Just outside Dinan, Brittany, a jewel of a landscape

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By Norma Hopcraft

This jewel of a landscape could inspire your garden, your photography, your writing, your life! And there's a recipe for a French almond cake below to inspire your baking.

After hijinks, rascals, and medieval homes in Dinan, with all the history they evoke, we sought some quiet time along the River Rance, which runs along the edge of the city. Downstream from us, in the Port of Dinan, the Kiwanis jousting boats kept going, with Celtic bagpipes adding to the swirl and hubbub. But just upriver was a marvelously peaceful scene. We walked to the incredibly beautiful village of Léhon on a footpath that followed the river's twists and turns.

The path took us past a few scattered houses that seemed to have no means of access by car. 

The river was so quiet, it reflected perfectly.

I like how the bridge reflected until it looked like it was built in an oval.

The church for the little village of Léhon.

This is the scene in the heart of Léhon. I was dazzled by the beauty of a French village.

Ancient stonework. There's little in this world that's more picturesque.

Someone's well-loved flower garden.

There's Tibou, my French friend Martine's dog. He covered twice as much ground as we did as he ran ahead, then back to Martine.

 

A family enjoying a quiet moment on the Rance. 

How about you? Been on any woodsy walks lately? Did you recharge your creative batteries? Let's chat about it below in the comments section.

And now for the recipe you've been waiting for. My friend Marla, a personal trainer and yoga instructor in New York City, says it's delicious. She is the nicest person, which you'll be able to see for yourself at her website.

Almond Bars (Barres aux amandes). Courtesy of Watkins Pure Almond Extract.

4 eggs

2 cups white sugar

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons of almond extract

Confectioners' sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until lemon-colored. Add the butter, flur and extract. Mix well. Spread into a greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake at 325 Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 mintes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Marla advises that people add 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla and be sure to use salted butter. She recommends sprinkling the top with chopped nuts (of your choice) and a bit of sea salt. Also, you could drizzle melted chocolate on top.

What Hijinks in These Medieval Houses?

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By Norma Hopcraft

Today I have some shots that I hope spark your creativity and send you to your workroom or drawing pad, or simply to the kitchen to make a meal with a bit of je ne sais quoi.

I'm inspired by architecture, which is the art of light and space. People live and work, breathe and have their being within architecture. Let's take a look at some from the Middle Ages.

After the hijinx at the port, we explored at the top of the hill, in Dinan's centre ville. 

Dinan has a fine assortment of medieval half-timbered houses. Get carried away with me: these houses are 1,000 years old. They have witnessed the births and deaths of countless generations of Bretons. Families and friends eating, sometimes meagerly, sometimes feasting together. Marriages lived out, heartfelt prayers said. 

The walls, ceilings, floors get embued with the spirit of all these activities, creating an ambience for the next generations to savor. 

Here in the centre-ville of Dinan is a half-timbered structure, supported by more recent columns, I'm guessing. I went in one of these houses. They're dark. 

A detail from another half-timbered house in Dinan. How would you feel about having your house supported by timbers harvested 1,000 years ago?

A biscuiterie -- a cookie shop -- under the colonade formed by this ancient building. How French!

These timbers were fitted together with splices and pieces and who knows what. What are you piecing together today? Tell me, in the comment section. 

Splices and pieces and a more recent column below. Would you like to live in one of these spaces? I imagine that the lives lived within them leave a person feeling crowded with personalities, with stories, with hijinks.

 

These are the gates between Dinan's centre-ville and the port of Dinan. France is replete with these reminders of history, of times past, of the people who preceded us. What are your thoughts about ancient homes and walls and gates? What do they inspire you to do? Please feel free to comment below!

Hijinks in Dinan, Brittany

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By Norma Hopcraft

My French friend Martine, her little white dog Tibou, my sister Chris and I went from solemnity in the abbey of Mont St. Michel to hijinks in Dinan.

We'll get to the hijinks. First I'll show you picturesqueness. Walking through the center of the village of Dinan, we found the side street that descends to the river Rance and the port of Dinan (this village is quite a ways inland but it does connect to the ocean eventually). The street knocked us sideways, it was so powerfully charming. 

By the way, to be alerted when my next pictures from France are posted, sign up for my newsletter, at the upper right.

Everywhere on the descent to the river we enjoyed charming scenes.

The descent to the port on the river Rance is steep, but that adds to the charm. Can you imagine living your life in one of these houses? What a beautiful scene to come home to.

The roofline is so French too.

I experimented with black and white on this same shot. What do you think? Which do you like better? Comment below!

Hydrangea in glorious bloom graced our time in Brittany and Normandy.

The perfect windowbox and the perfect sculpture for a home.

A half-timbered home dating from the Middle Ages, maybe 1200 or 1300. Just down the hill, we enjoyed an amazing lunch of galettes (crêpes in the Brittany style, made with buckwheat). Mine had honey and goat cheese in it. So fabulous! A very memorable meal.

