To market, to market

I did get to the market on Saturday. The strawberries are plentiful and beautiful right now. I also got a couple of avocados for making guacamole. I also got some sausages for grilling (most of them went into the freezer).

Climbing up the stair toward the castle.

I parked down by the bridge so not to have to deal with parking in town. I took the stars up toward the château then the wide drive down into town (on foot; the drive is closed to vehicles). Along the way, I stopped to have a look from the terraces and notice my car parked down below. I didn't plan it, so it was a nice surprise to see how the car lined up perfectly with the view point below.

Looking down toward the river from the view terrace. Can you spot my little blue car? It's parked just left of center in the photo.

As planned, I mowed the west forty yesterday. Today I'm planning to finish up by cutting the north forty. There's also a little detail work to do; I've done a little of that each day with the walk-behind mower. I wonder how soon it will all need cutting again? 

High five

Here's my last photo of the balloons from last Thursday's sighting. I have a few more, but it's just more of the same. There is a somewhat local balloon fest, or race, or rally that takes place each year in our département (Loir et Cher) so I'm thinking that's what we saw. I suppose the covid pandemic shut it down for a while. I'm glad it's back.

There were many more balloons than these. If I remember, we stood and watched for about half an hour.

Meanwhile, our heat wave continues and is expected to keep on continuing for at least the next three days. I cut the south forty yesterday and it looks pretty good. Today I'm thinking I'll do the west forty, and then the north forty tomorrow. Another chore that needs to be added to the queue: power washing the deck.

Three's not a crowd

There's plenty of room in the sky for hot air balloons! I've never ridden in one, nor do I expect to in the future. I would have, I think, when I was younger. But now... not going to happen.

Smooth sailing! Again, the movement is from left to right.

It feels like summer! We're expecting highs in the low 30sC (approaching 90ºF). Hot! By the way, Roland Garros (the French Open) tennis tournament gets under way today in Paris. Keep Kool!

And then there were two...

I heard more burners whooshing as two more balloons came into sight. Ken moved outdoors to take a few photos and I remained in the guest room. Two more balloons floated by. Back when balloon sightings were more frequent, it wasn't uncommon to see more than one in the sky. But usually they were spread out a lot more than this.

The balloons were moving left to right in these views.

I did get out yesterday to cut some grass. I'm hoping to get more done today. But, first of all, a trip to the Saturday market for some strawberries and who knows what else. This is a three day weekend (Pentecost) so I'm expecting the market to be crowded. We shall see.

Montgolfière

In English, it's a hot-air balloon. Early on Thursday morning we heard the familiar whoosh! of a hot-air balloon's burner. It was near by. We rushed to the windows to get a view. There it was out over the vineyards behind our house. Balloons were a common sight around here before the pandemic. Then they became a rarity.We enjoyed watching this balloon pass through our neighborhood. Little did we know that we were in for a treat...

A hot-air balloon graces our view to the west. But wait... what's next?

Our days are warming up as predicted by the weather folks. It should be increasingly warm through the weekend. Yay! One of our neighbors was already out there in the early evening mowing. I'm planning to get the mower out today.

The lone poplar

All leaves are in place as we head toward summer.

Maybe we can put away the scarves and knit caps?

Today's temperature is expected to reach the high 20ºs and increase further into the weekend. That's downright summery for us. There's a long list of chores on the list. Among them, grass cutting and window washing. I actually got the north side living room window washed (inside and out) yesterday. 

Fleurs de printemps

I don't know offhand what these are called. They grow as a shrub against one of our neighbors' fences.

Flowers in a neighbor's garden.

We're still waiting (and hoping) for a warm up this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.