Jurassic parking

According to Wikipedia, Sinclair Oil's famous mascot is a brontosaurus, not an allosaurus or a diplodocus as some have written. The internet is a bit unclear on this topic. I grew up thinking "brontosaurus," and so it will always be to me. Us pre-Jurassic Park kids weren't all that familiar with the many varieties of "terrible lizard." Like their mascot before them, Sinclair filling stations, if not already there, are on the road (as it were) to extinction.*

Those gas prices are as extinct as the dinosaurs themselves. Digitized color print, August 1986.

It rained on and off most of the day yesterday. Nothing serious. We do have a rain gutter issue to deal with. We have a blocked downspout, resulting in a gutter that overflows. We can make it flow with a bottle (or two) of liquid drain cleaner, but that means leaning out a window to pour it into the gutter and watching as it makes its way to the downspout at the corner of the house. I will not get onto a ladder to reach the downspout on the second story. That's work for the pros who are younger and more nimble than moi.

* Wikipedia tells me that the company went defunct in 2022, broken up and acquired by other corporations. Or something like that. It gets complicated.

Back to skool

Today's the first day of school for most of the kids in France. Summer vacations are over. Temperatures are dropping and we're losing daylight at the rate of about three minutes a day. I'm hoping we'll have some "Indian summer" type weather before November.

Des Moines' skyline has changed a lot since I took this picture. Digitized color print, August, 1986.

This is the state capitol in Des Moines, IA, as seen from the interstate. Being from a state capital myself, I'm always curious about what the others look like. For instance, Iowa's capitol building has a dome, gilded no less. New York's capitol is one of the few that doesn't have a dome. I've never made a project of seeing all of the state capitols. I should count the one's I've seen. One of these days. And, yes, I consider speeding through a capital city on the interstate as "seen."

Crossing the Mississippi

This view no longer exists. From what I can tell, the twin suspension bridges were demolished after a new set of twin bridges, modern through-arch spans, were completed in 2021. Here's what they look like. That photo is from Wikipedia and was taken before the old bridges were demolished.

The I-74 Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River at Rock Island. Digitized color photo, August 1986.

The party yesterday was nice, as was the weather. We stayed through lunch and into the evening. It was mostly a family affair with many familiar faces, But we, as neighbors who don't see them all that often, had a hard time remembering names. I felt like an outsider looking in. We were introduced to a lot of people we didn't know (and some that we did!) many of whom we're not likely to see again. After all, it was a 90th birthday party. It's a big family (the guest of honor is the oldest of eight children), and all the generations were well represented.

Marching to Peoria

Well, maybe not marching. But we may as well have been. Look at that traffic up ahead! Looks like we were merging down to one lane for construction or something. I think we just drove through town on the interstate without stopping.

Peoria. The weather looked pleasant enough. Digitized color print, August 1986.

Today is party day across the road. We had stormy weather on Friday as predicted. Today looks pretty good, so far. Dry and relatively pleasant. 

We missed our chance

This curious sight is Jumer's Castle Lodge, a Bavarian-themed resort hotel in Bettendorf, Iowa. Or, at least it was. The hotel, built in 1973, was demolished in 2016. More's the pity.

I had no idea what this was when I snapped the picture all those years ago. Digigtized color print, August 1986.

I woke up to wind and rain this morning. Poor Ken has dog-walking duty. It'll be a short walk, I'm sure. Tomorrow we're invited over the road to a neighbors' 90th birthday party. They're expecting 100 people. The family have two party tents to put up today. The forecast for Saturday is for a dry day, but stormy weather won't be far behind. Fingers crossed.

The roads not taken

It was near this point that I finished the roll of black and white film and replaced it with color. We did not head north to Chicago on this trip. Nor did we venture south to Memphis. We were heading west!

Like Dorothy stepping into Munchkin Land, we enter the world of color. Digitized color print, August 1986.

