The temperatures have gone up – a maximum of 7 degrees today and 12 tomorrow – and it looks like they may stay there for the next ten days or so. A blue sky makes a big difference to someone born and raised in tropical Australia! Les températures sont montées avec un maximum de 7 …
Monthly Archives: January 2021
Cat & Moss – Chat sur mousse
Every time I turned the radio on today they were talking about Covid vaccinations for the over 70s which began today. With everyone complaining about the slow rollout, the process was bumped up. Now they are running out of Pfizer vaccines. Chaque fois que j’ai écouté la radio aujourd’hui on parlait des vaccinations contre le …
Next Door to Mick – Les voisins de Mick
This is Mick Jagger’s next door neighbour in Pocé-sur-Cisse. His château is set so far back from the road that my iPhone could only just see it. This house is more in the style of an early 20th century holiday home in France than a main residence but the troglodyte cellars are obviously from an …
Bears at the Market – Des ours au marché
We have a new curfew across the country from 6 pm to 6 am. With 21271 new cases today and 76 in our immediate area (Loir-et-Cher), we need to be very careful. We found little respect of social distancing at the market today but everyone was wearing a mask, although not always on their nose, …
Baa Baa Black Sheep – Mes bêtes noires
The title in French has nothing to do with our nursery rhyme. « Bête noire » which literally means black beast or black animal is used to indicate something you hate such as spelling. Le titre en anglais n’a rien à voir avec bête noire. C’est le début d’une cantine pour enfant « Mê, mê …
A Bit of Paradise – Un bout du paradis
“This is paradise” is what the sign in the middle says. The sign on the left is the name of the place: Tranquillity. The sign on the right sets out the Garden Rules. 1. Relax in a peaceful environment 2. Welcome the bees and butterflies 3. Sow seeds of madness 4. There are no weeds, …
Grey Reflections – Reflets gris
It was such a grey day today with intermittent rain that I nearly didn’t go out at all but since we had to take the car to the garage in Chouzy-sur-Cisse, our closest village, we went for a walk around the lake afterwards. A little bit of blue sky joined us. Il faisait tellement gris …
Christmas Roses – Roses de Noël
These are not roses of course, but hellebores, or Lenten roses, and bloom in winter. Last year the deer ate them so I’ve put them out of reach on my kitchen windowsill. When the temperature is below freezing point the flowers keel over but they perk up when they thaw. Ce ne sont pas des …
My Fir Tree – Mon sapin
This was taken from the Bishop’s Garden in Blois on Friday when it was so cold. The fir tree you can see is in the shared garden of the apartment building where I own a holiday rental so I probably own about 1/8 of it. Such large trees are quite rare in the medieval part …
Winter Skyline – Horizon d’hiver
The temperature went up to 3 degrees this afternoon so I went for a walk along the Loire just to take in my favourite view of Blois. There is a cycle path below full of promenaders but I had the pavement at road-level all to myself. La température est montée jusqu’à 3 degrés cet après-midi …