Green vineyard scenes

The day after I took the photo of our pond (below), most of the tall plants were cut down by somebody working for the village. When I say it's "our pond" I mean it belongs to the village — it's not private property. That's our hedge, gate, and garden shed you can vaguely see on the other side of the pond. Look closely and you'll see that grapevines come almost right up to our back gate.

Farther out, most of the vines have been trimmed now, so the vineyard looks like a wide green carpet. The photo below shows just a small part of it. Those trees on the horizon weren't there when we moved here 11 years ago. They've gradually grown up over the years, taking over a parcel of grapevines that somebody stopped tending back then.

Below is a view from out in the vineyard looking back toward our house, which is surrounded by trees. The tall conifer is in our yard. You can see out over the river valley to the coteaux or hillsides on the other side of the Cher River.

The gravel road winds through the vineyard for a mile from our house before it meets the next paved road. In this season, there's nobody out there but us most of the time — meaning either Walt or me and the dog. Once in a while other hikers or joggers pass through. It's les grandes vacances in France and a lot of people from other regions, especially around Paris, are here to see the châteaux de la Loire and spend a day at the Zooparc de Beauval, which is just two or three miles from our house.