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. 

Repère

One day, many years ago, I saw one of the people that worked in the vineyard out back tying red and white flags similar to this one pictured here and there at the end of certain vine rows. I asked what they meant and she told me, "Ça sert comme repère pour Bruno (They're markers for Bruno)."  Bruno is the guy who owns the vineyards and who, back in the day, regularly drove the huge sprayers and harvesters up and down the vine rows. The flags mark which rows he should drive the machines into. The sprayers can cover six to eight rows with each pass. It's helpful not to miss or repeat a row. And every year or two the flags need to be replaced.

The big machines straddle the marked row and spray three or four others on each side.

It's still cold, but we should be in for a warm-up as the week goes on. How much of a warm-up and for how long it will last remain to be seen.

Grape flowers

The grape flower buds are on the edge, ready to bloom any day now. Especially if we get a little warm weather. The forecasters say it'll be warmer and more seasonable as the week goes on. That would be nice.

Each one of those tiny round buds is a flower.

Meantime, we're still dealing with unseasonably cool days. If it does get warm by the weekend, I'm certain that lawn mowers (including mine) will be out in force.

A little quickie.

Errr... make that quiche. It was yesterday's lunch, made with spinach, cheese, and little chicken nuggets. Yum!

I made the crust, Ken made the filling and took the photo.

 

It's winter again

The central heating is coming on nearly every morning now. Morning lows are in the single digits (celcius). This morning I built a fire in the wood stove. Wacky!

Sunrise over our hamlet this morning.

 To add insult to injury, I'm wearing a knit cap, scarf, and gloves on our morning walks.