Appreciating Lancashire

Just a simple series of photos taken over the last few days.

Hope they show the county of Lancashire in a different light...

It's not all mill chimneys and flat caps, though there's nowt wrong wi' them!!

Evening sunlight...

I've just been out to capture the evening sunlight on some of our flowers. It adds such a vibrant, yet ephemeral quality...

 An one exception... a regular visitor for the time being... and doesn't the sunlight enhance its plumage?

Bats....

This morning I noticed some droppings near the front door..

And on looking up, I found the culprit and my goodness what a cutie it is!

The question is can anyone help us out with the I.D. please?

The most accurate measurement I can give is that it's about 5cm long. I'm guessing at Pipistrelle??

PS Following Susan's comment, I am adding two photos, one taken yesterday early evening and the second, early this morning...

Le Mariage de nos Voisins....

Samedi 23 Juillet 2016 

Le Mariage de

Maggy et Anthony

We were so happy to be invited to share this very special occasion.  

I don't think I've been to a wedding so full of fun. Maggy's "Oui" in the Mairie was immediate and strong, whereas Anthony teased with a thoughtful look and then a considered "Oui".. 

The humour continued in the church service. Thimeo raced down the aisle ahead of his mum, with a poster. He was going so fast we couldn't read it but Anthony showed it off afterwards. Basically, too late to flee; she's arrived!

A proud walk for Maggy's father...

The signing...

And because Anthony is a member of the Sapeurs Pompiers, there was a very special guard of honour..

And, of course, they brought their vehicle with them..

 And the star of the day? Thimeo!!

Nous nous souviendrons toujours de ce jour et merci Maggy et Maxence  pour m'apporter ces fleurs.

Nous allons vous manquer beaucoup Maggy, Anthony, Thimeo et Maxence

Bisous

May contain nuts...

Not only is the black and white woodpecker content with taking our hazelnuts...

It has started visiting the feeder next to the bird table, for peanuts....

It isn't even all that worried about our presence..

If anything, it is quite brazen about it!

Well, make the most of them, Woody; they are only in the feeder to use them up!

Duct Tape rules!

Those who have followed our blog for some time may recall our photos of a car held together by duct tape

Well the good (or bad) news is that the car is still alive and running...

though when it comes to running, it is not necessarily fully on the road, as we witnessed when we followed it home from Richelieu the other day..

It's a car, Jim, but not as we know it!

Tour de France 2016

What a fantastic day!

By 10:30 we  were installed in our camping chairs by the roadside at the approach to the commune of Orches. This was  Stage 4 of the race - Saumur/ Limoges (237.5 km).

We met up with friends and were soon entertained by the caravane publicitaire. As the name suggests, this is a convoy of amazingly constructed vehicles provided by the various sponsors. Freebies are thrown out to the crowd all along the route.

 

Then something we hadn't expected....

VIP helicopters landed in the field across the road from us...

The occupants were whisked into waiting cars to complete their journey!

We only had a short wait before the riders arrived....

After the first few photos I decided to use video instead, to show the sheer scale of the field and the support vehicles...

We came away armed with our freebies after we'd watched all the helicopters leave. 

A thoroughly memorable day!