The Broken iPhone – L'iPhone cassé

Now I bet you’re thinking that the title is a mistake. Well, it isnt. We were taking a stroll in the twilight and saw this beautifully restored pigeon house behind a wrought-iron gate. To get a better photo, I slid my iPhone behind the bars and – you guessed it – it somehow slipped out …

Bread Day in Les Grouets – Fête du Pain aux Grouets

The fête du pain or bread festival takes places in France every year on the feast of Saint Honoré, patron saint of bakers.  Norbert Gourget, who has his own bread oven in our neighbourhood, Les Grouets, turns into a baker once a year for the local association Les Amis des Grouets to bake bread, brioche …

Our Local Biscuits – Sablés du quartier

As we were walking through the market in Blois, a green bicycle with “Les Grouets” on it caught my eye. “Les Grouets” is the name of our neighbourhood in Blois. We soon started talking with an enterprising pastry cook who makes and sells delicious shortbread biscuits. Now we buy a packet every time we go. …

Vienne at Sunset – Vienne au coucher de soleil

The light at we drove from Les Gouets towards the centre of the Blois today at sunset was most unusual. This photo, with Gabiel Bridge on the right and Vienne across the other side of the Loire, was taken from the esplanade. The photo below shows the flat-bottomed boats on the left of the photo …

Hailstorm – Coup de grêle

A hailstorm is always great to see but not so good for budding nature when spring is already upon us in late February this year in Blois. [Translator’s note: not nearly as poetic as Jean Michel’s but I don’t seem to be very inspired tonight!) Beau décor de grêle pour les yeux mais mauvais pour …

Bread Baskets – Paniers à pain

These bread baskets come from a bakery that closed in Les Gouets a few years ago. From left to right, “pain”, “boule” and “baguette”. Ces paniers à pain proviennent d’une boulangerie qui a fermé aux Grouets il y a quelques années. De gauche à droite, pain, boule et baguette.  

Horse and Buggy – Voiture à cheval

This pretty little buggy passed us on the path parallel to the Loire between Les Grouets and Chouzy that we cycle along in the summer. I felt as though I was in a Victorian novel. Cette belle voiture emprunte le chemin parallèle à la Loire entre les Grouets et Chouzy qui nous sert de piste …

Sundial in Les Grouets – Cadran solaire aux Grouets

Another sundial, this time in Rue Basse des Grouets. the English translation of the Latin motto is “Time goes slowly for the idle, but quickly for the industrious”. An autre cadran solaire, cette fois-ci dans la rue Basse des Grouets: La traduction de la devise en latin est : “L’heure coule lentement pour les paresseux, …