It's a hard rain...

Weather is the news today. There's a strong storm — whether it gets upgraded from Tropical Storm to Hurricane status remains to be seen — headed directly for the North Carolina coast. That's where my mother and my sister live, along with other family members and friends. I'll be tracking Hanna's progress and making some international phone calls today.

Today's forecast at 7:00 a.m. [Pluie] soutenue means "sustained"
or "steady" — the way the rain is supposed to fall today.

Here in Saint-Aignan, it rained almost all day Wednesday, but by 6:30 p.m. I was able to take the dog out for a good long walk. We went out to the end of the road and back. That's 3 kilometers, or about 2 miles.

Another view of this afternoon's weather pattern. Oh well...

Thursday morning we were only able to walk about 200 yards before turning back, under a light but penetrating rain. The poor dog was able to do her early-morning business, at least. Then she found a stick and turned around to take it to the back gate.

Local color

She seemed happy with that little bit of activity. She doesn't really like being out in the rain any more than I do. That means she won't be very pleased by today's weather, according to the forecast I just heard on the radio. Hard, steady rain most of the day, with winds gusting to 40 mph. Lovely.

A couple of days ago ... not so different from today.
The rain has now started at 7:50 a.m.

By afternoon yesterday the rain stopped. We went to a friend's for lunch and she had turned the heat on, since it was chilly outside. Gisèle lives on the other side of the village, in a little stone farmhouse. She has a serious green thumb, not to mention a part-time gardener to help her, so she has a beautiful property covered in flowers and flowering plants of all kinds. She also has a nice big vegetable garden and a sweet dog named Reinette.

Some tomatoes are ripening but we need sunny weather.

For lunch Gisèle made osso bucco. That's Italian and it is veal shanks slow-cooked in a sauce with carrots, tomato, orange and lemon zest, and herbs. It was delicious. As an appetizer she had shrimp and smoked salmon with black olives, butter, and bread. There was a cheese course after the veal, and then two desserts: an apple tart on a home-made pâte sablée (is that called a cookie crust?) and a big bowl of fresh raspberries with vanilla ice cream.

Grape leaves

Walt and I took two bottles of wine, because Gisèle had asked us to bring wine. She said she didn't drink much wine nowadays (she is 79) and didn't really know much about it. We took a 2005 Bordeaux red (for a change from the local wine) and a 2006 Quincy white, which is a Sauvignon Blanc from a wine village about 30 miles east of Saint-Aignan.

Amazing, aren't they?

After lunch we (there were six of us) took a walk in the woods with Gisèle's dog Reinette, a golden retriever. The sun had been shining quite a bit over the course of the afternoon so the temperature had gotten up to 60 or even 65, and it was pleasant. The woods are pretty and fresh after being washed off by our recent rains. Too bad I didn't take my camera.