Thursday, March 28, 2024

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.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

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).

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

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.

Monday, March 25, 2024

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.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Forsythia

The forsythia around the neighborhood are in full flower right now. This is our big one out back. The little one is not doing as well. I really want to cut this one back some this year, so I'll have to read up on when pruning should be done.

Forsythia in the south forty. The barrel-shaped shrub in the background is a laurier sauce (bay laurel).

Market day was successful yesterday. I got our first bunch of asperges blanches (white asparagus) of the season, a bunch of radis roses (red and white radishes), and a dozen nems (egg rolls) and two rouleaux de printemps (spring rolls) from the Asian guys. I'm looking forward to strawberry season.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Break on through to the other side

Yup, it's the doors again (and windows). Nothing much to say, except that I think I posted a photo of the big door a while back without remembering that it was part of our rental house. I think that the upstairs window (where the shutter is open) is in one of the bedrooms; the ground floor doors on this end of the house were closed to us.

I'd love to see this house today. I wonder how it's changed.

Friday was an exciting day for us. I shampooed the rug in the den and Ken laundered the slip covers on our living room chairs. Spring cleaning has begun. This morning I'm heading over to the market in Saint-Aignan for a few things. Woo-hoo!

Friday, March 22, 2024

Exterior

The gîte we rented in Cavaillon was a big building. Parts of it were closed off, like this, the eastern end of the building. I'm assuming the building was originally a farmhouse, so the doors could lead to storage rooms and such.

What's behind closed doors?

Today's the last day of our warm spell. Starting tomorrow, we'll be back in the single digits for a while. No freezes are predicted. Yet. April can be filled with weather surprises, most notably freezes that kill tender buds on fruit trees and grape vines. We will cross our fingers.