The Loire Valley and especially Blois
We woke up to snow this morning and the surprise of seeing three deer in the garden. They are to the right of the tree at the top of the path. The birds came in flocks. I counted about 30 at one stage. The sun came out and melted most of the snow by late …
Continue reading “Deer in the Snow – Chevreuils dans la neige”
This was taken at the same time as the photo of the cathedral on Sunday. Today was grey with rain and light snow. It was also very cold so I stayed inside and made chocolate-chip cookies. J’ai pris cette photo dimanche en même temps que celle de la cathédrale. Aujourd’hui le ciel était gris avec …
Continue reading “Blois Skyline in Winter – L’horizon à Blois en hiver”
Another day of rain but I sowed my eggplant and capsicum seeds indoors and we went to my favourite store – the plant nursery Truffaut – to order more Japanese stepping stones so that we can continue to feed the birds in the back garden without slipping in the slushy clay that was once grass. …
I hadn’t been out since our walk on Sunday but we got a small window of sun early afternoon and went to get some building materials and buy a few things at Biocoop. It rained for a bit then the sun came out again. It’s probably going to rain all day tomorrow. Sigh. Je n’étais …
When the ground is covered in snowdrops, you know that spring is a possibility! I’m getting ready to sow my first seeds of the year particularly since another lockdown is perhaps on the cards. Lorsque le sol est couvert de perce-neige, vous savez que le printemps est possible! Je prépare à semer mes premières graines …
Continue reading “Snowdrops but no snow – Perce-neige sans neige”
We had a sudden snowfall this morning. They were big fat flakes but they didn’t last long unfortunately. Looks like it might be another winter without snow in the Loire Valley. Nous avons eu une chute de neige subite ce matin. Il y avait de gros flocons mais malheureusement ils n’ont pas duré longtemps. On …
By the time we were ready to go to the market this morning it was pelting with hail. We waited until it was finished to leave home. In the centre of Blois, only 5 km away, there had been no hail at all. But then it started raining. After about 10 minutes it stopped and …
Continue reading “Blue Sky after Hail – Ciel bleu après grêle”
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, …
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 …
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 …