Wednesday, June 25, 2025

The old bridge

Here's the bridge over the Cher at Saint-Aignan looking downstream. The new passerelle is on the other side; you can't see it from this angle. As you can see from the sign, the autoroute entrance/exit is across the bridge. It's a choke point for heavy traffic.

Very little traffic at this hour on a Saturday. A summer weekday, with tourists heading for the zoo, is another story.

Today is predicted to be a hot one, even hotter than yesterday. Yikes! 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it

I didn't go all the way across. I parked in the lot and was heading to the market and I wanted to get in and get out before it got too crowded, so I stopped here for a quick look at Saint-Aignan's château. It's built on the high bluff above the river. It was about 08h20, so there were very few pedestrians about.

The château at Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher.

Tasha was a good girl for the groomer and she looks great. I think she's getting used to the new groomer and knows what to expect. Yesterday was the third time with this particular groomer. Still, she was overjoyed to see that Ken and I were still here after it was over. I didn't take any photos, but maybe I'll get one later today.

Monday, June 23, 2025

Another view

Here's another view of the passerelle in Saint-Aignan. Its wooden deck looks pristine; I wonder how it will age. Time will tell.

There's an island in the river with a park and municipal swimming pool. Getting there on foot just got easier.

We're expecting Tasha's groomer this morning. Then she (Tasha, not the groomer) will get a haircut and bath and get all beautified for summer. I'm happy that the groomer makes house calls! 

Sunday, June 22, 2025

It's open now

The new passerelle is open! You might remember that a new pedestrian/bike bridge was built adjacent to the existing bridge this spring. The old bridge, still in service, of course, is the only link for crossing the Cher for many kilometers upstream and downstream of Saint-Aignan. Its two lanes and narrow sidewalks handle a large volume of cars, trucks, and buses in addition to pedestrians and bikes. Now the latter are removed to their own bridge, easing the danger a little bit for everyone.

The two bridges' left bank landing in St-Aignan with new bollards and fresh paving. There's a public parking lot behind where I'm standing.

It's interesting to me that we never saw any notification of the construction of a new bridge. Granted, we don't live in St-Aignan proper, but you'd think the neighboring towns would be in on the project, or at least just be informed of a major construction project like this. Our town council does a quarterly newsletter, but it's not frequent enough, nor informative enough, for that. Our administrative department does a nice glossy magazine every month or so. I usually glance through for local news, but I don't recall any items about the bridge. The newspaper in our area might have talked about it, but we don't subscribe, not even on line. Our bad. 

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Sleepless in Saint-Aignan

I'm up at 05h00 this morning. Well, out of bed. I didn't sleep a wink all night. I was up and down, out on the deck watching the stars, and watching for the neighbor's lights to go off (they finally did at 03h00). I think it's a combination of Restless Legs Syndrome and a sprained muscle in my right leg. I took some paracetamol (acetaminophen) yesterday evening, and it helped a little. But no sleep. It may also be my tendency to fall asleep after lunch while watching tennis on tv. I'm sure that doesn't help things.

There should be a picture here. Maybe I'll find one, maybe not. 

I'm planning a trip to the market this morning. We're out of egg rolls. Ah, life in France. In other news, it Today is the Summer Solstice! And also la Fête de la Musique! Fa la la!

Friday, June 20, 2025

Les grappes se forment

A bunch of grapes is called une grappe. A single grape is called un raisin. A raisin is called un raisin sec, "a dried grape." The verb used up in the title is se former which means "to form." The verb fermenter means "to ferment." Confused? It won't matter after a few sips.

The vineyard workers are busy as bees spraying against fungus, weeding, trimming, and otherwise caring for the crop while the weather is hot and dry.

We woke up yesterday to no running water. It happens from time to time. Fortunately, we've learned to keep a few liters of still mineral water in the pantry for taking pills, brushing teeth, making tea or coffee and such. The water came back just before noon.

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Oregano

It grows like a weed in the back yard. The original plant escaped from our garden plot and now grows wild in the vicinity of the apple trees. And it's spreading. When we tried our fresh garden oregano, we thought, "meh." It had no flavor whatsoever. But it kept growing and spreading, so we thought, "there must be a use for this." Then we tried it dried. Wow. What a difference.

Five levels of oregano in the dehydrator. Next step: removing the stems.

Now I pick and dry oregano every year and put it away for use all year long. Great stuff! We've also used the dehydrator for drying tomatoes and other things, but it's mostly for oregano. The plants are making flower buds right now, but they're quite edible and are fine dried with the leaves.