Thursday, May 08, 2008

Apple Blossom Morning

Today, Thursday, is the 8 mai, a national holiday in France commemorating the surrender of Germany and the end of the Second World War. No school, no work, lots of traffic. It's the beginning of a four or five day weekend for many French families.

The last of our five apple trees to blossom in the yard,
seen against the morning sunshine.

Not so for us. We're still working in the kitchen. Don't worry, we're not working that hard. And the vintners are working, too. During my walk this morning, I saw and heard more than a couple tractors out plying the fields. Bruno D. was out applying sulfur to his vines to guard against le mildiou, a parasitic infestation of the leaves that resembles mold. The word comes from the English mildew.

This morning the sun was up and shining through the leafy branches. The spring blossoms and wildflowers are at their peak, I think.
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5 comments:

  1. MilkJam08 May, 2008 12:30

    i'm delurking - i love your guys' blogs! beautiful pictures and i've loved looking at your pas trips around france.
    that brings me to my quick little question:
    i was wondering if you could give me some advice... i'm heading down to Montpellier next week to visit a friend, but she'll be working 2 of the days i'm there so i'd like to do some day trips - i was thinking avignon and carcassonne. if i reserve the tickets now they're cheaper, are those places where you need a good full day to see everything? i've never been down south before! so excited!! :-)
    thanks!!!

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  2. chrissoup08 May, 2008 16:06

    Full day for Avignon, definitely. The Palais du Papes is worth the time (and I'm not a big castle person). Not that you asked ME. :-)

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  3. Anonymous09 May, 2008 00:06

    Carcassonne is easy in one day, an afternoon unless you really like torture chambers. The city is beautiful but once you've seen 13 towers the other 28 are not that big of a deal, of course I exaggerate but what would life be like if we only had reality to console ourselves with.

    I wrote a post about Carcassonne on my blog. It is worth the effort to go.

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  4. wcs09 May, 2008 07:13

    milkjam, check out francetales comment above. I don't know Carcassone that well, but his advice sounds good. As for Avignon, I think you could easily enjoy a whole day there (lunch included!).

    chris, yes, I never went inside until after several visits to Avignon, then I wondered why I had waiting so long. It's great.

    owen, thanks. Also, good luck with the scones! Let me know how they turn out. And my transportation planning books are safely boxed away. No danger of that happening!

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  5. Anonymous16 May, 2008 13:50

    As I spent a lot of time in NOrmandy as child, blossoming apple-trees, are one of my favourite sights, one that I missed this year. Thanks for this photo.

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