Here's the bridge over the Cher at Saint-Aignan looking downstream. The new passerelle is on the other side; you can't see it from this angle. As you can see from the sign, the autoroute entrance/exit is across the bridge. It's a choke point for heavy traffic.
Today is predicted to be a hot one, even hotter than yesterday. Yikes!
I didn't go all the way across. I parked in the lot and was heading to the market and I wanted to get in and get out before it got too crowded, so I stopped here for a quick look at Saint-Aignan's château. It's built on the high bluff above the river. It was about 08h20, so there were very few pedestrians about.
Tasha was a good girl for the groomer and she looks great. I think she's getting used to the new groomer and knows what to expect. Yesterday was the third time with this particular groomer. Still, she was overjoyed to see that Ken and I were still here after it was over. I didn't take any photos, but maybe I'll get one later today.
Here's another view of the passerelle in Saint-Aignan. Its wooden deck looks pristine; I wonder how it will age. Time will tell.
We're expecting Tasha's groomer this morning. Then she (Tasha, not the groomer) will get a haircut and bath and get all beautified for summer. I'm happy that the groomer makes house calls!
The new passerelle is open! You might remember that a new pedestrian/bike bridge was built adjacent to the existing bridge this spring. The old bridge, still in service, of course, is the only link for crossing the Cher for many kilometers upstream and downstream of Saint-Aignan. Its two lanes and narrow sidewalks handle a large volume of cars, trucks, and buses in addition to pedestrians and bikes. Now the latter are removed to their own bridge, easing the danger a little bit for everyone.
It's interesting to me that we never saw any notification of the construction of a new bridge. Granted, we don't live in St-Aignan proper, but you'd think the neighboring towns would be in on the project, or at least just be informed of a major construction project like this. Our town council does a quarterly newsletter, but it's not frequent enough, nor informative enough, for that. Our administrative department does a nice glossy magazine every month or so. I usually glance through for local news, but I don't recall any items about the bridge. The newspaper in our area might have talked about it, but we don't subscribe, not even on line. Our bad.
I'm up at 05h00 this morning. Well, out of bed. I didn't sleep a wink all night. I was up and down, out on the deck watching the stars, and watching for the neighbor's lights to go off (they finally did at 03h00). I think it's a combination of Restless Legs Syndrome and a sprained muscle in my right leg. I took some paracetamol (acetaminophen) yesterday evening, and it helped a little. But no sleep. It may also be my tendency to fall asleep after lunch while watching tennis on tv. I'm sure that doesn't help things.
There should be a picture here. Maybe I'll find one, maybe not.
I'm planning a trip to the market this morning. We're out of egg rolls. Ah, life in France. In other news, it Today is the Summer Solstice! And also la Fête de la Musique! Fa la la!
A bunch of grapes is called une grappe. A single grape is called un raisin. A raisin is called un raisin sec, "a dried grape." The verb used up in the title is se former which means "to form." The verb fermenter means "to ferment." Confused? It won't matter after a few sips.
We woke up yesterday to no running water. It happens from time to time. Fortunately, we've learned to keep a few liters of still mineral water in the pantry for taking pills, brushing teeth, making tea or coffee and such. The water came back just before noon.
It grows like a weed in the back yard. The original plant escaped from our garden plot and now grows wild in the vicinity of the apple trees. And it's spreading. When we tried our fresh garden oregano, we thought, "meh." It had no flavor whatsoever. But it kept growing and spreading, so we thought, "there must be a use for this." Then we tried it dried. Wow. What a difference.
Now I pick and dry oregano every year and put it away for use all year long. Great stuff! We've also used the dehydrator for drying tomatoes and other things, but it's mostly for oregano. The plants are making flower buds right now, but they're quite edible and are fine dried with the leaves.
Leeks and bay leaves, ready to go into... uh... something. I forget exactly what it was. But whatever it was, I'm sure it was delicious. The leeks are the green tops that Ken chopped off and froze for using in stocks; we eat the white parts as a salad (cold with vinaigrette), or as a side dish, warm. The bay leaves come from our bay laurel out back. They're the best bay leaves I've ever tasted.