I walked in the rain this morning. A light rain fell during our walk, but it wasn't enough to deter us. Not long after Tasha and I got home there was a brief downpour. I'm glad we made it home before it happened. 

Spittin' image

I don't think I ever tried chewing tobacco. I did smoke cigarettes for a few years when I was young, especially during that year in Paris. But I quit in 1982. Thankfully, I was never attracted to the just-as-addictive alternative to smoking: chewing tobacco.

Mail Pouch was among the most popular brands of chewing tobacco. Their barn-side advertisements linger to this day.

Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

I did some "strimming" yesterday along the road outside our hedges. I put that in quotes because I think that is the British word for what we Americans call a weed-eater or weed-wacker. I'm guessing that "strimmer" is a contraction of the words "string trimmer." At any rate, those pesky weeds have been "strimmed" away. Until they grow back.

Guardrail

I understand that these are lacking in Washington, DC, these days. I know where they can get some.

Without them, one might tumble into Ohio. Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

Our mini heat wave is not as hot as we thought it would be. It's all over now. The weather gurus are hinting at some rain later in the week. We shall see. In the meantime, I got the north forty and outside the hedges cut yesterday. Mostly weeds and wild carrot. The rest needs some rain before it will need cutting.

Onward!

If indeed these photos are in order (or something like it) in the album, this one would have been taken somewhere in eastern Ohio.

Riding along the interstate. Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

We're expecting a mini heat wave today (high of 32ºC). And perhaps tomorrow. I will try to get the mower out. Not so much to cut since it's been dry, dry, dry, and nothing is really growing. More to keep the battery charged up. At the end of the mowing season, the battery will come out. I'll keep it charged over winter with the charger we got last fall.

Like a bridge

Bridges are fascinating, aren't they? Works of art to enjoy while on a road trip. Marvels of engineering. Of course, unless we stop, we don't get to see much. Our lives would be very different if bridges didn't exist. Some bridges are for walking, some for driving. Some are for cars and trucks, others for trains. There are even bridges for boats. I could go on.

This may be in the vicinity of Wheeling, WV. Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

I haven't done enough sleuthing to determine where this bridge is, let alone its name. One candidate is the Fort Henry Bridge in Wheeling, which crosses the Ohio River there. We were driving either on I-70 or I-470 through southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, based on where the photo is in the album. 

Lover come back

I couldn't not take a picture of this.

Lover, Pennsylvania. Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

Curiously, there wasn't a line at the exit.

Curious sights along the way

I'm guessing this is a water tower, but it's unlike any I'd seen before. Maybe it's a leftover ship from the War of the Worlds, although that happened in New Jersey and, if I read Wikipedia right, the site of the original novel's invasion was in Surrey, England. But, I digress.

I can't read the road sign, so I don't know where this is. Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

Our mornings feel quite autumnal at the moment. And the sun comes up later and later. Let's cross our fingers for a little more summer weather before pumpkin weather moves in.

UPDATE: I found it! Google Maps helped me to find this location. It's Chapel Road at I-470 in Wheeling, West Virginia. Cool!

Mountain Mama

Our route took us through Wheeling in northern West Virginia, not far from Pittsburgh, PA. Ken drove for a while while I snapped photos out the window.

Wild and wonderful. Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

I've decided to continue with these photos in sepia tones. The black and white versions feel a little cold to me. I like the warmer sepia.

On the road again

We left Washington early one morning after having packed up the Subaru, including a car-top carrier that we got for the move. If memory serves, we drove out to the Beltway then up to I-270 toward I-70. Then it was onward to our first destination: Champaign, Illinois. Ken went to grad school at U of I Champaign and had friends in the area.

My 1982 Subaru three-door hatchback with a car-top carrier and a bug net on the front grille. It was a good little car.

At a rest stop, somewhere on I-70, going west. Digitized B/W print, August 1986. 

