Crossing the bridge over the Cher River into Saint-AignanBut it was only a few drops, and the clouds had moved on through in about an hour's time. The main thing was that the wind started blowing, and then the air cooled down, so the house started to cool down again. Especially upstairs, where we were, because all the windows were open and the fan was going.
The café-tabac in our villageToday the high temperature in Saint-Aignan is supposed to be in the mid-70s again — much cooler. It's breezy and "fresh" this morning. In fact, Walt protested when I started opening windows in the downstairs part of the house a minute ago, saying it's supposed to be chilly today! I think the house feels stuffy.
A curious deer off in the tall grassOut back, the grass just keeps getting browner and browner. It hasn't been a good year for stone fruit, in part because it's been too dry and the fruit hasn't had a chance to plump up. The apples look good, and we'll probably have a ton of them this year. I'll make apple jelly and apple sauce.
The pictures in this post are ones that I took in July 2005, when we'd been here only a couple of years. Now it's our ninth summer in Saint-Aignan, and the driest but not the hottest.
This weather really is impossible. We have had no rain now since March. It was depressing watching the rain on TV yesterday during the Tour de France!! My neighbours all say this is the driest summer they remember, other than one in the 70's but that one had been a very wet winter before hand so all the dams and lakes were very full. Diane
ReplyDeleteI'm glad there are still tabacs around. The drought is depressing and seems to have picked your region this time. I'm glad that that you've got a breeze going to help with the heat.
ReplyDeleteIt's considerably cooler in Paris today also. Yesterday, it was quite warm, around the 30°C mark, I believe.
ReplyDeleteWe too watched the rainy Tour de France yesterday on TV5.
ReplyDeleteKen and Walt, are you going to watch Stage 7 on Friday July 8?
The Tour will only be 21 km. from you as it goes through Faverolles-sur-Cher.
It looks exciting.
The Paris region was quite pleasant today. I don't know about the city itself because I went on an "Ile de France walk" (http://ellenlebelle.blogspot.com/2011/07/ile-de-france-walk-at-last.html)
ReplyDeleteDiane, in 1976, the drought was very bad -- not enough water in the dams and lakes, with consequences on electrical output, both hydraulic plants and the nuclear plants along the Loire that had didn't have enough water for operation. Agriculture was badly hit, like this year, and we were hit with an "impôt secheresse" to pay for the aid to farmers. I remember our drive down to the Pyrenees in August. Everything was dry. The sunflowers were all dried up and only about knee-high. Corn was sparse. The Pyrenees were so green and cool.
I was hoping that the little rain you had recently may have eased things but I guess that it was a case of too little too late. You never know what's around the corner. Perhaps things will improve in a hurry. Love the photo of entering your town... it looks lovely.
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