All leaves are in place as we head toward summer.
Today's temperature is expected to reach the high 20ºs and increase further into the weekend. That's downright summery for us. There's a long list of chores on the list. Among them, grass cutting and window washing. I actually got the north side living room window washed (inside and out) yesterday.
I don't know offhand what these are called. They grow as a shrub against one of our neighbors' fences.
We're still waiting (and hoping) for a warm up this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.
One day, many years ago, I saw one of the people that worked in the vineyard out back tying red and white flags similar to this one pictured here and there at the end of certain vine rows. I asked what they meant and she told me, "Ça sert comme repère pour Bruno (They're markers for Bruno)." Bruno is the guy who owns the vineyards and who, back in the day, regularly drove the huge sprayers and harvesters up and down the vine rows. The flags mark which rows he should drive the machines into. The sprayers can cover six to eight rows with each pass. It's helpful not to miss or repeat a row. And every year or two the flags need to be replaced.
It's still cold, but we should be in for a warm-up as the week goes on. How much of a warm-up and for how long it will last remain to be seen.
The grape flower buds are on the edge, ready to bloom any day now. Especially if we get a little warm weather. The forecasters say it'll be warmer and more seasonable as the week goes on. That would be nice.
Meantime, we're still dealing with unseasonably cool days. If it does get warm by the weekend, I'm certain that lawn mowers (including mine) will be out in force.
Errr... make that quiche. It was yesterday's lunch, made with spinach, cheese, and little chicken nuggets. Yum!
The central heating is coming on nearly every morning now. Morning lows are in the single digits (celcius). This morning I built a fire in the wood stove. Wacky!
To add insult to injury, I'm wearing a knit cap, scarf, and gloves on our morning walks.
Maybe just this once. It's 6ºC (about 43ºF) out there this morning. We had a light hail storm yesterday. I don't think there was any damage, at least there was none I could see.
Have a nice day!
We're half-way through spring and the vineyards are in fine form. So far, no frosts or hail storms to worry about. It has been cold, though, especially when the wind blows.
And it's wet. While there's no frost, there is dew. This morning my jeans were soaked well above the ankle. A little bit of water make it through my waterproof hiking boots. Cold water.
This is not the piney woods, but it's not far. This, unless I'm mistaken, is part of the Artsy Organized Neighbor's land. He's cut down trees and stacked them farther back in the woods (a few posts ago). He's also thinned out the undergrowth at the edge (and burned it). The edge is where vineyard parcels meet the woods. In true French style, he's tidied up the landscape.
We are now in the middle of what's called Les Saints de Glace (the Ice Saints). This is when the last killing frosts of spring can form. True to form, it's been cold for the past few days. But, thankfully, not cold enough for frost. I'm sure the grape growers are happy about that. Maybe now it'll start getting warmer. By the way, the asparagus vendor at the Saint-Aignan Saturday market has beautiful (and tasty) strawberries available, as he does each year. I got some last Saturday and am planning to get some more this coming weekend.
I'll be brief. Tasha has an appointment for grooming this morning, so we have to get ready. There's not that much to do, just a little tidying up in the utility/laundry room before the groomer arrives. But first, we have to get out for a walk before hand.
Here's a photo of the west and north forties seen from the garden gate. The dividing line is just beyond the apple trees. The south forty is just out of the photo to the right. Happy Tuesday!
We had a fence built back when we moved in (23 years ago!) to close in our yard so that the dog (then Collette) wouldn't be able to escape. The fence follows the property line on the north side of the yard. Nobody (even the mayor) seems to know who owns the property on the north side. It's a narrow strip, overgrown and abandoned. Trees have fallen and killer brambles and ivy have taken over back there. And it's right next door to us. So I asked the landscape guy if he could clear a meter-wide strip on the north side to give us access and to prevent the weeds from taking over and pulling down the fence. No problem, he said, and now it's done.
The question is, how long will that trimming job last until it needs to be done again? I'm not sure I want to think about it. Yet.
This image reminds me of something diplomatic...
This is the western edge of our property and it separates us from the road. The south forty is on the other side.