The French gift for making beauty against old stonework.

When we got to the port, we saw that teams from Kiwanis clubs in the region were practicing rowing toward each other and then knocking the jousters (note: on a tilted platform) off each other's boats.

 

Even though these boats were rowed by men and women, they moved fast, and each jousting encounter was over quickly. There was only one opportunity, one thrust, to knock off your opposition.

The next day, Sunday, we went back to the port for the actual competition. The boats' teams were now dressed in costumes, like these characters from a famous French comic book series, The Adventures of Tintin. 

Here's a sea captain, Captain Haddock from the Adventures of Tintin, with a fake pipe that glowed. There were Native American teams in loincloths, teams dressed as zebras and other zoo animals, etc. The Kiwanis teams used their imaginations.

This team is dressed as construction workers, plus the caller, standing at the bottom of the jouster's platform, dressed as a ....?.... traffic cone?

Bagpipe music (we are, after all, in Brittany, with strong Celtic roots) played at the start of each jousting session.

5.

Here's a team with the King of England, his subjects -- and polo ponies.

Here's a joust in full costume, with bagpipe soundtrack.

                             This guy was shoved into the water, which was the whole point of the day.

How about you? Would you participate if your local Kiwanis or Rotary or Lions Club got up to such hijinks? Comment below!

And sign up for my newsletter in the top right corner to automatically get the next installment: the picturesque center village of Dinan. Then more from Brittany. Thanks!

Beauty in this World: Sunrise at Mont St. Michel, Normandy

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By Norma Hopcraft

Welcome to my blog, The Traveling Writer. I have great stuff for you! For the latest, sign up for my newsletter, The Traveling Writer, in the upper right corner.

Today I'm featuring a time-lapse video of sunrise over the 1,000-year-old abbey on Mont St. Michel. It was made this summer by a young man I met on the mount who generously shared his video. I'll get his name if I can.

With so much difficult news in the world these days, please take a moment to witness some of the beauty, some of the good things that this world still offers.

For more beauty, adventure and creativity, sign up for my newsletter, The Traveling Writer, to the right.

Celebrating 1,000 Years on Mont St. Michel

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By Norma Hopcraft

Mont St. Michel celebrates 1,000 years this year. Which is strange because parts of it are far older than that. 

I have a brochure in my hand that says the history of the island is thought to date to 708 when a bishop had a sanctuary built on the mount in honor of the Archangel Michael. 

It became a major pilgrimage site. In the 900s, the Benedictines settled on the Mont.

So don't ask me why France is celebrating 1,000 years this year. But they are, and the official celebrations began the day we left in July and continued into August. We escaped before a giant wave of tourists.

But why quibble about a few hundred years? The Mont is spectacular, rising from an absolutely flat tidal plain. It has areas of quicksand, which doesn't stop people from walking around on the tidal plain. It usually gets just a few feet of water at high tide.

We spent one night (got a fantastic price from Bookings.com) so we could have the island to ourselves early in the morning. 

We were there in early July, very soon after the solstice, and it was light out until 11:30 p.m. The seagulls of the island made a racket until nearly midnight and started up again with sunrise. They must be exhausted in summertime.

During the Hundred Years War, the fortifications of Mont-Saint-Michel resisted all British assaults and therefore the Mount has become a national symbol of identify.

Only a handful of people live full-time on the Mont, which gets overrun with tourists--like me. One of the residents said the whole world is there and it's very isolating.

A view from the ramparts.

Ancient stone walls and thriving plants.

A picturesque door, steps, and set of lions to guard it all.

A shot taken from near the steps to the Abbey.

This fellow landed next to me on the North Tower.

Incredibly old, hundreds and hundreds of years, and so beautiful.

The view out my hotel window. This is a residence -- I watched the owners go out for dinner.

The Abbey high above the houses and businesses.

A perfect window.

I got up early in the morning, before the buses with tourists arrived, and explored. Up one path or staircase, and down another. It was sublime.

The Mont's namesake, the Archangel Michael.

Knights in shining armor are another popular theme here.

A view of the bay at sunrise, above the North Tower.

The wash of colors in sky and sea was stunning all day long.

The agapanthus were stunning in Normandy and Brittany.

Another unexpected visitor.

The Abbey at the top of Mt. St. Michel. The straight line you see descending on the left is the track where supplies were once lifted into the abbey.

Just something picturesque.

The cloister in the Abbey, which is still inhabited today with Benedictine nuns and monks. 

One of the Abbey's doors.

During the French Revolution, 5 prisoners walked inside this wheel to bring supplies up the track into the Abbey, which was used as a prison.

From Mt. St. Michel we proceeded to Dinan. What a hoot that was! Wait 'til you see! Comment below, if you please, to boost me in the search engine. Thank you!