Yes, that's my faithful 1982 Subaru hatchback. I bought it, used, in DC (I still remember the name of the woman who sold it to me) and it served me well through the mid-1980s on multiple trips to upstate New York and my home town. Now it was taking us to San Francisco! I remember replacing the in-dash radio with a new radio/cassette player and speakers (in the back). I did the install myself, in the street in front of our apartment. I wouldn't know how to start doing that these days. Although you probably can't buy a car now without internet and digital music software built in. LOL

Same photo, with sepia treatment. Closer to the actual color of the car.

 

Gathering under the dome

These people look like a group, but of what? Tourists? Constituents? Protesters? It's anyone's guess. They are 39 years older now. Yikes!

Going to see their representative or to attend a committee hearing, who can say?

Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

I think I heard thunder this morning. There are wet spots on the deck, so we had some rain. More rain is predicted for Wednesday and Thursday. Our heat wave is officially over. 

Library of Congress

Across from the US Capitol's east front, on the House side, stands the Thomas Jefferson Building, the oldest of the three main buildings that house the US Library of Congress. It's built in the Beaux Arts style of architecture. At the building's entrance is the Court of Neptune Fountain, completed in 1898. I didn't take any photos of the Adams or Madison buildings on this walk. However, they are equally impressive in their own architectural styles, Art Deco in the case of the Adams Building and a more contemporary 1970s style for the Madison.

The western façade of the Jefferson LOC Building. Digitized B/W print, August 1986.

By the way, most of the info about these buildings comes from the LOC's Wikipedia page. 

It was chilly this morning. I wore jeans and a sweatshirt (!) on my walk with Tasha. Is there a hint of fall in the air?

Cannon or Russell?

When I worked in DC back in the mid-1980s, I was in the Cannon House Office Building on Independence Avenue and 1st Street, SE, a stone's throw from the House in the capitol. It's twin, the Russell Senate Office building, is located on Constitution Avenue and 1st Street, NE. The buildings are nearly identical and I can't tell from the photo which one this is. I think it's the Russell Building, but I wouldn't swear to it.

The Russell SOB is almost identical to the Cannon HOB. This is the former; I worked in the latter. Get a load of that station wagon!

Digitized BW print, August 1986.

Our heat wave is showing signs of breaking. The mornings are getting cooler and the afternoon highs are getting lower. It's still hot, though. 

Memory Lane

Set the WABAC Machine to August 1986! Ken and I lived in Washington, DC, on Capitol Hill, just a short walk from the US Capitol. That month we were packing up and otherwise preparing for our big move to San Francisco. I had a roll of black and white film and decided to use it up, first for this stroll around the capitol and later during the first leg of our drive to California. I'm digitizing most of those photos now, to have if I somehow lose the originals. I'll share a few of them here.

The East Front. Funny, I just noticed that I have a paperweight on my desk with this exact view on it.

That's the US House of Representatives on the left, the Senate on the far right. Digitized BW print, August 1986.

This, as most people might recognize, is the US Capitol building. I worked in a nearby building in the office of a member of Congress (now deceased). I took a short walk around the buildings, kind of a good-bye after our four years in Washington. I know a lot has changed since we lived there, but it was fun while we were there. I've been back for fun and for work a few times in the decades since. Good memories.

Chicorée sauvage

Wild chicory is plentiful out in the margins of the vineyard parcels out back. I've featured it here many times. So here it is again, photographed as the sun rose, before their characteristically blue flowers opened for the day.

Wild chicory.

Today's a holiday: l'Assomption, the Assumption of Mary. There are two weeks left in the summer vacances scolaires; September 1 is back-to-school day for the French kids. Meanwhile, the heat goes on. Nothing new weather-wise. 

The fig tree giveth...

... and the fig tree taketh away. Well, not really. But what it gives is harder than igneous rocks and inedible. By humans in any case. Insects and birds seem to enjoy it all.

They sure look tasty, but they're inedible.

