Yesterday I took my camera with me on my walk with Natasha in the Renaudière vineyard out behind our house near Saint-Aignan. Here's a look at the state of the red wine grapes in late August 2019. The slideshow is made up of 11 images and runs for a minute and a half.
It's always interesting to see how blue, not red or even purple, the grapes are. They have plumped up a lot over the past week or two and they are ripening quickly. With afternoon temperatures still in the 90s and predicted to stay that high over the coming week, it won't be long before the harvest starts.
By the way, the population of our hamlet increased from eight to nine this past week. The young couple three houses down the road from us had their second baby. Yesterday afternoon they invited us over for a celebration with about two dozen of their relatives — parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The baby, a little boy they are calling Nils, is beautiful.
How nice to hear about a new baby in town.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. The mother is 26, and I think the father is about the same age. They've lived just down the road for about four years now. They've recently made an effort to get to know their neighbors. Two houses, one next door to them and one across the street, have been sold recently as well. I've heard various stories about who exactly has bought them. Young French couples, somebody said. A woman and her daughter in one house, another said. We'll see.
DeleteSome of the grapes clusters are so perfect, they look like artificial. They really are beautiful to look at. Nils is a nice name, Scandinavian I think.
ReplyDeleteThe baby's mother told me she sees the name Nils as being related to Nicolas. Her old child (3 or 4 years old), also a boy, is called Naël. She says that's related to Nathanaël.
DeleteA wonderful reason for a celebration. And these grapes are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI have some photos of white wine grapes too, for later this week.
DeleteWelcome to the world, Nils. May you live long and prosper.
ReplyDeleteThe baby's grandmother came here from the Vendée, so we had a good subject to talk about.
DeleteAnd the grapes look wonderful. For some reason (and no sound on this computer), in watching the slideshow I started hearing the theme from "Chariots of Fire". LOL
ReplyDeleteJust had to call that up on YouTube and listed to it once more.
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