Yesterday I harvested some oregano. It's already beginning to flower. I dried my harvest in the dehydrator. I hope to do another batch today. And maybe take some photos.
Ken brought home some asparagus from a recent trip to the store. The season is winding down, I think, so it's good to enjoy them while we still can. These are white asparagus. Their spears are buried under soil and not allowed to get sun. That way they don't photosynthesize, preventing them from turning green. The one inconvenience is that the white spears develop a thick skin and need to be peeled before being cooked and eaten. But it's worth the trouble.
I peeled these, of course, and then served them steamed and cooled as a first course salad dressed with olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. They are also excellent with mayonnaise or a mayonnaise-based sauce (like Thousand Island). Yum!
I have no new photos. I guess I should get out more often. Here's one that I've posted several times over the years. Some of you have been there. Let me know if you recognize it.
The week ahead is looking like it will be hot. There's lots of outdoor work to do, including another pass with the weed killer. I may even need to mow again.
This is our first Caprese salad of the season. Since we didn't plant tomatoes this year, these come from the supermarket. We tested two mozzarellas, one made with normal cow's milk and another made with Italian buffalo's milk. The difference in flavor was perceptible, but just barely. Both were good and we ended up mixing them on the salad.
I just looked at my keyboard and it's a mess. Time for a cleaning! I'll add it to the list.
A thunderstorm went through over night. It wasn't very violent and it didn't last very long, but there was a lot of rain for a little while. No more storms are expected today. There's nothing on the radar.
Here's a photo, taken this morning, looking out the den window at the south forty. You can see that Ken's been busy cleaning up and organizing the greenhouse. There's still a lot to do. You can also see two of our neighbors' houses across the road. One is lived in full-time and the other is a vacation house that belongs to a Parisian woman. She's comes down a few times each summer and her son comes down for weekends and such through the year.
While I was preparing this post, a bird (female blackbird, I think) flew into the greenhouse (the door is open), hit the glass ceiling (!) pretty hard, then bounced into that beige bucket you can see on the ground just inside the door. I ran downstairs to shoo it out, but not before closing the door into the house. The bird was sitting in the bucket, stunned and breathing pretty hard. I picked up the bucket, pointed it toward the door, and the bird took off like a shot. Free!
From deep in the archives: a group of guys playing football (soccer in the US) in Vouvray. It dates from before we moved to France. We were staying close by in a vacation rental home.
I saw the "Strawberry Moon" last night as it rose and again this morning as it set. I'm sure it's being packed up for storage as tonight's "Friday the 13th Moon" is being unpacked. You know, WIWAK (When I was a kid), we had only one moon, with the possible exception of the occasional blue moon (where things only happen once) and the harvest moon. Shine on. Still, I'm sure it was all the same moon.
...under the sun. We're enjoying a series of beautiful days and I'm almost done cutting the grass. I've also made another pass with the weed killer mix. The forecast for the next few days is "unsettled." Maybe some thunderstorms, warmer temps, then cooler. Who knows. Meanwhile, we're enjoying being out on the deck.
This morning I'm taking Tasha in for her teeth cleaning. The poor thing doesn't understand why she's not getting her breakfast today. Doctor's orders mean nothing to a dog. I will have to be careful while walking her this morning; she will try to eat "stuff" off the ground (I won't go into any more detail than that). Her appointment is for 08h45, so it will all be over soon enough.
...of the potato patch. It looks so neat and tidy. Now. But it won't last. The weeds will inevitably invade. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my zucchini and pumpkin plants look alright. I have a lot more weeds, but as the squash plants get stronger, they'll do batte with the weeds and should be able to hold their own.
Yesterday I was able to do another pass in the gravel paths and driveway with the weed killer. Remember: I'm using a home-made mix of household vinegar, salt, and dish soap. It's working pretty well, so far. Today I'm planning to cut the grass in the west and south forites, one mow time!
