Hello gorges

After leaving Venasque, I think we headed northeast to drive through Nesque River Gorge, les gorges de la Nesque. It's a picturesque river valley offering breathtaking views from a single road winding its way through to (or from, depending on which way you go) the town of Sault.

The road through the Nesque valley pierces the rocks in many spots. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

There are a few tunnels along the way, including this one. I suppose it's not really a tunnel, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. There are turnouts along the road so that visitors can pull over and enjoy some the better views. And to take pictures, of course.

One last time

Here's a final view of the church of Notre-Dame in Venasque. Nothing much more to say, other than I must have found it fascinating.

Notre-Dame-de-Venasque. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

I didn't build a fire in the wood stove yesterday. Too much other stuff was going on and tending a fire was not high on the list. I'll probably build one today. This morning's low is around 3ºC. The log pile is getting smaller.

Early spring

Here's a view of a section of the north forty that includes two early flowering trees. The white blossoms are on a plum tree in the corner of our neighbor's yard. The pink blossoms are on a fruitless cherry in our yard. The sun made an appearance yesterday so I thought I'd snap a few photos.

All the rain has really greened up the "lawn." View from the deck on the north side.

It's still chilly, but we haven't had a freeze. That's always a possibility in March and April and even as late as May. We had a couple of light freezes (not enough) during the winter, and since it's still winter for a couple more weeks, we shouldn't be surprised if it happens again, however unlikely we think it might be.

Crazy animule

This is a gargoyle on the church at Venasque. I hope.

Scary. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

It's down close to freezing this morning. We had a very clear, starry night and whatever warmth there was escaped. Brr. And Grr.

I dunno

This image of a bell is among the slides I took in Venasque, but I can't find (using the internet) a church or civic building in town that has a belfry like this. Perhaps the bell is in a nearby town. I'll keep trying (kind of) to identify it.

Somewhere near Venasque. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

I'm ready for the rain to stop. Walking the dog is soggy work. The ground feels like a damp sponge beneath my feet. Grass is growing like nobody's business (the first mowing is going to be a challenge). There's been a lot of wind and our temperatures remain in the single digits (celsius). On the other hand, trees are blossoming, daffodils are flowering, the days are staying lighter longer, and the birds are chirping up a storm. Such is the transition of winter into spring.

The way in

This is one way to get inside the church of Notre-Dame in Venasque. I don't know if there are other doors. I have no slides from inside the church and no recollection of going in. It may have been locked up the day we visited.

This church has been worked on a few times over the centuries. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

I mentioned that my slides are kind of mixed up, a little out of order, and that I'm probably mixing them up a little more in the scanning process. Most of my slides are in Kodak carousels ready to be viewed with a projector. But my projector died about twenty years ago so, except for scanning, I haven't seen many of them for a while. Scanning slides and posting some of them here on the blog are giving them a second life. The slides in the carousels are those I felt were worthy of projection. I have boxes of slides that I didn't think turned out well, rejects, if you will. I'll probably never look at those again. Sigh.

Ding-a-ling

Here's a close-up of a bell in the tower of Notre-Dame-de-Venasque. There may be other bells up there, but I can't see any in my photos.

The belfry of Notre-Dame-de-Venasque. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

I mentioned that my slides are kind of mixed up. I think I'm contributing to the mixing during the scanning process. Good grief!