Chopper one

I was outside on the deck recently with the camera and this happened by. Helicopters fly by us on a regular basis. A friend once told us that they're usually gendarmes (national police) doing one thing or another. Sometimes there's a medical chopper that flies by. I think they use the river valley as a corridor.

I snapped a quick shot of the chopper flying by. I wonder who it was?

I called a friend in the U.S. yesterday afternoon to wish her a happy birthday and while I was on the phone the strangest thing happened. Bertie the cat hopped over the driveway gate with something in his mouth. A big something. He had caught and killed a rabbit -- a baby rabbit, but still, a rabbit (or more likely, a wild hare). I yelled for Ken to go down and retrieve it. Poor thing. I had to dispose of it over the back fence once I got off the phone. I'll spare you the photo I took of the cute, but dead, body with the eyes still open Oh, what the heck:

He or she was a cute little critter. That's life in the country. I wish Bertie would go for moles instead.

The other thing that happened while I was on the phone was that our neighbor across the way walked over to tell me there was going to be noise last night. Some of her grandchildren ("kids" in their early twenties) were coming to the house for an overnight party. As the kids started to arrive, she and her husband left to return to their main house in Blois.

Naturally, right at bed time, we could here the thumping of the music from across the street. It went on until sometime after one this morning. It wasn't too bad since we had the windows closed (a chilly night), but still, I'm sure some of the other more elderly neighbors were not pleased. In fact, I was up around the time the music stopped and I noticed the lights on in another neighbor's house, which is unusual. Apparently, these two neighbors have been feuding for decades. I wonder if she called the mayor (who is also a neighbor)?

The problem is that these kids live up around Blois in a more urban setting. I'm sure that when they come down here, to their grandparents' country house, they think that there aren't many people around and that nobody can hear them. But we can, especially on warm nights when windows are open. Oh well, an occasional loud party is part of life.

At least I didn't see any gendarmes!