Tails From Provence

Sunday Stills – Holiday Lights and Decorations

The French have too much class to do garish lights, so it’s just as well I’m in California for this challenge!

Most houses in this town have some sort of light display going on so I was sure I’d find a few shots without too much trouble. Unfortunately, though, it’s been pretty wet for the last couple of evenings, so today was my first (and last) chance to go out with camera in hand and try to capture a flavour of the lights.

I found a (sort of) horsey one. This one is just for for Kris, Emma and Ramsay, to wish Ramsay a continued recovery :

This house is just a few minutes walk from my sister’s place :

I started using my camera in manual mode after that one, though, deliberately underexposing a little, which I think worked better.

I like the shameless crassness of the giant inflatable figures!

but I loved the simplicity of this porch

and if it’s simplicity you’re looking for, you can’t beat this one :

Joyeux Noël, tout le monde!

Visit Sunday Stills for more Christmas decorations from all over the world.

See? Horses!

This is meant to be a mostly horsey blog with a Hiberno-French flavour, but it’s hard to keep the horsiness and the Hiberno-Frenchness going while I’m away in an American city with my non-horsey family for Christmas.

There’s a nice walk near the sister’s house which runs alongside a pretty creek.

It passes reasonably close to a horsey establishment, close enough to hear the horses neighing but not close enough to see them.

I went for a walk with the YD, who used to be horsey but isn’t now. She’s the little dot in the middle of the picture. (She wanted to run and I wanted to walk, so we compromised – she ran ahead for a bit and then walked back to me, then ran again when she got her breath back.)

There were plenty of these guys around

which are cute but not horsey.

Then we found a horsey sign – WooHoo! I heartily approve of the sentiments expressed in it :

but why are drivers not required to Yield to Equestrians at all times?

On Wednesday, we had a touristy day and went to Monterey, one time home of the writer John Steinbeck, author of The Red Pony (amongst others). Ok, that’s a horse connection.