Sunday, July 18, 2010

Une libellule

That's French for dragonfly. There are a lot of these critters around in summer, but this is one of the biggest I've seen; it had une envergure (wingspan) of at least four inches, maybe more. It was hanging from a dried grape leaf out in the vineyard one morning a few days ago and didn't budge when I got close with the camera. I snapped a few pictures, but most of them were a bit blurry. This is the best I got.

A green and blue dragonfly soaking up the sun a few mornings ago.

Today is our town's annual festival, la fête des lumas (the snail festival). Now, we're not particularly known for snails around these parts so I don't know why our town has a snail festival. At any rate, it's not really about snails. It's a big flea market and music fest. There are two stages set up this year for performers that include singers and jazz groups, impersonators of famous French pop stars, flamenco and ballroom dancers, and comedians.

The festival also includes food at lunchtime and dinnertime. They will be serving snails, but also steaks and andouillette along with other stuff. I'm almost certain there will be wine.

I may stop by and have a walk around later this morning since it's a nice day. I'm taking Ken up to the train station for his trip up to see our friend CHM. I'm sure he'll be blogging about that as it happens.
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7 comments:

  1. Susan18 July, 2010 09:27

    It's a male Blue Emperor Anax imperator (l'Anax empereur in French) and there's a reason it looked like one of the biggest dragonflies you'd seen here - it is the biggest we get here.

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  2. Leon Sims18 July, 2010 10:44

    Walt - you live in a metric country - the wing span is 10 cm not 4 inches - BTW, fantastic pic.
    Any suggestions of French singers I should search out. Camille is my current fave.
    Leon

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  3. Seine Judeet (Judith)18 July, 2010 16:11

    Wow, that is a fabulous photo!

    I remember the previous posts about the fête des lumas (by your or by Ken?).... it seems to me that there was some explanation of the lumas part of the name, wasn't there?

    Judy

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  4. Rick Bettencourt18 July, 2010 16:30

    We call them sewing needles here. As a kid, the rumor was they would sew your mouth shut. I was scared to death.

    Great photo.

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  5. Suzanne18 July, 2010 20:36

    Beautiful photo. We also have those very large dragonflies here in our yard. When I water the plants they all come around. They remind me of my childhood too.

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  6. Starman18 July, 2010 21:19

    Do dragonflies have a purpose? HA HA @ Rick. I heard that lip thing when I was a kid.

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  7. wcs19 July, 2010 14:46

    susan, thanks! I always appreciate your knowledge of these things.

    leon, I know, but most of my readers are in the US, so I default to that. Often, I'll do both, but I didn't this time.

    judy, yes, that was by me in 2008. Lumas is a local name for a local snail.

    rick, I remember when I was a kid we called them darning needles. But I never heard about them sewing one's mouth shut! That's great!

    suzanne, :)

    starman, I'm sure they do. They couldn't have survived otherwise!

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