Bucket

It's almost as tall as I am. Granted, I'm not all that tall. But who's counting? Oh... I am.

Now that's what I call a "digger."

Yesterday's market run was productive. At the produce store I found green asparagus, shiny eggplants, some spicy chorizo (not exactly produce, but that's ok), and a bunch of sweet radishes (called radis roses). The rain stopped, so I stopped at the outdoor market after all. And there was the asparagus and strawberry man. It's too early for strawberries (his,anyway), but he had bunches of white asparagus. Ken made risotto with green asparagus for lunch. Yum!

Grrr

It's humongous! It's the digger they've been using out back this week to pull up spent vines and start preparing the parcel for new ones.

Can you see Tasha up between the treads?

It started raining early this morning. The morning low is much higher than predicted, no where near freezing. My plans are to go to the market for a couple of things. I may just go to the produce store and skip the outdoor market. We want to make a risotto for lunch with either eggplant or asparagus. I'm not even sure if local asparagus is available yet. I can wait another week.

In other news, we turn the clocks ahead tonight. How annoying. 

The old and the new

While we all wait for winter to leave and spring to arrive, work in the vineyards out back continues. In this case, another old parcel is being dug out. I figured that this parcel was doomed when the owners pulled out the guide wires and stakes last fall. Once the vine trunks are pulled up (with the help of this digger), they'll likely get piled up and burned. Then the land will probably lie fallow for a year or three before being replanted with new vines. You can see, to the right of the dirt road, part of the parcel that was replanted last year. The parcel being dug out is on the left.

The digger stays out overnight. Nobody's going to mess with it.

Freezing temperatures were predicted for this morning, but our thermometer registers two degrees above. Of course, the temperature near the house is slightly warmer than the temperature out among the vines. But I don't see any smudge pots out there, so the growers are either taking a chance or they know something we don't. 

New York State of Mind

This is the World Financial Center, seen from the World Trade Center observation deck in 1994. I'm not certain which buildings survived the September 11 attacks in 2001, but many of them did. Much has been built and re-built since then.

Battery Park City in lower Manhattan, May 1994.

 

 

 

The weather has turned. We're enjoying gusty winds and showers once again.

Here's another shot taken from the top of the World Trade Center in New York back in 1994.

No reply

It's been twenty-four hours since I texted the landscape guy. No answer. I think his number works; we texted each other last summer when he came over to do the estimate for some additional work beyond the annual hedge trimming. It's like Roseanne Roseannadanna's father used to say: It's always something. If it's not one thing, it's another.

Tulips in Albany, NY, May (I think) 1994.

 

Le pliage

The folding. That's what they call this step in preparing the grape vines for spring and summer. They've been pruned to one strong cane and each cane will be "folded" to the horizontal and attached to a guide wire. New shoots will grow up from that cane and produce leaves and, eventually, grapes.

You can, hopefully, see the canes (with buds) attached to the horizontal wires.

We're still waiting for the landscape guy to show up for the annual hedge trimming (and other work). I sent him a text message this morning, hoping that he'll reply. It was a hard, wet, winter and I imagine he's backed up with work. But still, too long without a word. Fingers crossed. 

Grape buds

This is what's being protected on cold mornings with fans and smudge pots. There are no fans in the vineyards we live next to, but they have used smudge pots a few times since we've lived here. I haven't seen any this season, yet. There's still about two months of frost danger to go. If the buds freeze, they are likely to die and fall off the vine. Fewer buds equals fewer leaves and, subsequently, fewer grapes.

Buds on the grape vines are growing and new leaves will soon form.

Friday was pizza day

Yesterday, I made a rather simple pizza topped with tomato sauce, mushrooms (sliced and lightly sautéed with oregano from the garden), and grated cheese (comté from eastern France). This time I was more attentive to the process and avoided a repeat of last month's pizza-mageddon. Papa's got his grove back!

We each ate one of these. Tasty!

I'm itchin' to get the mower running and to start cutting sections of the yard. I can't mow before lunch because we get really heavy dew. Mowing wet grass is no fun. By mid-afternoon (after lunch), my motivation wanes, just having had lunch (and maybe some wine). Meanwhile the grass is growing. I go though this every year and somehow it all works out. 

Our hamlet on a bright sunny day

I'm taking a break today. Stuff going on. Enjoy!

With Tasha.

Just for fun

And apropos of nothing, here's a random shot of the East River from the top of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, NYC. I think the date is sometime in May 1994, obviously prior September 2001.

One day I'd like to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The bridge on the bottom is the Brooklyn Bridge and the bridge on top is the Manhattan Bridge. Outside of the shot to the left is the Williamsburg Bridge. 

