La Mare

There is a little duck pond outside our back gate. It's called une mare in French. When we moved here in 2003, the mare looked like a large puddle filled with brown water and there wasn't much vegetation around it. It looked pretty sad. It was the year of the big heat wave.

La mare aux canards, between our yard and the vineyard.

Over the years, however, the mare has come to life. It's full of frogs, little fish, and water plants are taking it over. I've even seen a pair of colverts, or mallard ducks, hanging out on the water from time to time. And the water looks a lot better than it did when it was brown.

This past spring I saw a guy pull up in his van and get out a fishing pole a couple times. I don't think one is supposed to fish this little pond - I can't imagine what kind of fish would be in there that someone would want.

There's a fence around the mare with a sign affixed that says, "Réserve incendie." That means that the pond is there as a water supply should firefighters need it. It often freezes over in winter, but I've never tried to walk on the ice.

I wonder if the town will try to clean it up as the water weeds take over?