Tag Archives: door

Thursday Doors – San Sebastian Aquarium, Spain

Posted on by
4

Continuing with the aquarium theme from yesterday’s Wander, today’s door belongs to the San Sebastian Aquarium. Located at the very end of the old harbour, the Aquarium was built in 1928, when much of the area was redeveloped.

And it has a rather spectacular door, don’t you think?

As well as being a rather wonderful place to watch the sun set…

This is my response to Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors Challenge. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the link.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more, you can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, A Thousand Rooms, is now available on Amazon. Visit my Amazon Author Page to see more.

Thursday Doors – Look Closer

Posted on by
13

This, one could say, is a fairly ordinary door. It’s old, certainly, the stone building it belongs to probably built a hundred years ago or more. Other than that, it’s fairly standard, with its carved panels and battered black painted finish. A door like many others around the world.

But look a little closer, and you’ll see what it was that drew my attention…

The handle is straight from a dark fairy tale, a woman’s hand holding an apple. Is it the wicked queen, tempting unwary visitors to their fate, or Snow White herself, frozen by cold poison for eternity, her glass casket replaced by wood and stone, waiting for her prince to open the door?

Or, is it just a really neat door handle?

This is my entry to this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the link.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more, you can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, A Thousand Rooms, is now available on Amazon. Visit my Amazon Author Page to see more.

Thursday Doors – Haven

Posted on by
23

img_4972I’ve been posting in Thursday Doors for a while now. Some weeks the doors have been grand, entrances to cathedrals or palaces. Other weeks they’ve been more humble, just like my door this week.

Yet a door, no matter the size or shape, represents possibility. None of us know what lies behind until we choose to open the door and enter. There’s a reason that Let’s Make A Deal, with prizes hidden behind doors 1, 2 and 3, is such an enduring pop culture icon. The idea of doors representing choice, a metaphor for change, is a powerful one. Doors often feature in fairytales, either with a caution that they are not to be opened (usually disobeyed), or as pathways to a quest, representing levels of wisdom or challenge. Spirits in haunted houses are said to wander through doors no longer there, perhaps symbolic of their status as lost souls.

And this little blue door, with its welcoming light, seems to represent a haven. Doesn’t it look welcoming, with the tiled path and the little arch, the plants and the golden light beyond? On a cold dark light it’s almost a beacon, a promise of respite for a weary traveller. This is not my front door – in fact, I have no idea who lives here. But it’s nice to think that, hopefully, they feel happiness when they see their front door, a feeling that they are home.

This was my entry to Thursday Doors, via Norm 2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the link.

If you enjoyed this post and want to read more, you can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, A Thousand Rooms, is now available on Amazon.

Thursday Doors – Ivy Cottage

Posted on by
29

img_4095This is a rather short and sweet Thursday doors post. I’m knee-deep in formatting at the moment (but think I can see the finish line ), so I haven’t been out and about so much this week.

However, on a short walk the other day I noticed this door. Actually, I noticed the ivy first, the the way it climbed so beautifully and how the red leaves contrasted against the green hedge below. I’ve been along this road many times, but never noticed the door before – it’s on the side of the house, rather than the front, a grass track running alongside.

So there are no history lessons or far-flung shores this week. Rather, just a reminder that beauty and inspiration can also be found close to home. It just takes turning your head at the right moment to discover them. 🙂

This is my entry for this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the link.

Thursday Doors – Overgrown

Posted on by
6

img_3502A while ago, I posted about a door that seemed to have been abandoned – the steps green with moss, ferns and branches obstructing the path. This week, I have another door which no longer seems to be in use. It’s in a rather old building – the adjacent barn is 15th century and I would imagine this to be a similar age – and is part of a school. img_3503

There is an entrance around the other side of the building, through the school gates. But this door, with its mantle of green, seems to have been forgotten. I wonder how long it’s been since someone walked through?

