Out with the old...

Our old garden gate is finally history, replaced by a nice new model. It only took us fifteen years to do it. The old gate was literally being held together by spit and bailing wire. But now it's gone. So, in memoriam, here are a couple of photos of what it looked like at the end. I'll post photos of the new gate tomorrow.

The view from outside the yard. The old gate was quickly rotting away.

We asked a local company for an estimate to replace the gate last March. We accepted the estimate in early April, then waited for the guys to come and do the precise measurements for the replacement. Then the delays set in. Then August (vacation) came.

The view from inside the yard. The hardware was falling off. So were most of the pickets.

On the first work day of September, the guy called and said they were ready and he came for the measurements. Now, two weeks later, the new gate is built and installed. It's made of metal instead of wood. It should last longer than we do. And, just for fun, here's what the old gate looked like when we moved here back in 2003:

The gate in 2003. It didn't look so bad back then, but it was already coming apart.

If it's not one thing, it's another

Last night, some time after two a.m., I was awakened by the sound of... nothing. The exhaust fan in the loft had stopped. I opened my eyes and all was black. There were no digital clocks and no glow from the nightlights in the stairwell. The power had obviously gone out. Uh-oh.

Looking on the bright side: now we have a chance to clean under and behind the appliances.

Then I heard some strange noises coming from downstairs, so I got up and carefully felt my way down the pitch-black stairs and to the den to get a flashlight. The strange noise turned out to be water dripping onto the floor in the entry on the ground floor. The water was coming from the ceiling above, just under the spot in the kitchen where the dishwasher sits. The dishwasher was programmed to run over night. It had sprung a leak and shorted out an electrical circuit thereby tripping the master breaker, cutting off the power to the entire house.

So there we were, in our underwear at 02h30 in the morning, trying with a flashlight to find the leak in the kitchen. The floor under the sink was dry. I saw a little water under the stove (next to the dishwasher). There was also a little water sitting inside the dishwasher itself. We emptied the machine and pulled it out away from the wall. Sure enough, the floor was wet underneath it, but it wasn't really a flood and I noticed that the dripping into the room below had stopped. I unplugged the dishwasher and threw some old towels down on the floor to soak up the water. I did the same in the entry below. Then I flipped the breaker back on and the power returned.

After a few minutes of waiting to make sure everything was ok, we went back to bed for a few more hours. Now we have a chore this morning: to get the dishwasher out of its spot for inspection and (maybe) repair. First I have to disconnect the adjacent stove from power and gas and pull it out as well. The leak could either be in the dishwasher's drain hose or the pump itself. The water supply hose is not leaking. If it were, there would still be water flowing, but there isn't. We'll probably call the plumber to come take a look. Worst-case scenario is that we'll need a new dishwasher. This one is fifteen years old now.

What's the buzz?

I finally killed the mosquito that's been terrorizing us these past few nights. It's been hot, and I found myself cowering under the sheet, sweating in the dark, wondering where and when it would strike again. Last night I awoke with a start when I felt it bite my back. I had thrown the sheet off after falling asleep. A little later, I woke again, feeling a huge welt form on my face. The bugger got me again.

I don't have any photos of mosquitoes, dead or alive, so you get this lovely slug racing across the vineyard road.

That was it. I got up and went downstairs for the fly swatter. I turned on the light in the bedroom and, once my eyes adjusted, started looking. There it was, sitting on the wall just above the bed. Just sitting there, waiting. SWAT! Got it on the first try. I slept soundly the rest of the night.

Our heat wave is expected to break as we get closer to the weekend.

Harvest time

We saw a harvester out in the vineyards on Monday. And two trailer-loads of white grapes being taken to the winery. I'm not absolutely certain what kind of grapes they were. There are three possibilities: chardonnay, chenin, or sauvignon. The vast majority of the white grapes out back are sauvignon, so it's likely that's what they were and that the general harvest has started.

This is not sauvignon. It's cabernet franc, one of the grapes that makes our local red wine.

Even if the official harvesting has not yet been authorized, there are parcels, I believe, that can be harvested at the grower's discretion. The juice from those grapes is used to make what they once called vin de pays, wine that doesn't get the AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protegée) designation, or is blended to make sparkling wine.

European regulations have changed the way member countries label their wines. In France, what used to be labeled as AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) is now designated as AOP. What was formerly called vin de pays is now categorized either as IGP (Indication Géographique Protegée), meaning that it comes from a specific region, or vin de France, meaning that it comes from somewhere in France but is not necessarily linked to a defined region, a specific varietal(s), or subject to other quality controls.

As usual, I am oversimplifying a very complicated process for labeling wine. And after you've had a glass (or three), you probably wouldn't care much.

Hot time

It was certainly a hot Sunday afternoon. As predicted, we got up to about 30ºC in the late afternoon, which made for a pretty uncomfortable evening, especially for sleeping. I tossed and turned for a couple of hours before falling asleep sometime after midnight. It didn't help that I was being terrorized by a rogue mosquito. Two bites, and the fear of more, kept me awake for a while.

The tall grass plants have flowered and are releasing their seeds.

The summery weather is supposed to last for a few days. It's nice, sitting outside, barbecuing, and enjoying hanging out in shorts and t-shirts. Meanwhile, most of our summer neighbors have been packing up and heading out. The hamlet will regain its relative calm again. Of course, the grape harvest will start soon and hunting season begins in a couple of weeks.

So juicy sweet

This is what sauvignon looks like when it's ripe. The grapes go from immature green to a nearly translucent golden color. I see a lot of ripe-looking grapes out among the vines now, but harvesting has not really started yet. Some chardonnay got picked last week, and I'm not sure what the hand-harvesters were picking the other day. But the general harvesting has yet to begin.

These grapes taste good, too. But they're not meant for eating!

We're expecting a hot day today. The high is predicted to hit 30ºC (86ºF) this afternoon, even though it's starting out at a cool 14ºC (57ºF) this morning.

The season's first tart

I picked a few apples from our trees on Friday and decided to make a tarte aux pommes (apple tart). I found some rhubarb compote in the freezer and used that as a fruit base for the tart, then put a layer of sliced apples on top before baking.

The finished tart is glazed with strained apricot jam.

I don't even know what variety of apples these are. We have four apple trees, one of which we think is a Bramley, but it has no fruit this year. Another variety makes dark red apples, but their flesh is a little mushy and I don't really like them. They make good compost, though.