Monthly Photo Challenge: September

One thousand, nine hundred and seventy-five miles and I am finally back home in Cornwall. Not spent enough of this month at home to do a challenge post on the Cornish blog, so here is a summary of my September elsewhere in the UK.

Colchester Castle
Colchester Castle

Starting with a wedding in Colchester, Essex and then winding slowly northwards along the eastern side of the country to Edinburgh, where I met up with the delightful restless one – fellow blogger Jo who has now retreated to her home in the Algarve for a rest. Finishing with a relaxing week in the “Country of the Big Trees” – Perthshire and a brief stopover in Shrewsbury to visit the mother-in-law.

The wedding went off fine, a lovely bright and sunny day after a couple of humid and grey ones so the ceremony and the buffet were held outdoors. A beautiful cake made up of dozens of flower-iced cupcakes, unfortunately I prefer my cake to have more cake than icing and this wasn’t the case. Looked incredible though. And neither the bride nor her father managed to trip over on the uneven flooring!

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Weather-wise it was a pretty good month. Began with hot and humid in Essex, a wet day in Norwich, sunshine and clear skies in Lincolnshire, back to hot and humid in Durham followed by a couple of days in the murky fog and damp, before becoming sunny and bright once more in Scotland. Rained pretty much all the way home, but you can’t have it all!

Glamis Castle, Scotland
Glamis Castle, Scotland

I will write about each of the places we visited in turn, once I have sorted through the hundreds of photos and caught up with stuff back home – not least the garden which appears to have gone wild during my absence.

[the header image is of the skyline in Edinburgh – for some reason the skyline caught my eye there more than anything else – all those spires and chimneys]

The Cardinal is continuing his photo project throughout 2016 – a blogging event, a monthly photo challenge. Read his blog for the new rules this year (he is running two versions) and to view his interpretation and those of other participants.

Lost at Sea

Paula’s black and white Sunday this week is ‘Traces of the Past’.

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This bronze by Jill Watson was commissioned by the people of Berwickshire to commemorate the women and children left by the East Coast Fishing Disaster of 1881.

The small bronze figures are the wives and children of Charles Purves, James and William Thorburn, three men lost at sea in 1881 from the fishing village of St Abbs. In total 189 men from the east coast of Scotland perished on that fateful day.

Thursday’s Special: Mirroring

The Jardin du Palais Royal, Paris, France

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This elegant urban space is fronted by the neoclassical Palais Royal (closed to the public), constructed in 1633 by Cardinal Richelieu but mostly dating to the late 18th century. Louis XIV hung out here in the 1640s; today it is home to the Conseil d’État .

See more mirroring over at Paula’s site

Thursday’s Special

Paula’s (Lost in Translation) challenge this week is Inflated

A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that  follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sail
And bends  the gallant mast;

~ Allan Cunningham

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Yachts on Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) at Montreux were struggling to catch any breeze to inflate their sails.

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and the strange low mist / cloud gave the impression that they were floating in the sky.