My treasure, my precious

Not far from where we live is a small town called Montrésor (My Treasure) which is home to a very pretty château and church. The town is on built on the heights above a very small river called l'Indrois. Last week we took our house guests there for a walk along the river and through the town.

The church up on the heights above the river. The castle is over to the left, just outside this photo.

This view is from the south (I think) looking up at the town and the church above. The church, la Collégiale Saint-Jean Baptiste, was built in the sixteenth century. We walked up there and went inside for a look before walking back down through town.

At the sign of the baker

Old-fashioned business signs have not gone out of style in France. They never look out of place and many are quite clever. This one is on a bakery in Montrichard. It's a stylized baker taking fresh baguettes out of the wood-fired oven. And I'll wager that this is not an old sign, but a rather modern one done in the old style.

The Dungeon Bakery in Montrichard. Check out the baker's shoes!

In our town, the barber, Madame Barbier, has a sign shaped like a pair of scissors outside her shop.

Le donjon

Montrichard is built on the Cher River, like Saint-Aignan. The old medieval château is no longer standing, but the ruins of the central donjon (keep) are still there. Tourists can climb the steps up to the keep and explore the grounds.

The stairs up to Montrichard's donjon, which you can see at the top of the photo.

Interestingly, in the nearly ten years that I've lived here, I've never done that. One of these days!

Periodic Puppy Pics

Callie loves her socks. That is, she loves our socks, once they're holey and tied up together. She has learned that all socks are not equal. She won't go for the socks we wear and haphazardly leave on the floor. But once the socks have holes in them, we tie them together and give them to Callie. Then they're hers.

The Sock Queen, resting with her bounty under the coffee table. How cute is that!

She loves to "play sock." That is, she'll pick up her sock, shake it back and forth a few times, then tease me to come and try to snatch it from her. When I manage to get a hold of it, we play tug'o'war for a bit. Then, if I win, I toss the sock into the air and she catches it. She lets me win from time to time, just so she can catch the sock in the air. I'm convinced of it.

Aux Délices

Another shot along the main drag in Montrichard. This is a bakery/chocolate shop and one that we've stopped into many a time in the past nine years. Next door is a pharmacy. All pharmacies in France have some variation of the green cross sign above their doors to identify them as officially licensed pharmacies.

Very nicely maintained storefronts. That's our car in the corner and reflected in the window.

Most of the time the signs are adorned with neon tubes which blink and flash in various sequences worthy of the Las Vegas strip. This one is no exception.

La rue nationale

Still in Montrichard, here's another view of the town's main street, this time looking the other way from city hall.  At the end of the street and to the right is a nice square surrounded by restaurants and their outdoor seating areas under the trees. You can see the office de tourisme (tourist office) at the end of the street.

Looking east, up river, on Montrichard's main street.

The real estate office that helped us buy our house back in 2002 is in this picture. Since the realtor is in this town, it made sense for us to open up our bank account here. That's why I have to go to Montrichard to do certain banking business instead of to the much closer branch in Saint-Aignan.

Hôtel de ville

This is city hall in the nearby town of Montrichard. I had a banking errand to run the other day and the main street through town looked very pretty in the early afternoon light. So I snapped a few quick photos.

Three-fifteen in the afternoon at Montrichard City Hall.

We had a rather abrupt and violent thunderstorm yesterday evening. Lots of wind and rain and quite a light show. Thunderstorms weren't really predicted where we are and it took us a little by surprise. Just after the storm we noticed something flying around in the loft room. At first we thought it was a little bat, but then noticed that it was some kind of giant moth, as big as a small bird.

I thought it had escaped through an open window until it woke me up knocking around the room at one o'clock this morning. I got up and turned a light on. Sure enough, there was the moth. After chasing it about a bit, I got it scooped up into a plastic container and let it go out a window. No photos, unfortunately.