At least it's not a snow plow

If I've seen one or two snow plows in the twenty-plus years that we've lived here, that would be a lot. When it's cold and icy around here, our roads get a layer of sand. There just isn't enough snow to justify plowing. So here's an agricultural plow on display in the Artsy Organized Neighbor's collection of curiosities.

I'm assuming that it's a plow and not the claw of some giant medieval beast..

I have to take back what I wrote yesterday about the car. The starter was not the culprit at all. The original diagnosis was correct: bad battery. It's since been replaced and the car starts up as it should. The pros tell us to run the car more frequently to keep the battery in shape. So, today, Ken plans a run to one of his favorite wineries about fifteen minutes from home. That's the spirit! 

The eye of the beholder

Yeah, but is it art? Some more of the Artsy Organized Neighbor's works. Those log piles in the background are not the same ones I posted yesterday.

Is that a wizard's staff leaning against the steel? Can you see it?

So, the car problem turns out not to be the battery after all, but a dead starter motor. The citroën is getting towed to the shop this morning where the transplant will occur. Should be ready by tomorrow.

Logs

Log jam or log preserves? LOL. It wasn't that long ago that the land owners around us harvested a good portion of their woods. The results are stacks of logs here and there. This one, I'm guessing, belongs to the Artsy Organized Neighbor or someone like him (as Ur-spo might say).

Each of these logs is one meter long.

We have a car problem to deal with today. The Citroën's battery has given out and, alas, the poor car won't start. Cold weather may be the culprit. Since cars are Ken's domain, he will do most of the work. That mostly means phoning the rescue folks provided by our insurance company and our local garage for a jump and possibly a new battery. We've been, as you might say, "down this road" before with the other car. I am here for support.

Fans

I woke up this morning to a strangely familiar sound. It sounded like airplanes of the propeller variety, but hovering in one place, like helicopters, not getting any closer, not getting any farther. Then it came to me: vineyard fans. They're used to mix the air on very cold mornings in an attempt to keep newly formed buds from freezing. The temperature is hovering around zero this morning, and I've seen buds in places, so that makes sense.

At woods' edge.

I'll have to try to take some photos of the buds as they become more numerous, not to mention bigger. In the meantime, here's some more moss in the woods out by the Artsy Organized Neighbor's property. 

Moss

All the rain we've had this winter has been heaven for the moss. It's thriving this year.

Moss grows at the base of virtually every tree in the woods around our local vineyard parcels.

I did decide to go out yesterday. It rained most of the day, as predicted. This morning is cold, below 5ºC. But there's no rain in today's forecast.  

The rain is Tess, the fire's Jo

The wind kicked up over night and now it's howlin' out there. It's not so bad, actually, just kind of gusty. It's been worse. But I can hear it. I have an errand to run in town this morning. I don't know if I'll hunker down or venture out. The sun will be up soon (yay!) and I'll reassess then.

A familiar view.

Yesterday's fog cleared pretty quickly and we enjoyed some sun. But it's still pretty chilly out there, made a little more so by the wind. 

Going down

Temperatures. Back to single digits. It's 6.1ºC out there this morning. About 43ºF. Brr. No danger of freezing. But, as temperatures continue to fall, there could be frost. Historically, France's frost danger ends around the middle of May, so we have a while to go.

An artichoke in the back yard. Way past time to remove the old flowers.

We're also socked in this morning. Gray and wet and cold. Lovely. I'm wearing long-johns again on our morning walks.

One lump or two?

While Ken enjoys a couple of cuppas (tea) in the morning, I drink coffee made in a "French press." We both drank coffee for a while from an automatic drip machine but, for some reason, we tired of that. Ken went back to tea and I started up again with coffee. And one lump of sugar. Actually, it's a half-lump.

One of our two-cup French press coffee pots.

It's raining this morning. I suppose that means there's no chance of seeing the landscaper today. Ugh. 

All clear

Did I tell you about our little scare with Tasha? I think Ken blogged about it, but here it is in a nutshell. About a month ago, we noticed that Tasha was drinking a lot of water, way more than she normally does. One of our neighbors, also a dog person, said that could be a sign of diabetes. That was nerve wracking. So Ken stopped by the vet's office while out running errands and made an appointment for that afternoon. The vet took a blood sample and a urine sample (he said it could also be a urinary tract infection) and prescribed a course of antibiotics. Both tests were negative. Nonetheless, we noticed that Tasha has cut down on her water intake. So we feel good about that. The vet said to let her run the full course of antibiotics just for good measure. That will be over in a few days.

We're still waiting for the landscape guy. I'm starting to wonder if he'll get the work done before summer. Bother. This view of our hamlet is toward the northeast. The yellow spot is our forsythia.

A detour through the woods

As the ground starts to dry, Tasha and I are able to vary our walks by taking paths through the woods and the vineyard parcels. This is a familiar sight: the Artsy Organized Neighbor's property and a few of his "works."

