Valley view

These are some of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards in the Rhône Valley seen from up in the town. The river is visible in the background. I don't remember the last time I had a C-d-P wine. I'll have to look for one soon. I do, however, know that I've had the more affordable Côtes du Rhône a few times in recent memory.

The Rhône River at Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

Today is Easter Sunday and Ken is making our traditional meal of rabbit. This year, it's a kind of rabbit fricassée, a stew of vegetables, rabbit, and white wine. Yum!

Today is also the start of Summer Time. We turned the clocks ahead this morning (I did it all last night before bed). The days are getting longer and now the evenings will be lighter later.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

It's a small town (a little more than two thousand people) on the Rhône River just south of Orange. The name translates to English as "the Pope's New Castle." In the fourteenth century, popes moved from Rome to Avignon. Not far from there, a "new" castle was built for Pope John XXII. I though that was the origin of the town's name, but Wikipedia tells me that it had been known as Castro Novo as early as the eleventh century, a castro or castrum being the Latin name for a fortified town. It wasn't until the fourteenth century and the construction of a large castle complex and towering donjon that the du Pape part of the name was added. All that remains of that construction is part of the donjon.

A small street leading up to the center of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Digitized color slide, September 2001.

Of course, people these days associate Châteauneuf-du-Pape with the wine that's produced from mostly grenache grapes (but can also contain some of thirteen other authorized grape varieties) grown on the low lands that surround the town.

The Salton Sea

When we visited CHM back in 1997, we drove around most of California's Salton Sea. There wasn't much there, but the views across the water were impressive as we made our way north along the eastern shore. I think this might be Mecca, or Mecca Beach, a campground on the eastern side. It's hard to remember.

Shore birds taking a walk on the beach.

Yesterday was a bad weather day. High winds and rain kept us in, although I did make a run to the pharmacy and we were both able to get out with Tasha for relatively dry walks. More rain is predicted over night, but it looks like the wind has calmed some. March is going out like a lion.

Desert fox

I've got more slide scanning to do. Instead of more Provence today, you get the Southern California desert. I believe this was taken in the Joshua Tree National Park in 1997. Look closely and you'll seen Ken with CHM comparing notes on cactus photography. And, what's that? A fox in the foreground? No, it's our dog Collette enjoying some desert freedom.

I'm sure she was supposed to be on a leash. And she was, most of the time.

The weather kind of sucks right now. Wind and rain and cool temperatures. Typical March weather, I guess. And I still haven't finished the taxes. I'm scheduling that for Friday morning.

The ravine

This photo is from last Saturday. Since then, the work crew has done a little more smoothing and several dump truck loads of "clean" dirt have been added to the bottom of the ravine. And that pile of tree branches visible in the lower right corner has been burned.

This ravine/stream bed isn't named. At least I've never heard a name for it.

At the far end of the ravine, another stream bed joins this one and runs off to the right down toward the river. I'm amazed at how deep these ravines are. Some of them, like the one just south of our hamlet, are named. In that case, it's la rouère de l'aulne (the alder ravine). The word rouère is a regional word for "ravine" or "intermittent stream," as far as I can tell (Wiktionnaire).

Great Bertie's ghost!

Or, "I tawt I taw a puddy tat." This fella starting showing up in our back yard a few days ago. When I first caught a glimpse of him, I thought, "Bert!" Obviously, it's not him. But whoever he (or she?) is, he's prowling around in part of Bert's old hunting ground. That first glimpse caught me off guard.

Bert's "ghost" hunting mice in the west forty.

A few months ago (I think), one of our neighbors tried to give us a kitten. She was persistant. I politely, but firmly, refused. It was a cute black kitten, one of several "outdoor" cats that the neighbor was feeding and trying to give away. I'll bet this is that kitty, all grown up now and stalking rodents in the neighborhood. I don't think he's met Tasha yet.

Winding down

The earth works out back are nearly completed. Over the weekend the last of the grape vine trunks they tore out last year went into the ravine and clean dirt was brought in to cover it all over. The big orange backhoe was actually down in the ravine smoothing it all. The ravine is still there, though. It's just a little neater. It'll be interesting to see what's next and if the vineyard parcel will be replanted this spring or next year.

In the foreground are the new vines planted last year.

I'm procrastinating on doing the US taxes. I've got all the documents together. It's simply a matter of entering the numbers on the web tax filing service I use. This week. I promise. Then I can procrastinate on doing the French taxes.