The signs roughly translate to "Automated vehicle in use." It's referring to the vitibot the grower uses to dig up weeds in her vine rows. I expect that it uses GPS to navigate the vineyard. Here's a photo I took last year.
I also noticed another activity out back in that newly replanted parcel. I couldn't see well enough to realize what they were doing, but this morning it became clear. They were watering the new vines. Watering is not permitted in AOP vineyards, but I'm guessing that it's ok when establishing a new parcel. The vines aren't producing fruit yet, so there's no impact on the wine. But those little vines need some help to become well established.
The replanted grape vine parcel out back is beginning to show green! Those baby vines are shedding their waxy protective coating and sending out fresh, green leaves. I suspect that a lot of their energy will be devoted to producing deep roots. Fruit will take a couple of years, at least.
Today is Pentecost Monday, also known as Whit Monday. It's a holiday here in France, the last of the "spring" holidays and this year's series of long weekends. I think people need a break. After all, the summer holidays are just around the corner!
I want to say that this is some kind of cabbage, but I'm not at all sure of that. I'll keep my eyes peeled as it grows.
It looks like we're in for a warm spell. It'll feel good after this chilly weather we've been having. which has been accompanied by gusty winds. Ugh.
In case you missed it over on Ken's blog, this is what he did with some leftover roasted pintade (Guinea fow) last week. He folded cubes of the fowl in question into the batter, then added some lardons made from Canadian-style bacon to round out the meats, some re-hydrated dried tomatoes, then some herbs and grated cheese for good flavor. We ate the cake with a crispy green salad and fresh tomatoes. Delicious!
Our days are still chilly and it rained a lot of the day yesterday. More rain is predicted, or not, depending on which weather service we look at.
It wouldn't be France without geraniums. This is one of two pots on the deck. They've overwintered twice, both times out on the deck, but pulled back against the house. When spring comes, they send up new stems, leaves, and flowers. This year is the third year that they've made it through winter. I suppose our lack of hard freezes has something to do with their survival.
Spring cleaning continues. Today I plan to "do" the den. I'll take out all the moveable furniture (I won't try to move the china cabinet that's in there). Chairs, filing cabinets, lamps, plants, and the area rug will come out, as will my computer, scanner, and printer. After that, I want to clean the windows and wash the curtains as well as "shampoo" the area rug (carpet cleaner spray in a can and a vacuum). If it's raining outside (and it's predicted) I may skip the window exteriors for now. Then I'll clean the tile floor. I can't remember the last time I did the floor. It more than needs it.
The mystery of the stakes in the mystery garden is solved. They are indeed climbing stakes and whoever owns this garden has planted tomatoes at the base of each one. Behind them is a row of salade (lettuce) and a little further down is a partial row of something that looks like cabbage. I still don't know who is planting and tending this garden. It's isolated out among the vineyard parcels. There's no running water there, so that has to be brought in. And there's no fencing to protect the little plants from deer and other dangers.
This year's kitchen window is adorned with surfinia (trailing petunias). Last year we had marigolds, but they didn't look so good after a few weeks. I'm hoping for better results with these.
We're expecting rain toward mid-day. Fortunately, I got the north forty and part of the west forty mowed yesterday. That and the strip outside our hedges along the road. My decision this morning is whether to race the rain to get more done, or just bag it until next time. Hmm...
June will be a big month for Tasha. She's getting her teeth cleaned on the 12th and then the groomer comes on the 23rd. This will be the second time for a teeth cleaning. She gets dental chews three times a week, but that darned tartar still builds up. That reminds me. I need to make an appointment to get my teeth done. Joy.
The vet told me that her gums are in good shape, so she doesn't need a "deep" cleaning. Maybe those chews are doing something after all. I also just ordered another 12 kg (26 lbs) sack of kibble, her main food source. That should come in later this week.
