Sunday, March 29, 2015

mars 2015

Crocus blooming early March in Gevrey
March 2015      SPRING 

Ahh spring. One of my favorite seasons.Things bloom, birds sing and there are glorious sunny days.

We had some wonderful sunny and warm days this month. It is cooler now with rain, but we needed rain. France had a bit of a pollution crisis. With the warm air and little wind, there was a lot of pollution in the air. Paris was closed to traffic (except public transportation) for a couple of days. Even here in Gevrey! We could not see the Côte (hillside) and I thought it was haze. But no, we had a air warning, 8 on a scale of 10 (10 being the worst), it was pollen, dust, some haze and probably some pollution too. But now with  some strong winds and rain, all is clear. I remember a few years back that Paris had a air crisis.

I have been out and about walking since we had such gorgeous weather. It is spring, and the vines are being prepared for the growing season. Here are a few vines photos around Gevrey.

Vines on the west side of Gevrey. End of the day and hazy light.
As I have said before, there are lots of vines around Gevrey!
It is what we are

More vines , all the vines are clipped and ready

Here I took a photo of one vine. One long shoot is left and
will be attached to the wire. The second short one is an extra,
just in case the long branch breaks or some other problem. I did
adjust this photo, so the vine (cep) would stand out.

and more vines, with a work shelter and tool storage

very hazy day, this is closer to Messanges. Note the contoured
vines rows in the background- hope you can see them

An old building in Gevrey. Note the roof. I have heard that
the building is "historical", and that someone offered to
renovate, but not to the exact historic standards. So it goes to
ruins instead. That is a rumor, do not know if it is true.
Too bad to loose this old house

There were other walks in the woods too. This is one of my favorite walks. The place is called the "Boussiere" and then as it goes up to the plateau, you enter the Combe de Chaudron. Lots and lots of moss everywhere gives it a wonderful atmosphere
As always, a photo of Flipper. He enjoys our walks too.

Under or over
Maybe Flipper could go over, I went under

And as we arrived at the top, the sun low in the sky and gave
a wonderful light to the woods

Another walk I enjoy is the "Tacot" path. But I have to share this
path. Because it has a few routes that climb to the plateau,
there are the ever fit "VTT" bikers  ( all terrain bikes)

and through the haze, a château appears (chateau "Entre-deux-Monts").
And since spring is finally here, flowers have started to bloom. Still working on the macro lens, and having lots of fun.

Violets

Helleborus foetidus, or stinking hellebore

This is a willow bloom. I thought it had a certain charm

pulmonaire officinale (Pulmonaria officinalis)
--not so good--
Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasque flower)

Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasque flower)

First butterfly of the season
a little white violet, I decided to try sepia

I am working on a piece in pottery for the house. If it turns out I will have photos, but it may not be done by the end of April. 

The history Assoc has a few outings this year, those should be interesting. No huge expo's this year. 

And PhotoClub; every so often we have a night to bring in a photos around a theme and the photo is discussed for strong points and possible improvements. I did not like the theme "architecture industrial" that we had a few weeks ago. 
What is it, I asked? Give me the definition.....
There were lots of opinions, some thinking it applied only to a factory building. 
So I went off the path. I took a picture of this company (which was rather boring) and then played with the color for a vibrant effect. 
I was certainly surprised when the others actually liked it. So it appears that at times, we can step out of the box!


Keith is well and has put in some kilometers on his bike this month. He plans on lots more the next few weeks.

Speaking of the next few weeks, I am going to the USA. I will be visiting my in-laws in Chadron Nebraska and my sister who now lives in Ava Missouri (not too far from Branson). I had tried different combinations for this trip, and even tried a layover in Minneapolis. First I found the best price with KLM, and I was hoping for Air France. It was not to be!! But the KLM guy I was working with found that if I went through Minneapolis and then directly to Rapid City, I had a pretty good price on the ticket. Thought of a layover in Minneapolis, but that really added to the price. Sorry Minneapolis! 
Travel is cheaper in Feb and early March, but with snow storms possible (especially Minneapolis, Rapid City SD and Chadron NE), so I planned to hopefully miss the the white stuff. And let me tell you, trying to get from Chadron NE to Springfield MO was not easy either!! But it is all planned and I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Recipe of the Month
Chocolate delights -        ( just made up the name)

Because of the travel plans, I have not thought about my Blog this month. Here is a very easy dessert. They take only minutes to make.
INGREDIENTS
  • Puff pastry ( see note below)
  • Chocolate, dark is my favorite (Lindt chocolate bar)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • Raspberry sauce (nice jar of sauce with no seeds)
PREPARATION
  1. Lay out the pastry
  2. Put a square or 1 1/2 square on each
  3. Fold into a triangle
  4. Seal edges completely , use your finger to push, then follow with a fork
  5. Sprinkle  little sugar on each
  6. Bake according to directions given for the pastry ( 15 minutes about)
  7. Drizzle raspberry sauce on plate, in circles or other appealing design
  8. Place warm pastry on top and serve
Maybe a scoop of ice cream too?

NOTE: I can buy 4 puff pastry squares at the store.  Pillsbury crescent rolls should work nicely if you can not find prepared pastry. My squares are about 6 by 6 inches. So great for so many recipes.