Life around the vineyard

On chilly mornings, fog forms over the Cher river valley, about a kilometer from where we live. Sometimes an even deeper layer of fog forms and engulfs our house and yard as well. We're on a hill a few hundred feet higher up than the river.

Workers are busy in the vineyard almost year-round. There aren't many of them — only about half a dozen on any regular basis. They prune the vines in winter. They tie the vine canes to support wires in spring. And they are constantly repairing the support posts and wires that hold the vines and grapes up off the ground.

Sometimes vineyard plots are abandoned. A grape-grower dies and his or her heirs aren't interested in continuing the business. They can't agree to sell because they have different ideas about the worth of the land. Then trees grow up on and the vines slowly die back. The support posts and wires are still in place, however. That's what happened here, where there's a stand of invading trees behind a tended parcel of vines.

It's springtime and there are a lot of flowers right now. These are in our back yard.

Walt's in Paris this weekend so I'm doing double duty on dog walks. Luckily, it's not raining this morning. It's cold and I won't be surprised if there's fog in the valley. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty damp, with rain all day long. We'll see.