Pictures of the time

As at the end/beginning of every month, the Fox turns the page of our two calendars to reveal the pictures for the coming month.

The kitchen calendar is a freebie, sent each year by our travel agent. Last month we spent with a fabulous misty, almost autumnal, Tuscan scene. The sense of recession between the layers of mist, the columnar trees, the terracotta roof of the farmhouse, all captured something of Italy at its most attractive - a dream of Italy.

Now, in August, we've moved on to Mexico. This really is a naff image. The colour is odd. The sea looks a tempting turquoise, but the land & plants have an unnatural yellow colour cast. The construction of the picture is awful. It just some bit of rocky shoreline  with a crumbling building above. It could be almost anywhere. A bit of a dump. Definitely this would not tempt you to go to Mexico.

I can't help thinking we could have provided better pictures ourselves.. I presume this image of Mexico was cheap. It certainly should have been. Roll on September. Hopefully then we will have something more exciting.


Our other calendar, the one we bought for ourselves, to light up a dark bit of the hallway, is of the work of Tiffany. There is a paragraph of text telling you something of Tiffany & the way his glass designs evolved. The colours are bright, the images may be static but they have an early 20th century sense of style. This month we are looking at a poppy design, full of vibrant colour. Our only dissatisfaction is the inevitable one that the glass is designed to be illuminated with light from behind, whereas a print loses that luminosity, flattens the colours a bit. But even so, wow. This calendar cheers me up every time I pass it. It's a calendar I'm really enjoying. Last year's Gustav Klimt one I got bored with half way through to year. Not this one. At the end of every  month I look forward to discover what new image lies ahead.