29 June 2011

Artichoke and grape status

I made a photo of an artichoke out in the garden into my blog banner a few days ago. Here's another photo of an artichoke. This one has opened up to produce a blue flower. You can see the sprinkler going in the background, making the garden grow.

An artichoke in flower out in the garden

Monday was very hot but not very humid here in Saint-Aignan. The temperature was somewhere between 95ºF and 102ºF, depending on what thermometer you believed. Yesterday (Tuesday) wasn't as hot — somewhere between 87ºF and 92ºF — but it was muggy, muggy, muggy. A dry heat is easier to cope with.

These are Chardonnay grapes, I believe

Last night we had some thunder and lightning, and a few drops of rain — what some might call, colloquially, un pipi de chat. There was one millimeter of water in the rain gauge this morning, and that's not much more than a trace. Watering was needed this morning. And now weeding is needed.

A different varietal, probably, but I'm not sure which one

Meanwhile, the grapes are really growing out in the vineyard. I enjoyed walking around with the dog this morning, now that the air is dry and the temperature is back down in the 60s fahrenheit. All feels normal again. I'm sure the grapes got a growth spurt from the heat, as did the tomatoes, eggplants, and corn plants in our vegetable garden, but this weather is good for them too.

Looking down a row of vines

Today will be a good day for weeding and other garden work. There's enough of a breeze to keep the gnats down. The sun is out but not too hot. Let's get going then...

11 comments:

  1. Fantastic pictures...as usual.
    RY: Yes we're on the ground floor, but how does that explain the courtyard entrance feeling like it's air conditioned?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Starman, all the cold air settles into the courtyard and the lowest apartment(s). It takes weeks for the hot air to get in. That's the way it always was in Paris. It just hasn't been all that hot yet this year.

    Leon and Sue, :^)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The grapes are coming along nicely. We had extremely hot temps in May, but now we are having a mild summer with cool nights.

    Everything seems to adapt to weather as best they can. I hope rain comes as la vache qui pisse soon;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome flower and vineyard, I have some grapes in my back yard

    ReplyDelete
  5. The artichoke flower is really beautiful.

    New York Times had a follow up article today on using credit cards and debit cards abroad:

    http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/travel/credit-card-problems-abroad-readers-respond.html?ref=travel

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Diogenes,
    Thanks for the link. So much for globalization! LOL

    Back in Paris for as month of rest, sort of!

    WV is binic. Sounds like a sea resort in Brittany.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Evelyn, LOL! La vache ne pisse pas souvent cet été, malheureusement.

    Diogenes, thanks for the link. The article makes it sound like it's the European machines that are at fault. I wonder...

    Judy, the photo makes it all look greener than it really is. We are still far below average in rainfall.

    CHM, the globalization amounts to kind of a run-around, in this case.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ken is having problems with blogger this morning. It appears we're on different servers. He's asked me to let you know that he can't yet post or leave comments.

    We hope this will be cleared up soon!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That blue flower is really quite something... almost an electric blue. Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?