Looking up and looking down...

...in the vineyard. May 2008. The first picture is looking out across the Cher river valley toward the north. The yellow fields are planted in colza (rapeseed), from which huile de colza (canola oil) is extracted. I wish we were having weather like this right now, even though we need the rain we're getting this month. It's still not enough rain to end the drought, but it can only help. I hope the coming summer won't be as hot and dry as last year's.

Below are two photos of wild orchids that grow around the vineyard in May. I've seen quite a few this month, but they're pretty small compared to these, which I photographed in early May 2008. Today is the first day of the saints de glace, the three saint's days that mark the last danger of frost according to European popular wisdom. Starting next week, we can begin setting plants out in the vegetable garden — unless the rains continue. Some years we can't plant seedlings before early June, if we don't want them to freeze or drown.

    

P.S. I took Tasha to the vet's yesterday for her annual examination and vaccination. The vet weighed her and she came in at 9.8 kilograms, down from more than 15 at the time of her 2022 accident (a torn ligament). Our goal since her surgery nearly 18 months ago had been to get her weight down to 11 kilos or less. Now the vet says we need to start feeding the dog more and get her weight up to about 10.5 kilos.