I Heart Colorful Corrosion . . .

.
.
.
If you have been visiting this thoroughly obscure blog for any length of time, you will know by now how crazy I am about the beauty in decay; the fabulous subtleties to be found in rusting iron and fading paint. Were I an artist who knew how to mix colors and create textures using brushes and canvas, I would dream of creating a surface like this first image here, purely abstract flows of joyously nuanced colors which perfectly complement. But I am not talented in the least with brush or chalk or pencil, I have only my camera to help me make the paintings I would like to hang on my walls. This one may just have to be printed out in large format sometime soon, I think I could gaze at it for hours on end. How about you ? Does it do anything for you ? What on earth is it, anyway ??? Well, just continue down to the next two, to reveal the secret. And let me wish you a wonderful weekend in the meanwhile.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
I was simply floored when I came across this rusting heart in a cemetery in a tiny village somewhere in the Oise, France. I think it deserves to be preserved exactly as it is. To let it continue to rust in the weather and finally crumble and disappear, would be criminal. At least these photos will remain.
.
.
.

.
.
.

Carantec . . .

.
.
.
Am going to ask you to accompany me back out to Brittany for another taste of the last trip there at the end of April. Somehow I never tire of travelling there, either virtually or in reality, and can only hope that you won't grow tired either of my minor (major) obsession with that far northwestern coast of France. Perhaps it is partly because Robert William Service lived out the end of his days in that region and is buried there ? Perhaps it is all the abandoned ships ? Maybe the beautifully rugged shorelines ? Or the bits of Breton language one still sees and hears ? The seafood ? The old family house we dream of keeping in the family, even though that hope seems dimmer with each passing year ? The sails of caravelles cutting across the Bay of Morlaix ? The glorious bliss of kayaking those waters ? The call of the gulls ?
.
.
.

.
.
Do you prefer the version above with more sky and gulls, or that below with more low tide seaweed exposed ? 
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

Reflections from Aachen . . .

.
.
.
It has been entirely too long since I last participated in a Weekend Reflections session over at James' place, so here goes with a couple of reflections I found yesterday while driving back home from Germany, where a certain chain of events kept me chained to a desk in Cologne for the last two weeks, with no internet connection and no time to go look for an internet café. But finally got back home late last night, and while driving back took a few minutes to explore the city center of Aachen, near the borders of Belgium and Holland. These votive candles were in a church there.
.
.
.

.
.
.
A little further along I spotted this ad in a store window, evidently done by someone who loves old VW buses. I had two old VWs like these long ago, and still have a soft spot for them, so was pleased to see their spirit is still alive in Germany.
.
.
.

I liked the collection of small bus models... Have a great weekend !
.
.

.
.
.
.