The vineyard at the start of summer

Overnight, I dreamed about San Francisco in such vivid detail and at such seeming length that when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I had to open my eyes and look around me to make sure what house I was sleeping in. It was the house near Saint-Aignan, and I went to a back window and took a long look at the vineyard.

Summer has begun, both meteorologically and astronomically. It shows in the vines. Here are a few pictures from the last day or two.

Some vines still have tiny flowers on them, but they are rapidly fading.

Other vines already show fully formed grapes.

The vineyard at 5:45 a.m. on June 22, 2014

A Domaine de la Renaudie tractor out in the vines on June 21

Our house and a neighbor's on the edge of the Renaudière vineyard

Bright yellow flowers

I see these tiny, intensely yellow flowers growing wild all around the vineyard at this time of year. It appears they are the wild form of the plant I know in French as (among other names) millepertuis — meaning "a thousand holes" — after the appearance of their leaves.

Millepertuis is also called l'herbe de la Saint-Jean, or in English Saint John's Wort. La Saint-Jean —
Saint John's day — falls on June 24. It seems to like calcareous soils, which means it thrives in our area.

The French Wikepedia artile lists all these names for millepertuis : chasse-diable, herbe aux fées, herbe aux mille vertus,

herbe de Saint Eloi, Barbe de Saint-Jean, herbe à mille trous, herbe percée, herbe à la brûlure,

herbe aux piqûres, herbe du charpentier, trascalan, truchereau, trucheron, trucheron jaune...

We have a whole bank of millepertuis growing along the road and our fence, as well as at the side of the house.

It's obviously a cultivated variety, with bigger flowers. Here's a photo from last summer, in this blog post.

Spiraea japonica

Yesterday morning I took my camera out for the walk with Callie. It was a gray morning but the light was pretty good for photography. We took a long walk, and I took (suspense...) 130 photos.

I didn't get far before I took the photos you are seeing in this post. This flowering shrub, which seems to be called Spiraea japonica, is in our back yard. Here's what the Wikipedia article about the Spiraea family says:

The many small flowers of Spiraea shrubs are clustered together in inflorescences, usually in dense panicles, umbrella-like corymbs, or grape-like clusters. The radial symmetry of each flower is five-fold, with the flowers usually bisexual, rarely unisexual. The flowers have five sepals and five white, pink, or reddish petals that are usually longer than the sepals. Each flower has many (15 to 60) stamens. The fruit is an aggregate of follicles.

Got all that? My spelling checker signals several of the terms in that paragraph as suspect.

We inherited most of the plants in our small back yard. It seemed like many of them were planted in the wrong places, where they don't get enough sun or are hidden by other, less beautiful plants. But many of them flower at different times of year, putting on displays that you kind of have to seek out and take time to admire.

The Spiraea japonica's time is now. All the nice shades of color, from scarlet to pale pink, are really nice to contemplate. The plant itself requires very little care. I can say that, because Walt does most of the pruning and trimming around the yard.

I walked for a couple of miles yesterday, snapping pictures of vines and flowers. You'll probably be seeing some of them over the next week or so.

Vegetables and rice with chicken wings

After all that restaurant food I've posting about, I thought I'd show some home-made food that is pretty easy to make and very delicious to eat. It's a one-pot meal that requires some finger-licking at the table. We Americans like to eat with our hands and fingers, which can sometimes be confusing to knife-and-fork-happy French people.

Start by sauteeing a pound or more of chicken wings that are cut into two sections (say ten "flats" and ten "drummettes") in a deep pot with a combination of vegetable oil and butter. Add in some dried oregano and/or thyme, or some spices that you like. When the wings are browned and have started cooking through, take them out of the pan and set them aside.

Next, cook a large onion, diced, and some chopped garlic in the same pan. When those are about done, toss in 10 or so fresh mushrooms, sliced. And when those are done, add two cups (half a liter) of uncooked rice into the pan and let it turn translucent and get coated with the oil and butter (of which you can add more as needed). Then add in some vegetables including green garden peas and a diced up red or green pepper — and some diced carrots or turnips or... salsifis... why not? — to taste.

Now pour four cups of water or — better — four cups (one liter) of chicken or vegetable broth into the pot and keep the heat on high. Add salt and pepper as needed. When the pot starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and put the chicken wings back in, letting them "float" on top of the rice. Cover the pot and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

As I said, the best way to eat the chicken wings is to pick them up with your fingers and suck the meat off the bones. You can use a knife and fork, or even a spoon, to eat the rice. Enjoy this at lunch or dinner with family and good friends.