Lights fit for a princess...

The lights on Princess Street and Princess street gardens, Edinburgh.

Sorry about the quality of the pics..

Indie music from Scotland...

Pauline and I went along to the 'Electric Circus' in Edinburgh on Friday night to 'Cancel the Astronaut's'  album launch, our son Michael plays synth in the band.Their self-produced album (debut ) is called 'Animal Love Match'. Now all they need is someone to sign them to let more people hear them!

The stage setting was impressive.

They were ably supported by good sets from 'Letters' and 'Shooting Stansfield'.

They were in good form and we all had a good night.

It was better live, my camera sound doesn't do them justice.

You can see more of their videos here

Church on Sunday...Notre Dame,Louans

Today we visit the church of Notre Dame in the small village (pop.600) of Louans, a church dating from the 12th century. The original nave of the church was destroyed by fire in 1897 and rebuilt in 1904. 

There has been a place of worship on this site since the 10th century.The current church is of generous proportions given the size of the village.

 It has a fine main altar...

...and some interesting side altars...

This one has a touch of 'Sound of Music' about it!

Don't know who this colourful lady is.

There are some nice examples of stained glass windows in the church.

Where's Joan...she's immortalised within one of the windows. 

                               

Keeping you posted...

For those of you out there who look in on my posts,thought I should let you know that leading up to festive season they will be less frequent than they have been, though I will try and continue to bring you a 'church on Sunday'

Thanks for looking in!

My little project...part V

The finishing touches...

I had a window I was recycling and was lucky enough to find it fitted with little or no adjustment which meant that I could turn one of the two doors into a window.

The inside needed re-pointing  and I had to build up under under the new window...

...which I did and I added a new door and that was that, project finished.

The nice thing was I got the nod of approval from my French neighbours which meant a lot.

My little project...part IV

It's all in the detail...

I did a bit of head scratching as to how to finish of the roof fascia before coming up with the idea of screwing flat tiles onto a wooden fascia board.  I got these in exchange for some of my time on a job at a friends property. I then had to come up with a ridge to cover the joint. Above is my 'Heath Robinson' approach to supporting the mortar required to do the job. 

The end result was, I think, fairly successful.

My little project...part III

On with the new!

I enjoyed this stage of the build - as progress was seen quickly...

Notice the 'attention to detail' with the zinc facing on the beam ends for protection.

I ended up with enough old tile to reuse from here and some I had kept back from the main roof.

I did have to buy the edging tiles - but it was worth it.

Church on Sunday...Cormery

Today's visit is to the 12th century church of 'Notre Dame du Fougeray' in Cormery which has withstood the ravages of religions wars and revolution, coming through relatively unscathed.*

 It was built by the monks from the nearby Abbey of St.Paul who, although they had a church within their own abbey complex, had this built to serve the non-clergy part of the community. The abbey itself which dates back to 791 was not so lucky with only parts of it remaining standing today.

Inside 'Notre Dame du Fougeray' has a 'solid feel' and it does not take long before you begin to appreciate its sense of history.

The alter is made from the local tufa stone and sits under an impressive collection of stained glass windows and statues.

These statues and capitals within the apse are very impressive, you can see them in more detail here

The plan of the church is the simple Latin cross without aisles with two side alters.

Its simplicity is one of its most redeeming features.

There is a cedar carving of St.Christopher by Raymond Dubois (1940)

Where's Joan...

She's here, probably in the best form I have seen her here in the Loire Valley.

The Romanesque features of the church are most predominant on the outside with the windows and apse.

The wall of the apse of the church has some interesting graffiti which appears to date from the 17th century.

The elaborate wooden canopy covering the entrance to the church seems to belong to a different era but this makes it none the less interesting.

If you go to Cormery to visit the remnants of its abbey community you should make a point of walking a little further out of town to seek out this very interesting church,

* The bell from the church was meant to be seized by soldiers of the Revolution to be smelted down but legend has it that the women of the town got them drunk while the men spirited the bell to safety. Apparently  it is now used within the cathedral in Tours.