Market Day in Loches

There is a market on Wednesday and Sunday mornings in Loche.  The vendors meander up and around most of the streets in the central shopping area, which has been pedestrianized; vehicles only allowed for deliveries.  We have been to the market several times, but Wednesday was the first time Bill took his camera out of the case.  I know, it's hard to believe.  He has been much too busy looking and smelling and tasting and buying, to even think about picture taking!

The fish monger.

To go food; paella, or roasted chickens, either whole or pieces, with vegies that have cooked in the drippings.  The smell is so good you drool!

Clothing in classic French stripes.

Melons and plums.

Scarves and purses for the well dressed woman.

Candy!  Candy!  Candy!

Soaps, body washes and parfums.

The crowd was speaking mainly French, but we also heard British English,  Dutch and German.

Brightly colored handbags and backpacks.

We were tempted by one of these beautiful bowls, but couldn't imagine hauling it around for the next three months without breaking the thing!

Table linens, my weakness.  No, I didn't buy any.

You can even get a wind charger for your home.

Old bicycles at a brochante stall.  I don't think these will be doing  much racing!

Bill purchased a small bag of tomatoes to enjoy with our cheeses.

Olives!  

We will be back to the market several more time during our stay, I'm sure.  There is one woman who sells the best tomatoes....

How we celebrated my birthday in France

This is my third birthday to be celebrated in France.  We started with an omelet for breakfast.  The melon wasn't ripe enough, even though it smelled good.  Oh well.  The Wednesday market was on in Loches, so off we went.

Wandering around in Loches is always a good thing, even if it was hot and humid.  We stopped by the SuperU for a few things, then checked out the NOZ store.  It's a remainder kinda place.  Things set out hodge podge, with not much organization as to type of merchandise, so you have to walk through the entire store.  We purchases a couple of bottles of spices,  one called TexSpice, the other a red pepper, then mixed them together at home to hopefully come up with a nice hot blend.

Bill made a yummy omelet with lardons and emmental, plus a melon and toast with either  cassis conserve or local meil, honey.

After walking around the market in Loches, we came home to a selection of cheeses and a bottle of Vouvray sparkling wine we purchased on Monday.

On our walk to dinner, we came across this lovely lady, a Citreon Traction Avant.

We had the entire cafe to ourselves.  The owner was fun to talk to.

We walked to dinner at the local cafe by the river.  The view out the back window was relaxing and there was a bit of a breeze blowing through to help cool us down.  The French say we are having a heat wave, it's been all the way up to 83 degrees!  We just call it summer.

Don't know what was so funny, or maybe just the wonderfulness of the food caused the happy face!

Dinner was very tasty.  We were the only ones in the cafe, so the owner would come out and talk a bit between serving courses.  All in all a delightful 62nd birthday!

 

Kir Royales to start our meal.

Walking With the Dogs Around Ferrier-Larcon Part 2

If she is at the house when we start our walk, Mossie the Cat joins us.  She stays very close; sometimes in front, sometime following behind.  She has a little red bell on her collar that tinkles as she walks.  Mossie isn't  very social at the house.  We were warned to watch our fingers around her.  She has hissed a couple of time when I've gotten too close, but she loves to rub against my legs while I fix her dinner.  Go figure.

Caline and Mossie enjoying the view.

Mossie will stay with us unless we go two places:  turning onto Rue du Caves toward the village and out of town past a large German Shepard, even though he is confined to his yard.  On Rue du Caves, there are nearly always several work trucks in front of a house being renovated and farther on, a large black cat lives.  I don't know which of these, or if it is both of them, that Mossie doesn't like.  Either way, she doesn't come with us, but is waiting when we get home.  Now that I have figured this out, I will take a different route when she accompanies us.

Not sure what Mossie finds so interesting, but Harvey hasn't spotted it yet.

