Tower and Tree

Once again, unable to take a picture, so another old one from my trip to France. This particular photo was taken outside the chateau Chaumont-sur-Loire. We arrived there in the misty drizzle of a grey February morning, only to find that our tour guide had gotten hours mixed up or something, and there would be no one at the gate to allow us into the castle for about an hour. We all went our separate ways then, wandering around the vicinity, and for me, that meant a really beautiful long, solitary walk in the first greenery I'd seen since getting to France. So I'm not complaining!

It's Friday, so this picture is the obligatory nature piece, but it's also Friday the 13th (so glad I got my teeth out yesterday and not today, eh? ;) ) and so I wanted to go with something that had kind of a creepy look to it. Beautiful as this castle and estate were, I think the castle tower with a lonely, barren black tree are also pretty Friday the 13th-ish!

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Screaming Gargoyle

Sorry this is so far after the fact, but I had an unexpected emergency extraction of all four of my wisdom teeth, two of which were impacted. Not exactly fun times, and I wasn't quite capable of getting a photo up here. I was also incapable of taking photos, so you're getting another old one for today.

This gargoyle graces the courtyard of one of the chateaux in the Loire Valley, which contains over 300 such castles. We saw several in a matter of days on my trip, so forgive me if I'm not one hundred percent certain which one this was from! I'm pretty sure it's Chambord, as I believe that was the first we went to, but either way, they all have a certain similarity. The expression on this mossy-backed fellow's face is about how I feel now the Vicodin's wearing off...

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