This is the tallest and widest part of the hedge that nearly encloses out property. It's at least a foot taller than I am. By the way, the plant that makes up most of the hedge is called laurier cerise (cherry laurel). We also have some laurier sauce (bay laurel) here and there inside the main hedge. There are also some honeysuckle and ivy taking up residence among the laurels.
That rounded shape at the southwest corner is also laurier sauce (bay laurel). It started out as a conical shape, but the hedge guys insist it should have a flat top and not a pointed cone. Oh well. The customer isn't always right in France.
This is the hedge that grows along the west side of our property. I had it shortened and cut less wide a bunch of years ago. The shed is our garden shed with it's repaired door and new window shutters. The old shutters, made of wood, were disintegrating. These are PVC and should last a while.
Today's a holiday, so I'm not supposed to make noise before 10h00. I plan to get out there then and cut the west forty. The grass has gotten tall again.
The hedges have been trimmed for another year. It's a big job, at least from my perspective. I drimmed them myself the first few years, rationalizing that a hedge trimmer would cost less than paying a contractor. And maybe it did. Until I missed a year and had to deal with two years' growth. I injured myself. I went back to the contractors to take over the job. It takes three guys one full day to do it all, including the clean-up (it took me several days, maybe a week). They have the tools and the expertise needed for the job. Not cheap, but worth every centime.
Last night was chilly. I piled the blankets on for a comfortable sleep. But, ooh, getting out of bed during the night was walking into a refrigerator. Brr!
The current weather is unsettled. Yesterday we heard thunder nearby without seeing a storm and had numerous rain squalls with no thunder or lightning. Temperatures are dropping; our heat came on this morning. The forecast is for diminishing rain and lower temperatures, then warming up again through the weekend.
Tasha is feeling more like normal now and thanks you for all of your well wishes. Woof! Just a case of normal dog behavior, as we suspected.
Good news and not so good news. First, good news: our landscape contractor texted me yesterday morning that he and his crew would be coming to do the hedges. Yes! Yes! They spent the whole day and did a spectacular job. I don't have photos, yet, because it's now raining. But I'm not complaining.
Not so good news: Tasha's got a belly ache. We think that she gobbled up something on her walk and it's made her sick. Constipated, maybe. She threw up her breakfast yesterday and didn't even touch today's. So, we're keeping an eye on her and giving her free access to the yard if she needs it. I'm pretty sure this type of thing has happened before.
Here's a picture of the South Forty again, this time with some of the West Forty visible. None of the Norty Forty can be seen from here.
As promised, it rained most of the day yesterday. One of our neighbors was having a party. They had put up a party tent, so there was some shelter from the rain. Fortunately for them, the weather cleared out in the middle of the afternoon and the revelers were able to enjoy being outside. Most of them left the party between 20h and 21h (8pm and 9pm for those not on the 24 hour clock).
It's raining this morning. I took this photo from the guest room window overlooking the "south forty," as I call it. You can see that we need the rain, at least on the surface, to green up the grass. Plants with deeper roots seem to doing just fine. Rain is forecast for pretty much the whole week ahead. Ugh.
There's too much blue in the image. I could have adjusted that in software (along with the perspective), but I'm still having some technical problems as far as photo editing and storage go, so it is what it is.
This is the road-side part of our neighbors' property. The utility poles carry our electricity (the line between our hamlet and the rest of the local network is under ground) and fiber optic lines for telephone and internet. There's a concrete pole and a wooden pole. I wonder if there are plans to put it all underground and eliminate the visible wires and the poles. We haven't heard of any.
Last evening we heard thunder. The low rumbling kind. There were two instances out to the east and north and then it was over. I saw no lighting (we still had daylight) and there was no rain.
Today is la Fête du Travail (Labor Day) in France. It's a national holiday, so a lot of businesses will be closed today. This is the first of many holidays in May, so stay tuned.
Here's yet another view of some old machinery on the Artsy Organized Neighbor's property. Looks like it could be (or could have been) a harvester of some sort. But what the heck do I know?