Sunrise on a clear morning.

The weather is about to change. That high pressure system that was keeping us clear and dry is moving on. That means the door will be open to lower temperatures and more rain systems. Joy. 

Gâteau renversé à l'ananas

Thanks for all of your comments about the mail issue between France and the US. I'm getting the impression that letters are supposed to be ok and that there's just some postal software issue that hasn't been dealt with yet. Tax season might not be affected because returns can be filed through the internet. But voting is another issue. I haven't seen any chatter on how Americans in France will be able to cast their ballots if not by mail.

With a sticky and sweet pineapple/caramel glaze. Yum!

Here's the dessert we made for Ken's birthday. It's a pineapple upside-down yogurt cake! I could have fancied it up a bit with cherries or some other colorful garnish. But I didn't. 

Forsythia 3

It won't be long before these flowers fade and leaves appear on the forsythia. Then we're done for another year. 

Forsythia in the back yard.

I went to the post office yesterday to mail something to the US. To my surprise, the postal clerk told me that France doesn't send mail (like letters) to the US any more. Since August. I asked if it was because of the war(s) in the Middle East and he said no, it has something to do with customs and duties tied to US tariffs. There are interruptions because of the war, but this is something else. I don't recall seeing anything in the news about this. Some internet sites say that letters and post cards are exempt (they're not heavy and they're not merchandise) and can be posted, but they weren't able to at the two post offices I went to yesterday. The clerk at one of the post offices insisted that I could send my letters, but the computer would not allow her to print the postage. She was as puzzled as I was.

Forsythia 2

Or should I say "Five-sythia?" This is the same bush that I posted yesterday, just from a different angle. It was either last year or the year before that I pruned it way back. It gets very big and unruly if I let it grow. I should probably plan some more pruning this year in an attempt to shape it more.

The forsythia is at its peak right now.

 

We're still waiting, and hoping (and wishin', and prayin'), for the landscape guy to show up. He usually does, right about the time I give up on him.

Forsythia

The forsythia is blooming all over the place, including in our back yard. The yellow is so vibrant that it almost feels warm.

Our backyard forsythia is in fine form this year.

Rain showers are back in the weather forecast through to the weekend, and the temperatures are lower than they have been. Boo! 

Flowering cherry

The annual show is on! There seem to be more flowers than usual this season. Probably something to do with all the water we got during the winter. Now it's time for things to dry out a little so we can work in the yard. Yesterday, I heard lawn mowers here and there. I'm not quite ready to take mine out. The ground feels too soft for that, but I may get to run the mower before the end of March.

Flowering (no fruit) cherry.

I'm liking the earlier sunrises. Tasha and I can get out for our walks before other folks are about, namely other dog walkers and vineyard workers (along with tractors and such). Speaking of which, it's time for me to go! Ta ta!

It's Boo-Kay

So insists Hyacinth Bucket in the popular British sit-com, "Keeping Up Appearances." This is all that's left of the jacinthes in this patch. There's a larger patch of white hyacinths way out back. I haven't really paid attention to them in a long while, but it's always nice to catch a glimpse of them this time of year.

Hyacinths among the daffodils. Looks like spring!

 Tasha gave us a bit of a scare. A few weeks ago she started drinking a lot of water, more than seems normal or healthy. We talked to some friends and consulted the gurus of the internet. Her excessive drinking could be an indicator of diabetes. Yikes! Yesterday she saw the vet and a simple blood test ruled that out. Thank goodness. The vet thinks it might be a U.T.I. (urinary tract infection) and is testing for that. Meanwhile, Tasha's on a brief run of antibiotics. She's already more or less back to normal and we're happy about that. We'll get the test results in a few days.

Daffodils again?

I know you've seen these before, but what the heck. You can't have too many daffodils. Can you? This is the same patch of jonquils that Ken and I have been posting this past week or so.

These grow just outside of the greenhouse. I don't know if they'll get dug up with the landscape work or not. We shall see.

We're still waiting for the landscape guy to get to us. It's been a lousy winter for outdoor work and I'm sure his schedule is all messed up because of it. I just have to be patient and wait for him to show up. Meanwhile, there are a few little things that I can do to prepare. 

Early bloomer

Can you see the tree covered in white blossoms? That's the plum tree that Ken planted from a pit oh so many years ago. It's in the far corner of the yard and it's one of the early blooming trees in the neighborhood. Our next door neighbor also has one. Hers is older than ours and is much taller.

Ken's plum is among the early bloomers in our hamlet.

It's Ken's birthday month and we're planning a yummy meal for him. It's bœuf à la Bourguignonne (Burgundy style beef stew, also called Beef Burgundy). He went to the butcher shop yesterday and ordered some joues de bœuf (beef cheeks) for the dish. I'm sure there will be photos. Stay tuned!