This is my entry for Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors Challenge – for more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the link 🙂

 

Thursday Doors, Silves Cathedral, Portugal

Posted on by
10

IMG_0371This is the main entrance to Silves Cathedral, Silves, Portugal. Originally built as a mosque during the period of Moorish rule, it was converted to a cathedral after Reconquista, with further architectural work completed over several centuries. This doorway was constructed in 1470, and is in a traditional Romanesque style. The doors themselves look rather like bars of chocolate, I think!

The Cathedral is located at one of the highest points in Silves, just below the Castle, and the road slopes quite dramatically out front, hence the slightly odd angle of the shot. It is a beautiful building, and I imagine, could the walls speak, it would have quite a story to tell.

This is my entry to Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors Challenge. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the links.

Thursday Doors – Museum of Traditional Architecture, Dubai

Posted on by
12

Dubai DoorThis door is part of the Museum of Traditional Architecture in Dubai. I wrote about our visit to the museum previously, as one of my Wednesday Wanders, but didn’t include this photo.

The Museum was originally a royal palace, now restored and preserved as an example of the traditional architecture of Dubai, before steel and glass took over what was once a small desert community. When we visited, we had the place to ourselves and a security guard took us from room to room, his pride at the accomplishments of his home country evident in the way he showed us around.

As you can see, the door is ornately decorated wood and, I can attest, is very heavy. I  love the screen decorations, and the way the colours of plaster and stone recall the sand that still surrounds the city, perched on the edge of the Persian Gulf.

This is my entry for this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit his site and click the link.

 

 

Thursday Doors – The British Library, London

Posted on by
28

IMG_1259 This is the main entrance to The British Library, London. Through it you can see into the central piazza, and the large statue of Isaac Newton (based on a drawing by William Blake). This was the meeting point for the first Blogger’s Bash last year, and I have fond memories of us all standing around and chatting like old friends, even though most of us were meeting for the first time.

IMG_1260 I went past the library this weekend past, which prompted me to take these shots. Someone had, rather incongruously, left a small baby doll propped against the open door – whether a lost toy or an artistic statement, it was hard to tell.

IMG_1261 The Library was created in 1973, as part of the British Library Act of 1972, and is the largest library in the world (by virtue of the number of items catalogued there). My own books are here – this is due to the principle of Legal Deposit, which dates back to to 1610. It states that the Library is entitled to a free copy of every book published or distributed within Britain, as are five other libraries, The Bodleian Library at Oxford, The University Library at Cambridge, The Trinity College Library at Dublin, and the National Libraries of both Scotland and Wales. While you have to send a copy of your book to the British Library, the other five libraries will only request a copy if required, which you then have to send at your own cost (and yes, this happened to me).

Thanks for reading my entry for this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. To see more doors or add one of your own, head on over to his site.

 

Sue Vincent – Writing Prompt – The Fairy Door

Posted on by
20

It’s Thursday, so I normally post a door as part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors Challenge (and I may yet still, it’s Thursday for a little while longer yet). But Sue Vincent over at  The Daily Echo posted a writing prompt based on this picture she took of a mysterious door in a stone wall, and it inspired me to do something a little different.

hobbit-door

Sue asked that we use a hundred words or less to describe what we think lies beyond the door. I started writing a poem, for some reason – it arrived quite quickly and so, here it is:

Beyond the door the pathway waits,

Through trees and tiny fairy gates,

Lined with velvet petals sweet

Mosses soft beneath your feet

Branches whisper as you pass

Trailing fingers through long grass

Singing sigh of leaves that fall

As you approach the elven hall

Twigs like fingers pull your hair

Vines appearing from thin air

To wrap you in a green embrace

Leaves to cover up your face

Music lulls you deeper still

Pulled into the fairy hill

There to spend your final hours

Bound amongst the scattered flowers

So take the pathway if you dare

You know not what you’ll find in there…

Hmmm. Well, it started off very sweetly but got a bit darker towards the end. Plus it is slightly over 100 words – I hope you don’t mind, Sue!

If you’re feeling inspired, head over to Sue’s blog and add your own response to her photo – the challenge is open until March 1st.