Talk about paying for all that nice sunny weather we had in April! We've now have a normal month's worth of rain since Thursday night. That's just over 50 millimeters, or just over 2 inches. Today and tomorrow, we are supposed to get another inch of rain, or maybe more. I hope the Citroën floats...
The landscape, including the leaves out in the vineyard, is incredibly green now.
A river runs behind it — that's our house. The duck pond out back, which actually has a pair of ducks breeding or at least feeding in it these days, is overflowing as much as I've ever seen it overflow. The tractor path that goes down to the vineyard parcels just north of our house was a fast-flowing stream when I took Callie out for a damp walk yesterday afternoon.
Nice weather for... snails
We were out for a drive from before noon until after 5:00 p.m. yesterday. In one village, we saw a country lane that had been completely flooded by what is normally a babbling brook. Luckily, that wasn't the way we needed to go. In another village, a larger road had a small river running over it. It wasn't deep enough to keep us from passing, but prudence was the order of the hour.
Canes stapled to the wires will support bunches of fat grapes in a couple of months.
Walt's going to try to go to the open-air market in Saint-Aignan this morning, unless the rain really starts coming down hard again. He wants to get some asparagus and some strawberries, if there are any to be had. These local specialty crops are coming in very late this spring.
My impression of our current landscapes and skies.
The good news about the Citroën is that is has a very pleasant ride. I figured out how to use the on-board computer, and over the course of our drive we covered 147 kilometers yesterday. Our average speed was 56 kph. The car consumed 4.7 liters per 100 kilometers — that's how fuel economy is measured in France. In U.S. terms, that's 50.5 miles per gallon (and in British terms, over 60 mpg). Not bad. And the windshield wipers work just fine.
Vineyard looks interesting..
ReplyDeleteMy Dad has just emailed to say he's had 117mm in 2 days. He says he'd better stop whinging about the lack of rain now :-) 5 people in his state have died trying to drive through flooded roads.
ReplyDeleteWhere I come from in North Carolina, the average annual rainfall is 65 inches, compared to 25 inches here in Saint-Aignan. I imagine also that there are many more sunny days in N.C. than here, so that means the rain there falls in very hard downpours. I also remember a time in San Francisco when we had 11 inches — 275 millimeters — in 48 hours. And average annual rainfall in SF is lower than here in Saint-Aignan.
DeleteSky is gray, but no rain, so far, today, in the Paris area, eastern side. The vineyard looks beautiful. Looking at the weather map, it seems you are on the border of wet and dry, with the rain coming up from the Atlantic and crossing diagonally just above where you are. We should have rain, then, later in the day. I'm not complaining, though. I don't have to water the plants.
ReplyDeleteI don't want any more rain right now. It's going to be days before I can continue preparing the garden plots, because the ground needs to dry out again. If it keeps raining, well... it may be July before we can plant our tomatoes etc.
DeleteIt seems like we've been getting more rain than usual here in ENC. It will probably be dry as a bone this summer!
ReplyDeleteThat is good gas mileage. Thanks for deciphering in mpg. I am way too old for the metric system!
These days, you just have to look things up on the internet to get the metric conversions for standard U.S. measures. It makes life easy. I was surprised at how good the Citroën's fuel economy is.
DeleteYour car gets great mileage. I wish you could send your rain to California. Today's photos are great.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that could be a solution. We could sent California some rain, and California could send us some nice sunny days to supplement the ones we do get (often not enough in a row).
DeleteThat snail photo is amazing - the color of the snail and the composition of the photo.
ReplyDeleteThat's great mileage. I'm glad you are enjoying your new car.
As Evelyn said, we truly need the rain in California. Lately, because of the weather, I forget whether it's spring or summer.
Califrnia was always like that. You never knew what season it was. And at a distance of 50 miles, one area was having summer while another was having winter-like weather. It's a crazy place. From what I'm reading, the severe drought of the past few years is having devastating and maybe permanent negative consequences for the state's major industry, which, high-tech and show biz notwithstanding, is agriculture. Isn't everybody out there under mandatory water restrictions now?
DeleteAhhh.... glad you are enjoying the new car, despite the rain!
ReplyDeleteI hope Walt was successful in his marketing endeavors :)
I'm amazed that this year is late for asparagus. We just spent a week in the Bugey/Savoie, and bought local asparagus on several days. When we get home to Maine on May 10, we'll be lucky if the asparagus will arrive in the following week.
ReplyDeleteMy impression is that everything is two or three weeks late this season. Maybe it's just because I am so longing for summer.
DeleteI love the photos, particularly the snail and the impression in oils. You are clearly having a good time with your new camera!
ReplyDelete