04 July 2020

In my mind, I'm still in the Auvergne

And I want to go back there. Today I'll post just a few photos of houses in the Cantal département in the Auvergne, which is in the mountainous center of France, three or four hours south of Saint-Aignan.






In fact, my big news today is that I went to the super-market yesterday, and I went inside. It was the first time I'd done that since last March 14 — almost 16 weeks go.







I drove into the Super U at about 8:40 a.m. The store opens at 8:30. Sometimes there are people waiting to get in at that hour, and I wanted to give them 10 minutes to get inside before I followed them, rather than mixing with the crowd.






Actually, if the parking lot had been crowded with cars or people, I wouldn't have entered the store. But it wasn't, so in I went. I was wearing my "face covering" of course. I had my hand disinfectant liquid in the car.






My plan was to go in, go directly to pick up the things I wanted, and then to get out of the store as quickly as possible. But once I was inside, and I saw there was no crowd, I actually picked up a few things that I hadn't really thought about buying. There were no long lines at the caisses, so that went smoothly.






Some of the houses in today's photos are in Saint-Chamant and some of them are in Tournemire. I took the photos on a cloudy day in September 2009 with a Panasonic Lumix TZ-3 digital camera.

14 comments:

  1. Too bad, in the last photo, that house and barn were not covered in lauzes which is typical in Cantal and Auvergne. In my opinion, lauzes fit better with the landscape than the red mechanical tiles. The latter are probably cheaper!q

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  2. On n'a jamais réussi à arrêter le progrès, n'est-ce pas? I think the red tiles add a splash of color to the landscape. Could they be tuiles plates?

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  3. grocery shopping is always anxiety producing for me....I go about once a week or less but I always worry about who else is in there ..at least it seems most people are wearing masks now that our (thankfully democratic) governor has made them mandatory Happy July 4th to you & Walt

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  4. Such a beautiful place! Yes, be sure and return when the virus is tamed.

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  5. You have shown us that that area is beautiful and interesting. No wonder you want to return and I am sure you will some day. I am still not going to the grocery store.

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  6. Oh, I love these houses. Wonderful photos!
    I'm glad that you got to go inside to do your grocery shopping. I rather enjoy grocery shopping, in general, and I'm the one from my household who has been doing the shopping since the pandemic started. I wear a mask, and use hand sanitizer asap when I get in the car, and then wash my hands and arms when I get home-- it seems like it would be okay, in those conditions. You don't have to hang around other people, like you would at the movies, or a cafe, or something like that.

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    1. I've always enjoyed grocery shopping too. Even this latest time.

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  7. In the conversation above what is the difference between lauzes and ardoise? I guess lauzes can be any kind of stone? Anyway, all these homes are lovely and I could happily reside in any of them!

    I actually feel pretty safe going to the grocery store now, as they only let a few in at a time, spray your hands on entering, and mandatory masks for all. Wishing you and all the readers a Happy 4th of July. Get out the sparklers. ;-)

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    1. The French Wikipédia article says a lauze is «une pierre utilisée pour la couverture des toitures. Les roches sédimentaires sont très utilisées dans le Sud-Ouest et le Centre de la France, et notamment le calcaire ou le grès...». Limestone or sandstone. I'll post some more photos.

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  8. Wonderful photos, thank you. The Auvergne is on my list for our next visit, assuming there is a next visit. Reading your title, In My Mind, I’m,” my brain immediate segues to “…going to Carolina.”

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    1. Hi Chris, you pretty much read my mind. Hope you're staying safe. Ken

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  9. Those are lovely pictures, and clearly the Auvergne must remain on my List.
    I've been using only a couple of stores, which require masks, limit the number in-store, and sanitize the carts for you. Once out, I spray my hands and when I take off the mask, spray the outside of that. Everything I've read indicates that it's reasonably safe that way.

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    1. Hi Emm, I do most of that too. I hope to stay safe and healthy.

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