Monday, August 30, 2010

The End of Summer . . .

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Slipping in here very late at the end of James Reflections Weekend, I didn't want to miss it, but as the Grenouille and our tadpoles got back from vacation this weekend, we had plenty of catching up to do. So here are a few more photos taken inside that lovely old house out in Brittany written about a couple of posts down here. Reflections illuminated by light that may have been bouncing around in there for two hundred years now. Where does the light go finally ? What is light ??? Particles ? Waves ? Magic ?
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Mirrors within mirrors caught by a photographer's dark lens . . .
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And looking out the windows of that home, perhaps even reflected in the windowpanes, are various views of water dotted with boats, or rarely, on a hot day in August, a beach dotted with the colors of people on vacation, doing all the things that people do . . .
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If there was a piece of music that I might include here with these images, it would be this, especially for the line in it where he sings :
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"In my heart there's an image
Like looking through glass
Could be looking at me
Could be looking right past
I don't like it when
I can't tell which is true
But I wouldn't trade the world
For that picture of you"
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Bruce Cockburn ; A Bone In My Ear . . .
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48 comments:

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Owen, you can post photos of that beautiful seaside home for a long time as it is just wistfully beautiful. I love the staircase and the mouldings and the views.

Your reflections show much of the warmness of that home.

Merci, for following my blog.

Passe une bonne semaine!
Genie

Owen said...

Hi Genie, you get the early bird award today... ! It's strange the way a house can convey emotions and moods and intense feelings... but they can and do... And "wistful" is a beautiful word to describe it, I always loved that word...

Catherine said...

lovely atmospheric reflections - mirroring the fact that the end of summer is always a sad time for me - it always means having to curb my extensive travels and return to school ...Greetings from mexico...

Catherine said...

lovely atmospheric reflections - mirroring the fact that the end of summer is always a sad time for me - it always means having to curb my extensive travels and return to school ...Greetings from mexico...

Jo said...

Oh, how absolutely wonderful. The light in that room certainly is magic, that's for sure.

What a beautiful place -- like a dream. :-)

Stickup Artist said...

I had been thinking about the end of summer. Not that we get much of a winter here but it can be seen on the mountains. I'm happy because it's the first day I could open the windows instead of running the air.

Well, and if that house weren't spectacular in itself, the setting, well words fail me! What a gem. Those paint tones, the moldings, the warmth of the wood. The curved elements. That VIEW! I can see why you love it so much.

You have taken me to a paradise with this post.

James said...

I'm so glad you slipped in before the cut off. I enjoyed seeing each one of these photos. I like the mix of inside and outside reflections and I'm always a sucker for reflections in reflections.

Thanks for very nice comment and I hope you have a great week.

The Sagittarian said...

What a wonderful view form that beautiful house! You get to some wonderful places, Owen, and thanks from the heart of my bottom for taking us with you! :-)

Owen said...

Saj ! The heart of your bottom ??? Oh dear me, I must be getting dyslexic...

Owen said...

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, if you have a moment, and if you so agree, please consider signing the electronic petition that can be found here to call for releasing Réné Galinier, a 73 year old French man who is in prison right now, because a couple of weeks ago he opened fire with his old hunting gun in his own house in a state of panic and fear on two burglars who had broken in while he was taking a nap in the afternoon. He did not kill either of them, just wounded them. But now it is him in prison, being treated like a criminal. Over 11000 people have already signed the petition.... which is here :

http://lapetition.be/en-ligne/petition-7914.html

Nathalie H.D. said...

Owen, thank you so much for sharing images of this beautiful home with us. The view is to die for!

Lydia said...

Nearly ethereal, these.

I would not in the slightest mind living there. :)

Anonymous said...

savoir mettre les choses en valeur est un art ! bravo pour ces photos toujours aussi belles ! j'aime les couleurs de votre interieur mais j'ai une préference pour la derniere photo ! ... Bye !

Steve said...

That is an absolutely gorgeous staircase. Makes me want to see where it leads...

PeterParis said...

The house ... and the view from it ... is certainly worth a lot of pictures and these ones are just perfect!

The way Bruce C is singing reminds me of another singer, the name starting by O!

Lynne with an e said...

Yes, very very hard to see this gem pass out of the hands La Grenouille's family, I understand even more fully now...not even to speak of the memories held there.

Also a favourite Bruce song of mine.

And speaking of bones, if I was an artist who drew lifelike pictures, I should like to draw your hands.

Clytie said...

The lighting is what makes the house so magical. A soft, subdued, magical feel to the air. Lending a warmth to each shot that rivals the beach outside!

Anonymous said...

Owen, maybe the place the light goes is to the lanterns. The magic ones that reflect outward and outward and outward.

I don't comment often enough, but I do so enjoy your thoughts and photos. You have an eye for finding the profound in simple, everyday things... some of which have been around forever.

And practically speaking, it's great when we get a glimpse of Owen.

CR

MARIANA COPELLO said...

lovely place!!!
I send an invitation by facebook to you.
Welcome to Un Mar sin apuros....

CiCi said...

More pictures of the older home. These just show even more what a lovely home it is. And what a view!!

Maggie May said...

wow that view.... those staircases...soothing

Virginia said...

Owen,
Just lovely photos. As always I appreciate your wonderfuly eye.
V

Snowbrush said...

My goodness, such striking photos, and lovely music too!

Owen said...

Hi Catherine, well I hope there are some good things about returning to school apart from it announcing the end of summer... although, I guess for some of us, for me anyway, a fantasy would be to be on summer vacation for the rest of my life... just out with the camera, quiet times with family, kayaking, hiking, biking... guess I'll just have to keep dreaming...

Owen said...

Hi Jo,
Daydreams hang very heavy in the air in that place. Hope your cold is gone now... Happy Start of September...

