Oléron : Day One

Ken has already described our arrival at the Ile d'Oléron on his blog, and since I was driving, I didn't have the opportunity to take pictures of the striking fisherman or their fiery blockade. You can read about it here.

Part of our little courtyard outside the great room. The days got sunny and we spent a lot of time around this outdoor table.

Once checked into our little home away from home, however, all that faded into memory. Ken and Cheryl went out for provisions for dinner and came back with a few dozen oysters and a couple big fillets of ling cod.

The appetizer for our first dinner on the island: local oysters on the half shell with mignonette sauce and tabasco.

We set to making dinner, and it was wonderful. Ken made a classic mignonette with vinegar, shallot, and black pepper. We sautéed the cod in a mushroom cream sauce with white wine. Yum! The gîte was very comfortable with two bedrooms and two baths, one great room which served as kitchen, living and dining room, and a nice paved private courtyard that faced south. We were able to leave the car on the street out front.

Callie settled right in after her four hour car ride.

The house is in the small bourg of la Menounière, near the fishing port of la Cotinière on the Atlantic side of the island. The weather wasn't great when we arrived, but it quickly improved.

Periodic Puppy Pics

Here's Mademoiselle Chose looking slightly guilty on the deck:

What did I do?

Actually, she hadn't done anything. This is just one of her standard looks.

New Vines

This section of vineyard was just field of wildflowers five years ago when we arrived here. Then, one day in 2004, the vineyard owner plowed it up and planted about twelve rows of tiny grape vines. Now they're starting to look good, and they're even producing.


I don't know if the grapes are being used to make wine yet, though. I have no idea how old a vine needs to be before the grapes are suitable to use.

Why Do You Build Me Up...

Buttercup, baby, just to let me down? Now there's a golden oldie...

Buttercups abound in the grassy areas of the vineyard.

This buttercup is much newer, however. At least, I think it's a buttercup. Also known as ranunculus, or renoncule in French. Common French names for it include bouton d'or and grenouillette.

Spittle

What an odd title for a post, eh? But there is meaning here. The spittle bugs are leaving their telltale signs on the stems of plants all around the vineyard.

Spittle around the stem of a wildflower among the vines.

According to Wikipedia, the little bugs that make this foam are also known as froghoppers. There are apparently a lot of species of these insects, and I'm not sure which one or ones we have here in central France, let alone which is responsible for the bubbles pictured above.

Photo Du Jour : Dirt Road

This is the dirt road that leads from out behind our house through the vineyard. The view is toward the east into the morning sun. Our house is over the horizon on the left.

That little brown speck on the right-hand side of the road, almost out of sight, is Callie.

It was right around this spot on Wednesday that I encountered a fox on our morning walk. I didn't have the camera, but even if I had, I wouldn't have had enough time to get a photo of it as it darted away. Luckily, Callie didn't see it, or she would have chased it into the woods.

Back Yard Irises

Since the blooms are just about over for this year, I thought I would share these two close-ups taken last week.

There were many more flower stalks and blooms this year than last. I'm hopeful that next year, it being the third year since division and transplant, will yield even more.


Our friend Cheryl from California is in the air as I type this, somewhere between the Atlantic coast of Canada and the southern tip of Greenland according to the flight trackers. She's still got about four hours to go before touchdown in Paris. By the time many of you read this, she'll have arrived and be here sipping something bubbly with us!