LA VENDANGE

Yes, the vendange is a girl. La. Today and Wednesday I picked grapes with my friends Horst and Daria, and their friends from Germany. Horst was a medical examiner with the German police department and his PD friends come and assist with the vendange. Interesting, really, picking grapes in France with retired German cops. However, they are around my age, too young to to Nazis (even if their parents were). Also a Dutch couple who were my neighbors when I lived in the gite, who also came for the amusement. Most of these folks speak several languages: dutch, german, english, french,. polish. Its amazing to hear the conversations which switch swiftly from german to french to dutch.; I'm quite envious, as I was the only idiot there who could speak one language fluently, one like a retard, and the third one that no one else knew. You pick the grapes into a bucket, probably about 3 gallon size, then dump them at the end of the row into a comporte, which is a bigger bucket with two handles -- you can see them in th photos. There is an very cleverly designed thingy that looks like a wheelbarrow without the barrow part that you can pick one of them up by the two handles and trundle them to the truck, I failed to get a photo of that. Two people then heave them into the truck, you can see me heaving one -- they are not terribly heavy, about a hundred pounds. I do love picking the grapes, its lovely being out in the vines with a few bees buzzing around, and dropping huge clusters of grapes into your bucket. The weather has been just right for it, in the 70s. When its in the 90s during the vendange it would not be so much fun. Its also a lot easier than I thought it would be, probably because we aren't young kids who are high and trying to go as fast as possible. Horst is seventy-something, and Daria is the youngest at just below 60. Which did not stop her from climbing the walnut tree to shake some down for me. Horst and Daria are pretty old school. They have a number of small vineyards, which are not easily accessible by tractor. So they pick by hand and load into the ancient truck you can see in the photos, and Horst drives them to the Cave Cooperative. I have gotten through both days without cutting myself with the very sharp secateurs, no bites or stings, no backache, and no embarassment. This year there was very little summer rain, so the grapes are small but sweet. I hope that when the pruning is done this winter Horst will show me how its done and let me help. I would like to have a very tiny vineyard of my own, but it probably wouldn't be very practical. Just to say I had one, you know.

A friend and I installed the heating system yesterday, which is reversible climatisation, i.e., a heat pump with an interior outlet, which can be either heating or air conditioning. I don't actually need the aircon, but they are sold here as reversible units, not just the heating. Now I need to clean up the horrendous mess we made doing it.

After the vendange, the south of france shuts up like a clam. The party's over. I believe there is a fete this weekend to mark the end of yet another season, and apres c'est l'hiver and we will all freeze our butts off

The below was written at the end of August, didn't get around to publishing it:

The twilight is long this time of the year in the south of france. Tonight the sky was pale blue for a time then the blue became turqouise and the clouds salmon; finally it was deep turquoise and shimmering orange before the sun went, and the final color is midnight blue with the faint outline of the hills. The sky was empty, then flocks of martinet noir would swirl across. I believe they are making plans for their annual winter vacation in north africa. Finally, when the color is all but gone, the bats arrive. The sound track is a show band performing on the village esplanade by the river. Pretty great. Speaking of bats, I have my own, living in the roof tiles. I discovered them this morning, when I woke up just before dawn hearing the vine tractors crossing the bridge far below me. The vendange is beginning up here, and vine tractors with trailers full of grapes are beginning to impede traffic. I saw the bats flying very close to my window and up, obviously turning in for the day in my roof. I must find out if they migrate elsewhere or if they hibernate in place, as I don't want to disturb them when I have the roof done. It will definitely disturb them if they are hibernating there. I want to be sure to keep them, as they are my favorite wild mammal.

Today I went to Beziers, as I do about once a week. It takes about 40 minutes to get there, but the drive is very pleasant, through villages and vineyards. Its the closest place that has the handyman stores, and I've found the second hand places for amusing myself. Today I bought a guest bed, another iron one similar to the first one I bought. This one is a little bigger, and it cost 35 euros instead of 25 like the last one. Bought a few other small things as well; 12 plates and soup bowls for 4 euro, in a Haviland style with old roses; a turn of the century beveled glass jewel box "Paris 1900" with a half timbered street of houses illustrated on the top (7 euro); a few other little things. Oh yes, an embroidered linen pillow, nothing fabulous but definitely hand embroidered and done well, stuffed with ........ grass. Yeah, grass. It is a 1920's looking thing, and was obviously done by someone who didn't have the funds for proper stuffing; it cost 50 centimes. So, honestly, I'm sort of doing what I always did, digging around in junk stores and dumpsters for stuff.

I can definitely feel fall coming (I think its saturday, Sept. 11). I've decided to install my own heating system, with the help of someone I know who is good at this sort of thing. I can save several thousand dollars by doing it that way, which sounds good. The house itself has turned out to be much nicer than I thought it was. I had planned to add windows and learn to live with certain things, but have discovered I don't need the windows and just removing the nasty partition walls that had been done in the 1960's has turned it into quite a lovely house with great views. The previous owners liked shelving, and built quite a lot of it using a product called beton cellulaire (I love this stuff) and pine boards. It isn't bad looking, but I don't like shelves much as they just attract accumulations of stuff and make it look cluttered and cramped. So I've been removing it, and what a difference. The room I use as a bedroom, on the side of the house facing the river with the great view, had the shelves built in, and since I have no wardrobe or chest of drawers, I used the shelves for my clothing. I've managed to find other places for it and have taken those shelves out, and it changed the room entirely. Strangely, its as if the original builders 150 years ago knew what they were doing. It doesn't seem possible, as this is not an elegant house and was not built by builders or architects. It is definitely a vernacular house, but the windows are placed just right to capture the river views and let in the right amount of light. Quite surprising.

Ran across something on the internet about our 900 AD tower, stating that the chateau and dependances were built below the tower, which was kinda of obvious anyway. In digging out an area for a new door from the kitchen we have run into big stones (a foot across, a foot wide, and 3-4 feet long|) with some kind of hollow space beneath them. I suspect the Templar treasure, but my mason is more inclinded to think outdoor toilet. Some people have no vision, really. So there's some digging to do to expose the entire big rock, which has an area of flat stones near it also underground. Perhaps there will be a terrace. I can't wait to find out. However, my digger is working the vendange for the next three weeks, so I guess I'll have to either wait or dig.