Eyeglass Chronicles, part 78. I had an appointment to see the ophthalmologist yesterday, but when I got to the medical building, the lights were off and the place was locked up, more or less tight. Turns out that they made my appointment at their other offices, about 40 kilometers away. Why they would think I wanted that, I cannot say. The appointment was made for late in the day, after their phones went off line, so I couldn't even call them to let them know (no voice messaging available after hours -- that's helpful). So today I've got to ring them back* to let them know what happened. All they know at this point is that I was a no-show. Will this never end?

* Chose faite (done). No problems. 

The ants go marching two by two

It's easy to see anthills in the vineyard road. The road is covered with gravel of different sorts and colors, most frequently white limestone. The soil beneath that gravel is red clay. The ants dig down into the clay and carry it out of their nest before dumping it around the entrance.

Red clay marks the entrances to this ants' nest.

Our weather forecast predicts highs in the upper 30s through the week and morning lows above 21ºC (about 70ºF). That, after three days of the same, is officially une canicule (heat wave) in our part of France. Ugh. We won't be able to complain that we didn't have a summer this year. August has turned out to be a scorcher, even if it started out cold and rainy.

Stuff it

Before I tore out the half-dozen or so grape vines in our back yard, we used to harvest the leaves for that famous Greek dish called dolmas or stuffed grape leaves. I kind of miss making them, but I don't miss those old vines at all. They did produce some grapes, depending on the year. Before we moved in, the vines had been neglected for a while. They were, as in the larger vineyards, supported by stakes and guide wires that formed a barrier across the yard. They were planted in the shade of several large trees, so they never got the sun that they needed. They were likely planted before those trees got huge. Three of them are gone now, too.

We don't eat the leaves from the vines out in the vineyards. For one thing, they don't belong to us, and for another, they get treated with chemicals to prevent fungus. Yuck.

I got up around midnight last night and noticed that it was raining. It lasted about five minutes, then the moon came out again. This morning the sky is clear. It's going to be another hot one today. 

Among the vines

Here's a recent look at the newest vineyard parcel out back. I think the vines are busy growing roots. They have no grapes this year, and likely won't next year, either. Later this fall, the leaves will turn and drop and the vines will resemble little more than sticks in the ground. The leaves will sprout again in the spring (as leaves do) and the stems and vines will get stronger and longer. I'm not sure when the first pruning will happen.

New grape vines, planted last spring, about a foot high now.

As usual in hot weather, our windows and doors are opened in the early morning to allow cool air into the house. There's no wind, nary a breeze outside today. But if you stand next to an open window or door, you can feel the cool air creeping in. Until mid-day when we close up to minimize solar gain and keep the hot air out.

Nutty

It's that time of year. Acorns are forming and falling. I'm sure they're good food for many wild critters like deer, squirrels, and birds.

Acorns are called les glands in French.

We're expecting a high today of 32ºC, close to 90ºF. The hardest part of the heat is how it affects sleeping. Not in a good way, that's certain. It's such a relief in the morning when the cool air comes in. By mid-day, it's time again for closed windows and shutters.

Signs and portents

I didn't really see any portents. Thank goodness. What could S A mean? I'm guessing "Saint Aignan."

Signs in the Artsy Organized Neighbor's collection.

They're forecasting a heat wave for the next week or so. The forecast also includes cool mornings, so that will help make the heat bearable. Highs are expected to hit the low to mid 30s all week, going up to near 40ºC (104ºF) by mid-week. Yikes! 

I can see clearly now

The blur is gone. Well, almost. Yesterday's foray into the optical shop was interesting. I saw the third optician in four weeks, so I had to tell the whole story from the start. Fortunately, she was very nice and patient and quickly understood what I wanted done. She asked a few questions before replacing the old lenses with the new prescription and made a few adjustments to the fit. Suddenly, or so it seemed, most of the problem I had  (blur and distortion) was gone. She said that all she did was to change where the glasses rested on the bridge of my nose, but it seemed to make a difference. I don't really know how or why.

