LE TOUR 2009: And so it begins

[L'histoire] Introduction

Many years ago [i don’t remember when] I started watching Le Tour de France. Sitting up late nights in front of the TV, I was mesmerized by miles and miles of green and yellow country side and the quaint French villages dotted along the path.

Some nights the tour was mostly flatlands and only broken by an occasional hypnotic field of never ending lavender, blurring into a purple haze as the bikes sped by. Other nights contained dramatic hillside views climbing high into the mountain ranges not far from the Spanish border. And some nights charmed me with Historic Churches, ancient Villas and glorious Chateaus, or simple country farmhouses popping up to greet the riders.

So you see, my interest lay solely in viewing France, not the race itself. Then along came Lance Armstrong, fighting back from cheating cancer, and from that point on, I must admit, I occasionally took some interest in the racing. [I hope this will be the year for aussie cyclist ‘Cadel Evans’].

But mostly, this annual event will always be a mini vacation, taken from the comfort of my lounge. A sleepy vacation in the wee hours of the night, noted by a blue hazy light flickering across the room and eyelids drooping from want of sleep.

This is my chance to dream of travel, and a simpler life surrounded by the beauty of the countryside. Thank you SBS for bringing me these dreams, year after year!

OH

I guess I should include a rider or two!!

Seeing we are starting at the beginning, so should the images. Here are some images from the very early years of this annual event. Starting with ‘Maurice-Francois Garin’ who won the Inaugural Race held in 1903.

[source]

I hope you too will enjoy ‘Le Tour de France’ this year

21 days of beautiful, glorious French Countryside. Along the way I will bring you a post or two to celebrate the various regions of each Stage. The first Stage this year commences in Monaco. Home of the late ‘Princess Grace’, the Monte Carlo Grand Prix and beautiful cliff-side vistas.

Please come back and join me for my own version of ‘Le Tour’

IMAGES: Vintage B&W Le Tour riders: http://www.letour.fr/ , Other colour pics: google image search

4th JULY WISHES: to our USA friends

Just a few images to say ‘Happy Independence Day’ to some new [and old] friends in the US of A. Enjoy your celebrations – and let the fireworks begin!

And just to help you celebrate I’m sending you some fireworks

. . . Sydney Style !!!

A little red

A little white

And a little blue

Have a Great Weekend !

[firework images]

GARAGE DAYS: vintage sepia finds

I found these photo in my garage. Not the car. Too bad.

I was rifling through some old things I inherited [read stole] and came across these fabulous old sepia images of mum and dad below. This is the ‘real’ sepia. None of my ‘fake it’ sepia to be found here. I don’t remember ever seeing this picture before which is strange, as my favourite pastime as a child was to dig into the back of my grandmother’s sideboard and ponder all the ‘stuff’ in there. That ‘stuff’ would now be the things we drool over. Vintage silver, glassware, my dad’s racing trophies and some lovely images of my mother’s ballroom dancing days. I have a few of these items stashed away and promise to take some reasonable photos to post one day. [i hope my brother is not reading this – need to stash the stash]

Now back to this image. I have no idea of the date, but assume it is the late ‘40’s. My father use to race cars at Sydney’s Oran Park racetrack ... so imagine it was taken there, or perhaps a picnic drive through the National Park.

Looks like mum fell for the guy with the fast life! I am sure my grandfather would not of been impressed. Or my grandmother for that matter, but eventually they must of caved in, as here I am today to tell you this tale.

And here is an inset of the detail.

Wish I could zoom in on that dashboard.

Funny the things you forget about. We kids [4 of us] were always playing in dad’s racing cars that sat in the driveway. Sometimes in working order and sometimes in disrepair. Either way to us, it was a lot of fun.

[image source – being Ruby]

Well I have not posted any beautiful interiors lately. My mind has been in other places. I do have a favourite house I want to show you, so I’ll be warming the scanner up for next time.