This was last Tuesday morning. We were socked in. Sound was muffled, as if the world had pulled a blanket over its head. Very moody.
Forty-two years ago today, Ken and I took possession of our first apartment together. And they said it wouldn't last. Here are a couple of early memories.
The top photo is from 1986 after our cross-country move to San Francisco taken by our friend Ann from Chicago. I'm on the right, Ken's on the left. The bottom photo is us in Muir Woods, just north of San Fran, around the same time, taken by our friend Peter who was visiting from Washington, DC. I'm in front, Ken's in back.
This is one of our two artichoke plants. We planted this one (along with three or four others that have since died) many years ago. The second is a volunteer that came up out in the vegetable garden plot a couple of years ago. It looks about the same as this one. I think we should pick one or two of the flower heads and see if they're edible.
Yesterday was productive. I mixed up ten liters (about 2.5 US gallons) of weed killer (household vinegar, salt, and soap) and sprayed all of gravel paths around the house and the driveway. Ken said he saw signs of death (yikes!) yesterday afternoon. The last time I sprayed this solution, it took a few days to a week for the weeds to die entirely. But die they did.
Potatoes, eh? See yesterday's post. I always thought they were potatoes, but I never seen a single spud out there since this started, so I abandoned that theory. Oh well. You'd think there would be a few strays lying about after the harvest. But no, I've never seen one. I'll continue to look for pommes de terre out there. Thanks to all for your comments!
Today's photo is all grapes. On the left is an older, established vine parcel. To the right is a newly planted parcel. The wire wickets will serve as supports as the little vines start to grow. After a while, metal stakes and wires will be installed and take over the support job.
That is the question. Here's that plant I was talking about a couple days ago. Whoever is cultivating it is doing a nice job. The rows are weeded and looking good. I still don't know what it is. Maybe some of you will.
Tasha and I got out early today, just after sunrise. The fog was as thick as sea poop, as they say, but we had no wind and the air felt quite mild. The weather people are predicting a summer-like weekend with temps in the high twenties and low thirties. That's the high eighties, low nineties for the Fahrenheit folks. What a change that will be.
Today's the Ascension holiday. Our walk was virtually silent except for the wildlife. Lots of bird song and even a barking deer. I heard one car in the distance.
I took this photo ten years ago. One of the roads near our house had just been repaved, and this sign went up to warn people that vehicles can kick up loose gravel. Can you tell that I've run out of new photos?
We're working on spring cleaning, both inside and out. Outside work has slowed as it's been quite chilly lately. No fun in that. As for indoor work, the windows are wanting to be washed. But... wait! That's also an outside job, at least for the outsides. I can procrastinate!
For the past several years, someone has been plowing and planting this small parcel that was once planted in vines. Each summer, the plants flourish. Then, in the fall, they're harvested. I have no idea what they are. I see no signs of potatoes or any other vegetable or fruit. Could it be for the leaves? And now, just this past week, this odd-looking alignment of wooden posts showed up on the far end. Climbing stakes? Another agricultural mystery.
The other end of this parcel, where the stakes are, stops at a paved road. Perhaps I'll take a detour over there one morning and see what I can see. And maybe I'll take a closer-up photo of the plants.
Did this grape vine skip summer? Them looks like fall colors to me. Pretty, but let's not rush things.
Here we are in the last week of May, coming up on the last May holiday. This Thursday is Ascension Day, another May day off work for many.
A weather system is moving through today. Some rain is predicted, but it's not raining yet. The sky is overcast, the wind light.
I noticed yesterday that one of our neighbors was having trouble with his riding mower. He's got the same one we have, sold under another brand. I could hear the engine surging and then almost stalling before surging again. It sounded like it might be a carburetor problem; that happened to me a while back with the walk-behind mower. The neighbor worked on his machine for two or three hours, part of the time with a friend, so the problem must have been more complicated than a clogged carburetor. I felt bad, but couldn't keep from thinking "it's not just me." He got the engine running normally in time to cut most of his yard before evening.
