First signs of spring

Yesterday morning the temperature was much warmer than it has been recently (between 45 and 48ºF compared to temperatures just below freezing or barely above). Also, it hasn't rained much recently so it isn't quite so muddy out in the vineyard. So I did something I haven't done in quite a while: I grabbed my camera and took to out on a fairly long walk with Tasha the sheltie). In this case, the camera is one built into my mobile phone. I was trying it out outdoors for about the first time since I bought it three or four months ago.

As you can see, primroses and other flowers are starting to come into blossom, and the sunrise was pretty. I wish my body would shake off the last remnants of my long-lasting chest cold, but I'm not there yet.

March sunrise

Two views of our sunrise on March 04, 2025, from the kitchen window

The birthday couscous

Here's the couscous we had as my birthday lunch yesterday. I see (and ate) chicken, lamb, and sausages along with carrots, onions, turnips, green beans, zucchini, and eggplant in the wok.

And here it is on my plate where you can see the aforementioned ingredients as well as the couscous grain you eat them with.

One key ingredient is the sausage called une merguez, which is made with beef and lamb (no pork) and spices including paprika and cayenne pepper.

Notre maison et son environnement

Today is my birthday. I'm turning 76 years old. I was born in North Carolina at about 3 p.m. back in 1949, so I'll officially be starting my 77th year tonight at 9:00 p.m. in France, taking in the six hour time difference. Walt and I are planning on spending a quiet day (like most days). We're having couscous with chicken, lamb, and vegetables for lunch, and Walt will be making a pineapple upside-down cake for dessert.

I'll take Tasha the Sheltie out for a walk in the vineyard this morning, and Walt will take her out for her second walk of the day this afternoon. The high temperature around here will be about 17ºC today. That's the low 60s in Farenheit. This morning, our outdoor thermometer reads approximately 40ºF.

These are some photos of our house in March 2009. It's located outside the little town of Saint-Aignan (pop. 3,000) in the Loire Valley (central France, 150 miles SW of Paris). We're 40 kilometers south of the big town of Blois and 60 kilometers east of the city of Tours.

We have half an acre of land in a tiny village (a "hamlet") on the edge of a big vineyard and just two or three miles outside Saint-Aignan. The house was built in the late 1960s/early 1970s, which is when I came to France for the first time. I've been coming back once or twice a year ever since, and Walt and I left the U.S. and moved here in June 2003 — more than 20 years ago.