Hollow terra cotta bricks.

I'll see how it goes until my appointment with the doctor next week. I thought about cancelling, but decided it would be better for the doctor to have a look sooner rather than later. I wore the renewed glasses out of the shop and drove home with no problem. I could see and read the road signs again. And I can see the computer screen without tilting my head up to the sky.

Log in

The stacks of meter-long logs among the Artsy Organized Neighbor's collection of mysterious things are impressive. The stacks are piled roughly two-plus meters high and the logs are crisscrossed at each corner for stability (something I do on a much smaller scale here at the house).

Logs.

A couple weeks ago, I was trying to figure out what to do with my new eyeglasses. It felt to me like my vision was worse with the new glasses than with the old, even after a generous adjustment period. The woman helping me at the optical shop said that the first thing to do was to see the ophthalmologist about the problem. Then she offered to put the old lenses back in their frames for the interim. Better than nothing, I thought, and agreed, and have been wearing them since. My world has been very blurry of late.

Well, I can't stand the blur any more, so today I'm going back to the shop to let her know that I'm seeing the doctor next week (appointments are hard to get, especially during the summer breaks) and to ask her to put the new lenses back into the frames just in case the doc wants to see them that way. This will be a challenge for my language skills, if only because situations like this tend to make me very nervous. Wish me luck!

Oil spill

Here's the last of the oil barrel (or drum, if you prefer) photos. I call it "The Last One."

The Last One. Oil on steel. Maybe.

We're losing about three minutes of daylight each day now. It's most noticeable (to me) in the morning. The sun used to be up when I get out of bed. Yay summer! Now it's dark when I rise. Happens every year.

Drowning her past regrets

Another piece in the "Oil Barrel" series. I call it "Coffee and Cigarettes."

It's an obscure reference. Did you look it up?

Not much to report today. I got the south forty cut yesterday, so that makes the mowing done in three stages. There's a lot of trimming work to do, but not today. A rain system is blowing through as I type (7h20) and things might be a little damp after it goes.

What's in a name?

Tasha and I stopped by the Artsy Organized Neighbor's property the other day to see what's new. A few nouveautés have appeared, including this one. If these works have names, they aren't displayed. So I can call them whatever I want. "Oil Barrel with Orange" is my name for this one. Until I forget it. By the way, this week's Image of the Week is also part of the AON's work. I call it "Art Like a Wheel."

Oil Barrel with Orange.

I got the west forty cut yesterday, as planned. Only the south forty remains. Maybe today? It'll depend on how fast the dew dries.

What? No crossbones?

I thought this little rock in the vineyard road looked like a deformed skull. At first. The more I look at it the less it does.

Kind of like Munch's "The Scream" without the hands. I need to get out more.

So far, the promised warm up hasn't been so warm. It's about a degree warmer this morning than it was yesterday. Sheesh. I hope it'll warm up to a higher high than yesterday's. I'm planning to do some mowing later on. The noise rule is that we can make noise between ten and noon on Sundays and holidays. I didn't do any mowing yesterday. I just didn't feel like it. 

More grapes

The grapes are starting to ripen out there. Red grapes are turning purple, and white grapes are shifting out of green toward, well, another, but warmer, shade of green. The harvest is still quite a way off.

Bunches of grapes.

It's a chilly morning. I'm just about to head out with Tasha and the thermometer reads about 13ºC/55ºF. More like September than August, it feels like "back-to-school" weather where I grew up in upstate NY. We're still expecting a warm-up this week.

Something white

I have no idea what kind of flower/plant this is. It grows wild in a small patch on the edge of a vineyard parcel, very close to the lone walnut tree.

White flower in the vineyard.

Summer's warming up again. It won't be nearly as hot as it was during our June and July heat waves, but it looks more like summer again than it has recently.

