Leaves' last gasp

It's nearly over. The warm colors of autumn leaves in and around the vineyards, that is. And although the weather is mild now, we know that winter's chill is near.

In contrast to yesterday's somewhat bleak photo, this vineyard parcel continues to show off its brilliant color.

The key fobs to our Peugeot are acting up. I think they need new batteries. although we put new ones in, we can't seem to get them to work. Ken's planning to have the oil changed in that car pretty soon, so he'll add key fob batteries the job and let the pros do it.

Tasha Tuesday

Well, sort of. It's more of a Lone Poplar Tuesday. But what the heck. Tasha's in there.

All the leaves are off the Lone Poplar now. That's fog climbing up from the stream bed below.

Today's a holiday. That makes it a hunt day. We have to be careful out there. Speaking of which, a week or so ago Tasha, while inside the house, started barking to tell us there was somebody or something outside. I opened the door and heard a loud squawking and the sound of wings flapping unusually close. I went downstairs and outside and there was a male pheasant in the road. He was heading out to the vineyard, and he was not in a hurry. He was a beautiful bird, his colors shone brightly as he pranced down the road. I wonder if he's still out there.

The linden tree

This is the tilleul (linden) in our back yard. It's a nice looking tree, but it stands a little too close to the house. So, this winter, our landscaping contractor will give it a serious pruning. Worry not, these trees don't mind agressive pruning. You see them all the time in town squares and city parks all across France. Paris is full of them. I'm looking forward to it.

As golden as... you fill in the blank.

Our morning lows got lower for a short time, but look to be climbing again. Highs remain in the comfortable range, for the time being. Tomorrow is Armistice Day, another holiday in France.

Once more, with feeling

This is pretty much the same view as was in yesterday's post. That one was taken about three weeks ago. I took this one yesterday from the same spot (out the guest room window). Whole vineyard parcels have dropped their leaves; others are still holding on. Orange is quickly giving way to brown.

In the foreground, the real fake well. In the background, the Lone Poplar.

In general, out temperatures are pretty mild for mid-November. That's nice, except for the rain that often comes along with it. That said, the forecast for the next few days looks relatively dry. We're having a nice arrière saison, as they say. This morning is foggy and we're socked in. Still, we can't really complain.

Room with a view

This photo is from the 20th of October, a view from our guest room out over the vineyards to our west. Most of these leaves are gone now. Temperatures are still mild, but a couple of windy days was enough for the leaves to drop.

Ken's choucroute was delicious yesterday. So much so that we're going to eat the leftovers today. But that won't be the end of it because we froze several kilos of the stuff to eat all through fall and into winter. It's nothing like what comes in a can or a bottle. As you probably know from his blog, he buys raw 'kraut, rinces and blanches it, then, either cooks it or freezes it for cooking later on. Yum!  

Under the maple trees

Here's another view of one of the two maple trees that grow over the driveway.

Pretty, but messy. This is part of the same view as yesterday, only zoomed in a bit.

This will be a short post 'cause I'm heading out to get some Alsacien wine for Ken's choucroute (sauerkraut). It'll go into the chou as it cooks this morning and then into us as we enjoy the meal later.

Make like a tree

And leaf! I think I learned that one in grade school. I did get a lot of the leaves, maybe half, blown to where I want them. The rest will have to wait because the rain is back.

The driveway before. I don't have an after pic. One of our cars is under the carport (out of the frame on the left), the other is in the garage (out of the frame on the right). 

Ken and I had a hard time getting the leaf blower going yesterday. There was a lot of swearing. @#!%#%!! The thing is brand new! (although we've had it for a year already) After a while it started working. Seems there's a bad connection in one of the electrical cords and you have to hold your mouth right to get it to work. We'll do some further investigations when the weather gets better.