Here's a closer view of the newly planted grape vines out back. I'm pretty sure that they are sauvignon (blanc), as that's the principal white grape grown in our region and one that is AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée) designated.
Growers in our area have been replacing older vineyard parcels with sauvignon since that happened. Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé are two of the more well-known of the region's sauvignon blanc wines.
So, this happened yesterday. That empty field out back was planted with new grape vines. It's a semi-automatic process. A tractor pulls a contraption (for lack of a better word) that carries a supply of new vines up and down the rows and a machine pushes them into the ground in neat rows, equally spaced. A couple of workers ride on the tractor to ensure the grapevines are going where they should and to fix any anomalies as they occur. It goes very quickly but, still, it took the whole day. It's a fairly large piece of land.
The young vines are little more than sticks at this point. After a few days, their red waxy protective covers will melt away and leaves will begin to grow. I think the next step is to put stakes and guide wires in, but I'm not sure when that will happen.
Our weather has gone from clear and sunny to overcast and chilly over the past couple of days. There's no significant rain in the forecast, but tomorrow's low temperature is predicted to be about 8ºC (46ºF).
I didn't take any pictures, but yesterday's pizza was delicious. We had two kinds of chorizo in the fridge, one of which wasn't very good on its own (my opinion) so we combined the two on pizza. Once cooked, it was hard to tell the two chorizos apart. The sauce was a tomato puree, and we used grated gouda cheese, black olives, and some leftover cilantro as additional garnishes. Success!
The sun was just up (around 6h15) and the shadows long. That golden vineyard parcel in the distance was dug up about three years ago. In the last couple of days I could see a plow turning the soil (clay), first coarsely, then more fine. If I understood my conversation with one of the vineyard guys last fall, the parcel will be replanted (with grapes) this year. That will be nice to see.
There's a stiff breeze out there this morning, from the southwest, and it's chilly. We may see rain this afternoon. I'm making pizza for lunch. That'll help to keep the house comfortable.
It's that time of year again! The grape vines out back are starting to flower. Their flower buds look like this just before they open. Once they're open, pollinisation can occur and the grapes themselves will form.
The little squash seedlings that I planted in hills of compost have survived their first twenty-four hours. Some critter nosed around in the compost during the night but the seedlings seem undamaged. They've even grown!
Yesterday I planted a bunch of seedlings. Zucchini and pumpkin. Since our garden plot resembles concrete at this point, I planted the seedlings in hills of compost. It'll be interesting to see how they do. One problem, I didn't label the starting pots, so I have no idea which plants are which. They all look the same at this stage. Jeez.
This got us thinking about the possibility of building (as in paying someone to build) raised beds for the vegetable garden instead of fighting with the "soil" we've got. If we do decide on raised beds, we won't have them built until next spring. Lots to think about and, besides, the plot is now planted with squash.
I was making some adjustments on the phone and this happened. Twice.
Happy Sunday!
That tower in the background is part of the old (medieval) château in Saint-Aignan. The newer (Renaissance) castle is out of the photo to the left. The owner lives there and the buildings are not open to the public, except that people are allowed to walk up to the courtyard and overlook for the views.
The grass is all cut! How long will it be before it needs to be cut again? And before the weather is good enough to get it done?
Here's another view of the new pedestrian bridge in Saint-Aignan. It's still not open. You can see the temporary (I think) walkway down near the water level that the construction workers used during the project.
I went over the Thursday market in Selles-sur-Cher yesterday and got some more fraises (strawberries), salade (lettuce), a bunch of radis (radishes), and the big score: gambas crues (raw prawns). Most prawns and shrimp in France are sold already cooked. I don't know why, maybe they last longer that way. We can get raw shrimp at the Asian grocers' in Tours and Blois, but it's frozen. Better than nothing for sure. I didn't see any gombos (okra) at the market. We've only found that at the big produce market in Blois, a good forty minutes-plus drive from home.
