Neige !

The French word for snow. La neige. Our morning temperatures are hovering around or just below freezing, but there is no more neige in the forecast for now.

The back yard in snow.

Today is market day in Saint-Aignan, but I don't think I'm going. In past years, we've made linguini with  white clam sauce around new year's, and I got the clams from the fish vendors at the Saturday market. But having a bunch of clams hang out on the deck (or in the fridge) for almost a week just doesn't sound good to me. Another time.

Christmas snow

As I mentioned, we got about an inch of snow in the wee hours on Christmas Day. It had melted away by mid-day, but I took the camera out on our morning walk and got some photos. I'll post a few here in this week between the holidays.

The real fake well in snow. The footprints belong to Tasha.

Leftovers are on the menu! There aren't too many, but we'll enjoy what we've got. On New Year's Day we'll make something with black-eyed peas. Yum!

Happy Christmas Day! We got some snow over night, about an inch on the ground. It looks kind of like this photo from way back. I didn't get a "live" photo because it's still dark while I write this. Ken's preparing the turkey for the oven now.

Snow on the vineyard cabin, about an inch like this morning.

 Thanks to all for the warm holiday wishes!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Bon réveillon !

Walnut tree among the vines.

 

A birthday dessert

I think the pie I make the most often is the classic tarte aux pommes. It's relatively easy and I enjoy it. For this year's birthday dessert, however, I did something different: an almond and pear tart. Or maybe it's a cake. In French, it's an amandine aux poires. The batter is made with ground almonds, a little flour, eggs, sugar, a splash of pear brandy, and canned pear halves, all baked in a standard pie crust. A delight!

Tarte amandine au poires.

The weather people say our low temperatures will be dropping over the next few days with snow (!) possible on overnight on Christmas Eve. A white Christmas? We shall see!

Let there be lights

Or not. This year, I strung lights along the deck railing. You can't tell it by this photo, though, unless you look real hard. I find my confidence on ladders is waning, especially when it's raining and everything is wet. So the lights end up where I don't have to climb.

You can find the lights strung along the wrought iron rail in front of the sliding glass doors.

It was raining when I snapped this photo from our neighbors' yard.

We can see the lights from inside the house and it's festive, so we don't feel like we're missing anything. Christmas Eve is in two days! I'm looking forward to our traditional cheese fondue. 

Solstice

It's the winter solstice! In a few days we will start seeing more daylight. Yippee!

More daylight as the sun starts to climb higher in the sky.