Monday, September 24, 2012

Hôtel de ville

This is city hall in the nearby town of Montrichard. I had a banking errand to run the other day and the main street through town looked very pretty in the early afternoon light. So I snapped a few quick photos.

Three-fifteen in the afternoon at Montrichard City Hall.

We had a rather abrupt and violent thunderstorm yesterday evening. Lots of wind and rain and quite a light show. Thunderstorms weren't really predicted where we are and it took us a little by surprise. Just after the storm we noticed something flying around in the loft room. At first we thought it was a little bat, but then noticed that it was some kind of giant moth, as big as a small bird.

I thought it had escaped through an open window until it woke me up knocking around the room at one o'clock this morning. I got up and turned a light on. Sure enough, there was the moth. After chasing it about a bit, I got it scooped up into a plastic container and let it go out a window. No photos, unfortunately.

9 comments:

  1. Giant Peacock moths are the ones usually mistaken for bats. Scientific name Saturnia pyri, French name le Grand paon de nuit

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  2. ah..the sun.....look at the sun!
    I have missed it

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  3. Oh, now that is a beauty of a photo!

    Susan, I was hoping you would be able to chime in with a probable ID on the giant moth. :)

    Good job, Walt.

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  4. What a man! I think I would have checked into a hotel. The thought of it possibly being a bat... Ugh!

    Gorgeous photo. What perfect light. I keep wandering around town at the wrong times of day. I'll come upon one of my many favorite buildings, but the light will be wrong.

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  5. I like little hotels like this, preferring them to the 'chain' places.

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  6. susan, I had never seen a moth that big!

    john, we've been keeping it from you.

    judy, it's a nice town, more picturesque in some ways than St.-Aignan.

    mitch, we've had a bat up there before. I unintentionally killed it while trying to herd it back outside. :(

    annemarie, lots of them around here!

    michael, lol! But it IS a chain... nearly every town has one! ;)

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  7. That photo makes me homesick for France! BTW if your wisteria is anything like ours, it will definitely survive.

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