Water flowing through the vineyardWhen I imagined coming to live in France for all those years I was sitting in traffic jams on the California freeways — and when we seriously studied the possibilities five years ago — I really didn't picture myself living in a vineyard.
Reflections in a vineyardHow it happened I'll never quite understand. A real estate agent showed us a house that we wouldn't have even considered if we had seen a description on paper. I just wasn't what we were looking for. I owe that agent a big thank-you.
RustI did imagine the rain, however. I told Walt it would probably rain every other day, or one day out of three. A third of the time. The big surprise came we we arrived here at the beginning of the great heat wave of 2003. And then it didn't rain much at all in all of 2004, 2005, and 2006. But now...
And more rustThis January we have already had 88 mm of rainfall. That's 3½ inches of water in just over two weeks. We are getting used to it. This could easily turn into the rainiest month since we've been here, especially since more rain is in the forecast for the next few days. Luckily, our house is withstanding it and we don't have to worry about flooding up here on the heights.
The fire danger is not very high right now.So some of my good friends might say about my life in the vineyard that I'm comme un poisson dans l'eau — like a fish in the water. And now we have the water to go with it. Others might say I'm as happy as a pig in... oh, never mind. You can fill in the blank. Je patauge dans la gadoue... I splash around in the mud every time I go out for a walk with the dog, which is every day.
Callie and I just got back from our morning outing. We had a good swim.
ReplyDeleteLewis told me that he was worried about our drought until he found out this is a la nina year.
ReplyDeleteCallie will always look back fondly to her youth when she did a lot of splashing around in the vineyards;-)
It's good you're on high ground!
Fish, pig, it doesn't matter. Your friends are just happy you're happy. It's a great achievement in life if you can say you're content.
ReplyDeletewetter than a fish! That's what you are!
ReplyDeleteI bet Callie doesn't mind!
I think you should do the When I was twenty-five meme! ;)
No obligation of course!
Friends in Nice say that the rain there has been awesome and noteworthy. They need the wetness, if it is not so hard that it all washes straight into the sea.
ReplyDeleteI must say that your photos look mighty damp.
Here? Well, it was 7 degrees F when I went for a walk yesterday...but at least my feet were dry!
Meilleurs voeux!!