Brouillard

We never got to see the sun at all yesterday — or much of anything else, for that matter. The temperature stayed cold as thick fog — un brouillard épais — enveloped the area. The first picture shows the view from our kitchen window yesterday afternoon.

Walt went to the open-air Saint-Aignan market in the morning to order our bird for Christmas — un chapon de pintade — and he reported that the atmosphere was even murkier down in the river valley. We live on the heights, up a steep hill far above river level. Meanwhile, in the afternoon our back yard looked like this.

I'm not sure we'll see the sun today either. I'm going to make a Spanish-style tortilla for lunch, with a green salad. The Spanish tortilla is a potato omelet — not at all like a Mexican tortilla. I might have to go down into the village to see what the fog's like down there, and to pick up some fresh bread.

December 17 over the years

On December 17, 2005, we had a nice pink sunset.

And on December 17, 2008, the Christmas cactus was blooming.

It hasn't yet bloomed in 2016.

The dog in the photo is Collette, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 14.

By mid-afternoon on December 17, 2009, we had this much snow on the ground.
We had snow again on the same day in 2010. But none this year...

December 16, 2003

We'd been here about six months. As you can see, the house was in good shape when we bought it. But in a few months, we would have to replace all the windows on the back (west) side because they were far from airtight and not even watertight.

Still, it was pretty nice. We had had the deck tiled in September, and who cared if the fireplace didn't work? We were experiencing our first winter in the Saint-Aignan area. We remarked that the landscapes — woods, fields, vineyards — were pretty here even in winter.

We enjoyed the sunrises and the sunsets. We had (and still have) clear views of both from the windows. We were just getting used to how short the hours of daylight were in December. It's hard to believe that this is our 14th winter here. Time flies...

Sweeping up leaves in December 2005

When we came to live here in 2003, one of the gardening tools we found out in the shed was this lawn- or leaf-sweeper. I think it's called a balai-ramasseur in French — balai meaning broom, and ramasser being the verb for gathering or picking up things up off the ground. The device is like a non-motorized carpet-sweeper, but for outdoor use. We still have it, but we haven't used it this year. Too lazy, I guess. Or, no, let's blame the weather.

These photos date back to December 15, 2005, when we had been here for just 2½ years. Now it's been 13½. In fact, the first time we ever saw the place was  in mid-December 2002, and we moved here from California 6 months later. It was a good move, in both senses of the expression.

We had our first vegetable garden in 2004, so we already had the perfect spot where we could dump all the autumn leaves that we raked and swept up. Back then, we could burn them with impunity. People still burn leaves and other yard trimmings around Saint-Aignan, but they are officially discouraged from doing so, for air-quality reasons. The fires always started out hot, with high flames, but quickly turned into big plumes of smoke because the leaves were always damp.

Before coming here, we had always lived in cities — Paris, Washington DC, San Francisco — and mostly in apartments. The last two places we lived in were houses, one in Silicon Valley and the other in SF. Both had small yards, but nothing like what we have here. Doing yard work was a novelty back in 2005. Not so much any more... But it's nice to have a vegetable garden and a winter "collard patch," as you can see above.