Hazelnut Time – Le temps des noisettes

A colleague of Jean Michel’s gave him a hazelnut tree when we bought our house four years ago. This year is the first year we had a real crop. How delightful to gather and eat our own produce! Un collègue à Jean Michel lui a donnéun noisetier lorsque nous avons acheté notre maison il y a quatre …

Loire Clean-Up – Nettoyage de la Loire

We were surprised as we cycled past Château de Menar to see that many large trees have been felled as part of a clean-up programme. Too many large trees along the river stop the water from flowing freely. Nous étions surpris lorsque nous sommes passés en vélo devant le château de Ménar de voir que …

Back on our Bikes – De nouveau sur nos vélos

The weather was beautiful on Saturday, sunny with a maximum of 25°C so went went on our favourite bike ride from Blois to Chambord via Saint Dyé sur Loire where one of the traditional flat-bottomed boats was reflected perfectly in the water. Il faisait un temps splendide samedi : ensoleillé avec un maxmimum de 25°C. …

Back to the Market – Retour au marché

After our trip to New York and Boston, we were delghted to be back at our fresh produce market in Blois today, starting with our favourite organic stand, La Ferme de la Touche. Jean Michel is in deep discussion with Christelle about soil quality! In the foreground is a custard marrow which I initially thought …

The Blown-Up Bridge – Le pont sauté

This is what remains of the railway bridge over the Loire blown up by the allied air forces on 11 June 1944 during the second world war. The arch on the left is the last one remaining on the south bank. Voici ce qui reste du pont de chemin de fer sur la Loire bombardée par les …

Postcard from New York – The Frick Collection

Henri Frick (1849-1919) made his fortune in coke and devoted his later years to building up an incredible collection of high-quality masterpieces which he housed in a buillding that he built as a museum that would be open to the public after his death. Unfortunately he only lived there for five years. You can only photograph …

Postcard from New York – Little Italy

This is Little Italy’s iconic Italian deli which started out as a latteria (dairy store) in 1910. Surprisingly there are not a lot of traffic problems in New York despite the many large cars such as this typically American jeep. Di Palo’s, une institution dans Little Italy, et la meilleure épicerie fine italienne du quartier, a commencé par être une …

Postcard from Boston – MIT

This is the Stata Center at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in Cambridge. The architect is Frank Gehry who also designed the amazing Louis Vuitton Fondation in the Bois de Boulogne. Apparently there is a law suit against Gehry’s company because the building leaks. Sounds a bit like the problems IM Pei (MIT & Harvard …