Some like it hot

The new water heater was installed yesterday and now we're back in "bidness," as some say. It's a big tank by French standards, but we've never run out of hot water with one this size, whereas we used to run out with the smaller model that we replaced back in 2010. Especially when we had house guests.

Slightly blurry grape bunches.

The plumber agreed to clean our chimney (plumbers do that here) in September. He actually gave us an appointment in writing! This is good because, in France, insurance companies require that you clean the chimney once a year, and homeowners need to have proof that it was done if there's ever an incident. I plan to refrain from building a fire until it's done.

Ouch!

Look at those thorns! And this wild blackberry is not even one of the big ones. Still, getting tangled up in a patch of these will certainly leave marks. These aren't necessarily good to eat. The fruit is small and the seeds inside are big. The wildlife likes them, though.

Wild blackberries starting to ripen out by the pond. One of the sharper images from this outing.

Plants like this populate our laurel and hazelnut hedges and are a pain to deal with every year. That's one reason we're having the remaining hazelnut hedges in our yard taken out this year. The nuts (when there are nuts) are no good as they get pierced by insects that lay their eggs inside. Yuck.

In other news, our water heater sorta died yesterday. It's leaking, and it's not heating water very well. We called a plumber, new to us, to have a look and he declared it basically dead. He's coming back today to install a new one. It was bound to happen. The heater has served us well, but it's just too old. We've had it since 2010, and it was a "previously owned" appliance when we got it. RIP. 

Shake your booty

It's not as easy as it used to be. I'm talking about taking the DSLR out on my morning walk with Tasha. I always carry her leash (a retractable model that we've had since the 1990s), fixed around my waist when I have the camera. However, in the vineyard, I usually let Tasha run free and only attach her when people or vehicles approach. For Monday's walk, I put the 100mm macro lens on the camera. It's a big, heavy lens that hangs from my shoulder by its strap. It's all kind of awkward; I need to figure out a better system, especially for when we go to places like the island in the river where I can't let her off leash..

These yellow wildflowers (wild wort?) grow all around and in the vineyard. Sorry for the blur.

With the macro lens, I'm often crouching when I take the picture. It's not a very stable position and I end up moving more than I should. When I have the dog attached, well, she doesn't sit as still as I'd like. Add to that the low light-levels of a typical morning and you've got a recipe for camera shake. End result: blurry photos. And that's what you're getting this week.

Fading

The daisies are fading already. Maybe it was the combination of our heat wave followed by period of chilly rain. There are still some flowers. And, oddly, the faded blooms are interesting to look at.

Fading daisies.

We're in the period of the grand chassé-croisé of the summer, when July vacationers, les juillettistes, head home and August vacationers, les aoûtiens, head out. The result: heavy traffic in all directions. I'm glad I'm not out in it. 

One last glance

That's it for my recent walk on the island in the Cher at Saint-Aignan. I'll have to go back again soon since I missed a bunch of stuff. Like the beach and the fish ladder. Tasha loves car rides, so I know she'd be happy to go. It takes a whole five minutes to get there.

The château at Saint-Aignan at sunrise.

I haven't cut grass in a few weeks because of all the rain we've been having, but yesterday I was able to get the mower out and cut the strip along the road. I mostly wanted to run the mower to keep the battery charged. Now it's time to wish for some dry weather to get the rest of the property groomed.

And speaking of the property, we got the landscaper's estimate for all the things we wanted done but can't do ourselves. The estimate seems quite reasonable and we're both happy about that. 

What is it?

I don't know what that blue-green stuff is on the surface of the water at this spot. Foam? Algae? Some other kind of plant? I guess I need to go back and have a better look.

The bridge at Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher.

I called the ophthalmologist's office yesterday and I have an appointment in about two weeks time. Until then, my old prescription is standing in. It's not great, but it's much better than the new one.

