Rhinoceros Beetle

Some crazy big black thing buzzed past me today. John, eminent Oxford zoologist solved the mystery when he brought this into the house. DO NOT LIVE WITH ZOOLOGISTS!!

Vouvray

I had to pick up a friend in Tours yesterday, so I spent the driving day around Vouvray. This is the home of the Chenin Blanc grape, and these guys are the masters.

I've always liked Chenin Blanc, recently finding a great one at Paumanok Vineyards, but this is a whole different game. They make sparkling like Champagne, another that's less bubbly but still sparkling, some dry, some sweet, some semi-sweet...I think I tasted 40 wines at 5 different vineyards. All Chenin Blanc, except a couple of Cabernet Franc at Domaine Marc Bredif-my pix didn't come out so I'm linking here. I hadn't planned on visiting these guys but drove past and recognized the label, as my local wine store in NYC carried their Cab Franc and I had a lot of tasting to do before I got here. Tasted my favorite Chinon so far, a private reserve 2005, like a steak in a glass. This winemaker is a great visit because they have wineries all over and you can sample all of them at any location.

What's cool about Vouvray, is that most of the vines are on the tops of the hill and the caves storing the wine are directly underneath. Quite stunning to see.

Here's a great example of that, Domaine Allias (organic, by the way; that garage door-looking thing is the entrance to the cave and you see the greenery above. Those are mostly trees right on the edge of the cliff but trust me the vines are just beyond:

A quick detour about wines for the Loire (many more, but I've dived into these so far):

Vouvray is the region (actually the town and the land in it, almost all Chenin Blanc-the grape.

Chinon is the region (actually the town and the land in it, almost all Cabernet Franc-the grape.

Probably getting a little wine-geeky but my favorites were Domaine Huet (pronounce the T, like Hue-ette), and Domaine Champalou.

Lastly, the first pic is an example of the sign you see entering any town or village in France. Here's the exit:

Saint Remy Troglodyte Homes

This is sort of the French equivalent of Navaho cave dwellings. Outside a little village called St. Remy, across the river from Descartes, the town where the philosopher was born, are all these old cave homes from ages ago. Probably millenia ago. Kinda cool, kinda creepy.

Going Green in France

These windmills are being put up in Pleumartin, the next village over. They are HUGE.

Fishing in the Gartempe

John and Joyce tell me no one has caught any fish in the Gartempe (the river right outside the door, that runs through St. Pierre de Maillé) in TEN years. This guy has been fishing for a few days already gotten 3! It's a 9.5 kilo (21 pounds) carp. Zut alors!

More chickens!

I'm housesitting for a friend and watching her chickens.

Middle of Nowhere

This is where I am now.

Colored Socks

I always wondered why Europeans couldn't figure out to wear white socks with sneakers. Now I know. There is no way to put bleach in your washing machine here. It's annoying. The lesbians just don't have white things (one solution). I soaked in bleached and then washed, but now I'm starting to convert...Note the shoes are white because I can't seem to make the transition. Please send more white socks!

Roadside Attraction

I've been driving around and seeing poppies everywhere but couldn't get a good picture. When my pal Cate was visiting we went to Domaine St. Just, near Saumur, we passed this field and had to stop.

Dinner with Cate!

8-course meal at Cadieu in Saint Savain. Details to follow.

Cute French Houses

Notice the shutters open or lean out like a sun block. Very clever, these French.

Simple country house, right?

Friend of a friend. Horse farm. Love it.

That's all. Carry on.

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Apparently I'm handy too...

While trimming the hedge in the driveway, I also clipped the extension cord. Pulling out all my skills, I fixed it. Yes, Sylvana, with my HANDS!

Our Moat

Liz weeded and I raked a bit. Here's the moat. Still gotta plant some flowers...

View from the Pool

I spent a day last week cleaning up around the pool. So on Sunday I relaxed on the chaise longue and had a glass of rosé wine. This was my view.

The Lesbians Trim Their Bush

So Liz and Ed turn out to be pretty cool. A too-hard-to-explain misunderstanding between Joyce and I led me to expect a lesbian couple to come here to help manage the castle. So now I sometimes refer to them as "The Lesbians." They tackled the wisteria on the north terrace, which the kitchen looks out onto. It turns out there was that Tudor architectural style cross-hatch wood thing under the vines. Here's the finished product:

Pretty nice, huh?

Graffiti from 1675.

All over the interior of the castle are these wall scratchings. One is just tally marks, presumably for counting harvest or tithes or whatever. One of the pictures is signed "Jenny 1675."

Also here's two different "sketches" of medieval ladies. These are both in the living room, one by the front door and the other by the window showing the sunset in earlier post.

Finally my favorite. I think it's somebody's name, somebody with nice penmanship. This is in the tower staircase just outside my bedroom so I see it many times a day. I have to clean out the spiderweb before guests arrive but for now I LOVE it.