vire, canton Vire Normandie. The bronze statue of the first mayor of Vire René Castel dominates the small square in front of the theatre Le Préau.

He is holding a mushroom in his hand, but here I saw the moon dancing just above his inquisitive hand.

It was a long and jolly evening.

Shortages of cooking oil.

2022-04-24T12:30:00.017+02:00

Panic buying of sunflower and rape seed oil resulted in empty shelves in French supermarkets. (here, a cooking ingredients section in a supermarket in Normandy).

This is as a consequence of the war in Ukraine.

An Evening Visitor: Fire Salamander

2022-02-22T12:31:00.026+01:00

I don't know how they survive the hot dry Summer, but as soon as it's wet and reasonably warm these cute fire salamanders come out and sit on my doorstep.

Note: they are not lizards but amphibians, like frogs and toads.

More Snowdrops

2022-02-02T10:22:00.006+01:00

More snowdrops are opening everywhere where I know they should be.

The timing is right or just about.

What is curious, or even frightening, is that in a few well-lit places I've seen cherry blossom too! Now, we're only at the beginning of February!

Near Pont d'Egrenne, South Manche —

A Noon in Winter, in the fog

2022-01-29T12:29:00.003+01:00

It is noon, the fog is heavy.

I stopped to watch the sun struggling to give Earth just a bit of light.

Near Truttemer le Petit, Calvados.

Golden Sunset

2022-01-24T15:52:00.004+01:00

A sunset in Winter.

View towards Ger, South Manche

The setting sun is reflected on a wall of a cottage.

Snowdrops 2022 Perce-neiges

2022-01-20T11:23:00.000+01:00

First snowdrops of the year about to open in the corner of my garden.

©A.Anichkin 2022.

Snowdrops about to open in my garden

2022-01-14T12:25:00.006+01:00

Tinchebray in the Orne. A Sunny Winter Afternoon.

2021-12-05T19:19:00.002+01:00

This is the Grande Rue — High Street in Tinchebray, a tiny city in the far Western end of the Orne.

I was fascinated with the clash of artificial neon greens and the natural colours of stonework of the clock tower.

Golden Autumn in Normandy

2021-11-21T22:56:00.017+01:00

The colours of Autumn never stop amazing me. As well as the good maintenance of country lanes, presumably a favour to the farmers.

This is a petit chemin between Saint Christophe de Chaulieu and Pont d'Egrenne.

A Young Couple under Golden Arches.

2021-11-17T23:11:00.025+01:00

A young couple walking through the golden gallery of Autumn trees near the Vire railway station (Gare SNCF) in Lower Normandy.

Here, I liked how the sharp yellow line on the road was playing with the soft yellows of autumnal leaves.

A Late Cep

2021-10-26T16:35:00.001+02:00

Around us, in Lower Normandy, mushrooms keep going longer and later than anywhere else.

Here is a cep I found on a walk near the end of October.

A Misty Morning

2021-10-24T11:22:00.006+02:00

A misty morning in October, near Maisoncelles la Jourdan, Calvados

While the wife has a lie-in

2021-10-24T07:30:00.001+02:00

My Sunday morning delight.

Two eggs

cup of milk

lots of fresh basil

freshly ground black pepper

thinly sliced tomato

pinch of sea salt

Breton cream butter

cook on medium fire

preparation 5 minutes, cooking 4 minutes

October bounty!

2021-10-22T19:55:00.003+02:00

Ceps!

At last, after a long Summer and Autumn with no mushrooms at all, a great find — a bunch of juicy ceps!

Having a sumptuous meal tonight.

Bayeux. Anna Politkovskaya.

2021-10-07T10:52:00.066+02:00

In Bayeux, they award an annual Prix Bayeux to war reporters who distinguished themselves with striking photos of human suffering in the war zones of today.

There is a Reporters Memorial in the city, right next to the British War Cemetery and the Museum of the Battle of Normandy. The memorial is a long alley of white marble stelas with the names of journalists who died after the war, one stela for each year.

Whenever I am in Bayeux, I always go to the 2006 obelisk to say a quiet prayer in memory of my colleague, the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in Moscow on 7 October 2006 for her reporting of human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Blackberries and brambles.

2021-09-22T16:50:00.012+02:00

Actually, I was clearing brambles around the garden.

And it produced enough of blackberries for a sumptuous pudding!

Sur la plage en septembre

2021-09-05T21:22:00.001+02:00

C'était une journée chaude et ensoleillée à la plage, la mer était chaude et agréable.

Peut-être, le dernier jour de la saison balnéaire.

Plus tard dans l'après-midi, la brume est venue et a rendu tout magique

(près de Breville-sur-Mer, la Manche)

A theatre evening with rain

2021-09-05T10:24:00.018+02:00

At the end of the opening show of the season at Le Préau in Vire, a sudden mighty downpour with thunder and lightning.

Le Préau is one of France's National Centres of Drama.

Le Café du théâtre is right in front of the theatre.

Lavender Summer 2021

2021-08-27T14:04:00.009+02:00

Bees, bumblebees, butterflies — and a humming bird moth!

They all congregate on a small lavender bush right outside my front door.

Between the sky and the sea: walking on water

2021-06-28T09:54:00.001+02:00

Natalia writes: "Between heaven and earth ... for the first time I managed to "catch" in the picture - what happens in the soul on every walk to the Mount of Archangel Michael on the seabed of the retreated ocean."