Vines, drainpipe and pot, Saignon

View up the hill from out house.

It looks more and more like we have a long wait to get back to our beloved Saignon. We miss the community of lovely people, the views, the weather, the food, the wine, but, God wailing, we will be back.

More Lourmarin shadows

Shadows, Lourmarin

Young love, Paris

Saint Chapelle, Paris

This is about 1/8 of the room, all stained glass. There is a great movie about how they restored it from obscurity.

Self isolating even before the virus.

Clothes, check, mask, check phone, check. Ready to go.

Paris

Selfie, Paris

Still don't get selfies.

Paris

In a small cathedral.

Docent, Musee D'Orsay

As most of Paris, the Musee D'Orsay has beautiful light.

Across the Seine, Paris

L'amour, Paris

Protesters, Paris

A closer view. The march went on for over a mile. Part protest part party.

Paris

If you look closely along the top of the wall, you can see the protesters against the retirement changes that were going on while we were there. Could not do it today due to the virus.

Paris

Love the shoes.

Paris

Coming in to the Gare de Lyon on our Paris trip.

Two trees, Saignon

Obviously in love.

Tree portraits, Laurel and Hardy

Inspired by Carl Weese.  Taken with my new odd rig. This is a Lumix S1-R with a Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens attached via an adapter. Don't have the right words to describe the "feel" of the files from this lovely old lens. Smoother rather than sharper is as close as I can come. And it is plenty sharp. Mike Johnston on TOP has sung the praises of this lens, forcing me to pony up $75.00 a year ago and put it on my micro 4/3 cameras. Then Kirk Tuck says how much he likes his Lumix S1s so I find one used on eBay still in the box for almost half price. I could even still register it! It is, as advertised, heavy, but the Takumar is not and balances well. I also have the Sigma 40mm f/2.8 which is even lighter and very modern day sharp. I put the camera and 50mm on a tripod, popped the rear screen to horizontal and make the files square and it's like using one of my old Rolleis.

Other beds in my garden.

 The front yard is Janie's purview. She trims the azaleas and weeds, She runs a weedeater to keep it nice and enlists me to mow in and around all of them. She has been weeding and mulching for two weeks and today I mowed to reveal all of her work.

This is a little rose/citrus garden around the side of our house. Two of the citrus are blooming for the first time...ever! Can't wait. One is a lime and the other is so old that I've forgotten.

Pepper and herb bed.

This what is sold as a Big Bag Bed. It is a heavy duty rubbery cloth bag. It holds about a foot deep load of soil. This one is 6ft/2 m. across. I have had hot peppers in it for years. This year I have added thyme, parsley and sweet bell peppers.

Mulberry tree, garden

Our little house in Saignon has a lovely Mulberry in the front yard. It has to be cut back every year. It is called pollarding. It is started when the tree reaches its desired height. I bought a Mulberry three years ago here in Florida. I planted it near my olive trees to create a Provencal bed. It was no bigger that a pencil. Well, it grew faster than a weed and was too tall and too shady, in three years it went from one foot tall to 12 feet (2 Metres) tall. This year I cut it back to the main branches. It had already leafed out. For a week and a half it just looked dead and I worried. Today it has many, many little sprouts Woo-Hoo.

Fig leaves, Garden

These first fig leaves always tell me the Spring is truly here, and, as it is the first day of Spring they are putting on a show.

Three year old pepper

This plant is over a meter tall. Three years in and just flushing out leaves. The green peppers are the first of this years crop. I bought it as a seedling and promptly lost the little stake with its name. They are quite hot, but the heat fades quickly. Very tasty.

Pepper garden

This area is perfect for peppers. I love hot peppers. No, not Carolina Reaper hot, anywhere from habanero on down to jalapeño . Hint, the jalapeños that you can grow from plants or seeds are much tastier than supermarket ones. My favorites are Datil peppers. They were brought here from Minorca by the servants of the Spanish. They are a lovely orange when ripe, pretty hot, and have a lovely smoky flavor. Most of these plants are in their third year as we have had no frosts in that time.

My throne.

When I finish up a taxing job in the garden I am pouring sweat. It is also hot and humid Florida. So I get a liter of Nuun (an electrolyte tablet that goes into a bottle of water) and sit here to cool off.

More garden.

When we moved here 27 years ago, our back yard was lawn. St. Augustine grass, which I don't like, trying to grow in the shade of three large trees. Whenever a patch of grass died, I would either put a paver on it or plant a bush or tree. This is my little Asian patch. There is a ginkgo a Japanese maple and a bottlebrush tree growing over a huge ginger plant. The ginger comes from a supermarket piece of ginger that I put in a pot 20 years ago. Ginger is a slow grower but it is persistent and has broken the pot and gone to ground.

Garden paths

Last year we cleared these paths, Janie put down cloth and I mulched. They really needed this second layer. The rocks were a bear to move and put back.

Janie's garden

Another bed that Janie is remulching.

Garden

This is one of the beds in front. Janie put down landscape cloth last year and mulched it. This year she put a new layer of mulch down and it looks great.

Garden work

 Every year I attack a different part of my garden. In Florida things will get overgrown in a year. This year I went after a small plot next to our guest house. A day of weed pulling on my hands and knees, followed by my lovely bride doing a job I hate, laying down landscape cloth. Then I cover it all with a thick layer of cypress mulch. This year I found that I had planted a Meyer lemon by the fence, years ago. It had thrived in my benign neglect and was covered with fruit. Now it  is covered with flowers. Satisfying work.

Winter colors, below Saignon

Trail clearing, Saignon

 This winter we were invited to help keep some walking trails clear. A large group from Foyer Rurale de Saignon assembled and we walked up the trail above town. It was a bit overgrown and we applied secateurs to every offending branch. A tough climb for me but worth it for the friends and the satisfaction of keeping a wonderful trail passable.

Fredo finishing up

 Fredo Chaix has been working on his house since we have known him. Here, he was finishing up on windows that he installed through a thick wall. They are lovely. His work is amazing.

I just like the red/orange interplay here.

Signs, Lourmarin.

I love the Sauf Riverains sign. It basically means the street is only for locals.

Cafe, Bar, Lourmarin

White van and dresses, Apt market

Drainpipe, Apt

Apt market

The French have learned about the power of Janes.