Owen said...

Hi Stickup...
It's always nice to get real air coming in the windows, rather than what's been through a machine...

I'm thinking you would like the area where that house is, and would find a multitude of subjects to photograph... Would love to turn you loose there and see what you come up with. No two photographers will look at the same subject the same way, no two photos alike... Hope we'll get to see that happen some day... Stick Up Artist on tour in Brittany... Or elsewhere in France... there are alot of beautiful places here...

Owen said...

Hi James,
Guess I just slipped in before the door shut on the reflections for this past weekend... I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you have done with that, allowing photographers like myself to share their work with a slightly broader audience... great job. I always want to participate, and have lots more reflections up my sleeve, but sometimes time slips away, what with daughters growing up fast here and all, etc etc... but I'll always try to make it if I can...

Owen said...

Nathalie, you are very very welcome, and given your deep roots in that general area, I'm sure you remember the sea wind and the smells and colors... I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to go there for the past 18 years now... and hope for a few more to come yet... I see why Robert William Service settled along the north Brittany coast also, and is buried there. (near Dinan, in Lancieux) Yes, you are completely welcome...

Owen said...

Hi Lydia, maybe you'll have to come over here just to do some scouting around to see if you like the area enough to want to at least buy a small vacation place, and come spend a month or two at least each summer ?
:-)
(far be it from me to want to put ideas in your head...)

Nevine Sultan said...

Oh, you and your magical photos, Owen! Magic magic magic! That top photo... the winding staircase... reflected in a mirror, no less. And the photographer's dark lens captures what is in the photographer's eye... so very perceptive and discerning. And I won't even talk about those photos of the water, because magic is not meant to be figured out, is it? Thank you so much for sharing these treasures... as you always do...

And light? Magic? Yes, Light is Magic. Absolutely. ;-)

Nevine

Owen said...

Lydia, PS, I love that word, "ethereal"...

Owen said...

Merci bcp Mahon, certaines choses disent haut et fort leur besoin d'être mises en valeur... après, le photographe n'est que vaisseau pour porter les images jusqu'à d'autres ports... merci...

Owen said...

Steve,
The stairs wind up, and up, and up. I once climbed for three hours, and seemed no closer to getting to the top, if there is a top... Could be that proverbial stairway to heaven ???
:-)

Owen said...

Hi Peter,
Funny you should mention it, putting this music in this post, the first music in a post here for a while, made me think there are a couple of other things that singer named O. did that could maybe appear here before too long... who knows... Looks like you had a fabulous time in Portugal... welcome back to our northern city... where it feels like winter is starting. 8°C tonight !

Owen said...

Dear Lynne,
I guess time will tell what will happen to this pile of stone and wooden floors & stairs & roof and all the brick-a-brack it holds from over the years. Hmmm, thought you might like the Bruce tune, given your proximity to him and all... As for my hands... you're welcome to draw them, or on them, as you wish. Almost none of my fingers are straight, from having broken most of them at various points in my young working life in the mines... Straightjacket lacing is better work...
:-)

Owen said...

Clytie, you are so right, the air in there has a special feel, which complements the outer world around it... almost radiates warmth and mellow tones... be well...

Owen said...

Hi Christine,
It has been a while... I'm thinking you are right, the lanterns somehow manage to absorb all the light going by, to then give it back off again in a hundred radiant ways, when the time is ripe. Hope you are well, I've had a crazy summer, and fall is looking nary better, have not been out and about the blogosphere nearly as much as I'd like...

Owen said...

Hi Mariana, muchas gracias for stopping by... I was looking through your past posts, and am simply enchanted with your style, your poetry in visions, raw energy, naked beauty... a rare pleasure...

PS : To friends here who enjoy fine arts, do take a look at Mariana's blog at :

http://unmarsinapuros.blogspot.com/

Enjoy...

Owen said...

Hi TechnoB... it is a pleasure to share this place with the wider world, it is unique...

Owen said...

Hi Maggie, it's been ages... do come by anytime for all the soothing you can absorb, we can all use as much soothing as we can get, in this wild world we live in... Best wishes to you for the end of summer and start of a new school year...

Owen said...

A profound thank you Virginia, how about we open a little bottle of red and drink a toast to fine old houses ???
:-)

Owen said...

Hey Snowbrush, hope you had a mighty fine summer, and glad you enjoyed both music and photos... we aim to please...

Owen said...

Dearest Nevine,
Mirrors, myriads of sailboat sails, blue-green-grey-turquoise ocean shallows, which change tones with passing clouds and passing hours... I can sit by that window and watch for hours. Before going to check on what is happening in the mirrors, some of which one can step right through... into other worlds... where all is magic...
:-)
Gosh how I wish sometimes this comment box was like the corner pub, where a few blog friends could get together for a drink and a chat of a weekday evening, and share a smile or two... but no, for now we are condemned to tap away at these keyboard keys, while the clock is ticking...
Bisoux...

:: Karine :: said...

vacances de rêves dans cette si jolie maison aux reflets enchanteurs grâce à toi owen adoré ! tu es un magicien :-)

Lydia said...

Owen, those are some of the best ideas I've read in awhile. Maybe ever. Will meditate in the ether on them. :)

Sar@h said...

Owen, tu as l'air nostalgique de cette maison. Le cours du temps se serait-il accéléré ? Craindrais-tu de ne point y revenir ?
Je suis admirative de la première et la troisième, ouvrir ma fenêtre tous les matins sur cette baie … a sweet dream ?

Sar@h said...

J'observe la quatrième et ne trouve pas mes repères, c'est un reflet, n'est-ce pas ? Je cherchais le môle, et j'y vois l'EVC !

La belle's said...

Thank you for those beautiful reflections of your reflections about reflections in the reflection meeting my reflections of reflections. Love reflection from...