My Own Back Yard

It's nice to be home. The weather is good, the garden is growing, and the last of the spring flowers are in their glory. To wit:

Lupins in the up-and-coming herb garden.

A rose at its peak.

Sage, its flowers a destination for bees in spring, the leaves soon to be part of glorious summer meals.

Un Jour, Une Tour [13]

These two towers are grouped together because they have a common purpose. They're both bottle openers. The smaller one, on the left, is one that I've actually used quite a bit. The larger one hasn't been used much at all. I keep thinking that I'm nearing the end of this series, but there are still more towers to go. Imagine...

Tennis, Anyone?

As I said last week, we went to Paris for a day at Roland Garros, the French Open. We had tickets for Thursday in Court Number One, the smallest of the three show courts. Unfortunatley, it was cold and there was a rain delay, but we did see two good matches and part of a third, so all was not lost.

The day started out sunny and Ken and I stopped on the way to the tennis grounds for some coffee and a croissant (above) near our hotel. Yum!

Court Number One (above) was built in 1980 as the second show court at Roland Garros. But later, in the early '90s, the Suzanne Lenglen court took second stage (after Center Court) and Court No. 1 became the third and smallest show court on the grounds. It's a very intimate court and this year was the first time that we had seats in this court.

A fan, a ball kid, a line judge, and Julien Benneteau.

The first match was a great 5-set match between Frenchman Julien Benneteau and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Benneteau won it, finally, and the crowd loved it.

Julien Benneteau getting a treatment between games.

Next, we saw Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy win a match against Columbian Catalina Castano. A three-set match, interrupted by rain, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Nathalie Dechy focusing before her match.

The rain delay lasted about an hour. We made our way, with thousands of other fans, to one of the food venues on the grounds and huddled under a tent with a bottle of rosé to pass the time. Our friend Cheryl said the rain delay lasted exactly "one bottle of wine."

Finally, we got to see the first three games of the James Blake (above)/Nicolas Almagro match before we needed to leave at 8:00 pm for our dinner reservation. The match didn't last much longer before it was called due to darkness, and it was finished the next day with Blake winning. He lost today, however, against Gaël Monfils, another French player who's very hot right now.

Our friends and tennis companions, Sue and Cheryl, striking a pose in the stands on Court Number One.

Flowers

Some buds ready to open in Cour-sur-Loire:


And here they are opened in full glory:


Of course, they are not the same buds. I just found some that were already opened, and some that weren't, on the same tree.

Seen in the Sologne

Here are some words/letters seen recently in the Sologne:

This was an appliqué on a car.

These letters were part of a larger word on a storefront. Can you guess what kinde of store?

Un Jour, Une Tour [12]

This tower is about the height of a thumbnail and is encased in a plastic cube. There's a metal wire stuck in the cube that ends in a spiral at its top to hold a postcard or a photo.

I found this diminutive tower in a shop on the rue des Francs Bourgeois in Paris a number of years ago.

Gone to the Pub

Well, not exactly. We're in Paris attending second round matches at Roland Garros - the French Open tennis tournamant. We will be eating and drinking and generally having fun. Stay tuned.

By the way, this is my 100th post! It's also the anniversary of moving to France (3 years) and Ken's and my anniversary (23 years). Happy happy!