Eglise Saint-Nicolas

This church, on the right bank of the Loire at Blois, sits almost directly below the château. The twelfth century church was built in the romanesque style. There are, however, some flying buttresses and pointed arches, more usually associated with the gothic style.

The church of St.-Nicolas in Blois, seen from the château. October 2012.

I planted five agapanthus plants around the Real Fake Well yesterday. I'm betting on no freezes between now and next weekend. The 11th, 12th, and 13th of May are known as les saints de glace (The Ice Saints), the traditional dates after which the danger of frost is considered over. Just for fun, the saints are Mamert, Pancrace, and Servais.

Ken and I did not plan to post a photo of the same church today. But we did.

The other side

This is the northern, or exterior, façade of the renaissance (François I) wing, Château de Blois. It's recognizably Italian in style, especially the loges along the breadth of the building. If you look closely, just behind and above the largest of the rounded shrubs, you can see the stained glass windows of the Oratoire (oratory or small chapel) de Catherine de Médicis extending outward from the façade.

The renaissance wing of the Château de Blois. October 2012.

The deck contractor came by yesterday and finished his work by installing a piece of aluminum edging that he needed to order because he ran out. We had rain most of the morning and the slope of the deck seems to be correct. There were no water incursions toward the house, although there are a couple of puddles that form on the outside edge beyond the roof line. That's pretty normal.

The François I stair

The courtyard side of the Château de Blois includes this grand staircase. The sixteenth century building was constructed in the Italian-inspired renaissance style under King François I.

The François I stair at the Château de Blois. October 2012.

Today I'm planning a trip to a nearby market for tomato seedlings and a few other things. It's expected to rain some, so I'll have to make a decision about going as the morning progresses. I dug up the planting strip around the Real Fake Well yesterday. Its winter growth of weeds had to come out. I have some agapanthes (agapanthus) that I want to plant there this year. I've been holding them in the greenhouse since last fall.

Angles and perspective

It seems to me that it's difficult to get a wide-angle shot from inside the courtyard at the Château de Blois without a lot of distortion at the edges. I'm sure it can be done, with multiple shots and some skill with photography software, just not by me. This is a single shot of the gothic Louis XII wing which dates from the late fifteenth/early sixteenth centuries. On the right you can see the spire and roof line of the castle's chapel.

The Louis XII wing of the Château de Blois. October 2012.

The royal château at Blois is an amalgam of many architectural styles ranging from the medieval to the classical, the last of which was never fully realized before construction was halted in the seventeenth century.

A case of stairs

These stairs are in Blois, the préfecture, or administrative seat, of our département, le Loir et Cher. You might notice that Loir is spelled without a final "e." With it, it refers to the river and its valley that cross the middle of the département. Without it, Loir refers to an affluent (tributary) to the north. The Cher is another tributary to the south (where we live) Our département takes its name from those two tributaries of the larger river. Most of France's départements are named for the rivers that flow through them.

The woman taking a picture of her friend saw me taking a picture of her.

Rivers that flow into the sea are called fleuves. La Loire is a fleuve, as are la Seine and le Rhône. There are other fleuves, including France's shortest, la Veules in Normandy, at just over a kilometer long before it empties into the English Channel. As tributaries, le Loir and le Cher are called rivières.

I didn't intend to write about rivers today. It just ended up that way. I had to turn to the internet to find out the name of the shortest fleuve.

The deck is done

Well, almost. There's still one section of the edging missing. The mason is waiting for the part he ordered to arrive. The edging isn't visible in this photo.

Looking north. Our contractor refers to the "deck" as "une terrasse balcon" in French.

We started moving everything back out there yesterday. I got the grill back together (I partially disassembled it last fall so we could move it through the house and into the garage below) and we grilled our lunch. We may be grilling hamburgers today. They say we should expect sunny skies and a high of about 20ºC (68ºF) this afternoon. It ain't summer, yet, but it'll do!

Seedlings

Most of my seeds sprouted. They're mostly zucchini. Rest assured that most of them will be tossed. I'll plant two or three of the best looking seedlings. Now that Tasha's on a steady diet of grated zucchini mixed in with her wet food, we have another use for them. The musk pumpkins are up, too, but I had no luck with the red Etampes (old seeds). I stuck two more seeds into the dirt yesterday. I'd like one of each of the pumpkin varieties in the garden this year. Their roaming nature and broad leaves help to keep weeds down.

Seedlings in the greenhouse.

What's missing are tomatoes. I decided this year to buy tomato plants from a grower at one of the weekly outdoor markets nearby and see how that works. I'll plant bean seeds directly out in the garden plot in a couple of weeks, after frost danger is over.

Today is Labor Day. But it's also Deck Day for us. At long last, we'll be moving our outdoor furniture, some plants, and the BBQ grill out to the newly renovated deck today. I'll be grilling boudin noir (blood sausage) for lunch, if all goes according to plan.