Up a lazy river

Looking upstream from the island in the Cher at Saint-Aignan. The water is so calm because the river is held back in two places to form a reservoir for the now-gone grain mill.

Le Cher à Saint-Aignan.

I went back to the optical shop yesterday morning for my appointment. It was with a different woman, so I had to explain my problem from the beginning. Still, she was very patient and seemed to want to help. She tested my new glasses to be sure they conformed to my prescription; they did. But she was very surprised at the strength of the new prescription, just like the woman I saw on Tuesday. She said that amount correction after only three years with my previous glasses seemed excessive, something you'd expect to see after ten or fifteen years without an update, not three. She told me to go back to ophthalmologist to ensure that the prescription was what he intended, then to get instructions for what to do next. She was very deferential to the doctor's role and said she didn't have the authority to override his prescription.. But I could tell that she became more and more convinced that I should not have such a strong prescription. She called it une sur-correction, an over-correction. I don't want to be one who self-diagnoses with the internet, but my research confirms that I have all the symptoms of a sur-correction..

So, now I have to do that. I'm calling the doctor's office this morning for an appointment, sooner, I hope, than later. In the meantime, the optometrist put my three-year old lenses back into one pair of my glasses. They feel so much better, although my vision is blurry with them. But there are no distortions or discomfort.

Stepping back

I was using a 50mm lens on the camera so, to get a wider angle shot, I needed to physically back away from the subjects. I do have a 25mm lens for wide shots, but didn't have it with me. No matter. Here's a somewhat wider view that includes the château, the church, the bridge, the new passerelle, the old mill foundations, and the lock. No swimming allowed.

View toward central Saint-Aignan from the island in the Cher.

It rained on and off yesterday with some mild thunder in the late afternoon. We're still in the same pattern today, maybe with less rain. The high temperature is expected to be around 22ºC (71ºF). And it's a new moon! I wonder what its name is.

The municicpal swimming pool.

That should be plural. There's one indoor pool and one outdoor pool. Not being much of a swimmer, I haven't been in either of them. They were closed for a while recently for renovations. 

Saint-Aignan's municipal swimming pool, built on the island in the Cher.

I went to the optical shop in Montrichard yesterday and spoke to the woman who fitted my new prescription back in May. I did my best to explain the problem. She was puzzled when I mentioned that my two new pairs of glasses were different, that I couldn't use them interchangeably without a significant adjustment period. She said, "That can't be. They're identical." Well, they don't feel identical to me. Maybe I'm using them wrong.

She looked at the new prescription and the old and remarked, "Your new lenses are very strong. Twice the strength of your previous ones." I'm not sure how significant that is, but she seemed to be surprised, which surprised me, because she fitted them in the first place. The prior prescription is three years old; the one before that was six years old when I had it updated (both by different companies). Then I told her I'm nervous about driving with these newest glasses, said the equivalent of, "It's that bad?" Yup, it is.

So now what? She gave me an appointment for tomorrow (Thursday). If I understood correctly, she wants to test my eyes and compare her results to the ophthalmologist's. I'll let you know how it goes.

And throw away the key

This is the lock at Saint-Aignan. The photo shows the doors that open and close so that boats can move from one level to the other. Very small boats.

The lock doors at Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher.

I'm planning to go back to the optical shop that made my new glasses a couple of months ago. They're just not working. I kept thinking they would, that my eyes would adjust to them, but I've had it at this point. There's one tiny point on each lens where things are clear. Otherwise, my vision is blurry and distorted. Working at the computer is almost impossible and very uncomfortable. I trip over rocks on the vineyard road; my depth perception sucks. I worry about driving. Ugh. I checked my paper work and I'm still within the adaptation period for guaranteed replacement lenses.

