The Loire Valley and especially Blois
One of the reasons we chose to move to Blois is that is had several State forests which means we can collect wild mushrooms. However this is the second autumn that they have been very scarce due to the dry weather. Jean Michel did find a few Craterellus tubaeformis and boletus on Friday though before …
Continue reading “Some Mushrooms at Last – Quelques champignons enfin”
I’m not a comic fan at the best of times and I do not like what has been done to the Denis Papin steps in Blois to celebrate the annual comic festival called BD Boum. I much preferred the black and white spiral. Je ne suis pas un grand fan de bandes dessinées et je …
This isn’t really Rain Forest Road but some Australian friends staying in the area assumed it was. “Rain” is actually a dialect word for ravine (the middle consonant was dropped as it often is in French) as this part of the forest behind our street is full of hills and dales. Le terme “rain” provient …
Continue reading “Rain Forest Road – Route du rain de la forêt”
The autumn colours are not spectacular this year as you can see from the trees on the right. In another month the leaves will all have fallen. Les couleurs d’automne ne sont pas très spectaculaire cette année si on regarde les arbres sur la droite. Dans un mois il n’y aura plus de feuilles du …
It was so hot this summer that our hollyhocks were not at all happy but these two, across the road from our house, were late bloomers though a little on the short side. Il faisait tellement chaud cet été que nos roses trémières étaient bien tristes. Ces deux-là, par contre, ont poussé en face de …
Continue reading “Last Hollyhocks – Dernières roses trémières”
Villesavin Château was built for Jean Le Breton, the finance minister of François I while Chambord was being built. It was nicknamed the worksite hut. Le château de Villesavin fut construit pour Jean le Breton, secrétaire des finances de François Ier lors de la construction de Chambord. On l’a surnommé la cabane de chantier. Le …
Continue reading “Sun on Villesavin – Soleil sur Villesavin”
It’s our third year at the wine fair at Chateau de Villesavin run by the local Kiwanis Club. With about 30 wine growers from throughout France there is a good selection and when you’ve finished one of these happy Kiwanis takes his trolley around the room to pick up your purchases (we had 8 x …