No, not you. The creatures in these photos. They include a frog (une grenouille — the pond out back is full of them, but they're shy and hard to photograph), a heron (héron cendré, je pense — there's at least one that feeds in the pond) flying over the hamlet (maybe attracted by the idea of having frogs' legs for dinner), and a couple of insects on spring flowers. I took the pictures yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, our neighbors — the ones who invited us over for apéros the other day — said they'd be going back to their house in Blois Friday evening. That's today. They've been here all week, enjoying the nice weather. He's 88, and she's just a few years younger.
They said all the weather forecasts were calling for heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday, so there was no reason to stay here. As they've gotten older, I think they've found that their little place in the country is much less comfortable than their main house in Blois, the big town (pop. 75,000) 25 miles north of Saint-Aignan.
If it really does rain a lot, we'll have to postpone planting the garden for another week or so. Today, tomorrow, and Sunday are the days that are called les saints de glace — the "ice saints" days. According to beliefs and practices that seem to date back to the Middle Ages, these are the last days of spring on which we have to worry about frosty mornings.
So it's a good idea not to set delicate seedlings out in the vegetable garden until about May 15. And if there's a lot of rain, the ground will be too muddy for planting anyway. The weather forecaster on Télématin just said it will be chilly and damp at least until next Tuesday, with a series of pertubations blowing in off the North Atlantic.
Beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteWe've been having good weather and the springtime is beautiful here.
DeleteGreat pictures today, says this lurker. Love the close up of the frog. And the insect on the daisy.
ReplyDeleteIs the hot pink flower a pivoine?
Yes, a pivoine/peonie. More tomorrow...
DeleteIt's wonderful to know that it's almost planting season again :)
ReplyDeleteHere in Texas, a forecast of two days of rain is good news. The weathermen always say "our next best chance for rain is" or worse "no rain in sight for the foreseeable future."
ReplyDeleteThat photo of the peony with the little green guy peeking out is delightful.
Sheila, there is another one closer to the center. You can see part of its leg and part of one of its antenae!
DeleteI enjoy when you catch an insect on a flower. The green guy on the peony is so cute like Sheila said. We used to see frogs in our creek behind our old house and tadpoles. At our new house we had two baby robins in a climbing rose bush. They flew away a couple of days ago, but I see them still. Ah, Spring.
ReplyDeleteI was just lucky with the photo of the frog. I had to hold the camera at an angle that made it impossible to see the screen. I snapped three photos that way. In two of them, no frog. The one I posted was a success. I'm not sure I've ever seen a baby robin.
DeleteLovely pictures. I was admiring the peony, and then I came to the daisy, oh my. The tiny nubs around the very edge of the center look just like little faces.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the orange and black dude in the middle?
I hadn't noticed those little yellow faces. I don't know what the orange and black bug is.
DeleteHere is what the orange and black bug is:
DeleteTrichodes alvearius is a species of Soldier or Checkered beetle belonging to the family Cleridae, subfamily Clerinae.
In French its vernacular name is trichode des ruches or clairon.
DeleteIt does look rather military and precise, in a beetle-ish sort of way. Thank you, merci.
DeleteThanks for the identification, CHM.
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