Tomatoes

The tomatoes are growing. They're not big enough to go outdoors yet. It is time, however, to transplant them so that there's only one plant per pot. In a few weeks, after the threat of frost is over, and after I've hardened them off, they'll go out into the garden.

Little tomato seedlings. Looking forward to nice tasty tomatoes this summer.

I got a section of the grass cut on Monday afternoon, what I call the South 40. It's the section that you see in yesterday's photo. I also did the strip along the road outside the hedge. Phew. Still more to go, but it will get done, hopefully this afternoon. I can't do it in the morning because there is so much dew and the grass is too wet to cut. By afternoon it dries out. I'm looking forward to the coming summer and less dew.

Hoping for a dry week

After a week of relatively wet weather, the grass is growing incredibly fast. I got ten liters of gasoline a few days ago and now I'm waiting for a dry day or two to get out there and cut it again. When the grass gets tall and thick, I adjust the mower to cut it higher than normal. That makes the cutting easier. At some point I'll return the mower to the normal height and cut the grass shorter.

That's salvia sclarea (clary sage) thriving around the well. The grass is taller now than in this photo.

The little tomato seedlings are growing well in the greenhouse. This week I will thin them and transplant them into individual pots so they can get bigger before I plant them outside. We're also hoping for a dry spell to till up the garden plot. The last frost danger here is mid-May, so we still have a couple of weeks to get it done.

One last look

Here's my final shot from inside the Basilique Saint-Julien de Brioude. I'm standing in the ambulatory looking west along the southern aisle. I think this view gives you a good feel for the volume of the space, the colors of the stone, and the varied light from the modern stained glass.

Those patterned stone floors are throughout the church.

We're moving now closer to May and the holidays that come with it. The first two Wednesdays in May are holidays. Falling in the middle of their weeks, the holidays provide people with an opportunity to take five-day weekends. I expect the zoo traffic will be heavy.

Le déambulatoire

The ambulatory of a church or cathedral is the pathway around the choir and altar on the building's east end. Often, as in this case, the ambulatory is lined with semi-circular apsidal chapels that protrude from the building.

Not a whole lot of religious fervor on this day. Notice the stone floor.

Without going into the details, the ambulatory provides a path for liturgical processions and for pilgrims, separating them from the main holy action pomp and circumstance in the choir and at the altar. Wikipedia says, cet espace de circulation canalisait la ferveur religieuse tout en protégeant de la foule le bon déroulement des offices (this circulation space channels religious fervor, protecting the orderly celebration of mass and other daily prayer ceremonies from the crowd).  I don't know this stuff, I only report what I read on the internet.

Looking up

The church of Saint-Julien de Brioude is ostensibly a romanesque building. But, as with most churches that took a hundred or more years to build, the styles change from bottom to top. The upper parts of this building look like they're moving into the gothic style.

Ribbed vaults form the ceiling of the nave, a feature common to most gothic cathedrals.

I say that because the lower arches are round, typical of the romanesque style. But the upper arches are looking a bit pointed and the vaults are ribbed, both characteristic of the gothic style. Many churches in France exhibit this bridge between the two styles. That's part of what makes them interesting.

The column capitals are intricately carved. And look at that fancy stonework in the columns themselves!

The stone used in the columns and walls is multi-colored, quarried at various locations nearby. Light from the stained glass windows enhances the colors, almost magically.

I have a confession to make

Well, no I don't. But it seemed like a good title for this image. A double, or is it quadruple, confessional in the church of Saint-Julien de Brioude. There are four places for sinners, but only two for priests. Is that normal? Not being a Catholic, I wouldn't know.

Bless me Father for I have sinned. No waiting.

At any rate, these confessionals were wide open, perhaps suggesting that there is nothing to confess in Brioude. At least on Saturdays. Because, you know, it's market day.

Inside Saint-Julien de Brioude

Brace yourselves for a few church-y posts. I probably spent between five and ten minutes inside the church, so this is not an in-depth photo study, nor do I have any idea of the history or significance of what I was looking at most of the time. But no matter. It was pretty.

Looking up the central aisle of the nave toward the altar. That's a tour group seated around their guide.

We didn't get even one drop of the rain that was predicted to fall all day on Tuesday. I was frustrated because I put off cutting the grass. Turns out that I could have got it all done. Light rain is once again predicted for most of today. It is blustery out there this morning, and Ken just noticed that some rain is falling. It's 06h30 as I type this; not even light outside yet.