Campanules

This patch of campanules (bell flowers) has been growing in this spot since before we bought the house. It just comes up every year. And there's no maintenance! It's s sure sign of spring and we look forward to them blooming every year.

There's another patch of these not far from this one.

Our mail box has met it's end (don't ask) and it's time for a new one. Problem: we're having trouble getting the new box installed. It should be a simple "out with the old and in with the new" kinda thing. Instead, it's a complicated "out with the old and in with a pain in the ass" thing. Bother.

Grape buds

Here's my first look at this year's grape crop. The tiny round buts that you can see are grape flowers. They'll soon bloom and then form fruit. 

Soon, these little buds will open into flowers and set fruit.

Yesterday I mowed the north forty and did some weed whacking along the garden path. Next up is the west forty, probably the largest parcel that I mow. It's supposed to be a nice day (again!). Fingers crossed! 

Two lips

 

To celebrate the annual Tulip Festival in Albany, NY, here are some bulbs from 2016. This year's festival gets under way on May 9.

I'm getting my hair cut this morning. Yoohoo! 

I'm also having some technical difficulties with the formatting of this post. Bear with me! 

What's left of the piney woods

I call this stand of conifers "the piney woods." It still is "piney," but all the deciduous trees have been removed. "Harvested" is probably is a better word. I first started walking in these woods with our dog, Collette, back in the early aughts when we moved here. Later I'd do the same walk with our next dog, Callie. We've had Tasha now for ten years but our visits to the piney woods have become fewer and farther apart. The woods got denser with brush and there are (were) fewer good paths through. But now they're wide open, beckoning for new exploration.

Yesterday's sunrise over the piney woods.

 

Five and dime

This is the Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan as seen from the World Trade Center's observation deck back in 1994.

Woolworth Building, New York City, May 1994.

 

Market day

I'm planning to go into town this morning for the weekly market at Saint-Aignan. I want some chicken sausages from the poultry vendor. Specifically, chipolata and merguez. Grilling season is upon us!

Albany, NY, prepares for its annual Tulip Festival. May 1994.

Nice try

We live under a relatively busy commercial air corridor. We see (and sometimes hear) jet liners and their vapor trails passing over in the sky above. In this case, they're coming from the north and flying south. Paris and Orly are to our north, so I suspect that many of these jets are coming from the Paris region. They might even be coming from places farther north like the UK and Scandinavia, others from North America even, all heading south toward the Mediterranean or Africa, and beyond! If the fates allow, I can sometimes identify a plane by using air traffic software. Very nerdy stuff, of course, but fun. This photo is not very good but, by zooming around, I can count at least six jets heading south.

Jets leaving vapor trails in the morning sky.