The other side

As I've mentioned a few times, the bridge, and now the new passerelle, pass over the foundations of a mill that once stood on this spot. Here, the foundations form part of a dam that creates the mill's reservoir. There is also a lock so that boats can move up and down river. In fact, more than an few dams with locks along the Cher once made it possible for commercial river traffic to move goods downriver to Tours and beyond. I believe that all that is over these days; I've never seen any of the locks in actual operation. Maybe I'm not paying attention. I do know that some of the lock houses have been converted to vacation rentals over the years.

The steel gray/green passerelle recalls the industrial history of the site.

Yesterday was a wet one, as predicted. We do need the water, especially after the couple of heat waves we've had. It's supposed to rain again this morning. Temperatures are much lower since the systems moved through. I think they're supposed to stay that way for a while. 

A little to the left

Depending on where you're standing, St.-Aignan's château and the town's church can look like parts of the same building. They are quite close, but they're separate buildings. This view, without the château, was taken from the same spot on the island as yesterday's photo.

The two towers of the collégiale church at Saint-Aignan.

Today is expected to be rainy. In fact, it rained before I got out of bed (about 06h20), but not much. I was able to go out for a short walk in with Tasha since I've been up. It's sprinkling out there, but I can see on the radar that heavier rain is indeed headed toward us. Thankfully, there's no electrical activity to report, nor is any predicted.

Here comes the sun

Caught just as the sun was rising, this is the château at Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher. I was standing down at water level just upstream of the bridge.

Le château de Saint-Aignan.

There was a little lightning and thunder during a rain shower yesterday. Nothing threatening, thank goodness. I noticed lightning in the sky during the night last night, but there was no rain, no thunder. In fact, the sky above me was mostly starry with patches of cloud here and there. If there was a storm, it must have been a long way away.

The beach

I didn't get a photo of the actual beach this time. Like I said previously, there was a crew working over there and I didn't want to get Tasha all excited. It's not a big beach, but it is sandy. The river is shallow and slow moving there; I'm pretty sure most people could walk across it where the beach is. I wonder if the beach is natural or artificial. I've seen other small, natural beaches here and there along the river. There's a big beach in the river at Montrichard. I'll bet it draws a crowd on hot days.

The sign is positioned to be visible from Saint-Aignan. The actual beach is on the other side of the island.

Today would be a good day to go to the beach, except that I'm not really a beach person. The weather site I look at daily is projecting 33ºC (low 90sF) for this afternoon. After today, a major cool-down is predicted.

Where'd it go?

From the upstream side of the bridge over the Cher at Saint-Aignan, you can't see the new passerelle at all. Reflections in the reservoir on this side of the bridge are unspoiled. Water that flows toward the bridge is slowed by a small dam built at its foundations before spilling over and continuing on. The dam is what remains of a grain mill that was built on this site a long time ago; the reservoir behind provided the power to turn the mill stone(s). The mill since closed and a fire destroyed the building leaving only the bridge and the dam below.

A dam beneath the bridge creates a calm reservoir that once provided water to power a grain mill.

To help create the reservoir and keep most, if not all, of the river's water from diverting around the other side of the island, another small dam was built upstream. That dam was recently enhanced with a fish ladder, giving the aquatic critters access to upstream waters. One of these days I'll go back to see what I can see and, hopefully, take some pictures.

Ramp

Two ramps connect the bridge level to the island level below. This one leads upstream toward the beach and guinguette/picnic area. The other, just behind where I'm standing to take this photo, leads downstream toward the swimming pools and garden allotments.

Ramp.

Today is errands day for me. First, I'm picking up a prescription at the pharmacy. Then I'll stop at a nearby produce market for some seasonal melon (similar to cantaloup, but sweeter) and, hopefully some jambon cru (cured ham) to go with it. After that, I'm crossing the river to the vet's office to pick up some dental chews for Tasha, ordered online last week, and a fresh supply of her monthly flea and tick medicine. My last stop will be the Intermarché grocery store to turn in some plastic bottles for recycling (and a store credit!). Then it's back across the bridge to home. I hope the zoo traffic will have calmed down by then.