30 June 2016

Summer so far

Today is the last day of June. These are photos of yesterday's sunset here in the Saint-Aignan area.

While we enjoy a nice sunny day from time to time, there are no truly convincing signs of summer so far.

We are hoping that July will be kinder to us than May and June have been.

The news on Télématin is reporting that rather than summertime foods like sausages cooked on the grill, or ice cream, people in the northern half of France are buying and eating more cheese of the kind you serve hot and melted in dishes like raclette or tartiflette, more soups, and more wintertime comfort foods like sauerkraut with boiled potatoes and boiled smoked meats and sausages. That's kind of what we've been doing: red beans and smoked bacon cooked in red wine, for example.

17 comments:

  1. I'm not going to give up yet, but predictions for the near fiture are not really bright!

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    1. I'm hoping that fsm parts the clouds for you and that you get to make your trip, chm. Wish you could send that rain our way.

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    2. A couple or three years ago, June was rainy like this year, but suddenly on July 1 the sun poked through and it was suddenly summer. Let's hope that happens this weekend.

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  2. It is really warm here. I don't remember a June with so many days above 90. Yesterday I read a depressing comment: if you are younger than 31 years you have never known a month with lower than average temperatures.

    But what about this June in Saint-Aignan? Wasn't it colder than average?

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    1. It has certainly been cloudier and rainier than usual, and so chillier too because we haven't had nice long strings of sunny days. Last year at this time the weather was much better.

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  3. One of my good friends lives in Nice .. it sounds like the best of both worlds, if you speak French..the weather is good too....

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    1. I'm too allergic to cypress pollen and olive tree pollen to live down south. It's also pretty expensive to live down in the Nice or Côte d'Azur area, and it's crowded with tourists in summer, I imagine. I kind of like being in an area full of vineyards and other agriculture. I would like to have some summery weather now though. Last year was nicer than this one at this point.

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    2. She does mention how nice it is at the end of summer when the tourists go home and there are less people Everywhere.
      You live in France in an area like the one I lived in , in NY ... farms, vineyards and forests with a town here and there.
      Being in France is totally icing on the cake :)

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  4. It's plenty warm in Carcassonne. We got a big storm during the night but we're back to sun today, and it's uncharacteristically humid. Can't have everything. When it's hot and dry and comfortable, we have to water the poor tomatoes. At least last night they got a good long drink.

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    1. A neighbor down the road told us yesterday that she's already seeing blight on her tomatoes. If the weather doesn't turn hot and drier soon, this will be a problem.

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  5. Wow, those photos are great, despite the gloominess of weather that they portray :)
    Never fear... we just had a few weeks up upper 90s and super humidity, and that has moved on-- maybe toward you? Lots of sun!

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    1. We could certainly use some sun. The garden is growing, however, and we can sit out on our terrace even when it rains, as long as the temperature stays above about 68F.

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  6. When the weather is like that at the beach in SoCal, we drive east until we find the sun. Might you consider going south for a couple of days?

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    1. It's hard to do that with the dog and the cat and the vegetable garden (which needs weeding when it doesn't need watering). I'm not really complaining -- it's not cold, it's just sort of dreary. People interested in living or taking vacations in the northern half of France need to know that it's often not hot and sunny like so much of the U.S. at this time of year.

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  7. so it is so strange because in Poland we had only one rainy day in June only suuny days

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  8. My sunny day (in Fl) turned into a day like your photo :)
    If only the people were speaking French ! lol

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