Heavily galvanised

Someone was conscientious. Rather than toss the label on the ground, whoever strung this vineyard wire (and I'm pretty sure I know who it was) placed it artfully in a crack in one of the posts at the end of a row. This is a new parcel, just planted last year. It's not producing grapes yet, but in a couple more years, when the little vines have grown good roots and sturdy trunks, it will be.

The label in three languages: French, what looks like German, and English (British, using an "s" in place of a "z").

I took my ailing chainsaw into the shop on Tuesday and the mechanic there fixed it on the spot. I told him what happened and he nodded, understanding exactly what happened and what needed to be done. He said that when the chain jumps the guide, the teeth get deformed (I knew that) and that they could be meulées (ground) back into shape (I didn't know that). I asked if it would be easier just to get a new chain and he said oh no, there's plenty of life left in the old chain. He took it off the saw and went to work while I watched. Then he said the cutting elements needed to be sharpened and asked if I wanted him to do that, too. I said yes, and about five minutes later the chain was as good as new and back on the saw. The mechanic has worked on stuff for me before and he knows me. He's always got a smile and knows exactly what to do, and I liked that he fixed the old chain rather than simply sell me a new one at twice the price.

Periodic puppy pics

Callie is used to us having our cameras during our walks and she will often stop and wait more or less patiently while we take pictures. If we're in a grassy spot, she'll take advantage and munch on some grass. Otherwise, she keeps her eyes peeled for rabbits, deer, and other critters.

Callie waits and watches.

We were woken early this morning by thunder and heavy rain on the roof. Callie was spooked by the noise and ran down the stairs barking. The storm didn't last very long and we were all back to sleep after a short while. Weird weather for October.

Monday macros

I realized the other day that I've been favoring my wide-angle zoom lens lately (18-55mm, f3.5-f5.6). I have three other lenses: a telephoto zoom, a fixed 50mm, and a 100mm macro lens. The macro lens is for taking close-up photos and I've posted a lot of them on blog over the past two years. But I don't take the lens out all that often and I want to do more with it. So I'm going to try to use it more. To that end, I'd like to post a macro shot at least once a week on Mondays, hence the title of today's post.

Abandoned grapes, 1/250s, f / 4.5, ISO 320, 100mm.

That said, today's image is not really much of a close-up, but I liked the way it turned out. These are grapes in a vineyard parcel that's been abandoned for over ten years. The vines have been left to grow wild with no pruning, and the fruit is eaten by wildlife or it rots. The grapes are small and sparse compared to those grown on well-tended vines. I wonder who owns the land and if it will ever be turned back into a productive parcel?

Autumn in the vineyard

Harvesting is done for the season and I assume the juice is fermenting away. Over the next few weeks will see the bernache (partially fermented wine) come out. It's served by the glass at markets, festivals, and winery open houses, and is sold bottled in local supermarkets. Bernache bottle caps have a hole in them to let the fermentation gasses escape, preventing the bottles from exploding! Neighbors once warned us not to drink too much of it because it can have the same effect as prune juice, if you know what I mean. This year's bernache should be nice and sweet given the hot summer we had.

Vineyard leaves turning yellow and gold behind a field of Queen Anne's lace.

We're planning to work in the garden this morning, pulling up tomato plants and other vegetables that are "done." There are quite a few winter squash to bring in before it rains again. I don't want them to rot on the ground. Then we plan to plant a small plot of greens (collards and kale) for a winter crop.

What's on tv

I have no idea. The tv program didn't come in the mail yet. And that's very unusual. I've been getting this tv magazine in the mail for close to ten years now, and this is the first time I can remember it not getting here on time. I know the subscription is up to date; I renewed it in August. So, today you get autumn leaves.

Some grape leaves go brilliant red in the fall.

I have the worst luck with chainsaws. I was merrily sawing away on Friday when the chain suddenly came off the saw in mid-cut. Somehow it got deformed and will no longer glide in the guide arm. Ugh! Now I have to take the saw into the shop and either get a new chain or a new guide or both.

Fall flowers

September, and now October, are the months when our Jerusalem artichokes bloom. At least, we call them Jerusalem artichokes. They do not produce edible tubers as real topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes) do. But they're some form or other of sunflower and closely resemble the edible kind.

The back sides of the flowers glow in the morning sunlight.

I spent a good hour and a half cleaning my little chainsaw on Thursday. The big chainsaw is kaput. I can start it but it won't stay running. It's an old machine that I bought used about six years ago. It's been great, but it's done its time. Since then, I bought a smaller saw for little jobs. I didn't clean the little saw last year before putting it away and now I'm paying the price. I couldn't start it yesterday, and then I noticed that the chain was stuck. All the sawdust and muck from last year's cutting had turned into glue over winter, seizing up the external moving parts. Duh.

So, I took the saw apart and cleaned it well (with turpentine, yuck!) and reassembled it. I finally got it started (after having flooded the engine during my first attempts) and it seems to be running fine now. So today I plan to do a little cutting; there are some dead tree limbs and other small trees that need to be cut down along one of the fences. Then I've got a pile of kindling that needs cutting up. I don't need to cut firewood this year since we found a supplier that delivers the wood already cut to size.

This time I mean it

Maybe. I'm still messing around with the scans of my Paris slides from twenty or so years ago. Most of them are just not technically good enough to rescue. There is a lot of dust that got scanned (cleaning and re-scanning might help that, but that's a project for another time) or the exposures are out of whack or they're too blurry. No amount of software manipulation can bring back a bad photo.

This island in the Seine is the historical center of Paris.

So here's the last one for a while. It's the western tip of the Ile de la Cité taken from the Pont du Carrousel. You can see the steel Pont des Arts in the foreground and the stone arches of the Pont Neuf crossing the tip of the island behind. The twin bell towers of the Cathedral of Notre Dame are at center-right, the spire of the Sainte Chapelle rises toward the center, and the conical towers of the Conciergerie can be seen to the far left. Since I'm looking upstream, the Left Bank is on the right.