Spring is Undecided

Spring is Undecided

Three days ago, we had temps of 20˚C (68˚F) and today the high is expected to be 7˚C (44˚F)… so although Spring is officially several weeks away, we’ve gotten our lips whet and it feels wonderful. With so much still either on lockdown or impossible to do after a 6pm curfew, having warmer days and ever lengthening evenings has made things a bit more bearable.

Daffodils and crocus are up, the mimosa trees are in full, mustard-yellow bloom and even a few camelias are already brightening up yards with various shades of pink, salmon and white.

And… as you can see from today’s feature photo… the bees are busy gathering pollen, but that’s not all. Let me share the week in four pictures.

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Strange Light & Slightly Blurred

Strange Light & Slightly Blurred

You’ve seen this windmill before if you’re a regular reader. It’s located right on the outskirts of Les Trois-Moutiers, in France’s Vienne department. Today’s pic however was taken on my way home from Angers the other day as the fast-fading afternoon sun lit it up in almost an eerie, golden glow.

There’s no filter on this pic… the lighting is as it was that afternoon and if you look toward the bottom, you’ll also see that the grass along the roadway is slightly blurred. Taken together, it makes it a pretty good illustration of today’s post.

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Château de Touffou

Château de Touffou

It was New Year’s Eve.

I had driven Dominic to a friend’s house where he’d spend the night. Sophie had come along with me just to get out of the house and we were on our way back to Châtellerault.

We’d passed it numerous times, but this time, there were just two easily spontaneous people in the car who were in no particular rush. We stopped…

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Flood Waters & Student Lives

Flood Waters & Student Lives

This week I was shocked in my English classes.

There’s been a lot of talk on the news about the impact of the pandemic on the lives of students. Whether elementary, middle-school, high school or university, there’s no question that schooling looks very different, but I’m not sure I was prepared for some of the things my students had to say about it in their own words…

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Sunrise in Châtellerault

Sunrise in Châtellerault

It had been a long while since I’d gotten out to explore our own little town.

Isn’t that always the way? We travel the world in search of new, and big, and unfamiliar, and exotic, all while driving right by some lovely things in our day-to-day.

Covid19 has certainly honed that down quite a bit, but if I went exploring Châtellerault one early morning, two weeks ago, it wasn’t so much covid-related as it was car-related…

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