When we run into neighbors while walking, they all stop and talk to the dogs  Or comment that we are on a
"promenade avec petit cheins ".  Then add "Oh, la chat!"  invariable laughing.  I find it funny myself, walking a cat!

Three buddies walking down the road.

In the Garden of Azay-le-Ferron

The Gardens at Azay-le-Ferron are a wonderful mix of formal, forest and meadow.  The rose collection is arranged by the date the rose arrived in France; from the 1100's to present day.  The meadow is sowed with native grasses, which had been mowed and bailed.  Perhaps to sell to help pay the bills?  The gardeners do not us chemical pesticides or herbicides; a fact of which they are very proud.

Frog floating in one of the pools in the garden.

When we first spotted this spider, it looked like one of the green buds on the rose, until he moved.

Beds of flowers with grass walkways between.

Beautiful spikes of pink.

Gnarly bark of a very old Catalpa tree.

The back portion of the garden is given over to trees around the edge, with a meadow in the middle.

The collection of roses ranged from very old varieties, such as this one which came back from the Crusades.

These tiny but prolific, roses had the most wonderful fragrance.  I wish this were a scratch and sniff blog so you could smell them.

Walking in the shade of the plane trees.

Chateau Azay-le-Ferron

The Chateau Azay-le-Ferron as seen from the back.

One of the nice things about staying in one house for a while, is the chance to see the less well known places that are close by.  The Chateau Azay-le-Ferron was a pleasant surprise, besides having the crocodile.  The chateau and all of it's contents were given to the city of Tour, since it's the "capital" of the area, by the last owner.  She had no heirs, so set up a foundation to help pay the expenses, too.

The kitchen stove weighs over a ton.  

We don't have many pictures of the interior, as they weren't allowed.  However, we didn't realize this until after the kitchen and the crocodile room.  The signs said no picture with a cell phone because of the flash.  We never use a flash inside a building or museum. 

Low boxwood hedges grown in a pattern.

The gardens are simple, but nice, with many topiary trees and espaliered fruit trees.   One of the topiaries was square, with a square hole in the middle, of course, Bill took a picture.

Looking through the tree, who is looking back at me?

One of the gardeners talking to a visitor.  

When the last owner became elderly, she moved out of the main chateau and into one of the annexes that was originally for the servants, back when there were 75 of them!  It was easier to get around in and heat.  Want to know more?  www.chateau-azay-le-ferron.com

This guy was keeping an eye on the back courtyard, or at least trying to.

Don't You Ever Smile at a Crocodile!

This is one big crocodile.

 Not exactly what you expect upon entering a Chateau.  He was killed on the Nile, by the last owners brother, in the late 1800's.  The brother was a military man with a long career in Africa.  On his days off, he obviously went hunting.  The room is covered in trophies he brought home.

The crocodile doesn't look any smaller from the rear, but at least you can't see his big toothy grin.

So the crocodile would not be lonely in France, there is his nemesis, the hippopotamus hanging around on the wall.

No sofa is complete without a cheetah fur.

Walking With the Dogs Around Ferriere-Larcon Part 1

This bank of roses smells heavenly!

Caline and Harvey waiting while I snap a picture

The dogs and I go for a walk most every day if it's not raining.  We do not like to walk in the rain.  This has been a very wet spring and early summer here in Ferreire-Larcon.  While most people have complained, one of the things it has been very good for are the flowers; especially the roses and lilies.

Poppies on top of a wall.

Calla Lilies.

Roses and Lavender nearly cover the sidewalk.

The verges of the road are overgrown with stinging nettles.  I first ran into these little lovelies in Northern Ireland while weeding the garden.  Ouch!  Not only do they sting, but where they touched you remains numb, but painful for several days.  I don't know if they irritate dogs, but we avoid getting close to them on our walks.

Red Poppies growing in the Stinging Nettles.

Our 4th of July in Ferriere-Larcon

 A bottle of sparkling Vouvray wine with a selection of cheeses to enj

Bill grilled salmon and little potatoes.

Bon apetit!