The other thing I did yesterday was to mow the north and west forties. Today I'll finish up with the south forty and the strip along the road.
That's the best translation I can do of this restaurant's name: le Mange-Grenouille in Saint-Aignan. It's puzzled nearly everyone I've asked over the years. It's been a pretty good restaurant, but now things may change. It's being replaced and reopened under the equally puzzling name "Relais des Braconniers." That means, sort of, "The Poachers' Rest Stop." Huh?
We had sort of a mishap last night. As I made my rounds before bed (making sure lights and appliances are off and doors are locked, that sort of thing), I could hear water running... somewhere. I followed the sound to just outside the the front door and it was obvious: a nozzle on a garden hose failed and water was running freely. I figure it had been running for about two hours when I found it. Water had flooded the entry and went on into the garage. I turned the water off from inside the house (we had obviously forgotten to do that; now it's on my list of things to check during the nightly rounds) and went to bed. This morning I moved the car out and used a tool called une raclette (like a giant squeegee) to push the water from the garage out onto the gravel driveway to drain away. The floor is air-drying now. What a wet mess!
While I was taking photos of St.-Aignan's new passerelle, a bird flew through one of my shots. My first thought was "I'll have to take that out later." But I decided to leave it in. Local color and all that. I'm not at all certain what kind of bird it is. A pigeon of some sort? Wood pigeon?
I'm planning a trip to the market in the nearby town of Selles tomorrow. The market is on Thursdays (obviously), but it's between twenty and thirty minutes away, so I don't get over there very often. Still, they have a great flower (live, not cut) vendor and I want some surfinias (trailing petunias) for the kitchen window boxes. Wish me luck.
There's a new bridge in town! For a while now, we've watched the construction of une passerelle adjacent to the bridge over the Cher at Saint-Aignan. In French, a passerelle is a pedestrian/bike bridge. The word is also used for jetways and gangplanks among other things. The construction is all done now, but the bridge hasn't officially opened. The old bridge will remain, of course, but now pedestrians and cyclists will not have to negotiate its narrow sidewalk or the busy car and truck traffic that it carries.
We had a little bit of rain yesterday, but I was still able to get out with the weed eater (strimmer) to neaten up the borders in the garden path. I noticed that the application of the home-made weed killer has done a good job on the weeds, but I think another treatment is called for. And, the yard wants to be mowed again.
Look at those tractor tread marks! When it rains they become muddy as a bog, making walking treacherous. When it's dry, they harden like concrete. And the grass and weeds look packed in along the rows and are about a foot tall. Most of the parcels out back don't look like this one, but enough do to make me wonder how the grape vines survive. But they seem to.
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are what French people call les saints de glace (the ice saints), after which the danger of frost is over. But beware! It's not unheard of to have a late freeze. It's 11ºC outside this morning, about 52ºF. Far from freezing, but still chilly, if you ask me.
The grass is very tall in places around the vineyards. I think it will probably get cut eventually, but in the meantime, the tall grass is good for the wildlife and the wildflowers.
Yesterday the sun came out and things warmed up a little. I took advantage and made a couple batches of weed killer and sprayed the garden path as well as the gravel parts of the yard adjacent to the house. The mixture is mostly household cleaning vinegar mixed with table salt and dish soap. There are many versions of this recipe on the internet. If this one doesn't work well, I'll try another. The sun will rise soon and I'll get to see how the weeds are doing.
I saw this one the other day. I had to hurry to get the camera set, hoping he wouldn't dash away before I could get a photo. ;)
Today is market day in Saint-Aignan. What's on the list? Green asparagus, radishes, strawberries, and poultry sausages, for starters.
These flowers are growing in our neighbors' yard. I'm not sure if they're wild or some domesticated variety. No matter; they're pretty.
The taxes are done, I hope, for another year. I always feel like I've missed something, especially, as one of my commenters pointed out, the forms change ever-so-slightly from year to year. I just have to check the summary recap to be sure that everything is there.
The little supports remind me of croquet wickets.